Besides being a prominent landmark, Tumamoc Hill has a long and varied history, and is currently an important site for ecological and anthropological research as well as a refuge and a recreational option for the people of Tucson.

[6] Captain Juan Mateo Manje, a Spanish military commander, wrote the following about Tumamoc Hill after seeing it on one of his expeditions with Father Kino between 1693 and 1701:[7] We passed in sight of, and around, a mountain where there are 100 terraces of stone wall in the form of a snail, spiraling to the top.

[7]Note that Manje refers to "former" wars, indicating that the fighting took place in prehistoric times (before the arrival of Europeans).

Frederick V. Colville, chief botanist of the Department of Agriculture, in 1903 convinced the Carnegie Institute of Washington to fund the creation of a Desert Laboratory near the small mining and ranching town of Tucson.

Among the pioneering researchers, who helped to shape the then-developing field of ecology in the United States, were William Cannon, Volney M. Spalding, Daniel T. MacDougal, Burton Livingston, Godfrey Sykes, and Forrest Shreve.

[9] Twenty years later, on July 20, 1960, after several easements and loss of research and records, the University purchased the reserve for considerably more.

[9] The long term observations and experiments on Tumamoc Hill’s vegetation have provided insights on saguaro boom and bust population dynamics, blue palo verde’s dependence on riparian areas, disease and other threats to desert tortoises, and the interactions of a community of small winter annuals and the insects and rodents that prey on their seeds.