1957 Map of Sabino Canyon

About this map

The Santa Catalina Foothills north of Tucson reveal a landscape of dramatic transition in the late 1950s, where the structured developments of the Southern Arizona School For Boys and the Immaculate Heart Novitiate meet the desert's edge. This terrain is defined by a series of north-south drainage systems, most notably Sabino Canyon and Bear Canyon, which descend from the high peaks of the Coronado National Forest. In this era, water management is evident through the presence of Sabino Lake and the Tanque Verde Canal, serving the valley's expanding footprint before the intensive suburbanization of later decades.