The original Santa Rita Hotel, now the Clarion Hotel, was opened in 1904. None of this structure exists anymore.
The hotel lobby and front desk dates from 1917 and in its glory days many famous Hollywood stars, such as Clark Gable and Rita Hayworth, came to stay. Henry Trost was the designer.
The hotel is on the site of a Civil War US Army Camp built in 1862 when US troops took Tucson back from the Confederates.