Editing Tanque Verde, Arizona

{{Short description|CDP in Pima County, Arizona}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox settlement
|official_name            = Tanque Verde, Arizona
|settlement_type          = [[Unincorporated community]]<br />[[Census-designated place]]
|image_skyline            =
|imagesize                =
|image_caption            =
|image_map                = Pima County Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Tanque Verde highlighted.svg
|mapsize                  = 250px
|map_caption              = Location in [[Pima County, Arizona|Pima County]] and the state of [[Arizona]]
|image_map1               =
|mapsize1                 =
|map_caption1             =
|pushpin_map = USA
|pushpin_map_caption = Location in the United States
|subdivision_type         = [[Countries of the World|Country]]
|subdivision_type1        = [[U.S. state|State]]
|subdivision_type2        = [[List of counties in Arizona|County]]
|subdivision_name         = United States
|subdivision_name1        = [[Arizona]]
|subdivision_name2        = [[Pima County, Arizona|Pima]]
|government_type          =
|leader_title             =
|leader_name              =
|established_title        =
|established_date         =
|area_magnitude           =
|area_total_km2           = 83.64
|area_total_sq_mi         = 32.29
|area_land_km2            = 83.64
|area_land_sq_mi          = 32.29
|area_water_km2           = 0.00
|area_water_sq_mi         = 0.00
|elevation_ft             = 2671
|elevation_m              = 814
|population_as_of         = [[2020 United States census|2020]]
|population_footnotes     =
|population_total         = 16250
|population_metro         =
|population_density_km2   = 194.29
|population_density_sq_mi = 503.21
|timezone                 = [[Mountain Standard Time Zone|MST]] (no [[Daylight savings time|DST]])
|utc_offset               = -7
|coordinates              = {{coord|32|16|17|N|110|45|6|W|region:US_type:city|display=inline,title}}
|website                  =
|timezone_DST             =
|utc_offset_DST           =
|postal_code_type         =
|postal_code              =
|area_code                =
|blank_name               = [[Federal Information Processing Standard|FIPS code]]
|blank_info               = 04-72000
|blank1_name              = [[Geographic Names Information System|GNIS]] feature ID
|blank1_info              = {{GNIS4|37549}}
|footnotes                =
|pop_est_as_of =
|pop_est_footnotes =
|population_est =
|unit_pref = Imperial
|area_footnotes = <ref name="CenPopGazetteer2020">{{cite web|title=2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files|url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/2020_Gazetteer/2020_gaz_place_04.txt|publisher=United States Census Bureau|accessdate=October 29, 2021}}</ref>
}}
'''Tanque Verde''' is a [[suburb]]an [[unincorporated community]] in [[Pima County, Arizona]], United States, northeast of [[Tucson, Arizona|Tucson]]. The population was 16,195 at the [[2000 United States Census|2000 census]]. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined Tanque Verde as a [[census-designated place]] (CDP).

== History ==
{{unreferenced section|date=November 2012}}
Tanque Verde began as a small community, remote from [[Tucson]], and settled by [[ranchers]] arriving to the [[American West]] around the 1860s.  The name of the area, which means "green tank," is a reference to the [[algae]] in a large and prominent stock water tank in the area in the late 19th century.

The Tanque Verde Valley was used by the [[Apache]], a [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] tribe throughout the 19th century.  Soldiers from Fort Lowell operated by the [[U.S. Army]] in the late 19th century also frequented the Tanque Verde Valley.

In 1886, the residents of the Tanque Verde valley established the Tanque Verde School District as the first significant political entity of the community.

The army closed Fort Lowell in 1891, and when some Hispanic immigrants from Baja California and Sonora saw the fort's buildings standing empty, they moved into the abandoned adobes. Soon they began farming the rich floodplain northeast of the fort, where Pantano Wash feeds into Tanque Verde Creek to form the Rillito (Little River), and by the turn of the century the community they came to call El Fuerte was thriving.<ref>Thomas E. Sheridan, ''Los Tucsonenses: The Mexican American Community in Tucson'' (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1986), 71; Teresa Turner, ''The People of Fort Lowell'' (Tucson: Arizona Humanities Council, 1982), 19.</ref>  Upstream from El Fuerte, in the canyons and nooks (rincons) of the front range of the Santa Catalina Mountains and the Rincon range—the area they came to call Tanque Verde—Hispanic families with names like Escalante, Estrada, Andrade, Vindiola, Lopez, Riesgo, Benitez, Telles, Martinez, and Gallegos began establishing homes and ranches.<ref>Sheridan, 71; [[Patricia Preciado Martin]], ''Images and Conversations: Mexican Americans Recall a Southwestern Past'' (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1983), 93.</ref>  Initially the largely self-sufficient community of homesteads thrived, but over time many of the smaller ranches were swallowed up by larger ones or sold to speculators.  According to Frank Escalante, a descendant of Tanque Verde homesteaders, some non-Hispanic Americans robbed some of these families of their land titles and ranches by fraud or force. Some Hispanics who became Mexican Americans after the Gadsden Purchase had limited understanding of English and a naivete regarding American property law even four decades after the transition, and made easy marks for the unscrupulous. The infamous Arizona Rangers sometimes enforced interlopers' property claims.<ref>Yjinio Aguirre, ''Echoes of the Conquistadores: History of a Pioneer Family in the Southwest'' (privately published, 1983), 57, cited in Sheridan, 72.</ref>  The First World War brought a rise in the market for cotton and the value of farmland, and still more of the original homesteaders felt pressured to sell.  Ultimately the growth of Tucson and the demand for land for housing priced most of the remaining pioneers off their ranches.<ref>Sheridan, 72–74; Preciado Martin, 93, 95; Cornelius Smith, ''Tanque Verde: The Story of a Frontier Ranch'' (privately published, n.d.), 129., cited in Sheridan, 74; Stein, Betancourt, and Turner cited in Sherican, 73–74</ref>

In 1989, Tanque Verde was the main site for the [[Nickelodeon]] program ''[[Hey Dude]]''.

By 2005, more than 1,600 students were enrolled in the school district's three schools, serving grades K–9.  The Tanque Verde School District continues to register among the highest [[standardized test]] scores in [[Arizona]].

As the Tucson area increased population, the Tanque Verde Valley did as well, but at a much slower rate.  Much of the land in Tanque Verde is in [[Covenant (law)|covenants]] dictating land-use policies. These covenants strongly control growth and are considered by residents to ensure land preservation. By the 1960s, Tanque Verde had become a true [[suburb]] of Tucson.

Tanque Verde has become a community, with a significant [[equestrianism|equestrian]] presence.

==Geography==
The Tanque Verde Valley is characterized by the [[Santa Catalina Mountains]] to the north, and the [[Rincon Mountains]] to the east.  The Tanque Verde Valley is traversed by two notable seasonal creeks, Tanque Verde and Agua Caliente.

According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], Tanque Verde has a total area of 32.9&nbsp;square miles (85.1&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>), all  land. The river system in Arizona, including in Tanque Verde, is threatened by the increased pumping and diversion of water from the rivers and streams for agriculture, industrial, and domestic use.<ref>http://www.pima.gov/cmo/sdcp/sdcp2/elements/riparelem/riparmemo.htm  {{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

==Demographics==
{{US Census population
|2020= 16250
|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census<ref name="DecennialCensus">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html|title=Census of Population and Housing|publisher=Census.gov|access-date=June 4, 2016}}</ref>
}}
At the 2000 [[census]],<ref name="GR2">{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date=January 31, 2008 |title=U.S. Census website }}</ref> there were 16,195 people, 5,810 households and 4,903 families residing in Tanque Verde. The population density was {{convert|492.7|PD/sqmi|PD/km2|sp=us|adj=off}}. There were 6,056 housing units at an average density of {{convert|184.3|/sqmi|/km2|sp=us|adj=off}}.  The racial makeup of Tanque Verde is 94.3% [[Race (United States Census)|White]], 0.7% [[Race (United States Census)|Black]] or [[Race (United States Census)|African American]], 0.6% [[Race (United States Census)|Native American]], 1.3% [[Race (United States Census)|Asian]], 0.1% [[Race (United States Census)|Pacific Islander]], 1.4% from [[Race (United States Census)|other races]], and 1.7% from two or more races. 7.3% of the population were [[Race (United States Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Race (United States Census)|Latino]] of any race.

There were 5,810 households, of which 35.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 76.3% were [[marriage|married couples]] living together, 5.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 15.6% were non-families. 12.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 4.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.  The average household size was 2.77 and the average family size was 3.01.

25.3% of the population were under the age of 18, 4.9% from 18 to 24, 22.7% from 25 to 44, 35.1% from 45 to 64, and 12.0% who were 65 years of age or older.  For every 100 females, there were 101.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.9 males.

The [[median household income]] was $80,530 and the median family income was $84,228. Males had a median income of $60,257 compared with $35,356 for females. The [[per capita income]] for Tanque Verde is $36,467. About 1.5% of families and 2.4% of the population were below the [[poverty line]], including 1.6% of those under age 18 and 3.3% of those age 65 or over.

The median resident age is 53, v 37 in Pima County; 11.2% of the population is Hispanic v 34.6% in Pima County.  The cost of living index is 91.3.

==Education==
The Tanque Verde area is served by two school districts: [[Tanque Verde Unified School District]] and [[Tucson Unified School District]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/DC2020/PL20/st04_az/schooldistrict_maps/c04019_pima/DC20SD_C04019.pdf|title=2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Pima County, AZ|publisher=[[U.S. Census Bureau]]|page=2 (PDF p. 3/3)|access-date=2024-11-07}}</ref> The two high schools in the area are [[Sabino High School]] and [[Tanque Verde High School]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Cities of Pima County, Arizona}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Census-designated places in Pima County, Arizona]]
[[Category:Census-designated places in Arizona]]
[[Category:Geography of Tucson, Arizona]]
[[Category:Populated places in the Sonoran Desert]]
[[Category:History of Pima County, Arizona]]