If you grew up in Drexel Heights, you grew up with saguaros all around and a mountain park along the northern edge. The map shows Beehive Peak, Red Butte and Saginaw Hill in shaded relief, with the Southwest Library, Anna Lawrence Intermediate School, Pistor Middle School, Vesey Elementary School, Lawrence Park and Robles Pass Trail Park among the streets.
Drexel Heights is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Pima County.
KNOWOL made this map in 2026 and gave it the look of an old atlas. The shaded relief of Beehive Peak, Red Butte and Saginaw Hill comes from United States Geological Survey elevation data, and the streets were drawn from Census Bureau files. The community covers 19.7 square miles, all of it land, and 27,523 people lived here at the 2020 census.
On the far side of the Tucson Mountains
The Tucson Mountains cut Drexel Heights off from the rest of Tucson, and only a few roads cross them. Ajo Highway is the main way over, and Gates Pass is the scenic one. Tucson Mountain Park forms the community’s northern boundary. The park was established in April 1929, and Pima County set up a parks commission, with C. B. Brown as chairman, to look after it. At about 20,000 acres it’s one of the largest natural resource areas owned and managed by a local government in the U.S., with roughly 62 miles of trails for hikers, mountain bikers and riders on horseback. Brown Mountain in the park is named for Brown, and Kinney Road, its main thoroughfare, for Jack C. Kinney, the county supervisor who worked with him to create it. The O’odham name for the range is Cuk Do’ag.
Saguaro National Park is only a couple of miles to the north, and the area has plenty of saguaros of its own. The park began as a national monument in 1933 and became a national park in 1994. Coyotes and javelinas are common sights around Drexel Heights.
The Drexel name
The community is said to be named for Francis Anthony Drexel, a Philadelphia banker and philanthropist who became senior partner of Drexel & Co. He’s also said to have owned property here and to the east in the late 19th century, though no proof has ever been found that he owned land in the area. He died in 1885. Drexel Road was likely named for his daughter, Saint Katharine Drexel.
Katharine Drexel began funding schools for Native Americans after her father’s death left a large sum to his daughters, and in 1891 she founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, a religious congregation serving Black and Indigenous Americans. The schools she founded or funded include St. Michael Indian School in St. Michaels, Arizona, founded in 1902. Pope John Paul II canonized her in 2000. She was the second person born in the United States to be declared a saint, and the first who was born a U.S. citizen.
Click to explore a larger preview. The digital watermark does not appear on printed maps.
Names on this map
These names are printed on this map.
Streets and roads: W Bopp Rd, W Creda St, W Michigan St, W Calico Heart Way, S Kinney Rd, S Star Pass Rd, Preston Ave, W Lincoln St, W Old Ajo Way, W Oklahoma St, W Irvington Rd, Via de Suenos.
More street names, A to Z
Ban Wog, Cam de Oeste, Century Rd, Corona Rd, Elvado Rd, Gok Kawulk Wog, Grey Rd, Hamilton Rd, Los Reales Rd, Oidak Wog, Oidak Woig, San Xavier Rd, S Indian Agency Rd, S Joseph Ave, S Mark Rd, S Mesquite Ave, S Mesquite Hills Pl, S Mission Rd, S Paisano Ave, S Rosepine Rd, S Valencia, S Viviana Rd, W Bilby Rd, W Cam Elario, W Cam Tierra, W Drexel Rd, W Elvira St, W Hermans Rd, W Medina Rd, W Mockingbird Ln, W Pelston St, W Santa Paula St, W San Xavier Rd, W Via Ingresso, W Via Santa Dorotea, W Via San Teresa, W Weiding Rd, W Yellow Cactus Way.
Around the map
Drexel Heights is in the Tucson Unified School District. Anna Lawrence Intermediate School, Pistor Middle School and Vesey Elementary School each have their place on the sheet, and so do the Southwest Library and Lawrence Park. Robles Pass Trail Park is here as well, and the three summits in the relief, Beehive Peak, Red Butte and Saginaw Hill, give the land its shape. Black Mountain Estates and Manzanita Manor are named on the sheet too.
This Drexel Heights map is a good addition to an office, library or den, and it can help teach children the geography and history of the area. It’s made for anyone who calls Drexel Heights home, from Black Mountain Estates out to Manzanita Manor, and KNOWOL created it in 2026 to show the community as it looks today. Zoom in on the preview above to explore the details, then click here to get your copy of the Drexel Heights map.
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