Old Tucson Western street scene, Tucson, AZ, circa 1939

About this postcard

A man in cowboy dress stands beside a wooden wagon on a dirt street at Old Tucson, with two figures in period costume nearby and a saguaro cactus at right. Behind them, a low adobe building with a cross above its bell niche suggests a mission, and desert hills rise in the background. The scene is staged: the street, costumes, and wagon recreate a frontier town for visitors and cameras. Old Tucson was built in 1939 for the Columbia Pictures western Arizona, using reproductions of 1860s Tucson buildings. It later became a tourist attraction and a familiar location for Western films and television. The caption's "Old Tucson" names the film set and attraction outside Tucson.