Inspiration for this project came from the pottery found at the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. Rich blues, alluvial patterns, and ollas celebrate Indigenous irrigation technology.

Cotton, one of our state’s “Five C’s,” remains one of Southern Arizona’s — especially Eloy’s — top agricultural crops. Structure aesthetics include verdant crop lines and cotton bolls.

John Mosheim Ruthrauff was an engineer credited with turning Tucson from a sleepy town with dirt streets into a modern city with paved roads and streetlights.

Six vivid murals, made of 18,000 hand-painted tiles by local artist Gary Lee Mackender, envision perspectives of Tucson and are exhibited on the retaining walls.

At the city’s “gateway to the University of Arizona,” depictions of the Steward Observatory, McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope, and the Kitt Peak National Observatory illustrate astronomy’s regional significance.

Local artist Steve Farley portrays residents of the adjacent Barrio Hollywood and Barrio Anita with community-oriented photographic murals displayed on the retaining walls.

Many ethnic groups have inhabited the area in which this TI was built. Each has grown corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers monumentalized by the towering formliner design.

Following sandhill crane migrations to the Wilcox Playa every winter, bird enthusiasts and ecotourists also flock to Southern Arizona to experience our incredible avian biodiversity.