Casa Grande Ruins Administrative History

C. The Development of Casa Grande Ruins National Monument (continued)

4. MISSION 66

For more than a decade from America's entry into World War II in 1941 to the mid-1950s, the National Park Service spent very little money for new buildings or to repair existing structures. The growing number of visitors during that time greatly crowded the existing facilities. At the same time buildings slowly deteriorated. As a result, the National Park Service director, Conrad Wirth, developed a program to build better visitor facilities as well as repair some existing structures. Because he hoped to achieve his plan by 1966 to coincide with the National Park Service fiftieth anniversary, it became known as MISSION 66. National Park and Monument superintendents were asked to submit a prospectus in which their needs were presented.

At Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, Superintendent A. T. Bicknell wrote a MISSION 66 Prospectus and sent it to John M. Davis, the General Superintendent of the Southwestern Monuments, on July 14, 1955. Bicknell did not request any new development because he thought everything at the monument was adequate to meet employee and visitor needs. Davis did not agree with Bicknell's assessment. He thought that the long-proposed museum addition was necessary whereby the building would be enlarged to form a hollow square. The open center could be planted with native vegetation, Davis felt. When Hugh M. Miller, the Region Three director, received the Casa Grande prospectus, he made stronger comments. Miller wanted the museum/administration building removed and a new visitor center and parking area built closer to the entrance. He considered the employee housing to be an eyesore and wanted it, along with the picnic area, eliminated. Finally, Miller wanted the Great House roof replaced by a transparent air-conditioned cover over the entire ruin. [46]

Consequently, John Davis revised the prospectus to reflect some of Miller's comments. In this November 1955 version, Davis wrote that the employee housing would be removed and employees encouraged to live in Coolidge. The pumphouse would be torn down as well. Davis also added that despite the roof protection over the Great House, the upper area of that building had continued to crumble and the windward side suffered from blown sand. As a result, he requested that it be enclosed with steel reinforced plastic or glass. When it came to the museum/administration building Davis did not follow Miller's desire. Again Davis asked that the existing structure be expanded along with the parking area. Although there was some feeling in the Southwest regional office that the revised prospectus should follow Miller's comments exactly, the regional director approved it and sent it to Washington, D.C. for the National Park Service director's approval. Director Wirth reviewed the prospectus and approved it in January 1956 with two exceptions. He disapproved of a museum addition. Instead, he thought that the existing museum could be expanded by removing some of the administrative offices. Wirth felt that one of the employee residences should be kept for office space. [47]

In light of Wirth's statements, a revised version of the MISSION 66 Prospectus was circulated on April 19, 1956. It proved not to be the final product. Superintendent Bicknell was asked to change it one more time in May 1957. On this occasion, the decision to remove four of the five employee quarters was changed to retain two of the buildings. The prospectus received final approval on July 30, 1957. With that acceptance, the Master Plan, which had received some updating in 1952, was rewritten to conform with the MISSION 66 Prospectus. It was approved in 1961 and has not been revised since that date. [48]

Regional Director Miller's desire to have the so-called unsightly and ineffective roof over the Great House replaced with a complete covering resulted in exploring ways to have a more effective ruin shelter. Consequently, the famous architect R. Buckminster Fuller was invited to Casa Grande to discuss the possibility of building a plastic dome over the Great House. After his March 1956 visit, Fuller concluded that he could design a geodesic dome for the ruin and promised to build a model. When Fuller completed his model, it was sent to Washington, D.C. for inspection. The Chief of Interpretation, Ronald Lee, reported that he and the Chief Archeologist John Corbett as well as Mr. Vint had looked at the model and concluded "that the dome did not appear particularly desirable at Casa Grande." Lee gave four reasons for this view: 1) the dome would require expensive air-conditioning; 2) it would have more effect on the ruin profile than the existing shelter; 3) wind-carried sand could sandblast the plastic parts; and 4) a dome would cost more than modifying the current structure. Fuller returned to Casa Grande and explained that holes in the dome's base and top would permit a natural air flow so that no air-conditioning would be necessary. In addition modern plastics could be made to withstand the sandblast effect. Despite this assurance, Regional Archeologist Dale King thought the cost would be too great. Although the provision for a new ruin covering remained in the MISSION 66 Prospectus when it was given final approval in 1957, no attempt was made to carry out such a scheme after that date. [49]

The MISSION 66 Prospectus served as an imperfect planning tool. Although some of its provisions were carried out, in general many sections were ignored and projects not considered in the prospectus were approved. Instead of removing the pumphouse, it was converted to a storage facility in 1960. Later, in 1989, Superintendent Donald Spencer had the interior remodeled so it could be used for the monument library. In 1963 the laundry and storage building was converted to a three-stall garage. Late in that same year construction began on the museum/administration building addition despite the fact that it had been disapproved in the MISSION 66 Prospectus. When it was completed in 1964, the restroom building to its rear had been incorporated into the structure and an L-shaped wing had been added to achieve the hollow-square building. Restrooms were relocated into the front part of the structure with entrances off the new, covered porch which ran the length of the building's north side. This expansion provided more than double the previous area for display space. Native plants were placed in the open hollow center. The size of the public parking lot was increased as well to allow for sixty-six cars. Two of the five employee residences (the former 1925 museum and the 1929 ranger's quarters) were removed in 1965-66 along with the adobe wall which enclosed the quarters. Instead of destroying the 1931 Southwestern Monument Superintendent's house (building 1), as intended in the Mission 66 Prospectus, this building was given a major rehabilitation in 1965 including adding a new room in place of the west porch. It ultimately came to serve as a seasonal dormitory. Between July 19 and August 25, 1965, a final MISSION 66 project resulted in the reconstruction of the water distribution system. An 8-inch asbestos cement water main was connected to the Arizona Water Company supply, and secondary lines were installed from it to the buildings, picnic area, and three separate bubbler-type irrigation systems. In addition four fire hydrants with hose houses and hose were connected to the system. [50]

5. Casa Grande Ruins in the Nuclear Age

At the height of the cold war, as home owners were building bomb shelters in their basements, the National Park Service leadership decided to develop its own plan for an emergency response to a nuclear attack. On November 21, 1962, the Region Three director sent a memorandum to Aubrey Houston, the Casa Grande superintendent, in which he requested that a three-member Emergency Operations Committee be established to deal with civil defense emergencies, especially a nuclear attack. In the following year, Houston was asked to develop a handbook to be used for emergency operations as well as employee and visitor protection. The handbook author recognized that a nuclear attack on either Phoenix or Tucson could cause heavy fall-out at the Casa Grande Ruins. Since there were no fall-out shelters in the county, the civil defense plan was survival in place at least for some of the monument employees. All monument services would be reduced to protection by an emergency force of two individuals — the superintendent and a maintenance man. Visitors, the plan read, would be evacuated. It did not state to where they would be evacuated. Presumably, it would be to the monument entrance where they would be told to seek their own protection. In the meantime, at the end of the emergency, Casa Grande Ruins employees were to go to the nearest post office and obtain an Emergency Registration Card (SF-45). After they had filled it out, they were instructed to send the form to the Civil Service Commission in Washington, D.C. Then they were to await a call for Civil Defense duty. No recognition was given to the fact that a nuclear attack would undoubtedly have disrupted postal service and have destroyed the Civil Service Commission office in Washington, D.C. [51]

6. After MISSION 66

MISSION 66 proved to be the last major construction program to affect Casa Grande Ruins. Because of its small area, the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument superintendent has always had difficulties competing for funds. No relief was gained even after the 1971 reorganization when the monument was shifted from the Southwest Region to the Western Region. After 1966, maintenance for the existing facilities became the norm although some minor construction activity did take place. More tables were added to the picnic area in 1976. Energy saving measures took place in that year as well when the exposed glass in the visitor center was replaced by tinted safety glass to reflect the sunlight. Picnic area improvements again were made in 1977. A concrete slab was poured and a ramada built over it to accommodate more picnic tables. The water line was also extended to provide a tap near this new ramada. In February 1983 Casa Grande Ruins was annexed to the city of Coolidge. This meant that the monument fell under that city's fire, emergency medical, and law enforcement services. At the same time Coolidge began to collect the monument's garbage thus relieving monument personnel of the job of hauling it to a dump site. Because of this new relationship, the monument sewer system was tied into the Coolidge system on March 16, 1990. A sewage lift station was placed between the residential and maintenance areas. Superintendent Donald L. Spencer aided the interpretive program with the construction of a ramada-covered seating area in 1988 where visitors could sit in the shade to hear ranger talks. Two years later a steel platform was built so visitors could view the prehistoric ballcourt. [52]

From 1978-82, Superintendent Sam R. Henderson took part in the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) program. Between two and four young people worked at the monument during the summer to help with stabilization and maintenance projects. Henderson dropped the program in 1983, but Superintendent Spencer reapplied for YCC aid in 1986. He has since employed an average of three YCC youths per summer who help with the preservation/stabilization of Compound A, maintain .46-mile of trail, repair and dean boundary fence, and repair and maintain picnic tables. [53]

In the latter half of the 1980s Superintendent Spencer began two cooperative ventures with the surrounding community. In 1986 when Ranger Richard Howard retired, he removed his art collection from the visitor center walls where it had hung. Faced with blank wall space, Spencer decided to hold an annual art fair for local artists. After discussing the idea with several area residents, he called a meeting on September 25, 1986 at which a Casa Grande Ruins Art Council was established. This council consisted of six members — two people from the national monument and four individuals from Coolidge. A decision was made that only Pinal County artists were eligible to compete for prizes at the fair. The winners could display their art in the visitor center for a year until the next art fair. The Coolidge Chamber of Commerce consented to join as sponsors. In 1990 the Pueblo de Los Suenos Art Association of Coolidge also joined as sponsors of this successful fair. Another successful venture occurred in 1989 when a cooperative agreement was concluded between the monument and the city of Coolidge to develop an interpretive rest stop in an area opposite the monument's northeast corner. When it was constructed in 1990, the monument superintendent supplied three wayside exhibits to display in the structure. [54]