CALABAZAS MISSION
The mission at Calabazas was named San Cayetano de
Calabazas. The name San Cayetano refers
to Saint Cajetan, a fifteenth century Italian philosopher and theologian who
became a Cardinal in 1517. Father
Eusebio Francisco Kino first used the name San Cayetano in January 1691 to
identify the proposed mission at Tumacacori.
The Tumacacori Mission was identified by the name San Cayetano for 60
years. After the Pima uprising of 1751,
the Tumacacori mission and village were moved from the east to the west side of
the Santa Cruz River and the Mission was renamed “San Jose”. That left the San Cayetano name to be used
for a new mission.
The reason behind the Calabazas portion of
the name is unknown. Normally, new
missions took the name of the native village from which the mission sprang (as
in Guevavi, Tumacacori and Bac).
Calabazas however is of Spanish origin meaning “gourds” or
“squash”. It is possible that a new
name was selected because it was a new settlement and the people populating it
came from several surrounding villages including Piticai, Obtuavo, Pipiac, Seug
Baagand and Toacuquita. Another unusual
circumstance was that unlike other missions in the area, it was not located
near a spring or permanent source of water.
It is on a dry, rocky ridge above the intermittent Santa Cruz River. Although Calabazas was not located near a
ready source of water, it had two desirable characteristics. It was located in a prominent position above
the valley floor where the natives could look up to it from their fields and it
held a commanding view of the surrounding area, a vital fact in trying to
protect it from the
Apaches.
The Calabazas Mission was
established sometime after the Pima uprising of 1751 but the exact time is
unknown. The first reference to the
mission was in a baptismal record dated 20 April 1756. Records also indicate that Father Pauer of
the Guevavi Mission relocated about 80 people from the village of Toacuquita to
Calabazas on 1 November 1756.
Calabazas had a difficult time making it as a mission. The church was half completed by 1761 and
was finally functional by 1773. In 1772, there were only about 64 people living
in the village. The Apaches set fire to
the church, granary and other buildings during a raid in 1777. Most of the
natives had relocated to Tumacacori by the mid 1780s because of pressure from
the Apaches and Calabazas was turned into a stock ranch for the Tumacacori
Mission. The church was used as a
chapel for the ranch.
A number of vaqueros, or
cowboys lived at Calabazas with their families into the 1800s and looked after
the livestock. After Mexico gained its
independence from Spain in 1821, the Mexican Government was unable to control
the incursions by the Apaches and shortly after 1828, Calabazas was
abandoned. In 1844, the property was
sold to Manuel Gandara for $500.
In 1853, Gandara leased the
ranch to a German Corporation who ran about 6000 head of stock (primarily sheep and goats) on the
property. They built a bunkhouse,
repaired existing buildings and converted the church into a ranch house.
After the Gadsden Purchase, Calabazas became part of
the United States and underwent a variety of uses. The US Treasury Department set up a port of entry and used the
old church as the first customs house in the area. The US Army also made use of Calabazas. Camp Moore was established there in 1856 but soon abandoned. Fort Mason was established there in 1864
but was abandoned when 300 of the 400 men assigned there became sick from
malaria. Squatters and homesteaders
also occupied the site at various times and the various occupants changed
frequently. By 1878, Calabazas was
totally abandoned and the buildings soon turned into ruins.
.
Summarized September 2004 by T. Johnson from a Southwest Parks and Monuments Association pamphlet written by Donald T. Garate. Photographs by T. Johnson
Related information can be
found by clicking on the following links.
1. Native People - O’odham 5. Tumacacori Mission
2. Native People - Apache 6. Father Kino
3. Calabazas Mission 7. Jesuit Priests
4. Calabazas Records 8. Franciscan Priests
Additional Material: GVHC Library File 5