Las Cruces

The Organ Mountains overlook Las Cruces

Events

Sample the fruits of New Mexico’s wineries at the Southern New Mexico Wine Festival held over Memorial Day weekend at the Southern New Mexico State Fairgrounds.

A world record for the largest flat enchilada was set a few years ago at the Whole Enchilada Fiesta. Perhaps another record in on tap this September as people gather for this giant street party.
The International Mariachi Conference & Concert in November draws 7,000 spectators to the Pan American Center for a giant concert featuring internationally known mariachi performers, wrapping up a week of Mariachi workshops and conferences.

The courthouse and jail that held
Billy the Kid is now a gift shop bearing his name

History

How Las Cruces got its name has been the subject of conjecture and folklore. What is known is that Spanish explorers Coronado and Onate came through the area inhabited by fierce Apache tribes. The El Camino Real, or “Royal Road,” was established in the area, and settlers and travelers began making their way up and down the Rio Grande Valley. The Apaches would attack and harass the newcomers, and many were killed in their raids. Folklore has it that a General, a priest, and several choirboys from Taos were killed in a 1830 raid, and the last surviving choir boy buried the dead and marked their graves with crosses, giving Las Cruces its name. Others maintain that the name comes from the array of crosses erected in the area to memorialize Apache attacks through the years. Many believe the name is just a simple translation of “the cross,” as in “crossroads.” Whatever the story, the town began in 1848, when the U.S. military, with rope and stakes, plotted out 84 blocks to help ease land disputes created as settlers arrived after the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo turned the land over from Mexico. In 1850, a group of unhappy pro-Mexico residents, moved across the Rio Grande to Mexico and established the town of Mesilla. But, within a few short years, they were back under U.S. rule as the land was sold to America as part of the Gadsden Purchase.

Nearly a decade later, the area briefly became part of the Confederacy during the Civil War. 3,000 Texas troops marched through the area on their way towards the battle at Glorieta, north of Santa Fe. They were defeated by the Union Army, effectively ending the war in the West. In 1865, Ft. Seldon was built nearby to help protect settlers from Apache raids, and among the first soldiers stationed there were the infamous “Buffalo Soldiers” made up of African-Americans.

In 1880, Mesilla gained national attention when William Bonney, “Billy the Kid,” was put on trial in the town. Billy was sentenced to hang, and shipped off Lincoln, N.M., where he later escaped. Ironically, the man who shot him after his escape, Pat Garrett, was himself shot and buried in Las Cruces.

The Rhodes-Garrett-Hamiel Dorm on the campus
of NMSU

The WPA in Las Cruces

Kent Hall (University Ave. and Solano Dr.), on the campus of New Mexico State University, was constructed by the WPA and now houses the schools museum. Additionally, the Rhodes-Garrett-Hamiel Dorm, built in 1941, used WPA funds.

The WPA partially funded the construction of the Old Dona Ana County Courthouse (251 West Amador) a three story white adobe with exposed vigas and wooden balconies.

Tom Lea painted two murals that now hang in the New Mexico State University library. Additionally, his 1935 mural, “First Book About New Mexico-1610” can be seen in the Branigan Cultural Center (501 North Main St.). Although the painting was privately commissioned for the old city library, it is often placed in the context of the WPA because of Lea’s other WPA works and the public nature of the mural.

Tom Lea’s Mural First Book About New Mexico-1610

Culture

Focusing on the development of the Southwest, the Branigan Cutural Center has displays detailing Las Cruces’ growth. Next door, the Las Cruces Museum of Art exhibits both regional and international art, and has featured exhibits from Salvador Dali and Ansel Adams.

The Branigan Cultural Center

The mall is not the first place you think of going to get culture, but the Las Cruces Natural History Museum draws over 140,000 visitors a year to its unusual location inside the Mesilla Valley Mall. From displays on the solar system and dinosaurs, to live plants and animals from the Chihuahuan Desert, this “mall-seum” will definitely draw you in from the food court.

The historic Rio Grande Theater is the jewel of downtown renovation. The theater, built in 1926, was painstakingly restored in 2005, and now stands as showcase for the performing arts.

The Rio Grande Theater

For more information on visiting Las Cruces, check out the Las Cruces Convention and Visitors Bureau site or the city’s website.

Contact:

Cindi Fargo
Las Cruces Downtown
138 S. Water
Las Cruces, NM 88001
Phone: 575.525.1955