Old Tucson

Columbia Pictures built Old Tucson in 1939 as a replica of 1860s Tucson — more than 50 buildings in 40 days on Pima County-owned land — for the film *Arizona* (1940). The desert set became a workhorse: *Gunfight at the O.K. Corral* (1957), *Rio Bravo* (1959), *El Dorado* (1966), *Three Amigos* (1986), *Tombstone* (1993). Television filled the gaps — *The High Chaparral*, *Little House on the Prairie*, *Kung Fu*, *The Young Riders*.

In 1960, entrepreneur Robert Shelton leased the property from the county and opened it as a theme park. Each new movie built the place: a saloon, a bank, a cantina, a narrow-gauge railroad circling the lot. Visitors came for gunfight shows and dusty streets that still smelled like work.

April 24, 1995: fire destroyed roughly 25 buildings, $10 million in damage. High winds, black powder for the staged shootouts, a flooded lot. The *Little House* wardrobe burned. A short film documenting the studio's history — the only copy — gone.

Old Tucson reopened January 2, 1997, rebuilt with wider streets and new structures. COVID shuttered it in September 2020. American Heritage Railways took over and reopened it October 6, 2022 — still a working film location, still staging the Old West for anyone willing to show up.