FREEMAN HOMESTEAD

The trailhead for the trail leading to the Freeman Homestead is located on the road leading to the Javelina Picnic Area.  All that remains of the old homestead is the adobe ruins.

The Homestead Act was signed by President Lincoln on 20 March 1862.  It provided that any person, the head of a family or 21 years of age, whether a citizen or intended citizen, could take a quarter section of the public domain.  If he lived upon and improved it for a period of 5 years, he could take title upon the payment of a small fee.  In 1916, the Act was modified to increase the allotment to 640 acres in those areas where the land was only suitable for grazing.

Homesteading played a major role in shaping the area around the Rincon Mountains.  The earliest homestead applications were made in the 1890’s and were located along Tanque Verde Creek and Rincon Wash.  By 1910, homesteads began to be established within the area that would eventually become Saguaro National Monument. Ten individuals filed homestead patents between 1916 and 1930. One of these patents was filed by Safford and Viola Freeman, newlyweds from Georgia who had moved to Tucson in December 1913 and had been living at 1316 East 6th Street.  Sixth Street was pretty rural at that time, not much more than a cow trail, but Safford wanted to be even further out.  The Freeman claim for 640 acres was filed in the summer of 1929, the next to the last claim to be filed in Pima County.

When the Freeman family moved in, there were no roads into the area. The Freemans and men from two other homesteads in the area built a road that is now a large part of the Spanish Trail. The first thing the Freemans did to improve the land was to dig and dynamite a well.  They made their own adobes to build their house which was 20’ by 24’ with a concrete floor.  The dining room and kitchen were separate from the house and there was a covered ramada between the two buildings.

Saguaro National Monument was formed in 1933.  In 1934, Safford and his family moved back into town but his father continued to live on the homestead. In 1951, the Freemans sold the property to the United States Government for $16,000 and it was integrated into the National Monument. The Freeman Homestead has been placed on the Arizona State Register of Historic Places.



Summarized March 2003 by T. N. Johnson from information provided by the National Park Service.

Additional Material: GVHC Library File 54