Historic Time Line of Hacienda del Sol Guest Ranch Resort

John Murphey fell in love with the foothills and made plans to purchase land to develop on. He began his building company while still a student at the UofA. In total, he purchased 8,000 acres of land stretching from where the Tohono Chul botanical gardens currently sits to nearly Sabino Canyon.

John and Helen decided to open Tucson's first private school for girls. Private schools in the West were becoming popular, and wealthy girls from the East coast and Midwest attended, including Westinghouse, Pillsbury, and Campbell. The idea was to attract families from the east to build winter homes in Tucson, enlisting John Murphey's building company.

The school was expanding, and John worked closely with Josias Joesler, a Swiss architect, on many homes and buildings. Joesler's first touch on the property was the "Clubhouse," built as a place for the girls to have social events and relax after a long day. This is now the current day Casa Feliz.

Early in the morning, a fire started in the basement boiler room. It spread to some fuel containers and blazed quickly. It took an hour for emergency services to arrive and 100 firefighters from both the city and county to put it out. It destroyed from the current day bar to the gift shop but was put out before it reached the dorm rooms.

Though Joesler was not the original architect of the school, he put his touches on the rebuild of the school after the devastating fire. The library was added this time, formerly a dining room, and the beams in the ceiling were sourced from nearby Mount Lemmon and hand carved by Helen Murphey.

The school was rebuilt in time to start the next school year. School life resumed as usual.

Hacienda del Sol School expanded and added a new upstairs area for junior college classes including Development of the Novel and Advanced Foreign Languages. These are current day Historic rooms.

Due to World War II and declining enrollment, the school had to shutter its doors. The Murpheys attempted to run it as a different business but subsequently decided to sell the property to some friends.

The property was sold to Rita & Howard Morgan and reopened as a guest ranch in 1946. A pool and a new block of rooms was added, which are current day Hacienda Rooms, as well as a new kitchen off of the former school Clubhouse for the guest ranch's restaurant.

Tucson was a popular place for film, especially in Old Tucson. From 1946 to the late 1950's, actors and celebrities such as John Wayne, Bing Crosby, Katharine Hepburn, and Howard Hughes spent some time on the Guest Ranch while filming.

Tucson was beginning to boom as a tourist destination and so the Tucson Sunshine Climate Club formed and posed models all over the area to advertise Tucson's sunny weather all over the East and Midwest. One such photo shoot was performed at the Sunset pool.

The guest ranch changed several hands over the years, but in 1995 two gentlemen named Rick Fink and Jeff Timan found the forgotten property and decided to make an investment. At first, these two couples weeded the overgrown courtyards and painted the buildings before they obtained additional investors. This allowed the property to be restored and become listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Tom Firth became part of the ownership team and together they opened up the resort's new restaurant — The Grill.

With the help of Dr. Andrew Weil and the collaboration with the chef, the Chef's Garden was constructed on the north side of the property. Featuring herbs, vegetables and fruits year round, this organic garden continues to be utilized today in some of the restaurants' culinary delights.

32 new guest rooms, a brand new pool with bar and hot tub, and expansive ballroom were added in the resort's largest expansion to date.

40 more guest rooms, a new lap pool, and fitness center were added on the property's southeast side, bringing the total number of guest rooms to 97.

The owners had an opportunity to purchase another home near the resort and converted this one into a guest room. This one of a kind room called Casa Alcalde is available for leisure guest bookings as well as small social or corporate events. It features 2 bedrooms, full sized kitchen, bar, dining room and 2 patios.