Tanque Verde means “green tank,” a name that points to the algae in a large stock water tank that stood here in the late 1800s. This map of Tanque Verde prints Tanque Verde Elementary School, Agua Caliente Elementary School, Collier Elementary School, Emily Gray Junior High School, the Lew Sorensen Community Center and McDonald Park, with Scotts Knob, Sabino Creek and Tanque Verde Wash giving shape to the land.
Tanque Verde is an unincorporated suburban community in Pima County, northeast of Tucson.
KNOWOL made this map in 2026 and gave modern data the look of a vintage atlas. The shaded relief of Scotts Knob comes from United States Geological Survey elevation data, and the streets were drawn from Census Bureau files. The Tanque Verde Valley lies between the Santa Catalina Mountains to the north and the Rincon Mountains to the east, and two seasonal creeks cross it, Tanque Verde and Agua Caliente. The 2000 census counted 16,195 people in the community.
Ranchers, a school district and El Fuerte
Tanque Verde began as a small ranching community, far from Tucson, settled by ranchers who came around the 1860s. The Apache used the valley through the 19th century, and soldiers from Fort Lowell often came through. In 1886 the people of the valley set up the Tanque Verde School District, the community’s first significant political body. After the Army closed Fort Lowell in 1891, Hispanic immigrants from Baja California and Sonora moved into its empty adobes and began farming the floodplain where Pantano Wash meets Tanque Verde Creek to form the Rillito, and by the turn of the century their community, El Fuerte, was thriving. Upstream, in the canyons and rincons of the Santa Catalina front range and the Rincons, the area they came to call Tanque Verde, families named Escalante, Estrada, Andrade, Vindiola, Lopez, Riesgo, Benitez, Telles, Martinez and Gallegos built homes and ranches. Over time many of the smaller ranches were swallowed up by larger ones or sold, and the growth of Tucson priced most of the remaining pioneers off their land; by the 1960s Tanque Verde had become a true suburb of Tucson.
The valley grew more slowly than the rest of the Tucson area. Much of its land is held under covenants that strongly control growth, which residents consider a way to keep the land preserved, and it has a strong equestrian presence. By 2005 more than 1,600 students attended the Tanque Verde School District’s three schools, from kindergarten through ninth grade, and the community’s page says the district continues to post among the highest standardized test scores in Arizona.
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: E Plumeria Rd, E Snyder Rd, E Cam Palo Verde, Houghton Rd, E Catalina Hwy, E Coronado Rd, E Cam del Sahuaro, E Mira Vista Canyon Pl, E Sunrise Ranch Pl, E Elin Ranch Rd, E Horse Head Rd, E Horsehead Rd.
More street names, A to Z
Aida Pl, Bryerly Dr, Catalina Hwy, Cll del Valle, E Balboa Pl, E Cam Ancho, E Cll de Samuel, E Comanchero Cir, E Exmoor Pl, E Fort Lowell Rd, E Giant Cacti Dr, E Glenn St, Eighth St, E Kleindale Rd, E Limberlost Dr, E Martin Dr, E Michelle Ln, E Milagrosa Ln, E Morrill Way, E Prince Rd, E Prospect Ln, E Pso del Lago, E Redington Rd, E Roger Rd, E Rosewood St, E Sierra St, E Sonoran Vista Trl, E Speedway, E Speedway Blvd, E Speedway Rd, E Summer Trl, E Sundance Cir, E Tanque Verde Rd, E Thunderbird Trl, E Woodland Rd, Len Rd, Linden St, Mount Lemmon Hwy, N Cam Cordon, N Sahuaro Canyon Ln, N Wolford Rd, Opal Rd, Park Dr, Prospect Ln, Ridgecrest Way, Rogers Rd, Silver Dr, Spud Dr, Studio Way, Sundance Dr.
Around the map
Sabino Creek runs through Sabino Canyon in the Santa Catalina Mountains, a popular place to walk, hike and ride, where large waterfalls lie minutes from the desert. During the Great Depression the Works Progress Administration and the Emergency Relief Administration built Sabino Dam and nine bridges over the creek while trying to build a road to the top of Mount Lemmon. To the east the Rincon Mountains take their name from the Spanish word for corner, and Tanque Verde Peak forms the corner’s western point at 7,049 feet. In 1989 Tanque Verde was the main site of the Nickelodeon series Hey Dude, which was videotaped at the Tanque Verde Guest Ranch; the show’s “ranch” was built from scratch about a mile from the guest areas, and in January 2026 the whole main cast reunited there. Emily Gray Junior High School, the Lew Sorensen Community Center, McDonald Park and Tanque Verde Wash have their places on the sheet as well.
This Tanque Verde map makes 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 Tanque Verde home, between the Catalinas and the Rincons, and KNOWOL created it in 2026 to show the valley as it looks today. Zoom in on the preview above to explore the details, then click here to get your copy of the Tanque Verde map.
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