Marana, Arizona facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Marana, Arizona
Town
Marana has dozens of miles of hiking trails, including those in the Tortolita Mountains.
Location of Marana in Pima County and Pinal County, Arizona
Marana, Arizona Location in the United States
Country	United States
State	Arizona
County	Pima, Pinal
Incorporated	1977
Government
• Type	Council-manager
• Body	Marana Town Council
Area
• Total	121.78 sq mi (315.41 km2)
• Land	121.10 sq mi (313.65 km2)
• Water	0.68 sq mi (1.77 km2)
Elevation	1,991 ft (607 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	51,908
• Density	428.64/sq mi (165.50/km2)
Time zone	UTC-7 (MST (no DST))
ZIP code	85653, 85658, 85743
Area code(s)	520
FIPS code	04-44270
GNIS feature ID	7681
Website	http://www.marana.com/

Marana is a town in Pima County, Arizona, United States, located northwest of Tucson, with a small portion in Pinal County. According to the 2010 census, the population of the town is 34,961. From 1990 to 2000, Marana was the fourth fastest-growing place among all cities and towns in Arizona of any size.

Geography

Marana is located at 32°23′12″N 111°7′32″W / 32.38667°N 111.12556°W / 32.38667; -111.12556 (32.386539, -111.125437).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 121.4 square miles (313.6 km²), of which, 120.7 square miles (312.3 km²) of it is land and 0.7 square miles (1.9 km²) of it (1.22%) is water.

The town extends along Interstate 10 from the line between Pinal and Pima County to the Tucson city line, except the area around the non-affluent unincorporated community of Rillito. The town has a history of farming and ranching. The Tucson Mountains and the western half of Saguaro National Park are located to the south. Phoenix is approximately 90 minutes north via Interstate 10.

Annexation

The southern portion of Marana has grown considerably since the early 1990s with the addition of businesses and some housing, much of it due to annexation of existing unincorporated areas. In 1992, the Marana Town Council voted to annex an area of unincorporated Pima County that was located to the southeast of the town limits. The area selected was a narrow corridor of land that snaked its way south along Interstate 10, then to the east along Ina Road, and then south along Thornydale Road. These areas were mainly high density commercial businesses and shopping centers, including large retailers such as Super KMart (now closed), Costco Wholesale, Target, and Home Depot. The areas were selected by Marana to be annexed, by their own admission, for their sales tax revenue. As a result, the city of Tucson filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of the State of Arizona in and for the County of Pima (City of Tucson v Town of Marana) claiming that Marana illegally annexed the unincorporated areas in violation of existing state laws. However, on April 4, 1994, Judge Lina Rodriguez ruled in favor of Marana, allowing the annexation to stand. Following this suit, the Arizona State annexation laws were changed, forbidding municipalities from annexing small strips of land without taking large surrounding parcels as well. A “strip annexation” is no longer allowed under Arizona law.

Demographics

As of the census of 2010, there were 34,961 people, 11,759 households, and 8,871 families residing in the town. There were 13,706 housing units and the racial makeup of the town was 81.9% White, 4.6% Black or African American, 0.7% Native American, 5.2% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 9.7% from other races, and 2.2% from two or more races. 21.7% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 11,759 households, out of which 32.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.2% were married couples living together, 8.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.6% were non-families. 19.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.81 and the average family size was 3.17.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 26.7% under the age of 18, 7.4% from 18 to 24, 34.3% from 25 to 44, 22.1% from 45 to 64, and 9.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. The Town is 50.1% female and 49.9% male.

The median income for a household in the town was $68,361, and the median income for a family was $75,281. Males had a median income of $58,932 versus $37,388 for females. The per capita income for the town was $28,468. About 6.1% of families and 8.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.0% of those under age 18 and 2.3% of those age 65 or over.

Town facts

Pinal Airpark

• Marana was named for the Spanish word maraña ("thicket") by 19th century railroad workers who had to clear a line through the area.
• In 2007, Marana began hosting the PGA Tour's WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship (now the WGC-Cadillac Match Play Championship). Held in late February, the event included the world's top 64 professional golfers. Henrik Stenson won the inaugural event, and Tiger Woods won in 2008, defeating Stewart Cink. Geoff Ogilvy won the 2009 version by defeating Paul Casey. Ian Poulter won the 2010 event and Luke Donald took the 2011 title. The tournament remained in Marana through 2014. (In September 2014, Cadillac was announced as the new title sponsor for 2015, and the event was moved to San Francisco's TPC Harding Park golf course.)
• Pinal Airpark (Evergreen International Aviation), where many commercial airlines send their airplanes for storage, and which was also well known in the 1970s and 1980s as an air base for the CIA is located just north of Marana in Pinal County. The airport was generally accepted as being a U.S. Forest Service air tanker base until a series of forest fires in the mountains surrounding Tucson in the early 1970s. When locals requested that the Forest Service-marked tankers put out the fires, Airpark officials had to admit that the markings were in name only and that the alleged tankers were really paramilitary cargo planes. To this day, access to the Airpark is stringently monitored.
• Marana Regional Airport was purchased by the town from Pima County in 1999. It does not serve commercial airlines. Residents can use the Tucson International Airport to fly commercial.
• Marana Community Information has shopping, entertainment and community information.

History

Archaeologists have found about 4,200 years of continuous human settlement in the vicinity of Marana and the middle Santa Cruz Valley. Many important archaeological sites occur near Marana.

• Las Capas a large, early agricultural site, related to the nearby Costello-King site near Ina Road and the Interstate 10 interchange. It was occupied from 4,200 to 2,500 years ago. It is the site of the oldest known cemetery in the southwest and the oldest known canals in North America also the oldest tobacco pipes in the world.
• Los Morteros a Hohokam ballcourt village ruin located on the Santa Cruz floodplain near the Point of the Mountain at the northern end of the Tucson Mountains. Los Morteros has also been identified as the probable location of the Llano del Azotado campsite used by the Juan Bautista de Anza expedition in 1775. The location is near the present day Arizona Portland Cement Plant in the Town of Marana.
• Linda Vista Hill dating between 1200 and 1350 A.D., is a Trincheras culture site in the Tucson Mountains, that inhabited mountain slopes overlooking arable land along streams. The hillside site has more than 150 terraces and 75 pit-houses excavated into the terraces and a massive adobe-walled compound located on the hill summit.
• Marana Mound, dating between 1150 and 1300 A.D., is the remnant of a large platform mound that was the center of the Hohokam community that lived between the Santa Cruz River and the Tortolita Mountains. The mound is surrounded by an adobe compound wall from which multiple rooms were constructed and was associated with 30-35 nearby residential compounds with multiple house features both inside and outside the compounds, wall segments, and trash mounds The whole complex covers an area of approximately one square mile.
• In 1775, Juan Bautista de Anza, Captain of the Presidio of Tubac, led an expedition north along the Santa Cruz River to found the city of San Francisco. His group of about 200 included 30 soldiers and their families and a number of escorts. They brought more than 1,000 head of livestock. Their campsite was at what is now the CalPortland Cement Plant near Marana. A 15-mile (24 km) segment of the route the expedition took through Marana is designated part of the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail.
• Pointer Mountain Station of the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach line used from 1858, was found during the study of Los Morteros, within the limits of the nearby Puerta del Norte trailer court.
• With the early establishment of mining and ranching, it was not until after World War I that Marana became primarily an agricultural center, producing cotton, wheat, barley, alfalfa and pecans.
• During World War II, the rising importance of military power came quickly to Marana. The Marana Airfield (1942-’45) was the largest pilot-training center in the world, training some 10,000 flyers. Five Titan sites were later located in the area as part of a complex of ballistic missile installations built around Tucson.
• In March 1977, the Town incorporated about 10 square miles (26 km²) and in August of that year, the 1,500 residents elected their first town council. In early 1979, the town began to grow through a targeted annexation policy and now measures a little more than 120 square miles (310 km²) with a population of almost 37,000.

Early Pioneers of Marana/Avra Valley

Anway Family

According to historian David Leighton, the first Anway in the Tucson area was Charles B. Anway, who arrived as a result of contracting tuberculosis. In 1919, brother William and his two children Louis and Ila arrived in town but they decided to settle in an area northwest of Tucson called Postvale, Arizona. In 1920, William who had been widowed for many years married Orpha Ralston, who was a member for many years in the Postvale Co-operative Women’s Club. This club was involved in getting the local post office renamed from Postvale to the area's first known name Marana and in time the town name became Marana.

Louis in 1925 married a former classmate named Erma and would have four sons. Ed, Roy, Dick and later on David. Erma worked as a bus driver transporting students to Postvale School.

By 1943, Louis was working as a tenant farmer at the Cortaro Farms. Due to the labor shortage during World War II, he and other tenant farmers were given permission to use Italian prisoners of war to work their fields. The use of prisoners of war as labor in the Marana area is believed to have continued until the end of the war.

Four years later, Louis purchased ranch land owned by Peter Manville in Avra Valley, just west of Marana. Louis became the first known person to drill an irrigation well in the Avra Valley, work the land and make the valley prosper, bringing other farmers to the valley. Driving day after day from Marana to his property in Avra Valley he realized he could shorten his trip by creating a shortcut to his land. Using a Caterpillar with a blade he constructed a road from present-day Avra Valley Road south to Manville Road therefore lessening his drive time. This dirt path in 1951 was named Anway Road.

In time he and the rest of his sons moved to the valley and Louis and his eldest son Ed opened the Avra Valley Dairy which existed for many years. Louis passed away in 1980.

Tourism

Sunset over Marana

• Marana celebrates July 4 with its Star-Spangled Spectacular in the Arizona Pavilions section of town. More than 10,000 people turn out for the fireworks show and to eat at restaurants and stay in hotels in the area.
• The Town celebrates its incorporation every year during Founders’ Day and includes community partners such as the Marana Unified School District, the Marana Heritage Conservancy, and Western Heritage Committee, to name a few.
• Visitors can also enjoy Marana’s outstanding outdoor lifestyle, complete with nearby Saguaro National Park and the Tortolita Mountains’ acclaimed hiking trails.
• By matching high-end development with outstanding recreational and cultural opportunities, Marana is becoming known as top-flight destination for employers, tourists and new residents in Southern Arizona.

Economy

Asarco's Silver Bell mine is located near Marana.

Principal employers

According to Marana's 2018 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the principal employers in the city are;

Education

Marana has a public school system consisting of 16 schools, which are coordinated by the Marana Unified School District. Flowing Wells Unified School District coordinates the education in the municipality's extreme southeastern section. Additionally, the portion of the town within Pinal County is served by Red Rock Elementary School and Santa Cruz Valley Unified High.

Transportation

Marana is served by Sun Shuttle service to Tucson.

See also

In Spanish: Marana (Arizona) para niños