Binghampton Rural Historic District, a study of an urban neighborhood's attempt to gain historic district status

摘要

The River Bend neighborhood should be preserved as Binghampton Rural Historic District because it is a vestige of the Mormon colony of Binghampton and because it preserves part of the farming history of the Tucson basin. It reflects the pattern of both Mormon agrarian colonization and western settlement. Reminders of the original Mormon farmers exist in the form of fence lines, tree lined roads, orchards, and irrigation ditches. Unpaved, straight streets are aligned with the cardinal directions. The clustering of buildings in a comparatively large open space is characteristic of the spatial arrangement of rural Mormon landscapes. A survey of residents indicates a majority support the petition to become a historic district, but rezoning is a political process which will require the neighborhood to use a multi-faceted approach to achieve protection.