Camp Naco to receive needed restoration thanks to grant funding

NACO, Ariz. (KGUN 9) — Over the past three months the City of Bisbee has received two grants, for a total of $8.1 million, to support the Naco Heritage Alliance.

"Camp Naco has been in the background for many ... years. It’s literally almost been forgotten," Naco Heritage Alliance board member Carlos Bazan said. "I was actually having a difficulty actually believing that someone actually paid attention to us and paid attention to our need and our requirements and the reason why we wanted to do this. Somebody actually listened."

The funds come as a surprise to those on the Naco Heritage Alliance board and organization.

“This is just amazing," Community Coordinator for the Naco Heritage Alliance Rebecca Orozco said. "For years I would lay awake at night and dream about winning the lottery and think about what I would do with the money. And this is like winning the lottery."

The Alliance is working on the rehabilitation and enhancement of the structures and education of Camp Naco. This project is important to the community and the region because of this connection to the Buffalo Soldiers, the preservation of history to the local residents and to provide needed event space for the locals.

"To save the buildings we have to make them so they can be utilized so, ah, otherwise they will fall down again, Orozco said. "So what we want to do is restore as many building as we can of community space.”

One of the 23 buildings will be turned into a library and meeting space. Orozco said that when they had community meetings the locals wanted those two things, so in an effort to serve the community they are honoring their request. She added, the plan for the buildings that have already fallen down is to have that be the backdrop of a stage for plays and other events.

In the 1900s, the Buffalo Soldiers stationed at Fort Huachuca were living in tents at the Camp Naco site, protecting the border from the war just south of the area. Years later, it was decided to make that a permanent camp site for troops. The buildings at Camp Naco are the only structures remaining along the border from that time. Orozco said the other camps were scrapped from materials after it was decided to close them. But because the buildings in Naco are made of adobe, they are still standing.

A museum will also be created on the property to help educate visitors and locals to what that site was used for. This will also allow for partnerships with the museum just across the border in Naco, Sonora, Mexico.

The grant money will start in 2023 and fund the project for four years. Orozco said the project will start in a few weeks with preservation of the buildings that have already started to fall.