CASA GRANDE RUINS national monument

Casa Grande Ruins NM Visitor Center / Entrance

Location: east of I-10 between Phoenix and Tucson
Address: 1100 Ruins Drive, Coolidge, AZ 85228, phone (520) 723-3172
Distance: 55 miles from Downtown Phoenix, 70 miles from Tucson.
Opening hours: open year-round (except December 25th), from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.
Fees: $3.00; children 16 and under are admitted free. The National Park Pass, Golden Eagle, Golden Age, and Golden Access Passport cards are honored.
Direction from Phoenix: Drive I-10 East towards Tucson for about 40 miles, use Exit 185 to AZ-387. Turn left/east (do not drive towards the city of Casa Grande), then turn right onto AZ-387 and follow this road for about 7 miles to the junction with AZ-87. There turn right (towards Coolidge) and follow the AZ-87 to the junction with AZ-287. There turn right and look for the entrance gate to the Monument about 1/4 mile on your right. Proceed for 3/4 mile down the entrance road to the parking lot.
Direction from Tucson: Drive the I-10 West towards Phoenix for about 50 miles to Exit 211 b. There turn onto AZ-87 and follow north to Coolidge; in Coolidge look for the entrance gate to the Monument (across Safeway). Proceed for 3/4 mile down the entrance road to the parking lot.

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. It is the most prominent of the approximately 60 sites here and was constructed of desert mud some 650 years ago. The name Casa Grande ("great house" in spanish) was given by exploring priest Father Eusebio Kino, a Jesuit missionary who visited in 1694.
This outstanding product of Hohokam culture (Hohokam: Piman for "those who have gone") and architecture stands three stories high, the largest of all the Hohokam pueblos that have been discovered. In 1892, Casa Grande ruins gained legal protection by becoming America's first archaeological preserve.
A huge modern metal canopy now covers the pueblo to keep it from further consumed by the elements.



Casa Grande Ruins National Monument (enlargeable)
The history. Shortly after the time of Christ, a group of desert dwellers developed a new way of life in this area. The Hohokam became the first farmers in the American Southwest.
Then, as today, irrigation was the key to successful agriculture in the desert. The Hohokam dug hundreds of miles of canals across the desert, cultivating corn, beans, squash, cotton, tobacco and other crops. For over thousand years, this successful agricultural system allowed the Hohokam to build a civilization covering thousands of aquare miles.
In the late 1300s, the Hohokam gradually abandoned this area. Nobody knows the reason.

The visit. As you visit the monument and follow the trail you will see one of several compounds. The Casa Grande is the best preserved building and was possible occupied by one large family.
Built in the early 1300s, this building seems to be special. Walk to the west side of it and you will discover two small holes in the upper part of the outside wall.
There is a small circular window in the upper left portion. This opening aligns with the setting sun on the summer solstice (June 21), the longest day of the year. The square hole in the upper right wall aligns once every 18.5 years with the setting moon at an extreme point in its cycle. Other windows and doorways also align with the sun or moon at significant times of the year.
It seems that the Hohokam used a calendar system based on the motions of the sun and moon. Casa Grande may have served as an astronomical observatory and calendar.

The best preserved west side of the Casa Grande

The circular window, a part of an astronomical calendar

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument (enlargeable)

Nearby attractions:
Please visit the page Trips and Sightseeing in southern Arizona for other interesting parks, monuments and places south of Phoenix.

All information: as of fall 2003

Link to website and information about the Casa Grande Ruins NM (link opens in a new window):
Casa Grande Ruins NM official website @ www.nps.gov E

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