Street Smarts:Tucson's Magee Road got its name from 1929 homesteader

Homesteading - or claiming federal land with the intent of living on it and improving it - gave a prominent northwest-side street its name.

Street Smarts:Tucson's Magee Road got its name from 1929 homesteader

This picture taken in 1937 in California shows, back row, John A. Magee and Catherine Magee, and front row, shortest to tallest, Robert, Betty and Jack Jr. A fourth child, Sally, isn't in the picture.

Tim Steller: Smuggled guns are history of border

Merchants from Fronteras, Sonora, gave the man a wad of money to spend on guns and ammunition in Douglas and smuggle them back south.

Neto's Tucson: Tia Alva's love for Tucson's past to be honored today

My love and appreciation for Tucson comes from my family. My Tucson-born mother and Mexican immigrant father each have helped shape my appreciation for nuestro pueblo, including its blemishes and faults.

Carmelites to leave after many years at Tucson barrio church

Caption unavailable

Carmelites to leave after many years at Tucson barrio church

By Joseph Treviño

Tour ruins, ghost town, ranch this month

March brings a bunch of free events for Arizona Archaeology and Heritage Awareness Month. See azstateparks.com for a complete list; here's a sample:

Early ranching family gave names to Rancho Sotomayor streets

This adobe house was built by Manuel Sotomayor, who, along with his bother Florencio, homesteaded an area now called Sotomayor Ranch.

Early ranching family gave names to Rancho Sotomayor streets

Roberto Sotomayor in 1925.

Early ranching family gave names to Rancho Sotomayor streets

Carlotta Sotomayor in the 1920s.

Street Smarts: Early ranching family gave names to Rancho Sotomayor streets

Carlotta Parra Rodriguez was born in 1913 on a ranch homesteaded by her parents near North Campbell Avenue and East River Road.

Pennington named for early family in territory

Larcena Pennington was one of several Pennington children who traveled west in 1857 in a wagon train. She later became the subject of an epic in which she was kidnapped by Apaches and left for dead. Over two weeks, she found her way to safety.

Pennington named for early family in territory

A stone house on the Santa Cruz River was among the places where the Pennington family lived and worked.

Pennington named for early family in territory

Pennington Street is named for an early family that made its permanent home in what is today Arizona.

Work begins on Marist building downtown

Portions of protective cloth have been peeled back to reveal exposed wood beams and brick.

Education notes

Tucson High song is sold as ringtone

Wood 'headstones' replace inauthentic metal markers

The graveyard on the north side of Tombstone is a popular stop for tourists. Thursday, Canadians John and Liz Dragstra checked out the old cemetery's fresh look, with its upgraded ocotillo fence and replaced grave markers.

Wood 'headstones' replace inauthentic metal markers

Gerry Jay of Green Valley snaps a picture of her friend Rosie Pudish, visiting from upstate New York, next to a Boothill highlight.

Wood 'headstones' replace inauthentic metal markers

Metal grave markers installed in the 1940s made way for wooden ones to give Boothill more of a feel of the days when it was being used.

Wood 'headstones' replace inauthentic metal markers

Boothill has gotten a face-lift. The historic and here and there hokey graveyard - in the historic and here and there hokey town of Tombstone - "was in need of some cosmetic surgery," said Boothill manager Dave Askey.