Historic Setting and Landscape By David Kammer As the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad (AT&SF) pushed into New Mexico Territory in 1879, reaching Las Vegas on July 4, 1879 and Santa Fe on February 9, 1880, advance survey crews sought a site in the Middle Rio Grande Valley…
Kenna, Great Plains, Agricultural Community By John W. Murphey Cattle Empire Kenna, a small ranching community in Roosevelt County, started in name in 1899 as a construction camp along the Pecos Valley and Northeastern Railroad. Before the arrival of the railroad, famed Texas cattleman George W. Littlefield claimed much…
Lordsburg Internment POW Camp By Millie Pressler One of the least studied aspects of the history of World War II has been the network of internment and prisoner of war camps established by the Department of Justice and the United States Army. Few people may realize such a camp…
Shalam, the Land of Children By Lee Priestley, 1978 Shall I begin by my lack of qualification as a historian? I am only a writer in pursuit of a story. There are two ways of going about historical research. There is the correct way. A careful collection of facts,…
Shalam Colony, A Utopian Experiment Research by Linda Blazer Shalam was founded by a New York dentist and doctor named John B. Newbrough and a group of his religious followers called Faithists. Newbrough claimed to have written a new Bible, called Oahspe, while under spirit control. Contained in this…
Lincoln County Wars, outlaws, first Protestant church, Hondo Valley; St. Anne's Chapel By The Episcopal Church of Lincoln County The historical events which led up to the building of St. Anne’s Chapel begin with the Lincoln County War, when the Coe brothers, Al, Lou, Frank and George, moved into…
Union County Courthouse; Court Street, Clayton, New Mexico; Union County The Union County Courthouse sits on a slight rise southwest of Clayton’s business district; its shiny silver dome visible for blocks. Constructed in 1909 to replace an earlier courthouse destroyed by a tornado, the Union County Courthouse designed to…
St. Catherine's Industrial Indian School Situated on a hill northwest of the Santa Fe Plaza, overlooking two cemeteries, is perhaps the largest adobe building in the Southwest. With more than three stories and a façade of sturdy gables and a spindly bell tower, the 1887 Main Building is the…
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…
