Tacna

History

By 1859, the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach company had opened the Antelope Peak Station at the foot of Antelope Hill. A post office named Tacna was created following the building of the Southern Pacific Railroad in the 1870s, but did not last long. The town of Tacna was founded by Max B. Noah in the early 1920s and was named after the railroad stop. At the time he sold the town in 1941, it contained a post office and a restaurant called Noah's Ark. After the town's sale, the post office was relocated four miles east, and the original railroad siding was renamed to Noah. There is an apocryphal story that the name Tacna is derived from Tachnopolis, a Greek priest from California who is supposed to have settled amongst the native population. This claim appears to be entirely an invention of Noah.

Geography

Tacna is located along Interstate 8 within the Mohawk Valley and just south of the Gila River. It is east of the Yuma Metropolitan Statistical Area. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , all land. Tacna has a hot desert climate (Köppen: BWh) with long, extremely hot summers and short, mild winters.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Antelope Union High School
  High · Wellton · 199 students
• Mohawk Valley School
  Elementary · Roll · 163 students · 14.8:1 ratio
• AUHS Online Acadamy
  High · Wellton · 1 students
• STEDY- Antelope HS Satellite
  High · Wellton