It all started in July of 1939 when Columbia Pictures set aside $250,000 to create a set for the filming of Arizona, a film to be set in Tucson in the 1860s. In the following years, many studios would use the site for western projects and add new buildings as they were needed. Little by little, Old Tucson grew to be the collection of historical buildings that we knew of before the devastating fire of 1995.
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The land was owned by Pima County and had to be leased for every movie that was filmed there. A couple movies that filmed there in the forties and fifties are The Bells of Saint Mary’s (1945) with Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman and Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957) with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas.
In 1959, a man by the name of Robert Shelton imagined a new purpose for the site and founded the Old Tucson Development Company. He leased the land and began to restore the buildings found there. A year later, Old Tucson Studios opened its doors to the public as an amusement park as well as its original purpose of a movie studio. In the eight years that followed the opening, several movies were filmed as well as episodes for different television shows. In 1968, a soundstage was added to better serve the Hollywood community. This also opened up the site for projects that didn’t involve a total western genre. However, it soon became apparent that the film crews needed somewhere to film that wasn’t always filled with tourists. For this purpose, a closed set was established in Mescal, Arizona in 1969.
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During the seventies, the studios procured their treasured steam locomotive the "Reno" which has been used in several movies. It was originally built in 1872 for Nevada’s Virginia & Truckee Railroad. Also during this decade, Old Tucson added Silverlake Park to its attractions. Silverlake Park contained the antique carousel and several depots.
Finally during the eighties and nineties, Old Tucson celebrated its 20th Anniversary as an amusement park and was purchased by DRD Ventures II in 1986. Feature films and television episodes continued to be filmed almost constantly at both locations up to the devastating fire of 1995, which destroyed 40 percent of the park. After the reconstruction of the park, which finished in 1997, Old Tucson reopened its doors to the public with a new focus on the entertainment and enjoyment of its visitors.