Limberlost Neighborhood Profile
Limberlost Neighborhood by Marlene Avelino
Limberlost neighborhood is contained within a neat rectangle, Wetmore to the North, Roger to the South, Oracle to the West, and First Ave to the East. Commercial development and big box stores line the western border on Oracle. The majority of the neighborhood is residential with a few larger multi housing apartments and the majority single family homes built beginning in the mid 60s with further housing developments in the 70s and 80s. There is a high homeownership rate according to niche.com with 79% of residents owning their home.
Original 1909 cover of A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter
Limberlost got its name thanks to Harry Behn, who lived at 411 E. Old Wetmore Road and loved the book “A Girl of the Limberlost” written in 1909 by Gene Stratton-Porter about an impoverished teenager living on the edge of Limberlost Swamp in eastern Indiana. In 1941 there were two Wetmore Roads and he successfully petitioned the city to change the name of the Wetmore he lived on to Limberlost Drive in honor of the book. Harry Behn founded the University of Arizona Press in 1960 and died in 1973.
Limberlost Family Park with a Little Free Library in the middle, basketball court and playground to the left, and mature Mesquite bosque and walking path on the right.
A point of pride is Limberlost Family Park, 6.55 acres of mature mesquite bosque, walking paths, kids play area, benches and tables. Previously named Don Hummel Park in honor of the old mayor, it was changed to its current name in 2009.
Just a small section of the 630 foot Stone Avenue Mural
The Stone Ave mural is another point of pride for the neighborhood. “The River Returns, Regenerates, Restores” is the name of the 630 foot long and 6 foot high multimedia mural on a sound barrier wall on the east side of Stone Ave between Roger Road and Limberlost Drive. Muralist Pasqualina Azzarello led the efforts along with artists Kim Young and Christine Devine, funded by a $45,000 grant from the Tucson Pima Arts Council, which is now the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona. Neighborhood leaders raised an additional 45k from the city bringing the total cost of the project to 90k. Community engagement and youth leadership development were essential in the initial creation of the project; they engaged in six months of community meetings and recruited and hired 10 Amphi high school students to help. Work began in 1999 and was completed in 2001. This impressive story doesn’t end there. Twenty years later these same neighborhood leaders raised another 25k and commissioned a reunion to restore the sun faded mural, bringing back Azzarello and at least one of the then high school artists, Adam Cooper-Teran, “it completely changed the course of my life, giving me the confidence and self-assurance to pursue a career in the arts.”
Pasqualina reflects, “The original North Stone Avenue Mural Project of 1999-2001 was a remarkable, intergenerational demonstration of empathetic community engagement and of what it means to lead with care––on the part of everyone involved. By investing the time, space, energy, and resources to create a safe and supportive space for community members to share their authentic stories, and by honoring these stories within the mural itself, a profound experience of trust and belonging was generated through our process.”