About Caviglia-Arivaca Branch Library
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Read about Arivaca
Meeting Rooms
Please call 520-594-5235 for more information and to reserve the meeting rooms. Please read our Meeting Room Policy (PDF). See meeting rooms available at other library locations.
Print out a Meeting Room Use Application (PDF).
- Meeting Room
- Our meeting room is 266 sq. ft., accommodates twenty people and has a sink.
Computers and WiFi
The Library offers FREE computer and wifi use. Please see Computers Available at Your Library or WiFi at Your Library for more information. Please be sure to bring your library card! Don't have a card?
History
Arivaca is a rural community of about 1,200 residents in unincorporated Pima County, sixty miles southwest of Tucson. Historically, it was a mining area. In recent years retirees, alternative lifestyle pursuers, rural-life aficionados, artists, cattle ranchers, self-employed business people and commuters make up most of the population. Currently about 58% of local users have library cards, drawing regular users from a 25-mile radius.
The Caviglia-Arivaca Branch Library opened on November 16, 1996. The Arivaca community had been served for eight years by the Pima County Public Library Bookmobile and was clamoring for a building. During the tenure of Library Director Liz Miller and Pima County Supervisor Ed Moore, approval and funding was granted for a library in Arivaca. Teresa Rill was the first manager. Local residents Gary and Barbara Scheer donated land just outside the Arivaca townsite.
The building was designed by CDG Architects and has a very welcoming and practical plan. The branch is named for Diane Aguirre Hamilton Caviglia (1930-1994), who was active in the Pima Historical Commission. Her maternal ancestor, Don Pedro Aguirre, started the Buenos Aires Ranch near Sasabe and built the first school in Arivaca in 1879. The Caviglia family was a pioneer family in Arivaca.
Arivaca may have had the first library in Arizona, a collection of books belonging to mine owner and pistol maker Samuel Colt, who offered them to his employees for their edification. The current Library has a collection of about 12,000 items.
Arivaca Community Information
Arivaca is a small rural community in Pima County, 60 miles southwest of Tucson and 55 miles northwest of Nogales, Arizona. It is 14 miles from the Mexican border. Its general store, gas station, artists' co-op, feed store, restaurant, coffee shop, library, health clinic, and bar serve a population of around 900. Arivaca is gateway to the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge and the Nogales District of the Coronado National Forest.