Casa Grande National Monument

Site Overview

Casa Grande National Monument, managed by the National Park Service, is located about an hour south of Phoenix in Coolidge, Arizona. Preserved here are the remains of an ancient Hohokam farming village, ball court and Great House. There is a year-round visitors center with with picnic facilities and restrooms. The NPS day use fee is good for seven days and costs $5 per person.

Getting There

From Interstate 10, take the Coolidge exits and follow the signs to the monument.

What You can See

The visitor center houses a small museum displaying materials recovered from the site, as well as a small theater and bookstore. There are also guided Ranger tours available at different times of the day.

An established trail leads from the Visitors Center and takes you into the remains of the ancient walled compound, and the Great House. The four story structure was aligned to the four cardinal directions. Several openings in the walls align with celestial objects at certain times of the year, including the solstices and equinoxes. An understanding of the changing positions of the sun, moon and certain stars meant a knowledge of seasons, when to plant, harvest, etc.

Just to the north of the compound, on the other side of the Visitor Center, is a raised sidewalk that offers a view of a ball court and two additional compounds.One includes a platform mound where archaeologists believe that "elite" homes would have been constructed.

While Casa Grande is not as large, or spectacular as Mesa Verde or Chaco Canyon, it is very significant in the archaeological scheme of things. The Hohokam descended from Archaic Hunter-Gatherers in Arizona and developed into a farming culture with permanent settlements, and elaborate and highly effective irrigation systems. They established far-reaching trade networks extending from the Pacific coast to the Great Plains. They interacted with the Anasazi of the Colorado Plateau and Mesoamerican cultures in Mexico.

The Hohokam seem to have left the Phoenix basin by the 1400s. By the time Spanish conquistadors arrived in the 17th century, the Casa Grande was an abandoned relic. The Pima peoples, living nearby in brush houses, referred to their ancestors as the Hohokam - "all gone" or "all used up."

Tips for Your Visit

The road to the Monument is paved. The visitor center has restrooms, as well as maps and books for sale. The rangers staffing the center are there to answer any questions you might have regarding the history of Casa Grande, or the region in general. Casa Grande National Monument is located in the Sonoran Desert. During the summer months it can easily exceed 100 degrees! Make sure to drink plenty of water, keep an eye out for cacti, and if the heat is getting to you, stop in the shade and take a rest. This site doesn't take long to visit and you are basically "in town" when you are there. No 4-wheel drive or map reading skills required here.

Casa Grande NPS Web site