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Papago () Park is a municipal park of the cities of Phoenix and Tempe, Arizona, USA.
Description
Papago Park is a hilly desert park covering some 490 hectares (1200 acres) in its Phoenix extent, and some 140 hectares (296 acres) in its Tempe extent (the latter is also referred to specifically as Tempe Papago Park). The park is surrounded by the cities of Phoenix, Tempe, and Scottsdale.
Papago Park is notable for its many distinctive geological formations and its wide variety of typical desert plants, including the giant saguaro cactus. The park also features a desert botanical garden, a large zoo (the Phoenix Zoo), picnic areas, several small lakes, hiking trails, bicycle paths, a fire museum, and Hunt's Tomb, the pyramidal tomb of Arizona's first governor, George W. P. Hunt. Tempe Papago Park includes baseball and softball fields, picnic ramadas, a small lake, and other features. Rolling Hills Golf Course is within the park between its Phoenix and Tempe extremities.
History
The distinctive red sandstone geological formations of Papago Park were formed some 6-15 million years ago. One such formation, Hole-in-the-Rock, is a major landmark, thanks to the openings (tafoni) eroded in the formation over time by wind and weather. There is some evidence that the Hohokam—a now-extinct aboriginal tribe that once lived in the Phoenix area—used the openings and sunlight to track the seasons.
There are also some signs of precambrian granite in the park. The bedrock is concealed by only a thin layer of topsoil.
Papago Park was designated a reservation for the local Maricopa and Pima tribes of aboriginal Americans in 1879. It became the Papago Saguaro National Monument in 1914, but this status was abolished by Congress in 1930. During WWII, the park housed a POW camp, and after the war it served as a government hospital and then an Army Reserve facility. The Phoenix portion of the park was sold to the city of Phoenix on February 25, 1959. The Tempe portion was conveyed to that city in 1935, and a parcel within that portion was conveyed to the Salt River Project in 1955.
References
- Papago Park Facts - provided by the City of Phoenix
- Tempe Papago Park provided by the City of Tempe
"Papago Park"