; e

...f0111Ca~e Nuevo Mexico

w Published since 1976 - The Official Publication of the Historical Society of New Mexico OJ

Sununer 2015 Issue NUD1ber 102

THE NEW GUY ON THE BLOCK

In June of 1976. The Historical Society of New Mexico distributed"ISSUE NO.1 " of an unnamed publication. The fIa~ contained. in BOLDCAPS. the question . "~WHAT SHALL WE NAME IT?" [sic] Readers were par­enthetically. and in a miniscule type face . instructed to turn to pace 4. thelast pase of that particular edition. where contest rules were provided. towit: "The contest is open to all. We want the best name. the most appro­priate title . Reach into your minds. Search the depths of your Jmaqlna­tion. Look into the deepest recesses of your intellect. Name this newspa­per. which is destined to be a vital. essential. vibrant indispensable toolfor history and preservation in New Mexico ."

The prize offered for the winnlnq entry was "fresh from the Universityof New Mexico Press . a copy of: Acoma Pueblo. Pueblo in the Sky by Dr.Ward Alan Min~e. "

The second edition of the publication was not issued until Decemberof 1976. On the front page, above the fold. was a headline which read:"Pedro Ribera-Orte~a Gives Us a Name-see above." The "see above"referred to the new fIa~: LA CRONICA DE NUEVO MEXICO. whichremains with us yet today. The headline was accompanied by a photo ofHSNM president Loraine Lavender presenting a certificate and Dr.Min~e 's book to Mr. Pedro Ribera-Orte~a. See the box below for moreabout that esteemed ~entIeman. who was named a Santa Fe Livin~

Treasure in 2001. He died in 2003.

Call For Papers

HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF NEW MEXICO

R O. BOX 1912

SANTA FE. NM 87504-1912

2016 New Mexico History ConferenceApril 14-16 ,2016

farmington Civic Center, Farmington. New Mexico

Ribera-Orte~ais proud of his Hispanic heritaqe. He lives in the house hewas born in and can trace his family back 20 ~enerations to Spain. "Herepresents much of what makes the city of holy faith unique."says friendRichard McCord.

Pedro Ribera-Orte~a has been actively involved with city and reli­~ious interests since his junior-high days . "Santa Fe is unique." he said."The old Spanish families have been involved in the church and state inorder for Santa Fe to continue its Hispanic style . It's automatic for us."

Few know more about Santa Fe's rich Hispanic heritage than Ribera­Ortega. As a writer. teacher. archivist. Iinquist and mentor. he has spenthis 70 years fiercely protectinq the city's cultural and reliqious traditions.

The Historical Society of New Mexico invites papers. session proposals. and presen­tations for the 2016 New Mexico History Conference. to be held at the farmington CivicCenter. farmington . New Mexico . April 14-16.2016.

Deadline for submissions is September 30. 2015.

Conference sessions are 11/2 ho urs (ninety minutes) in Ienqth . Most sessions consistof ora l delivery of two or three papers or presentations . each approximatel y 20-30 min­utes in Ienqth , includinq time for a moderator's introduction and questions from theaudience. Proposals for sinqle presentations should be limited to on e page in lensth.include presenter contact and brief bioqraphical information . presentation title. a syn­opsis. and any technical support needed. Twoor three single proposals will be matchedwith similar topic s to constitute a full session.

The masthead on the first edition showed the editors as MichaelF Weber. who served as chairman of the Publications Committee. alonewith John P Conron and Paul Suozzi. That erranqement seems to havecontinued until Conron became sole editor in August of 1977. FormerHSNM President Mike Stevenson believes that Conran was the movingforce behind La Cronice in terms of format. content and style from thebeginning. Carleen Lazzell served as Associate Editor for many years.

Conron continued as editor until his death in 1995 at which timeLazzell took over. Stevenson reported that Carleen had been doing mostof the work for several years prior to that time and and was reluctant toassume the role of editor even after Conran's death.

When Carleen Lazzell took the reins. she continued the basic publi­cation as it had been done since 1976. For the last twenty years of her life.Carleen kept the publication alive almost sinqlehandedly She deservesthe gratitude of the entire Society. Over all of those years. too. RonHadad held the position of Associate Editor and did much of the workinvolved in layout. composition. publication. and distribution of LaCronies.

As the recently appointed editor of La Cronice. I am somewhatdaunted by the fact that I assume the position as only the third editor innearly 40 years. On the other hand. the publication is in ~reat shape andrequires of me only a continuation of what has ~one before. Having saidthat. I would also note that there have been many suggestions as to waysin which La Cronies might be chanced. and I am open any ideas HSNMmembers mlqht have. A couple of chances will be noted in this edition. Iwould like to invite all Society members to contribute items for publica­tion . My preference is articles ranging in Iengeth for as little as 500 wordsto 1000 or 1500. I am not enamored of items in the range 4.000 to 6.000words. although they will be considered. I also encourage news itemsre~ardin~ activities of local historical ~roups.

Please feel free to contract me at any time via email:donbullis@msn.com.

I appreciate the confidence in me the Society's board of directors hasdemonstrated and I look forward to the coming years.

(Thanks to former President Mike Stevenson for his institutionalmemory of the Society)Don Bullis. Editor

Proposals for topical sessions occupytnq the full 11/2 hour period are encouraqed.These should include a proposed title for the session . names of presenters. titles and syn­opsis of topic s. a moderator. and contact information for all panel members. Di~ital pro­jection systems and other audiovisual presentation equipment will be available.

Papers on any aspect New Mexico histor y. the Southwest or Borderlands will beconsidered. However. individual pap ers and full sessions related to the histor y. develop­ment and growth of San Juan County and northwest New Mexico . such as the region'scolorful and influential personalities and oil and lJas industry. will be welcome. Topicsassociated with the greater "Four Corners" region of southwest Colorado. SoutheasternUtah . and northeast Arizona are suggested. This may include a broad range of subjectsthat explore the influence of the reqion 's ethnic S6roups. as well as history of the Navajo.Jicarilla . and Ute Nations and the region 's historic sites.

Proposals may be submitted as attachments to email atrobertjtorrez@gmail.comor by mail to HSNM Program Committee. Po. Box 1912. Santa Fe. NM 87504-1912.Notification of acceptance will be sent on or about January 1. 2016. Tolearn more aboutthe Historical Society of New Mexico visit www.hsnm.ors or if you have questions con­tact Robert J. Torrez. program chair. at robert jtorrez cssmail.com or (505) 836-9699.

mSTORICAL SOCIETY OF NEW MEXICO2016 mSTORY CONFERENCE

FARMINGTON, NEW MEXICOAPRIL 14 TO APRIL 16, 2016

CONFERENCE HOTEL: THE COURTYARD MARRIOTTMAKE YOUR RESERVATIONS NOW: SARINA SANCHEZ

505-325-5111, EXTENSION 2203

(This is a fantastic property with SJreat rooms and a con­ference rate of $89 .00)

ALL CONFERENCE SESSIONS WILL BE HELD AT THEFARMINGTON CIVIC CENTER

BOOK REVIEWS THE PEACE CORPS IN NEW MEXICOBy Richard Melzer

TRAVELS WITH THE HSNM PRESIDENTJanet Saiers Visits Western Socorro County

The Pastor of New Mexico:Peter Kiippers's Memoirs

Tomas Jaehn, Translator, Editor,and AnnotatorSanta Fe: Sunstone Press , 2014186 pp. $22.95. Soft cover

Review by Richard Melzer

The Pastor of New Mexico:Peter Kiippets's Memoirs is anin terestinq book for three mainreasons.

First , it is the story of an immi­~rant who was born and raised inGermany be fore miqratinq to NewMexico in 1912. Once here,Kuppers experienced a clash ofcultures, requiring personal adjust­ments in dealinq with everythingfrom food and Ianguaqe to adobearchitecture and democratic poli ­tics . In time, Kuppers not onlybecame acculturated , but also~rew to become a cultural brokerbetween the Hispanic and Angloresidents of his parishes.

Next, this is an tnterestmq bookbecause it is about the experienceof a herd-working Catholic priest,first assigned to serve at St. FrancisCathedral and later to parishes inSanta Fe, in Chapanto on the vastmesa, and in Penasco in theSangre de Cristo Mountains .Kuppers faced countless chal­Ienqes in workin~ with his localparishioners, the Penitente broth­erhood, Protestant missionaries,Catholic nuns in exile from revolu­tionary Mexico, and his superiors,including the four archbishops ofhis era. While he had no patiencefor violent Penitentes, described as"disobedient. self-styled Catholics,"he claimed to have worked well

The Heart of Las Cruces:History of St. Genevieve'sChurch

By Father Ricardo Bauza, et alPublished by S1. Genevieve's Parish

Review by John Taylor

In 1849, a company of U.S.Army Draqoons first laid out EIPueblo del Jardin de Las Cruces(The City of the Garden of theCrosses) at the foot of the OrganMountains. Folklore has it that thesettlement was named for crossesthat had been erected at the loca­tion to memorialize a bishop, apriest. three choir boys, four trap­pers, a Spanish army officer, and acaptain who had been ambushedand killed there sometime in the17th century. As a part of the vil­la~e layout, one block was setaside for a Roman CatholicChurch. In 1858, Jean BaptisteLamy, the newly appointed bishopof the Diocese of Santa Fe,asstqned Father Manuel Chavez asa priest for the new parish of LasCruces, and Chavez immediatelyset about buildinq a permanentchurch for his flock. Because con­struction beqan on January 3,1859, the new parish was dedicatedto St. Genevieve, the patron saintof Paris , whose feast day is January 3.

2 - La Cr6nica Summer 2015

with non-violent Penitentes whoacknowledged the ultimateauthority of the church and itspriests , especially Fr. Kuppers,Kuppers in fact recoqruzed the lat­ter Penitentes as bulwarks aqainstthe encroachment of Protestantmissionaries.

Finally, The Pastor of NewMexico is interestinq because thereare so few memoirs by Europeanirnmiqrants to New Mexico. Thereare even fewer memoirs byCatholic priests as active-and ascontroversial-as Fr. Kuppers.

Tomas Jaehn is the ideal trans­lator, editor, and annotator ofKuppers's memoirs. He is a nativeGerman speaker, the able directorof the Fray Anqelico ChavezLibrary at the Museum of NewMexico , and the author of theacclaimed Germans in theSouthwest (2005).

Readers might wish that themanuscript had undergone onelast review and a bit more annota­tion (for example , the GermanRou~h Rider captain who chidedKuppers on the streets of Santa Fewas clearly Fritz Muller). An indexwould have been useful as well.

Quibblinqs aside, The Pastor ofNew Mexico is a valuable additionto our knowled~e of immiqrants.parish priests , and the CatholicChurch in New Mexico in the firsthalf of the twentieth century.Often-read copies of these mem­oirs will be found on bookshelvesin colleges. public libraries, andprivate collections for years tocome.

There can be no ~reater ~ift

that parishioners can ~ive to theirparish than the Ienowledge of thehistory of their church, its fixtures ,its families , its traditions, and itsreligious and secular leaders. Thenew book , "The Heart of LasCruces: History of 51. Genevieve'sChurch" is just such a ~ift. FatherRicardo Bauza and his team haveproduced a remarkable btoqraphyof the church from its earliest con­ception to the present-day. Therichly illustrated and carefully ref­erenced text Integrates the historyof S1. Genevieve's with that ofsouthern New Mexico and LasCruces. It shares both successessuch as the construction of thebeautiful new church buildlnq in1887 and challenges such as thedemolition of the much-belovedstructure in 1967 when flaws in theorlqlnal construction forced thecondemnation of the structure.

The text is hi~hly readable,although infrequently a bitpreachy, and should be of interestto both Catholics and non­Catholics. The book was publishedin 2014 by St. Genevieve's parishand is available either directly fromthe parish (100 S. Espina. LasCruces, NM 88001) or onAmazon.com.

Left to right, Pat D. Cahill, BradWhipple. and John Deason were

trained to use surveying equipmentas part of their Peace Corps training

at UNM.

Nearly every American alive inthe early 1960s remembers the 17

·e·

I had the opportunity to spendAugust 3-5,2015, in the Ma~dalena

area at the Concho Hills ~uest

ranch. Historical Society of NewMexico member, and an award­winnin~ author/historian, SherryRobinson was my travel partner.Because of recent rain, the ~rass

and ~round cover from Socorro toMa~dalena is literally brlqht ~reen

and beautiful. Hi~hli~hts of the tripincluded visiting the Kelly ~host

town and abandoned mine justsouth of Ma~dalena. the Ma~dalena

Library housed in their 1915 traindepot. and the boxcar Ma~dalena

"Museum," and touring the 1913Ilfeld Warehouse across the streetfrom the Depot. I made some inter­estinq contacts for HSNM and Icould write much more but I'll startwith some hi~hli~hts.

THE ILFELD WAREHOUSEThis building is very similar to

the Ilfeld Warehouse in Santa Rosa ,which some of us visited after theFebruary 2015 Board meeting. Thewarehouse was bouqht by theBrown family in 1970. Mr. Brownwas a salesman for the IlfeldCompany and covered easternNew Mexico. Clark Brown, his son,has maintained the bulldlnq invery ~ood condition, usinq it forstorage and appliance repair. Theopen elevator still operates frombasement to the second floor withropes. Clark Brown's office had allkinds of Ilfeld memorabilia and aset of New Mexico HistoricalReviews ~oin~ back to issue # 5 in1930. I told Clark he had a lot ofvaluable historic items and I willstay in touch with him.

THE TRAIN DEPOTThis structure is in excellent

condition. Part of one wall has theNew Mexico southwest collection.It included David Caffey's Santa FeRin~ book, B.G. Burr's Socorrobook, Sherry Robinson's Apachebook and several Bullis and Melzerbooks. I met the head of theirLibrary Committee and they are

most sttrrinq words in John fKennedy's inauqural address: "Asknot what your country can do foryou. Ask what you can do for yourcountry."

Based on this historic chal­Ienqe. President Kennedy issuedExecutive Order # 10924, creatinethe Peace Corps on March I, 1961.Well received across the nation, thePeace Corps became a centerpieceof Kennedy's New Frontier.

Thousands of you~ Americansvolunteered for the excitingchance to serve their country byassisting underdeveloped commu­nities in Latin America , Asia, andAfrica . The application process wasextremely competitive; only one infive applicants were accepted.Communists, 'beatniks," and drunkardswere automatically rejected,according to Peace Corps re~ula­

tions.

con tin ued on page 3 It<l>

interested in forming a Ma~dalena

Historical Society or Friends ofMa~dalena History. I told her Icould help and HSNM would besupportive and encourasinq. I~ave her some copies of the LaCronies which were in my car.

BOXCAR MUSEUMThis is adjacent to the Depot

and kept locked unless people askthe librarian to open it. It has a mixof clothing. railroad items, schoolitems, a few pieces of furniture .photographs. etc.

KELLY GHOST TOWN & MINEThis was an operatlnq mine

until the 1940s. Kelly was a largertown than Ma~dalenawith a popu­lation of 2,700 in the 1920s. Youcan drive up the road to theCatholic Church which is the onlybuilding still standing. After that a4-wheel-drive vehicle would bebetter. There are lots of rock andbrick foundations still there alonewith the Iarqe tall metal structurewhich is over a mine shaft. TheKelly mines are also known as thesource of Smithsontte. a beautifulaqua-green colored mineral.CONCHO HILLS GUEST RANCH

(www.conchohills.com)The owners, Tim and Marilyn

Norris. come from back~rounds asnuclear enqineers. They have beeninvolved with the purchase of thehunting Iodce and construction ofa six-room ~uest building, whichjust opened in April. They are inter­ested in ranchmc and ranching­skills culture which is part of their~uest experience. They ~i\7e horsertdinq lessons and trail rides. Theyare interested in HSNM and I ~avethem copies of La Cronies.

INCREDIBLE NIGHT SKY WITHSTARS & MILKY WAY

I had never been in an areawith no spillover li~h1. Both niqhtswe experienced the dark skieswhere one literally views millionsof stars. It was breathtaking. ~IS

The seven Peace Corps volun teers who became lost in the Manzano Mountainswere left to right top row: BiII Pastreich, Mike Mitchell, and Bruce McCraken: leftto right bottom row: Sue Selbin. Judy Johnson. Jane Whitmore, and Linda West.

Peace Corps ... (continuedfrom page 2)

Valencia County Volunteers first to answer President Kennedy'sSeveral Valencia County, New call for volunteers.

Mexico . residents joined the Peace Traqically Larry and a fellowCorps in the 1960s. They included American were the first volunteersJerry Jaramillo , Bill Kirby, Abe to die while servinq in the PeacePefia. Francisco Sisneros, and Corps. Their plane crashed in theErnie Orona. Each volunteer Colombian mountains on April 22,asserted that joininq the Peace 1962. Elena joined the corps andCorps was a major turning point in trained at UNM to continue Larry'shis life. work and "as my way of honoring

Bill Kirby called his work in his life and death." fittin~ly, ElenaColombia a "tremendous experi- served in Bo~ota , Colombia, fromence." Accordinq to Jerry 1964 to 1965. Her brother. Gordon,Jaramillo, his Peace Corps service served in Africa.in Costa Rica was "the best expert- Rigorous Trainingence of my life ." Francisco Once on campus. single volun-Sisneros, who worked in teers were taken to live in studentHonduras, wrote "As a result of my dorms, while married volunteersPeace Corps service, I learned a lot lived in married student housinqabout myself. and I ~ained a more apartments. Groups of 35 to 80profound understanding and trainees went through the proqrarnappreciation of how other people tocether to better prepare them formake do in their daily lives with so service in a specific host country.little. Also, for many reasons my Most ~roups had about equal num-perspective of the United States bers of men and women, althoughchanced to one of even ~reater one all-female contingency of 35appreciation." women trained for service in Brazil

By 1963, President Kennedy in 1963.was so impressed by the volun- Peace Corps traininq wasteers' early work that he declared, intentionally riSJorous. Sometimes"Nothing carries the spirit of compared to an army boot camp.American idealism and expresses the trainlnq procrarn was desiqnedour hopes better and more effec- to prepare volunteers for the hardtively to the far corners of the earth work that lay ahead in poor, unde-than the Peace Corps." veloped countries that bore little

A Training Center at UNM resemblance to the affluent com-But before Peace Corps volun- munities most volunteers had

teers could serve overseas, they Q"rown up in. The tough traininghad to be properly trained. program was also meant to weedUniversities across the United out volunteers who were physical-States vied for the opportunity to Iy or psychologically not preparedserve as Peace Corps trainlnq cen- for the trials that awaited them inters. foreign lands.

The University of New Mexico, Traininq lasted four months. Itwith its already strong ties to Latin included early morning calisthen-America, applied to be among the ics, followed by classes on worldPeace Corps' first training centers cultures, the dangers of commu-in the Southwest. Accordlnq to nism. and especially foreiqn lan-UNM President Tom Popejoy, "The Q"ua~es. With most volunteers des-university never had been so inter- tined for Latin American countries,ested in a particular project." volunteers were immersed in

UNM was chosen as a short- Spanish, studying the Ianquaqe forterm traininq center in 1961 and as as many as four hours a day in thea year-round traininq facility in classroom. At meals, trainees satNovember 1962. Dr. David with native speakers and con-Benedetti served as the project's versed in Spanish only. Each dayfirst director. Dr. Marshall Nason ended with briefings and ~roup dis-also played a major leadership cussions.role . Hodgin Hall, the oldest build- Volunteers spent many addi-in~ on campus. was chosen as the tional hours training to assist theirPeace Corps' headquarters on host countries in communitycampus. development. public health, or

Who Volunteered? education. Volunteers practicedEarly volunteers in the UNM their new skills in towns like Taos

program fit a definite profile. and Chama and at the D. H.Baldwin G. Burr, who worked as Lawrence Ranch in the mountainsstudent chauffer for the volunteers. of northern New Mexico.could recoqnize a new volunteer Physical trainlnq was alsofrom a far distance. Part of his job important. In what was called "out-was to pick up new volunteers ward bound" exercises, male andwhen they first arrived at the female volunteers learned to readAlbuquerque Sunport. maps, remain safe in the wilder-

"I stood with a si~n that read, ness , and climb cliffs, a skill they'Peace Corps Volunteers,' but I did- practiced by rappellinq down then't need them to come to me ," Burr steep walls of old Zimmermanrecalls. "I could spot them a mile Stadium. Off campus, they wentaway. They were young. idealistic, on demanding hikes up trails in theopinionated. middle class and Sandia Mountains, the Manzanolost." All were eager to beqm their Mountains. the Pecos Wildernesstraining for the work that lay and to the top of Wheeler Peak, theahead. highest peak in New Mexico.

Some volunteers had very per- Weeks in Belensonal reasons for joinlnq the Peace In another effort to expose vol-Corps. Elena Radley of Chicago unteers to the Spanish lan~ua~e

joined in September 1963 shortly and native cultures. many volun-after ~raduatin~ from college teers were sent to nearby commu-because her brother. 22-year-old nities to visit with local families forLarry Radley, had been one of the a week at a time.

At least five families in Belen~raciously welcomed Peace Corpsvolunteers into their homes. Dr.and Mrs. Matt Baca. Mr. and Mrs.Manuel Gallegos , Mr. and Mrs.Nestor Gallegos . Mr. and Mrs.Ernest Sanchez. Sr.. and Mr. andMrs. Avalisio Ulibarri opened theirhomes to the out-of-state youths.Each family has fond memories ofthe young men and women whostayed with them. practiced speak­in~ Spanish, and sampled localHispanic food and culture.

Ernest and Libby Sanchez hadeight children of their own, butwelcomed several volunteers ,believing that their children wouldbenefit from the experience asmuch as, if not more than, the vol­unteers themselves.

All of the Sanchez childrenliked their ~uests for one or more~ood reasons. Mike Sanchezremembered one volunteerbecause he knew how to fly kites.He also liked a certain female vol­unteer because she was so pretty.Albert Sanchez liked one volunteerso much that he cried when thevolunteer left.

Ernest. Jr.. and all the Sanchezchildren liked the especially ~ood

meals their mother served with the$60 weekly allotment their familyreceived from the Peace Corps. Inaddition to their traditional beansand chile, the family had more sal­ads and even ~rapefruit servedwith cherries on top. LibbySanchez wrote in her memoir ofpreparing "fancy meals" and set­tin~ "tablecloths on the table"when the volunteers visited herhome.

The volunteers undoubtedlybenefited as well. Ernest Sancheztook them to see various parts ofthe county, including Isleta Pueblo.They met many local people. prac­ticed their lancuace skills, and feltthe love of a Iarqe. close-knit fami­ly. Ernest and Libby Sanchez invit­ed 15 of the volunteers back to cel­ebrate Christmas. Much like for­ei~n exchange students, many vol­unteers stayed in touch with theSanchezes and other host familiesfor years to come.

Selected OutAll went well for most volun­

teers durinq their training at UNM.But there were exceptions. In 1963about a third of the volunteers atUNM were "selected out. " a euphe-

mism for beinc cut from the pro­Q"ram before their training periodhad ended.

Some volunteers had medicalproblems, including injuries suf­fered during their touch trainingschedule. A number could notadjust to takin~ orders or workin~

well in Q"roups. Lanquaqe problemsprevented several from reachingtheir ~oal of workinQ" overseas.

A ~ood many left the proqramafter they spent time in Juarez.Mexico. Unlike the relative comfortthey encountered at UNM and inthe homes of their hosts in Belen,volunteers faced true poverty andmisery in Juarez. Baldwin G. Burr.who drove them to and fromMexico , recalls that many told himon their return trip to UNM thatthey intended to quit the PeaceCorps. They recounted many hard­ships, but most often complainedof the harsh smell of the barriosthey had had to live in. They hadfaced the brutal reality of povertyand realized they simply could notdeal with it.

The Saddest DayElena Radley called November

22. 1963, her saddest day as aPeace Corps volunteer. It was , infact, the saddest day for all PeaceCorps volunteers and the nation asa whole.

Elena had been assigned to asmall town near Albuquerque tolive with a Spenish-speaking fami­ly and work as a classroom assis­tant in the local school. She recallsthat the children ran into the class­room durinq lunchtime, yelling,"They've shot the president!" Noone could believe the terrible newsuntil it was confirmed on the radio.The principal closed the school,sending everyone home to be withtheir families .

Elena went home to the familyshe was staylnq With. Elenarecalled that the family 's mother"Q"reeted me with a huqe embracewith tears streaming down herface." The house was soon filledwith friends and relatives who "ateand cried and comforted eachother." Below a picture of PresidentKennedy that hung on the walls ofso many Hispanic homes. they"talked about JFK and all he haddone to ~ive everyone hope for the~reat possibilities of America."

Elena and her fellow Peacecontinued on page 4 /IF

La Cronies Summer 2015 - 3

Peace Corps ... (continuedfrompage 3)

Corps volunteers, fondly known as well-supplied. The ~roup carried"Kennedy's Kids," were ordered pup tents , sleeping ba~s, ponchos,back to UNM where they huddled warm clothing. carnpinq tools , atoqether in shock . ''We could not lantern, a first aid kit, a compass,believe that such a stronz and and a map.powerful Ii~ht had been extin- None of these items proved~uished.... Our innocent faith in sufficient for what lay ahead. Theendless possibilities was shattered." volunteers encountered rain, snow,

A Challenge in the Manzanos ice, and temperatures that dippedSomehow the trainees-and as low as 15 deqrees Fahrenheit.

the nation-recovered from the Unfortunately, they found theirpresident's assassination and car- map to be "deceivinq." BySaturdayried on to face new, often unex- they were lost and runnlnq low onpected challenges in their lives. food. They drank melted snow for

A ~roup of nine Peace Corps water.volunteers faced one such chal- The volunteers decided to sendIenqe just two years after President Bill Pastreich up a peak to see if heKennedy's death. The ~roup could determine their location.included Tom Jacobs , Judy Darkness fell before he couldJohnson, Bruce McCracken, Mike return. The ~roup had to "talk"Mitchell. Bill Pastreich. Sue Selbin . Pastreich back to their makeshiftLinda West, Jane Whitmore, and an camp by yeIIin~ to him for twounnamed fifth female trainee. By hours . Jane Whitmore laterDecember of 1965 the volunteers recalled that everyone was "a littlehad completed nine weeks of their scared" as the wind howled and thetralninq in preparation for service dancer of their pliqht set in thatin Chile. Saturday niqht . The volunteers ~ot

Accompanied by an instructor, little sleep as they gathered aroundthe ~roup was one of three teams their campfire.that were ~iven maps and direc- The lost trainees continued totions to hike over the Manzano search for safety on Sunday,Mountains on a four-day, 30-mile December 12. But, as Linda Westjourney from the eastern foothills later explained, ''We would ~o overto a destination on the west side of one mountain and there wouldthe ranee. According to a Peace just be another one." Discouraged.Corps official. challenges like these the ~roup took a vote and decidedwere meant to help "eliminate vol- to turn back rather than ~o any fur-unteers who would not be ~ood ther in the Manzanos.risks overseas." Search Party Organized

All went well as the SJroup left Meanwhile, Peace Corps lead-from Belen on Thursday, December ers SJrew concerned when two of9. But then a female volunteer the three hikin!J ~roups arrived atinjured her ankle soon after the their destination on the east of thestrenuous hike began. The !Jroup's mountains, but the third one didexperienced instructor transported not. Worried , UNM Peace Corpsher to Albuquerque for medical director David Benedetti neverthe-attention. less expressed confidence that the

The remaininq trainees Iorsed volunteers' resourcefulness andahead. They now included four "outward bound" traininq wouldmen and four women, aSJed 21 to help them endure whatever28, with an averaqe a~e of 23. All calamity they faced .ei~ht were from states back East; An 80-100 man search partyhalf were from New York City or its was quickly orqanlzed. The searchsuburbs. party included Forest Service

As a former Boy Scout, only rangers. New Mexico state policeBruce McCracken of Massachusetts and many local men who oftenhad had any hikin~ or camping hunted and hiked in the Manzanosexperience. McCracken later and knew the area well. Annrecalled, "The others had never McCracken, Bruce McCracken'sclimbed anything hiqher than bride of four months and a fellowBoston's Beacon Hill." about 80 trainee, joined the search teamfeet. after her team had completed the

But at least the trainees were mountain trip on schedule. Search

planes and a helicopter flew over­head.

Hazardous conditions andthick clouds made the searchincreasingly difficult. Searchersfocused on the east side of themountains where they assumedthe trainees would be by the fourthday of their hike.

But the eiSJht volunteers wereon the western slope of theManzanos. By Monday morningthey had come across a lockedhouse on the Sedillo family ranch,not far from where they had start­ed their long trek five days earlier.Having eaten their last bit of food(dehydrated eg~s and ham), theywere tempted to kill the twoturkeys they found on the proper­ty. Somehow they res isted thetemptation, although they hadbeen taught how to kill chickensand rabbits as part of their survivaltraining. The trainees thought itwould just be a matter of timebefore the ranch family returned totheir house and, hopefully, provid­ed assistance.

found at LastThe group's Iuck chanced on

Monday, December 13, when JoePerea and three other newsearchers en route to the moun­tains passed by the Sedillo ranchhouse and found the volunteers atlast. They were said to be "hungrycold and wet, but their spirits werehi~h." Suffering only minor cutsand bruises, the eiqht young menand women were taken to thehealth center at UNM where theywere examined, cared for. andsoon released. They eagerly atetheir first full meal in days , said toinclude lots of hamburgers andapples.

Bxplalnlng how they hadescaped their harrowing ordeal.Jane Whitmore told reporters, "Wehad good morale and everyoneworked well together. When wehad differences of opinion-andwe had some-we would just takea vote and do what the majoritythought best."

The trainees' Peace Corpspreparations had clearly paid off inthis emergency Not requiring addi­tional rest or medical attention, allei!Jht returned to their requlartralnlnq schedule on Tuesday, theday after they had been dlscov-

ered. None wanted their wilder­ness encounter to prevent themfrom achieving their oricinal !Joal:to "do for your country." asPresident Kennedy had asked.

Newspapers, from the NewYork Times on the East Coast to theSan Diego Union on the WestCoast, announced the good newsof the volunteers' survival andrecovery. Walter Cronkite reportedthe story on his niqhtly TV news­cast.

One trainee . Bruce McCracken,wrote an article about his !Jroup'sordeal for his hometown newspa­per. the Boston Traveler.McCracken took his experience instride, writin!J. "It was just one ofthose circumstances." He seemedfar more disturbed that his wife.Ann, had succeeded in crossing themountains, while he had not. "Mywife ribbed me about her rnaklnq itand me getting lost." It's one ofthose things she probably never lethim forget throughout their yearsof marriage.

Trail's EndUNM remained an important

Peace Corps training center forseveral years. Over 1,800 volun­teers trained at the university inthe four-year period. 1962-66. Thewell-prepared volunteers served ineiqht Latin American countriesplus Cameroon in Central Africaand Af!Jhanistan in Central Asia.Smaller programs at New MexicoState University and Western NewMexico University trained addi­tional volunteers. For various rea­sons, the program at UNM ended in1966, althouqh the school's ties toLatin America remain strong to thisday.

Many federal programs havebeen criticized as wasteful andunnecessary. In contrast, few pro­~rams have been as popular andproductive as the Peace Corps . ThePeace Corps has had its share ofbumps and bruises, but it remains agreat example of what our country.its youth and some generous fami­lies of. Valencia County canachieve when given the bestresources , proper rraininq, andWidespread public support.

FROM LA CRONICA, ISSUE NO. 1ANew Mexico Vignette

By W Thetford LeViness(Edited by Don Bullis)

This is a dramatic story told meby Pablo Abeyta [born in 1871]shortly before his death in 1940.Pablo was a grand old cacique ofIsleta .. .. The story concerns a visitwhich Theodore Roosevelt is sup­posed to have made there while hewas President.

Isleta is a community of adobehouses and sacred Rivas whichdates from prehistoric times. ItsRoman Catholic mission , also ofadobe, was built before 1629 andhas as !Jood a claim as any to beinothe oldest church in the UnitedStates. Pablo had a reputation forexa~~eration and embellishment,

4 - La Cr6nica Summer 2015

but here are the details as he !Javethem:

Col. Roosevelt had lived onsome range land he owned in theDakotas before the Spanish­American War. He'd met many ofthe Indians there, and had learnedwell the rug!Jed ways of theWesterner. When he beqan torecruit "Rough Riders" from hisheadquarters in the East, he chosea large number from the West andthe Southwest. Pablo , who held aposition of high honor in thepueblo, had helped him !Jet someIndian enlistments. Also, he'dtaken a personal likin~ to popular

• • •"T. R." when he met him . presum­ably at San Antonio [Texas] wherethe amiable colonel went to trainthe "Rough Riders."

Pablo invited him to visit hishome on the river [Rio Grande] .The pressure of war was too ~reat

for that, but Roosevelt promisedthat he'd !Jo to Isleta on some tripto New Mexico in the future.

Victory at San Juan Hill, elec­tion as Vice-President, and anassassin's bullet soon moved TeddyRoosevelt to the White House inWashington. A few years later hespent some time in Albuquerqueon a trip to the West Coast, accom­panied by a train-load of top-rank­in!J !Jovernment advisers andsecret service [sic] men. The coun­try had just lost one President byfoul play [William McKinley was

assassinated on September 6.1901] , and no risks Involvingunnecessary exposure were beingtaken.

But the nation's ChiefExecutive [sic] did not forcer hispromise to Pablo . He sent a specialmessenger to Isleta to !Jet him.

Pablo wouldn't ride in the liver­ied carriage sent by the Presidentof the United States. Instead hesaid, "Tell him to wait. I'll be there."With that, he hitched up a team ofhorses to a dilapidated wa!Jon andset out on the tortuous chuck-holetrail to Albuquerque.

Arrivlnq without official escort,he fairly waded through a hotellobby spilling over with secret serv­ice men and local constables. noneof whom knew who he was . Hefinally reached the door of the

contin ued on page 5 £?

By Dawn Santiaqo

THE SAGA OF THE TULAROSA BASINmSTORICAL SOCIETY

AND THE PLAZA BUILDING INALAMOGORDO, NEW MEXICO

Issue No.1 ... (continuedfrom page4)

In 1964, a group of civic-mind­ed citizens of Alamogordo, NewMexico , came together over ashared concern that local historywas being lost. As a result, theyorganized the Tularosa BasinHistorical Society (TBHS) with themission of preserving the history ofAlamogordo, Otero County, andthe Tularosa Basin. Their goal wasto open a museum; consequently,they started Iooking for ways tofinance the construction of a build­ing. Unfortunately, funds were slowto come in . Then , in 1969, theAlamogordo Chamber of Commercestepped in and proposed theyfinance the construction of anextension to the Chamber's build­ing at 1301 N. White SandsBoulevard that could house themuseum. With this step , thefounders of the Society saw theirvision become a reality with theopening of the Tularosa BasinHistorical Society Museum inJanuary of 1971.

Under the direction of the firstdirector, Gertrude Painter, themuseum thrived , accepting dona­tions of artifacts, documents, andphotographs. Visitors came toexplore the new exhibits thatPainter and other volunteers creat­ed; researchers came to use thenew archival collection as well.However, TBHS hit rough timesafter the retirement of Painter in1984. Interest in the mission of theSociety waned, and by 1996, thepossibility of closing the museumand disbanding the Societyloomed. A call to the community,fortunately, was answered by anew generation of citizens whowanted to preserve the orqaniza­tion, its mission, and its collec­tions.

The organization blossomedunder new board leadership andtwo directors who volunteeredtheir time and talents. Initially,Kathy Gren sat at the helm , but shewas soon followed by a retiredkindergarten teacher, MildredBvaskovtch. who served from 1998to 2004 when she retired. Throughthe diligent efforts of Bvaskovich.the museum's collections wereorganized, volunteers were recruit­ed and received professionalmuseum training, an active oralhistory program was launched ,and exhibits were redone. Inresponse to the all-volunteermuseum operating on a profes­sional basis , the Tularosa BasinHistorical Society Museum becameknown as an area attraction, result­ing in a dramatic rise in visitationby tourists and locals alike.

In addition to the revivedmuseum , the Tularosa BasinHistorical Society became a thriv­ing organization with many pro­grams and activities. They began tohold quarterly programs featuringa variety of presentations on vari­ous aspects of regional history andculture. The Society also com­menced publishing a quarterlynewsletter to keep membership

apprised of the Society's and muse­um's many activities. In addition,TBHS established a monographpublication, Pioneer, to provide avenue for researchers to publishtheir materials while disseminatingregional history to a wider audi­ence.

As TBHS enjoyed this new pros­perity and enthusiastic responsefrom the public, they faced a con­tinual problem-not enough stor­age , exhibit. or work space.Storage was limited to a small nar­row space off of the one smalloffice. The size of the collectionshad grown exponentially with therevival of the museum. but despiteusing every technique possible tostore collections safely, the muse­um was bursting at the scenes.Preservation of the collections wasdifficult as they could not really bestored per museum standards, norrotated off exhibit to rest the arti­facts , nor were there any environ­mental controls.

Recognizing the situation earlyon, the TBHS Board of Directorscontinually searched for a way tosolve this problem. To them, thebest solution was to acquire a newbuilding, but as with the firstSociety board, this latest boardfaced a similar large stumblingblock-lack of finances and possi­ble location. But in hopes of anopportunity in the future , TBHScreated a building fund to whichmonies were deposited from desig­nated donations and fundralsers .

Then, in late 2005, that oppor­tunity arose. Earlier that year Billy"Bud" Weiman, a businessman ofAlamogordo, passed away, and hiswidow, Alice Weiman. began todivest some of her husband'sinvestment properties. One ofthese was the Plaza Building, a1937 or 1938 building located onone of the most historic locationsof the city, the northeast corner of10th Street and White SandsBoulevard. Recognizing the his­toric nature of the building, Mrs.Weiman wanted the structure to bea museum or at least appreciatedand preserved. Consequently, sheapproached the Tularosa BasinHistorical Society, offering to sell itat below market price.

The proposal intrigued theBoard. In studying the matter, theboard realized that the site filledseveral needs of the museum: 1)the bu ilding was much larger thanits current location; 2) the locationwas on the main intersection ofAlamogordo, considered the gate­way into the city; and 3) it helpedthe Society fulfill its mission bypreserving an iconic piece ofAlamogordo's history. The largerbuilding would allow TBHS toexpand and improve their collec­tions and exhibit space, includingadding environmental controls toprotect its artifacts, documents,and photographs. The idea of amuseum on this corner also meld­ed with the theme of the intersec­tion of 10th Street and White Sands

Boulevard, where historic , educa­tional, and cultural featuresalready graced two of the four cor­ners. For the city, it enhanced theidea that the intersection was theentrance to the downtown fromthe relief route to the west.

What made the Plaza Buildingsuch an iconic landmark inAlamogordo? The location is partof Block 50, which represents aunique aspect of Alamogordo's his­tory. The city was founded in 1898as a railroad town by CharlesBishop Eddy, John Arthur Eddy.and William Ashton Hawlztns. Thenew town served as a divisionheadquarters of the EI Paso andNortheastern Railway, which theEddy brothers and Hawkinsowned. They planned for it to be amodel community, where therhythm of commerce and sociallife revolved around the railroad

·e·

President's suite upstairs, only to betold that Roosevelt was busy andcouldn't see him. He was still strug­gling with the doorman when afamiliar voice called out, "Is thatyou, Pablo?" It was his old friendTeddy, and he was immediatelyushered in for a pow-wow.

"Look," said Roosevelt, "I wantto visit your home in Isleta. But I'mPresident now. and those darnedsecret service men follow meeverywhere I go. I don't want themdown there getting into everythingand scaring your people. If only wecould go alone . . .."

Pablo sat in silence for a fewmoments, then said, "I got idea[sic). You show me back stairs tothe hotel?" Roosevelt summonedan aide, and a back staircase wassoon found. ''You wait here, Mr.President!" Pablo disappeareddown the stairs and headed for hishorses and wagon.

Five minutes later he returnedwith a large and colorful blankethe'd had stored away under theseat. He threw it around thePresident and led him down thesame back stairs and across thestreet to the place where his teamwas waiting. Not even the mostalert of the secret service men rec­ognized "the Indian with the walrusmustache."

The man of the soft voice andthe big stick [a reference toRoosevelt's foreign policy] rode thechuck-hole trail with Pablo, spentabout an hour in his home, touredthe pueblo, and was back inAlbuquerque and up the back stairsto his hotel room before any of hisbodyguards knew he was gone. It'sthe only time in history that anIndian ever "kidnapped" a U.S.President-and under the verynoses of the Secret Service at that!

Pablo told this story to manypeople, but it does not appear inany standard biography of the latePresident. It's a tale told by anIndian, though, that just could betrue. Roosevelt was in New Mexicoseveral times, both during his termin the White House and afterward.His admiration and respect forAmerica's "first citizens" is wellknown.

and its supporting services. Toaccomplish this , the men andother partners formed theAlamogordo Improvement Company.

In designing the town, thefounders placed a mile-long beau­tiful buffer between the railroad tothe west and the town to the east,today's Alameda Park which runsnorth from 10th Street. At the inter­section of 10th Street and WhiteSands Boulevard (originally namedPennsylvania Street), the north­west corner initially served as theentrance to Alameda Park , buttoday is the parking and entranceto the Alamogordo Zoo. The rail­road's depot, headquarters offices,and shops lay on the southwestcorner, but today these buildingsare gone, replaced by a retail shop­ping center. Located on the south­east corner, where a commercial

continued on page 6 U?

Pablo Abeyta headed severaldelegations to Washington in theinterest of his tribe. He got to knowevery President from GroverCleveland to Franklin D. Roosevelt,with the exception of Mr. Coolidge.He said he liked Teddy the best.

I met Pablo early in 1940, soonafter I heard him speak at the ded­ication of some Indian ruins nearAlbuquerque [Coronado StateMonument near Bernalillo wasdedicated on May 29, 1940. It isnow known as Coronado HistoricSite]. I wrote up the ceremoniesfor the Santa Fe Cnpitol-Iixomuiet.and gave Pablo quite a big play. Hesent me a letter of appreciationand asked me to go see him. Hewas postmaster at Isleta at the time[and] proprietor of a generalstore.... It was while weighingpackages and selling stamps thathe told me about "T. R.," and I sawhim only once after that since hedied the next fall. He took me backof the store to the rooms where hesaid the President had come.Whether fact or the product of afertile imagination and a gift forstory-telling, he had newspaperclippings to show that, anyhow,he'd entertained the King andQueen of the Belgians there.

W. Thetford LeViness was awell-known writer about Santa Fe[and other New Mexico subjects,including the Penitentes] duringthe 1930's-1970's, and althoughconfined to a wheel chair for hisentire life, he was able to travel andwrite extensively. He received a BAdegree from Saint John's College inAnnapolis, Maryland, and an MAin Journalism from ColumbiaUniversity... . He first came toSanta Fe in the early 1930's on aWP.A. Writers' Project.

(Editor's note: According to anobituary in the Santa Fe NewMexican, September 10, 1971, WThetford Leviness. also known as''W. T." and "Ted," died of a stroke athis home in Santa Fe at age 58. Hespent his life in a wheel chair as aresult of cerebral palsy. He wroteand published a book entitled TheTruth About the Penitentes in1970.)

La Cr6nica Summer 2015 - 5

Tularosa ... (continuedfrom page 5)

buildlnq once stood. is the City ofAlamogordo's Founder's Park thatis decorated with brass busts andplaques recognizing the contribu­tions of key persons throughoutthe city's history.

In drawing up the plat map forthe town of Alamogordo, JohnArthur Eddy. representing theAlamogordo Improvement Company,included a "temperance feature"involvinq the city block at thenortheast corner of the 10th Streetand White Sands Boulevard inter­section. This feature confined thesale of liquor to Lots 1. 2. 3. and 4of Block 50 (the southwest cornerof the block) for "medicinal pur­poses" only. and in a "place of pub­lic resort." Rather than being prohi­bitionists. the Eddy brothers werejust being practical and did notwant a work force of drunkardsand Iay-abouts. Alamogordo folk­lore also relates that the lawyerWiIIiam Ashton Hawkins sUSJgestedplacing it across the street from theheadquarters' offices so the bossescould keep an eye on who visitedthe saloon.

The Alamogordo ImprovementCompany retained ownership ofthe lots and in 1899 built the firstbuilding on the site. a simple framebuilding with a pitch roof. Thebuilding was 18 feet by 48 feet. andthe southern portion contained thesaloon and the northern part thebilliard's parlor. There were twoou tbuildinqs for beer storaqe andcoal storage. The Company did notoperate the business. but fran­chised it out receiving the rent anda portion of the saloon's profits .However. the business was neververy successful as the workers didnot want to drink and play billiardsunder the watchful eye of theirbosses just across the street.Instead. they went to the drinkingestablishments that popped up justsouth of the town's boundaries thatthe Company could not control.

The Block 50 saloon limpedalong for almost twenty yearswhen it had to become just a bil­liard's parlor after New Mexicobanned liquor sales in 1918. fol­lowed by the federal Volstead Actwhich ushered in Prohibition in1920. With the repeal of EighteenthAmendment in 1933. theAlamogordo Improvement Companyleased the saloon to Gus Anxionand I. N. Wiley of Las Cruces. butthe business still did not bring inmuch money as Alamogordo wasin the depths of the GreatDepression.

By 1937 the AlamogordoImprovement Company neededmoney to survive and with a newgeneration of owners. the impetusto keep Lots 1-4 of Block 50 forliquor sales had waned. Consequently.that year they sold the lots to G. E.Gordon and W F Shelton. two busi­nessmen who owned the Buickauto dealership. Under the nameof Plaza Oil Company. Gordon andShelton built a gas station andgarage on the northeast corner of10th Street and White SandsBoulevard.

The two men also worked withHoward Beacham to build an "L"-

6 - La Cronies Summer 2015

shaped adobe structure on thespace behind the gas station.Although strictly a private enter­prise . the resulting PuebloRevivallNew Mexico Vernacular­style building is architecturallysimilar to local Works ProjectAdministration buildings. namelythe Alamogordo Woman's Club .the United States Post Office (nowOtero County offices). and theheadquarters offices at the WhiteSands National Monument. Thenorth wing of the new PlazaBuilding became the bar. while theeast wing became a restaurantowned and operated by Beachamhimself.

In December 1946. LeroyHigh tower purchased the PlazaCafe from Beacham. He closed therestaurant briefly for remodeling.opening again in January of 1947.To help the restaurant stand out onthe busy Highway 54. Hightoweradded exterior lighting and neonlighting to outline the building.After purchasing the old motorcompany building to the east ofPlaza Cafe. he cut a door to haveaccess between the two andenclosed an area between the twoWings of the Plaza Building. creat­ing a storeroom and passagebetween the Plaza Bar and thecafe. As the town SJrew rapidly inthe 1950s to a population around25.000. the Plaza Bar and Cafebecame the hub of Alamogordo.where the business and politicalleaders gathered for a good mealor a qutcz drink at the bar.

Over the next thirty years. thePlaza Building became a landmarkof Alamogordo's downtown.Nevertheless. Alamogordo waschanging. The town's economyhad always mainly revolvedaround farming. ranching. and therailroad. Then. in 1942 the U.S. mil­itary opened Alamogordo ArmyAir Field. which became HollomanAir Force Base in 1946.Alamogordo grew rapidly over thenext several decades . However.after 1970 changes in the air base'smission and rough economic timesnationally adversely effected thetown's economy. As a result ofthese harder times. combined withthe death of Leroy Hightower in1988. the Plaza Cafe closed. ThePlaza Bar remained open while theold cafe area was leased out to avariety of businesses.

The building itself had alsochanged hands over the years. Atsome point a Herbert White ownedit. and later. probably in the late1960s. Guy and Velma Inks and herfather Earl Creighton purchasedthe Plaza Building. Then in 1997.Billy G. Weiman received a quiettitle to Lots 1-4of Block 50. With hisdeath in 2005. the opportunityarose for the Plaza Building topotentially become home of theAlamogordo Museum of Historyoperated by the Tularosa BasinHistorical Society.

Seizing this chance. the boardof TBHS met with officials of theCity of Alamogordo to see if thetwo entities could come to anagreement for the city to buy thePlaza Building for TBHS to operate

a larqer museum. The location of10th Street and White SandsBoulevard had become the desig­nated entry into the historic dis­trict of Alamoqordo durinq thecity's centennial in 1998.Two of thecorners. the southeast and north­west . already contained culturaland tourist attractions (Founder'sPark and the Alamogordo Zoo .respectively) . and the Plaza areawould also help draw visitors intotown. The city agreed. and author­ized TBHS to proceed in applyingfor capital outlay funds from theNew Mexico Legislature to allowthe City of Alamoqordo to pur­chase the building.

Working with then StateSenator Diana Duran and StateRepresentative Gloria Vaughn.TBHS was successful in receiving$303.000 for the city to purchasethe property. At that time. TBHSformally leased the building fromthe city and began making plans torestore and renovate the structureto become a museum. ArchitectCharles Nolan . designer of the NewMexico Museum of Space Historyin Alamogordo. offered his servicepro bono. drawins on his experi­ence in projects in Santa Fe andother places involving historicbuildings. With an initial assess­ment in hand of what work wasrequired. the TBHS board. onbehalf of the City of Alamogordo.once again petitioned the state leSJ­islature for capital outlay money.receiving a total of $247,000.

In the spring of 2008. Dr. DavidTownsend along with two city offi­cials made a presentation to theSoutheast ReSJional PlanningOrganization (SERPO) to requestfunds to improve and enhance theexterior of the building. signage,and its parking lot . as well as makethe sidewalks ADA compliant. Hispresentation was successful. andthe project was put on the list forFY20 10. in which SERPO wouldprovide $150.000 and the City ofAlamogordo would contribute$50.000.

With plans and money in hand.TBHS started to prepare for renova­tions. Since having formally takenover the building in 2006. theSociety had allowed the two cur­rent businesses. the Plaza Pub anda flower shop. to continue leasingtheir respective spaces. In thesprinq of 2008. TBHS and the Cityterminated the leases. vacating thebuilding. Next. the City ofAlamogordo put out a request forbids so restoration could begin.However. the bids received weremuch hiSJher than what funds wereavailable . After prioritizlnq thework needed to be done. a secondrequest for bid was sent out. butonce aSJain the bids were too high.

Months passed as the city offi­cials and the board members ofTBHS discussed how to proceed. Inthe spring of 2009. TBHS and theCity looked to make sure the build­inSJ was secure. but the roofappeared to be in need of repair.They had an asbestos study done.resulting in the discovery thatthere was potentially asbestos inthe roof. adding another major

expense that had not been includ­ed in the other renovation expens­es.

With this news . the TBHS boardanalyzed their current position.Due to the uncertainty of the situa­tion. it was difficult for them toqualify for grants that might helpwith the brick-and-mortar renova­tions. nor could they easily con­duct their own fundraiser. In themeantime. TBHS was still payingthe insurance on the building. asper their lease. However. thisexpense was putting a strain ontheir budget. without anythlng toshow for it. Therefore. reluctantlythe board voted on June 10. 2009.to approach the City Commissionat their June 22nd meeting to for­mally ask to be let out of their thelease. The city commissionersreluctantly agreed. but also direct­ed city staff to look into all optionsand stay committed to the projectof converting the Plaza BuildinSJinto a museum.

Then in the fall of 2009. theproject took another blow. A statebudget shortfall due to the eco­nomic recession led the NewMexico state SJovernment to takeback any unspent capital outlayfunds for projects. This includedthe money earmarked for therestoration of the Plaza BuildinSJ.For now. the renovation of thePlaza BuildinSJ was dead in thewater.

But the TBHS board would notSJive up on the dream of movingtheir museum. and they quietlyworked and brainstormed on waysto revive the project. One idea putforward was for a GeneralObliqatlon Bond to be placed onthe city ballot where the resultingrevenues could be used for the ren­ovations. Then in late 2011. theCity of Alamogordo refinancedtheir 2002 SJross receipts tax bonds.generating $4.2 million to be usedon quality of life projects . Ultimately.the city included $600.000 ear­marked for the Plaza Building.

Thlnss were 100kinSJ up aSJain­but a threat of storm clouds wereon horizon. News was floatingaround Alamogordo that CVSPharmacy was looking at purchas­ing the northeast corner of 10thStreet and White Sands Blvd.. notonly the Plaza Building. but alsothe entire historic Block 50 ofAlamoqordo. Their plans were toraze the extstinq butldincs to con­struct a CVS Pharmacy to fit theirbusiness model of being locatednear a Walgreens. which sat thesouthwest corner of the sameintersection. At a City Commissionin mid September 2011 the infor­mation was confirmed. TBHSboard members addressed thecommissioners askinSJ for themremember that state capital outlaymoney was used to purchase thePlaza buildins. with the purpose ofcreatine a museum. However, thecommission and audience wasinformed the aSJent for CVSPharmacy. Armstrong DevelopmentProperties. had backed out of anyarrangements with owners whohad already expressed willingness

continued on page 7 I@>

Tularosa ... (continuedfrom page 6)

to sell. statlnq the Plaza buildlngwas not available.

TBHS now worked even morefervently on plans to not justrestore the Plaza buildinc. but saveit from the wrecking ball. InJanuary of 2012, Elizabeth Padilla ,president of TBHS, made a presen­tation to the city commission tothank them for putting the muse­um on the list of quality of life proj­ects to be paid for by the bond refi­nancinq. She also wanted toapprise them that the Society wasplanning on trying to get the PlazaBuilding listed on the New MexicoState Register of Cultural Properties,a move that would open up oppor­tunities for some grants.

With the renewed interest inthe Plaza Building, TBHS boardmembers and city officials contin­ued to have discussions on how toproceed. However, since a sale toCVS Pharmacy was still a possibili­ty, the city offered to use the$600,000 from the quality of lifemoney to obtain other vacantbuildings in the downtown areathat TBHS could as a larger muse­um. TBHS board declined , seeingplenty of possibilities in listing thesite on the state historic register.

But, since the city owned theproperty before TBHS could moveforward they needed the city's per­mission to act on their behalf whenapplying for such status and forany grants that would cover thecosts of a feasibility and structuralstudy. Therefore , on March 27,2012, Elizabeth Padilla and JosetteHerrell, vice-president of TBHS ,went before the City Commissionto formally request permission. Inaddition , TBHS informed the com­mISSIon that if the buildingachieved historic status, then reno­vation construction would beunder a different set of regulations;therefore, construction costswould be dramatically reduced.After a Ionq discussion about whatrestrictions such a status would puton the property and if it wouldimpede selling the property in thefuture , the City Commission for­mally agreed that TBHS on behalfof the city had one year to pursuereceiving historic register statusand ~rants for study and renova­tion, with the $600,000 quality oflife funds to be used as matchingfunds.

But the situation was morecomplicated that it appeared. Inthe previous months the City ofAlarnooordos EngineeriruJ Departmentper the request of the city commis­sion, had created their own esti­mate to renovate the PlazaBuilding and bring it up to codeand ready for occupancy. Theirestimate was $1 million at mini­mum. Unbeknownst to TBHS andthe public, the City Commission onMarch 13, 2012, had in executivesession instructed city staff to listthe Plaza property for sale on thereal estate market. However, twoweeks later the commissionersgave TBHS a one-year time periodto pursue grants without mention­ing the property was on the mar­ket. At the April 10th meeting, onecommissioner tried to rectify this

conflict, but his motion to removethe property from the marketfailed . As it turned out, CVSPharmacy was still interested inpursuing its project of taking overall of Block 50. Consequently, whenit saw the Plaza property on themarket, it made an offer to the city.This offer was addressed at theApril 23rd meeting when the CityCommission voted to instruct thecity attorney not to accept an actu­al offer from CVS Pharmacy for theproperty, but to enter into negotia­tions.

After the actions of the CityCommission, who had heard sev­eral members of the public speak­ing on behalf of TBHS's efforts , thetown of Alamogordo was divided.Many saw the vacant building inthe heart of downtown as an eyesore and welcomed the prospect ofa new business. But others weretired of seeing their history obliter­ated, harking back to the con­tentious removal of the Alamogordorailroad depot and Aztec buildingin the 1990s at this same intersec­tion . Even the Alamogordo DailyNews joined the conversation byprintinq its own editorial callingout the commission for going backon their vote allowing TBHS ayear's time to pursue funding.

In the meantime, TBHS, as itreminded its members and sup­porters to stay civil in the discus­sions, moved forward and appliedfor state historic status for the PlazaBuildin~ in April 2012. On May22nd, Elizabeth Padilla once againapproached the City Commission.this time asking for a letter of sup­port directed to the State HistoricPreservation Board which was tomeet in early June at which timethey were considering the PlazaBuilding application. After muchdiscussion, the City Commissiondeclined to write the letter of sup­port, fearing it would impede anydeal with CVS Pharmacy.

Despite this lack of supportfrom the City of Alamogordo, TBHSpushed ahead, and in early Junetheir application for the PlazaBuilding to be placed on the NewMexico State Register of CulturalProperties was accepted, openingthe door to grant opportunities asan officially reqistered historicstructure. In the meantime, theOtero County Commission hadbeen watching the situation close­ly. County Commissioner TommieHerrell. whose wife Josette was onthe TBHS board, invited the Societyto make a presentation at theCounty Commission meeting inJanuary 2012. After watching theCity of Alamogordo graduallywithdraw their support in restoringthe Plaza Building, the countycommissioners at their June 13,2012, meeting voted to authorizecounty staff to negotiate with thecity for the county to take over theproperty.

The CVS Pharmacy project inlate June was abandoned whentwo of the owners of property onBlock 50 - Otero County andbusinessman Michael Shyne ­categorically announced theywould not sell their lots. With the

option to sell the Plaza Buildin~ offthe table for now, the CityCommission agreed on August14th to transfer the property toOtero County on the conditionthat the property be used only as acounty museum and that it wouldhave to be completed in two yearsfrom the date of the conveyance. Ifthese conditions were violated, theproperty would return to the Cityof Alamogordo. By September 22,2012, the legalities of the con­veyance were met and onSeptember 22nd, the CountyCommission presented a copy ofthe quit claim deed to representa­tives of TBHS and gave them for­mal authorization to move for­ward with renovations. A TBHSmember did approach the citycommission one more time inDecember 3, 2012, askin~ for$200,000, but the commissionersrejected this request, citing theevents of the past year.

The volunteers of TBHS quicklyacted , immediately cleaning upthe inside and outside of the PlazaBuildin~. Work had to stop tem­porarily in January 2013 whenasbestos abatement had to bedone. Workers had discovered thatthe sealant used to hold down thetile floor contained asbestos, butthe ~ood news was that it only cost$5,500 to do the work, not the$80,000 some early estimates hadsaid. TBHS also paid for the workitself, not the county.

To keep moving forward, TBHSalso held fundraisers , like the"Open Door" auction held in Aprilof 2013. The Society invited thepublic to come take a look at theirprogress and the features of thebuilding, and buy items at the auc­tion to help raise money towardthe next phase of construction. Inaddition, TBHS once a~ain, withthe help of State RepresentativeYvette Herrell, applied to the 2013New Mexico State Legislature forcapital outlay money and received$525,000, $25,000 more than theyhad actually requested.

After a year of more prepara­tion work and waltlnq for themoney to be made available by thestate, in November of 2014 OteroCounty sent out a request for con­struction bids. Construction on therestoration of the Plaza Buildingbegan in late January by CDGeneral Contractors of Las Cruces.In June of 2015, thanks to theefforts of now former CountyCommissioner Tommie Herrell. theinmates of the Otero CountyPrison Facility in Chaparral made anew steel gate for the new muse­um, to help separate the gift shopfrom the museum exhibits in asecure manner. OCPF WardenJames Frauner and four employeesdelivered and help to install thegate . Designed by TBHS PresidentJosette Herrell and Treasurer DebraLewandowski, the ~ate featuressymbols of the Tularosa Basin:windmills, the railroad water towerin downtown Alamogordo, St.Francis de Paula Catholic Churchin Tularosa , a train, Stealth Fighter,and White Sands. In addition in thesummer of 2015, TBHS received a

$20,000 PNM ResourcesFoundation grant and a $3,000donation from Union PacificRailroad to help pay for renovationand constructions costs. Afterbeing located at 1300 N. WhiteSands Boulevard for 44 1/2 years,the Tularosa Basin HistoricalSociety/Alamogordo Museum ofHistory closed its doors on July 25,2015, in anticipation of a grandreopening in the Plaza Building inSeptember as the Tularosa BasinHistory Museum.

Although the dream of movinginto a larger facility had beenmany years in the making, the vol­unteers and members of theTularosa Basin Historical Societynever ~ave up. Once the opportu­nity came up to move into thePlaza Building, one of the historiclandmarks in downtownAlamogordo, the TBHS boardjumped at the chance to fulfill theirmission of preserving the history ofAlamogordo and the TularosaBasin while also meeting thenecessity of finding Iarcer quarters.After ten years of ups and downs inthe process, the Tularosa BasinHistorical Society's perseverancewill have paid off as they debut thenew enlarged AlamogordoMuseum of History in the summerof 2015.

(Dawn Santiago is member of theHistorical Society of New MexicoBoard of Directors. She also serveson the SOCiety's PublicationsCommittee. She is a long-time res­ident of southern New Mexico, andshe served as curator for TBHSfrom 2004 to 2008."

Plenary Speaker2015

Travis Suazo, ExecutiveDirector of the Indian PuebloCultural Center in Albuquerque,delivered the address at thePlenary session of HistoricalSociety of New Mexico 2015Conference in Albuquerque. Hispresentation regarding PuebloIndian educational issues wasinformative and interesting.

La Cronies Summer 2015 - 7

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La Cr6 nica is pu blished by theHISTOR ICAL SOCI ETYO f NEW MEXICO

Post Office Box 1912Santa Fe. New Mexico 87504Email : hsnminfo@llmai I.com

John P. Conron (1921-2005). Editor 1976-2005Car leen Crisp Lazzell (1940-2015). Editor 2005-2015

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La Crol1ica , --oe Nuevo MeXlco

~ .'

Non-Profit Organization

U.S. POSTAGE PAIDSanta Fe, New Mexico

87501Permit No. 95

Editor : Don Bullis. don bullis@msn.comAssoc iate Editor. Ronald R. Hadad

HISTORICALSOCIETY OF NEWMEXICO OffICERS

Janet Sai ers. President . AlbuquerqueNancy Ow en Lewis. 2nd Vice Preside nt . Sa nta Fe

Baldwin G. Burr . Sec re tary. Los Luna sLinda Til/I/es. Treasu rer. Albuque rque /Sa n ta f e

Number 102

HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF NEW MEXICOPost Office Box 1912Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504

Mike Stevenson. Immedia te Past President .Texarkana . Texas RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

HISTORICAL SOCIETYOF NEW MEXICO BOARD OFDIRECTORS

Joh n Bloom. Las CrucesDon Bullis. Rio Ranc ho

David Caffey. Clov isGary Cozzen s. Lincoln Coun ty

Doyle Daves. Las Vel/asKa thryn A. f lynn . Santa Fe

fr ed f riedman. Santa FeBruce Gjelte rna . GallupRen ee Harris Santa Fe

Adam Heien. Las Cruce sKermit Hill. Santa f e

Marl/are t Espinosa McDonald. BelenRicha rd Melzer. Belen

John Ramsey. Los AlamosDennis Re inhartz . Sa nta FeDawn Sa ntiago . Las Cruces

Deb Slan ey. Placi tasJoh n Taylor. Los Lunas

Robert Torrez. AlbuquerqueSteve Zimme r. Cima rro n

TO~

Janet Saiers

1622 Propps NE

Albuquerque, NM 871 ~ 2-4287

EX-O f f iCIO BOARD MEMBERS

Rick Hendricks. New Mexico Sta te Histor ianCrail/ Newbill. Director. New Mexico Hum anities Council

Richard Sim s. Director. New Mexico Heritage Sites 2015 Award WinnersPUBLICATIO NS COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Former Historical Society of NewMexico President Michael Stevensonwas the winner of the society's PaulA. f Walter Award for His manyservices to "HSNM over a period ofmany years. He is pictured abovewith current HSNM President JanetSaiers.

Mo Sue 1. Palmer was the winnerof the Historical Society of NewMexico's Dorothy WoodwardAward for the advancement ofeducation for her numerous lec­tures and publications about NewMexico history. Ms. Palmer is pic­tured above with HSNM PresidentJanet Saiers.

Award for outstanding publicationby an individual for his book.Chasing the Santa Fe Ring: Powerand PriVilege in Territorial NewMexico (University of New MexicoPress) . Mr. Caffey is pictured abovewith HSNM President Janet Saiers.

New Mexico author and artist MaxEvans was the 2015 recipient of theHistorical Society of New Mexico'sEdgar Lee Hewett Award for out­standing service to the public forhis many contributions over a longcareer and in particular for hisefforts as a founder of the NewMexico Farm and Ranch Museumin Las Cruces. Mr. Evans is picturedabove with HSNM President JanetSaiers and New Mexico historianDon Bullis.

Ann Carson was the winner of the2015 Historical Society of NewMexico's 1. Bradford Prince Awardfor si~nificant work in the field ofhistoric preservation for manyAlbuquerque historic projects. Sheis pictured above with HSNMPresident Janet Saiers.

Nasario Garcia was the winner ofthe 2015 Historical Society of NewMexico's Pablita Velarde Award foroutstanding children's publicationfor his book. Grandma Lale'sTamales: A Christmas Story (RioGrande Books). Mr. Garcia is pic­tured above with HSNM PresidentJanet Saiers.

Photographs by Sherry Robinson

Cipriano Frederico Vi~iI was thewinner of the 2015 HistoricalSociety of New Mexico's RalphEmerson Twitchell Award for sig­nificant contribution to the field ofhistory by individuals in the area offine arts . for his book New MexicoFolk Music: Treasures of a People(University of New Mexico Press.Mr. Vigil is pictured above withHSNM President Janet Saiers.

David 1. Caffey was the winner ofthe 2015 Historical Society of NewMexico's Gaspar Perez de ViIIa~ni

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Rick Hendricks . Richard W.Hughes. and Malcolm Ebright werethe 2015 Historical Society of NewMexico's winners of the FrayFrancisco Atanasio DomincuezAward for historic survey andresearch for their bOOR. FourSquare Leagues: Pueblo Land inNew Mexico (University of NewMexico Press) . Rick Hendricks andRichard Hughes are picture abovewith HSNM President Janet Saiers.

Andres Armijo was the winner ofthe 2015 Historical Society of NewMexico's Fabiola Cabeza de BacaAward for outstanding publicationor exhibit relating to domestic lifein New Mexico for his book. ramilyHistory in the Rio Abajo (RioGrande BOORS). Mr. Armijo is pic­tured he re with HSNM PresidentJanet Sa iers.

Don Bullis. ChairRick Hendricks

Margaret Espinosa McDonal dRichard MelzerDawn Sa ntiagoRoben Torrez