Tucson, AZ -- Visit the Fort Lowell Museum this month to see our new Fort Lowell Hospital exhibit and learn about historic technologies during our History in the Park event. The Fort Lowell Neighborhood tours will be split into two separate tours to shorten the duration while retaining all of the important information.
On Feb. 22, at 10 am, the museum’s new Hospital Isolation Ward exhibit will be unveiled during our History in the Park event. The new exhibit is located in the building south of the main museum. Visitors have been able to see the ruins of the hospital for decades, but this new exhibit will help people visualize what the hospital once looked like during the 1880s. It will include a surgeon’s amputation kit, a Civil War surgery kit that belonged to one of the doctors at Fort Lowell and medicine bottles excavated on-site. A mannequin will represent Joseph Basil Gerard, one of Fort Lowell’s post surgeons. The exhibit will also provide information on the hospital’s history.
During the History in the Park: Progress! The Science of History event, visitors will discover how the 1800s saw scientific progress and invention that pushed society leaps and bounds forward. From developments to the field of archaeology, to the invention of the telegraph, a new understanding of medical practices, railways in the United States, and improvements in the military, this time period saw many new technologies improve Americans lives. Hands-on activities for visitors of all ages may include: coloring sheets or a craft for the younger children, archaeology, sending messages using our telegraph and heliograph, and match the fingerprints for a prize. The event will be held on Feb. 22, from 10 am to 1 pmand is included in admission.
Beginning in February, the guided walking tours of the Fort Lowell Neighborhood will be split into two separate tours. PART 1 of the tour features the Fort Lowell area and the history of Arizona, why this location for Fort Lowell, and the entire Fort complex and efforts for preservation after the closure in 1891. PART 2 of the tour includes the development of the Mexican farming community known as El Fuerte, the artists from the Netherlands that added their unique skills for preservation, and the landmark San Pedro Chapel. The Fort Lowell area is much more than the territorial fort. If you understand the history of the area, you understand the history of Arizona. Historian and preservationist Ken Scoville leads this tour delving into the cultural layers of Tucson. Pre-registration for these tours is required at www.TucsonPresidio.com/walking-tours. The cost is $20/member, and $35/non-member for each tour. Tour dates this month are:
PART 1 TOURS:
Monday, February 10, 10 am-12 pm
Monday, February 24, 10 am-12 pm
PART 2 TOURS:
Monday, February 17, 10 am-12 pm
Fort Lowell was a military supply post active from 1873 to 1891. The museum is located in Fort Lowell Park at 2900 N. Craycroft Rd. in an 1880s reproduction adobe officers’ quarters. Visitors see displays about the purpose and history of the fort, its soldiers and their families, In addition, displays are included about the Apache of the region and the pre-history of the area seen at the nearby Hardy site. The museum is open from 10 am to 3 pm Thursdays through Saturdays. Admission to the museum is $5/person and free for those five and younger as well as Fort Lowell and Presidio Museum members.
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