Nogales

Sister cities

• Kandahar

History

The name Nogales is derived from the Spanish word for 'walnut' or 'walnut tree'. It refers to the large stands of walnut trees that once stood in the mountain pass where Nogales is located. Nogales was at the beginning of the 1775–1776 Juan Bautista de Anza Expedition as it entered the present-day U.S. from New Spain, and the town is now on the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail. On the second floor of the 1904 Nogales Courthouse is a small room dedicated to the 1775–1776 Anza Expedition. In 1841, a land grant from the Mexican government to the Elías family established Los Nogales de Elías. Following the Gadsden Purchase in 1853, Nogales became a part of the United States of America. In 1880, Russian-Jewish immigrants Isaac and Jacob Isaacson homesteaded the trading post of Isaacson, Arizona, at present-day Nogales. The U.S. Postal Service opened the Isaacson post office but renamed it as Nogales in 1883. On August 27, 1918, a battle between United States Army forces and Mexican militia – mostly civilian in composition – took place. Culminating as the result of a decade's worth of tensions originating from the Mexican Revolution and earlier battles in Nogales along the border in 1913 and 1915, the main consequence of the 1918 violence saw the building of the first permanent border wall between Nogales, Arizona, and Nogales, Sonora, along the previously unobstructed boundary line on International Street.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land. The city is at an elevation of . |source 2 = National Weather Service (mean maxima/minima 2006–2020) }}

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Gila Woodpecker

  Melanerpes uropygialis (S.F.Baird, 1854) · Aves
  16,136
• White-winged Dove

  Zenaida asiatica (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  15,029
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  14,589
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  14,130
• Lesser Goldfinch

  Spinus psaltria (Say, 1822) · Aves
  14,012
• American Coot

  Fulica americana Gmelin, 1789 · Aves
  13,494
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  13,424
• Turkey Vulture

  Cathartes aura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  12,744

Largest nearby schools

• Nogales High School
  High · NOGALES · 1,796 students · 23.6:1 ratio
• Calabasas School
  Elementary · RIO RICO · 1,006 students · 18.3:1 ratio
• Desert Shadows Middle School
  Middle · Nogales · 760 students · 21.7:1 ratio
• Wade Carpenter Middle School
  Middle · NOGALES · 576 students · 22.2:1 ratio
• Francisco Vasquez De Coronado Elementary School
  Elementary · NOGALES · 515 students · 21.5:1 ratio
• Lincoln Elementary School
  Elementary · NOGALES · 438 students · 19.9:1 ratio
• San Cayetano Elementary School
  Elementary · RIO RICO · 393 students · 19.6:1 ratio
• Challenger Elementary School
  Elementary · NOGALES · 374 students · 14.4:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.5 — 2021-05-15
  13 km SW of Cananea, Mexico