Mesilla Plaza; In the center of the plaza of Old Mesilla is a small bandstand painted white. On its south side, facing Mexico is a painted scene of the Mexican and United States flags crossed at their poles with the letter “M” above and number “54” below. To tourists,…
Las Vegas Plaza; Las Vegas New Mexico; On Monday, June 3, 1968, two counterculture bikers cruised into Las Vegas, New Mexico, joining a parade of high school bands, cowboys on horses and vintage cars that wrapped around the town’s old plaza. The bikers were actors Peter Fonda and Dennis…
Judge Seaman Field House; Deming, New Mexico Across the street from the 1917 Deming Armory (a three-story, red-brick government building with an imposing façade), the Judge Seaman Field House, a low, white residence with shingled roof and decorative gable windows is literally a building from another era. With initial…
Located 15 miles southeast of Gallup at Ojo del Oso (Bear Springs), near the headwaters of the Rio Puerco Fort Wingate (Historic District) Fort Wingate, McKinley County On July 4, 1903, Gregory Page, a Gallup businessman, wrote an essay protesting a possible closure of Fort Wingate, an aging 1860s…
Holm Bursom House; Socorro New Mexico Located at the end of a residential block and surrounded by a white picket fence, this house on Church Street in Socorro, with its red brick construction, gabled roof and Victorian details, looks out of place on a street of low slung, adobe-like…
The prosperity of the 1920s ended with the economic catastrophe known as the Great Depression. By 1933 industrial production had fallen, thousands of banks were closed, and millions of Americans were jobless. The horizon of prosperity looming "just around the corner" seemed to fade from view. While the Depression…
Fort Stanton; Lincoln County; Fort Stanton, Lincoln County National Register of Historic Places, SRCP #60 Statehood period of significance: c.1855-1912 Associated themes: Military; Federal Government; American Indian; Civil War Remotely situated in a small valley along the swift Rio Bonito in Lincoln County, Fort Stanton was established in…
Chaves County Courthouse; National Register of Historic Places, SRCP #1019 Statehood period of significance: 1911-1912 Built as a replacement courthouse, the 1911 Chaves County Courthouse, designed by Isaac Hamilton Rapp in the progressive Beaux-Arts style, signaled the ambitions of this new county and its presumed place in statehood. The…
Lower Pecos Valley, outside Carlsbad Carlsbad Irrigation Project Carlsbad Irrigation District Carlsbad Vicinity, Eddy County National Register of Historic Places, SRCP #408 Statehood period of significance: c.1890-1912 Associated themes: Agriculture; Irrigation; Federal Government Images: 1) color image of Pecos River Flume, HPD files Developed before and after statehood, the…
By Robert Torrez The 1700s was a period of extraordinary change for New Mexico. From the time New Mexico was settled by the Spanish in 1598, the colony was essentially a government-subsidized Franciscan mission for the Pueblo Indians. Following the Pueblo Revolt and Reconquest, the authority of the Church…
