The Presidio Santa Cruz de Terrenate was established on a bluff overlooking the San Pedro River by an Irish-born Spanish Army Colonel, Hugo Oconór (Hugh O'Conor), in 1775, for the King of Spain Charles III.

This is one of the best preserved sites from among the chain of similar presidios that extended from Los Adaes, Louisiana, in the east to Alta California in the west.

The presidio was never completed to specifications due to the attacks of the Apache, administrative greed, corruption and poor morale.

Other historians and archaeologists support a counter theory that the structures found at the site correspond to the quarters of the soldiers and families of the presidio (Gerald 1968; Seymour 1989).

Evidence of the prehistoric Hohokam occupation consists of sherds scattered on the surface, and eroding out of the adobe walls of the later Spanish presidio.