Court Street

Court Street exists because a wall was in the way. In 1856 the Spanish presidio's thick adobe walls still boxed in old Tucson, forcing anyone on the north side to detour all the way around to the main gate. So the townspeople simply knocked a gap in the south wall and ran a street through it, a direct route into the old fortified quarter. The presidio is long gone, dissolved back into the city it once protected, but the small act of convenience left its name on the map.

What the plaque says

In 1856, Tucson's presidio walls made navigating the local streets difficult. In an effort to circumvent the walls and avoid having to re-enter the presidio through the main gate, a section of the south wall was opened and Court Street was established, affording a direct route through the presidio.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Tucson — steps away
  The Old Pueblo — four thousand years of farming under the sky islands
• Mission San Xavier del Bac — 8.4 mi
  The White Dove of the Desert — the finest Spanish Baroque church in the country
• Saguaro National Park — 21 mi
  The giant cactus, and the O'odham who count it as kin

More markers nearby

• Commemorating the Raising of the First American Flag within the Walled City of Tucson — steps away
• The First Presbyterian Church in Tucson — steps away
• Edward Nye Fish House — steps away
• Arizona's First Public School — 0.2 mi