The fire station directly behind the Tucson Convention Center, at 265 S. Church Ave., is the new home of a commemorative plaza and statue, which was dedicated and blessed on Saturday, Nov. 14.
The bronze statue depicts a grandmother and grandson, who are standing in the wind and pointing toward the TCC. It stands as a memorial to Barrio El Hoyo, a downtown neighborhood that was formerly located where the TCC now stands. Many of the families in this neighborhood were forced from their homes to make room for the TCC, according to Pedro Gonzales, a former Barrio El Hoyo resident.
“The statue is to honor the memory of folks who were displaced to urban renewal,” Gonzales said.
Gonzales and his family were among those displaced, and he recalls the displacement as the beginning of some “very hard times” for his family and the rest of the neighborhood. These families were removed from houses that, in some cases, had been occupied by the same family for generations.
The histories of these families are woven within the plaza surrounding the statue. It features plaques displaying quotes from former residents, reminiscing about the family-like atmosphere of the destroyed neighborhood, and its consequent disappearance.
“The life in those barrios was a full and rich one,” one plaque reads. “We all lived together – there was a mixture of people – Jews, Syrians, naturally many Mexicans, Chinese, Lebanese – and everyone spoke Spanish.”
“But it changed when they took the barrio from there, and the people were scattered all over town,” reads another. “I never see them, maybe sometimes at a wedding.”
