Leighton Kramer 

The idea of La Fiesta de Los Vaqueros or Festival of the Cowboys, as the rodeo is called, was first conceived of by Leighton Kramer, president of the Arizona Polo Association. Kramer was an ambitious and wealthy young man, with a passion for the old west, who had recently bought a large piece of range land, which today is know as the Catalina Estates, just north east of Tucson. Kramer had the desire to stage a large event that would attract people to Tucson during the winter months. After meeting with several local ranches and cowboys they came up with the idea of having a rodeo and parade in the old pueblo. The parade was to begin in the city of Tucson, eventually making it’s way to the land that Kramer had purchased, which he had fenced so that it was suitable for the rodeo.

  Rancho Santa Catalina ( POTTER PLACE )

Rancho Santa Catalina is located north of Elm Street between Campbell Avenue and Tucson Boulevard. It is a portion of an original, 120-acre parcel purchased by J. B. Wheeler in 1906 for $3,000. About 1910, Wheeler put in one of Tucson's early swimming pools.

In 1918, Philadelphian Leighton Kramer purchased this property plus an additional eighty acres. In 1924, he built an imposing house known as Rancho Santa Catalina.He also built a polo field (Catalina Field)    immediately east of Campbell Avenue, with stands to hold one thousand spectators. In 1925, this area, then known as Kramer Place, was the location of the first La Fiesta de Los Vaqueros Rodeo, which continued to be held there until 1940. The stables also were used by the Arizona Inn to provide riding horses for their guests.

Mr. Kramer died in 1939, and the property was bought by Dickson Potter. Rancho Santa Catalina became a finishing school for young ladies in the seventh to twelfth grades, and the area became known as Potter Place. In 1953, it was sold to the Seton Hill Sisters of Charity and renamed Casa Seton. Kindergarten and music classes were held there. The sisters taught at Saints Peter and Paul School. In 1971, Jack Greenway became the new owner, and the house is now leased to the University of Arizona for use by graduate art students.
The entrance to Rancho Santa Catalina was at Olsen and Elm. The house on the north side of Elm Street was the gatekeeper's lodge, and the house behind it at Kramer and Sierra Vista was once the handsomely appointed stable building and tack room.