Old Tucson Studios

Old Tucson was originally built in 1939 by Columbia Pictures on a Pima County-owned site as a replica of 1860s’ era Tucson for the movie Arizona (1940), starring William Holden and Jean Arthur. Workers built more than 50 buildings in 40 days. Many of those structures are still standing.

After Arizona completed filming, the location lay dormant for several years, until the filming of The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), starring Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman. Other early movies filmed on this set included The Last Round-Up (1947) with Gene Autry and Winchester '73 (1950) with James Stewart and The Last Outpost (1951) with Ronald Reagan. The 1950s saw the filming of Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold (1958), Cimarron (1960), Last Train from Gun Hill (1959), and Rio Bravo (1959) among others.

The fictional Pima County Bank used in the daily bank robbery show

In 1959, entrepreneur Robert Shelton leased the property from Pima County and began to restore the aging facility. Old Tucson re-opened in 1960, as both a film studio and a theme park. The park grew building by building with each movie filmed on its dusty streets. John Wayne starred in four movies at Old Tucson. Rio Bravo (1959) added a saloon, bank building and doctor's office; McLintock! (1963) added the McLintock Hotel; El Dorado (1966) brought a renovation of the storefronts on Front Street; and with Rio Lobo (1970) came a cantina, a granite-lined creek, a jail and a ranch house.

In 1968, a 13,000 square foot (1,208 square meter) soundstage was built to give Old Tucson greater movie-making versatility. The first film to use the soundstage was Young Billy Young (1968), starring Robert Mitchum and Angie Dickinson.

The park also began adding tours, rides and shows for the entertainment of visitors, most notably gunfights staged in the "streets" by stunt performers. One of the rides is a 2 ft (610 mm) narrow gauge[1] railroad powered by two Chance Rides C.P. Huntington train sets, which encircles most of the property.

Old Tucson served as an ideal location for shooting scenes for TV series like NBC's The High Chaparral (1967–1971) with Leif Erickson and Cameron Mitchell where the ranch house survived the 1995 fire; the 1970s–1980s series Little House on the Prairie with Michael Landon, Kung Fu,[2] and later Father Murphy, featuring Merlin Olsen and Petrocelli (1974–76) used the site. Three Amigos was a popular comedy movie shot there in the 1980s with Steve Martin, utilizing the church set. From 1989 to 1992, the western show The Young Riders filmed here and at the Mescal, Arizona sister site. The main street appears prominently in 1990s westerns such as Tombstone (1993) with Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer. A partial mirror set exists at Mescal and is featured in The Quick and the Dead (1995), with Sharon Stone and Gene Hackman which filmed all of the town of Redemption scenes at the studios.

Old Tucson buildings in 1984, before the 1995 conflagration

On April 24, 1995, a fire destroyed much of Old Tucson Studios. Buildings, costumes, and memorabilia were lost in the blaze. Among the memorabilia destroyed was the wardrobe from Little House on the Prairie. Also lost in the blaze was the only copy of a short film about the history of Old Tucson Studios. This film included rare behind-the-scenes footage of stars such as William Holden, John Wayne, and Angie Dickinson. The Reno, a steam locomotive from the Virginia and Truckee Railroad on static display in the park, was also badly damaged.

Fire control efforts were hampered by high winds. Most of the buildings in the studio were classified as "Temporary Structures," meaning fire prevention devices such as sprinklers were not required. A large propane tank, stashes of black powder used in staging gunfights, and a diesel fuel tank demanded the attention of firefighters and much of the scarce water supply. So much water was used in the attempt to prevent an explosion that the surrounding areas became flooded, further impeding the firefighters as they attempted to wade through the mud. After four hours of firefighting, the flames were extinguished. Damages were estimated to be around $10 million ($15 million in 2013), with 25 buildings destroyed and no human casualties.

After 20 months of reconstruction, Old Tucson re-opened its doors on January 2, 1997. The sets that were lost were not recreated; instead, entirely new buildings were constructed, and the streets were widened. The Reno locomotive was cosmetically restored before the filming of Wild Wild West, in which it was featured as Union Pacific 119 in the scene at the driving of the final spike of the First Transcontinental Railroad, but was subsequently used in an explosion in the scene and is in need of additional restoration. The soundstage was not rebuilt. Film production at Old Tucson was seriously affected by the fire. In 2003, Old Tucson reduced its hours of operation, opening from 10am to 4pm. Focusing on seasonal events, Old Tucson hosts the popular Nightfall[3] event for Halloween which runs through the month of October, Wednesday through Sunday nights.

A railroad station building near the Old Tucson Studios entrance

In 2011, Old Tucson embarked on a project to build new movie-quality sets that fill out the park, and restore the pre-fire feel of close-together buildings, providing the look and depth of a genuine old west town circa 1865–1900. “After the rebuild of Old Tucson following the 1995 fire, the town just didn’t have the same look and feel,” says Old Tucson CEO and General Manager Pete Mangelsdorf. “We started discussions with Bob Shelton several years ago to develop a plan to fill the empty space in Town Square with movie-quality sets that bring the magic back.”

The Heritage Square Project, a 5,000-square-foot spread with three new streets lined with 12 new buildings, was completed in November 2011 at an estimated cost of $300,000. The design and construction of the new sets was led by Production Designer Gene Rudolf, credited with creating sets for movies including Young Guns II (1990), The Great Gatsby (1974), The Right Stuff (1983), Raging Bull (1980), Marathon Man (1976), and Three Days of the Condor (1975). The project added dressmaker shops, a general store and a blacksmith, and are part of "living history" presentations. One of the goals of the Heritage Project was to add "more programs that have to do with the different cultural aspects, the Hispanic culture, the Chinese culture, the Native American culture," said Mangelsdorf. Along those lines, another new exhibit now open to the public features a Tohono O'odham village as it would have appeared in the 1860s. It includes traditional houses, a garden and other facets of village life.[4][5][6]

On Tuesday, September 8, 2020, Old Tucson, the Western-themed attraction that was the filming location of more than 400 feature-films and TV shows, closed indefinitely, with its future to be determined by Pima County.

The decision to close the Arizona landmark "was made with a heavy heart," according to Old Tucson general manager Terry Verhage, who said in a news release that the theme park would have remained in business "if not for the COVID-19 pandemic."

“We know how important Old Tucson is to our community, guests and employees,” he said. “We did everything possible to keep our loyal fans safe when we were open, but the ongoing COVID-19 public health protocols and restrictions limited park attendance to the point where Old Tucson could no longer stay in business.”

Pima County took over responsibility for the theme park on September 14, 2020, and "will seek ideas from potential operators and lessors about what Old Tucson could be in the future," the news release said.

On August 24, 2021, the Reno locomotive was acquired by the revived Virginia and Truckee Railroad and was trucked off the property. She arrived in Virginia City, Nevada for the first time since 1938 two days later.[7]

While closed, Pima County Administrator said the county has invested over $1M on upgrading the site and repairing neglected items to prepare the facility for a new operator.

On April 5, 2022, Pima County selected American Heritage Railways (AHR) as the new operators of Old Tucson (aka Old Tucson Studios). It would be operated as Old Tucson Entertainment, LLC.[8] The famous sister-site, Mescal Movie Set, was not part of the deal and will not be operated by the new AHR operators.

This historic movie location and theme park will reopen on Oct 6, 2022 with the popular "Nightfall at Old Tucson" event followed by a new Christmas-themed event called "Yuletide at Old Tucson" on Nov 25, 2022. John Harper serves as vice president and Chief Operating Officer of American Heritage Railways and will oversee the property's Executive Team, General Managers, and key employees. John has over 10 years in the historic preservation industry as well. They plan to utilize the facility not only as a theme-park but also reinstate its history as a filming location with the addition of sets, backdrops, sound stage, and pre and post-production facilities in 2023.

In July 2022, the Arizona State legislature passed the Arizona Film Tax Incentive bill which would encourage productions to return to facilities like Old Tucson. The passage of this bill is likely to increase film production at Old Tucson. As of Sept. 2022, they have been fielding offers for film and TV series to resume.

Many films, not all of them Westerns, were shot at Old Tucson Studios in whole or in part including the following:[9][10]

Many TV series and TV movies have had at least one episode filmed at Old Tucson in whole or in part including the following:

• Old Vegas
• Goldfield Ghost Town

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Old Tucson Studios.

• Official site

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