The Historic Casa Grande Ruins

We are here at the Casa Grande ruins, about 20 miles east of Casa Grande. And is the namesake for our fabulous town.

The ruins have been here for over 650 years and are one of North America's largest prehistoric dwellings. In the 1700s and early 1800s, only a trickle of travelers came by the Casa Grande ruins. Some of the first were Spanish explorers, including Father Keno, who was the first to document the ruins in 1694.

When the railroad first reached the town of Casa Grande, about 20 miles away, travelers scratched their names into the walls. Some of them took artifacts and even pieces of the walls as souvenirs.

And then the Mexican and American travelers arrived who were curious about the ruins. More people started to visit after 1879.

In 1889, Congress voted to protect the Casa Grande ruins from further vandalism and looting. They voted to pay for clearing debris and repairing the foundation. The wooden beams and metal rods you see today were installed in 1891 to brace up some of the walls.

Three years later, the federal government made the Casa Grande ruins the nation's first archeological preserve.

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