The city of Casa Grande, AZ got it’s name from some Indian ruins nearby.  The ruins include low wall sections from several large compounds in a small area, dominated by a 3-story large structure known as the “big house”.  The big house is much degraded from the elements over several hundred years as well as people climbing on it and damaging it in the 1800s and early 1900s until the government declared it a national park area and worked to preserve it.

In the 1930s a large shade structure was built over the big house to keep it from sun and rain.  Most of the ruins are just low walls so visitors can walk around through some of the old rooms and see the size etc.  The “big house” cannot be entered, but there are windows and doorways that you can walk up to and see into the area.

It’s amazing to see what desert dwelling Indians with no modern tools or materials were able to make such a structure with just mud walls and native tree material for structural support and ladders!  The area was occupied from approx. 900 A.D. through the 1300s but then was abandoned.

We took Zoey, Kira and Zoey’s friend Gigi to see the Casa Grande ruins, it was a very interesting tour!  Here’s the website: Casa Grande National Park website, and here are some pictures: