The founding of Tucson, opens a new window has been declared to be August 20, 1775 with the establishment of El Presidio de San Augustín de Tucson, opens a new window. The Perspectives of the Past Oral History Project, opens a new window lets us hear about the way life has been lived in Tucson through the words of those who lived it.
Opha Probasco ended up in Tucson the same way many transplants did in the early part of the 20th century, for health reasons. Probasco's father suffered from tuberculosis, so he moved his family from Colorado for the dry climate of Southern Arizona in 1925, when twins Opha and Okey were just six years old. Probasco grew up on the southwest side—where Probasco Drive still bears the family name—with his twin brother and three sisters. His interview, opens a new window includes many stories of Tucson's history that he wrote about in Keeping Our History Alive: The Old and the New of Tucson and Arizona, opens a new window.
