Chinese Garden

Farming (1870 – 1930)

Jujubes in the Chinese Garden

Between 1870 and 1930 Chinese farmers, mainly immigrants from rural communities of Taishan, in Southern China, grew crops in the vicinity of Mission Garden. In 1885 Chinese farmers occupied small plots along the Santa Cruz River totaling 150 acres. Leopoldo Carrillo and other landowners rented plots to the Chinese gardeners. They also collected a percentage of their profits from ‘truck farming’, transporting their fresh produce to town in horse-drawn wagons and peddling it door-to-door.

To sell to the increasingly urbanized population of Tucson, they grew fruit trees, such as:

They also grew strawberries, corn, potatoes, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, chilies, carrots, zucchini, squash, watermelons, lettuce, wheat, spinach, and turnips. 

Chinese 'truck farmers' grew crops on the banks of the Santa Cruz River, including here at the Mission Garden site, in Territorial-period Tucson. They would load their produce onto carts and take it to town, to sell from door to door. 

In 1987, Tucsonan Clara Ferrin, a schoolteacher of German Jewish descent, described the Chinese farmers’ daily routine, “They get up early in the morning and while one goes to town the other one or two plow the grounds carefully all day. They do most of the work by hand pushing steadily along behind the plow until the ground has been laid in smooth furrows. After the soil has been well tilled the vegetables are planted in...long rows from one side of the field to the other. As soon as the plants begin to grow they are covered with coal-oil cans to protect them from the sun.”

This wagon, believed to be Bain Wagon from the late 1800s, resembles those used by local Chinese “truck farmers” to take their vegetables to town and sell them from door to door. It was generously donated to Mission Garden by the Tucson Rodeo Parade Museum.

The 1900 census listed 36 Chinese farmers in Tucson. The 1910 census listed a total of 30, 14 of whom lived in the Santa Cruz River valley. A resident of Territorial Tucson named María Urquides, whose father had leased land to the Chinese gardeners, said of them in a 1977 interview, “There were little stables there, and there would be about four Chinese vendors who would keep their wagons there to have an early start. And they would take their vegetables—and you know how artistic they are—they’d clean the carrots and the onions and the calabacitas and they’d arrange them on their wagons, cover them with gunnysacks and wet them. And this was in the evening, and I can often remember going to sleep with the sing-song of their patter...They’d sprinkle the gunny sacks with water, and it was just like an evaporative cooler to keep the vegetables fresh overnight. And then they’d start early in the morning and come back at night with empty wagons. They were a terrific people. I had a very soft spot in my heart for the Chinese. Of course, we used to steal a little carrot every now and then from them.”

Chinese Tucsonans working in the Garden

Backyard Gardens Through the 1970s

Many Chinese-owned and operated grocery stores were located on the west side of town in primarily Hispanic neighborhoods. Most often living in the back of their shops, the grocers grew lush gardens with their preferred produce for home consumption: several varieties of citrus trees (orange, cumquat, grapefruit and pomelo) and other fruit trees (peaches, plums, apricots and figs); and vegetables, including fu qua (bitter melon), dou jiao (long green beans), ong choy (water spinach), yin choy (amaranth), kai lan (Chinese broccoli), don qua (winter melon), bok choy, luffa, silk squash, kohlrabi, soybeans, eggplant, cabbage, and goji berries. 

Tucson resident Joyce Gee saved her father’s seeds. These are long beans from her collection. Mission Garden is growing these heirloom seeds in the Chinese Garden.

My Favorite Place

Richard Fe Tom, July 2020

Mission Garden, located at the base of Sentinel Peak, has a sense of peace and old wisdom that reflects my architectural sense of healing spaces and empowering places.

Five years ago, my wife Nancy and I were asked to help develop a portion of the Timeline Gardens. The Chinese Garden started in the summer of 2017 with seeds collected from the early pioneering Chinese families. We offered to water the newly planted heritage seedlings every evening until the irrigation system was in place. After the watering, Nancy and I would walk among the gardens and fruit trees. As we walked and talked, we both felt a sense of calm, a sense of energy and a sense of healing and rejuvenation. Perhaps it was the dimming evening sun, the desert calm, the wisdom and voices of former inhabitants, or the contemplative music of the Garden. For me… it is easy to say that this is my favorite place.

Entering the 4-acre adobe-walled Garden through the heavy wooden textured gate begins the space-defining layered views of the Spanish heritage fruit trees, grape arbors, timeline gardens that are “watched over” by ‘A Mountain.’ The beauty of the volunteers’ craftsmanship of the mesquite and ocotillo ramadas, the Tarahumara chicken coop for heritage chickens, and other small structures and furniture tucked into and around the Garden. Recently, an acequia (irrigation canal) was constructed in Mission Garden to represent how thousands of years ago, indigenous people brought water for their crops. This area represents the longest continuously cultivated place in the United States and evidence of ancient lives are found in the layers beneath the Garden. The archaeology, history and cultures that have settled this area between the Santa Cruz River and Sentinel Peak have created a place that tells many rich stories to us as we preserve and create stories of the people of the future. It is no wonder that this is the birthplace of Tucson.

Around the time of the construction of the Southern Pacific railroad many Chinese workers stayed in Tucson to work as farmers. In the 1870s Chinese farmers began cultivating European-introduced crops for Tucson. They became successful commercial farmers while tending their own personal gardens growing Chinese vegetables. To honor and continue to the legacy of these early farmers, the Chinese Timeline Garden at Mission Garden used local heritage seeds to grow winter melons. That first year yielded these magical melons weighing in at 40 pounds. The heritage bitter melons, luffas, long beans and garlic chines that are so healthy were equally tasty to the volunteers who saw these vegetables grow from seeds to harvest.

To have this living agricultural museum located in Tucson that preserves and promotes the rich agricultural heritage and food cultures of people who for centuries have travelled the world taking their seeds, plants and culture with them. As an architect, I am inspired that, unlike a standing building, the Garden is constantly changing and full of both animal and plant life. This exchange and integration of life makes Mission Garden my favorite place.

Vegetables grown in the Chinese Garden

Learn More About Some of the Plants in the Chinese Garden

Text by Dena Cowan and Richard Fe Tom. Photographs by Dena Cowan unless otherwise noted. Design by Ellen Platts.

© 2025 Friends of Tucson’s Birthplace - Mission Garden.

Learn about special programs, educational opportunities, and getting involved at  MissionGarden.org .

Jujubes in the Chinese Garden

Chinese 'truck farmers' grew crops on the banks of the Santa Cruz River, including here at the Mission Garden site, in Territorial-period Tucson. They would load their produce onto carts and take it to town, to sell from door to door. 

Chinese Tucsonans working in the Garden