page_title: Tuba City, Arizona
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Tuba City, Arizona / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Looking across rows of corn, cliff in background, "Corn Field, Indian Farm near Tuba City, Arizona, in Rain, 1941."; From the series Ansel Adams Photographs of National Parks and Monuments, compiled 1941 - 1942, documenting the period ca. 1933 - 1942.
context_page_description: Tuba City is an unincorporated town in Coconino County, Arizona, on Navajo lands, in the United States. It is the second-largest community in Coconino County. The population of the census-designated place was 8,611 at the 2010 census. It is the Navajo Nation's largest community, slightly larger than Shiprock, New Mexico, and the headquarters of the Western Navajo Agency. The Hopi village of Moenkopi lies directly to its southeast.
  The name of the town honors Tuuvi, a Hopi man from Oraibi who converted to Mormonism. The Navajo name for Tuba City, Tó Naneesdizí translates as "tangled waters", which probably refers to the many below-ground springs that are the source of several reservoirs.
  Tuba City is located within the Painted Desert near the western edge of the Navajo Nation. The town is situated on U.S. Route 160, near the junction with Arizona State Route 264. Tuba City is located about 50 miles from the eastern entrance to Grand Canyon National Park and approximately 78 miles from Flagstaff. Most of Tuba City's residents are Navajo, with a small Hopi minority. It is located within Arizona's 1st Congressional District, currently represented by Tom O'Halleran.
context_section_description: The written history of the town dates back more than 200 years. When Father Francisco Garcés visited the area in 1776, he recorded that the Hopi Indians were cultivating crops. 
  The town was named after Tuuva, a Hopi man. Tuuva converted to Mormonism circa 1870, and invited the Mormons to settle near Moenkopi without permission. 
  Tuba City was founded by the Mormons in 1872. Tuba City drew Navajo and Paiute Indians to the area because of its natural springs, Hopi Indians were already present. In 1956, Tuba City became a uranium town, as the regional office for the Rare Metals Corporation and the Atomic Energy Commission. The mill closed in 1966, and reclamation of the millsite and tailings pile was completed in 1990.
caption: Tuba City cornfield, 1941. Photo by Ansel Adams
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