Casa Grande
photos from 1976
Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, in Coolidge, Arizona, just northeast of the city of Casa Grande, preserves a group of Hohokam structures.
The national monument consists of the ruins of multiple structures surrounded by
a compound wall constructed by the Hohokam, who farmed the Gila Valley in the
early 1200s. "Casa grande" is Spanish for "big house" and the name refers to the
largest structure on the site, which is what remains of a four story structure
that may have been abandoned by the mid-1400s. The structure is made of caliche,
and has managed to survive the extreme weather conditions for about seven
centuries. Graffiti from 19th-century passers-by is scratched into its walls;
though this is now illegal. Casa Grande now has a distinctive modern roof
covering built in 1932.
Proclaimed Casa Grande Reservation by an order of President Benjamin Harrison on
June 22, 1892 (Note this was long before the National Park Service). It was
redesignated a national monument by Woodrow Wilson on August 3, 1918. As with
all historical areas administered by the National Park Service, Casa Grande was
listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.
Text from Wikipedia
Casa Grande
construction
usese
the community
food
irrigation
from the film at the Visitor's Center
household
the compound
the mystery
abandonment
ballcourt