Ham the Astrochimp's Journey into Space
AT THE NEW MEXICO MUSEUM OF SPACE HISTORY, in Alamogordo, visitors leave bananas on the gravestone of Ham the Astrochimp as a tribute to the first great ape who was launched into space. “Before an…
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Category: History
Check Out Carnegie's Library Legacy
NESTLED IN THE CENTER OF A LEAFY GREEN, the 1904 Carnegie Library brought neoclassical gravitas to New Town. East Las Vegas hatched the monument to book-learning by asking steel tycoon Andrew…
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The History Behind the Whitmore House
WHEN KATHY HENDRICKSON first walked into her three-story Victorian home on 825 Seventh Street, she couldn’t believe her eyes. “I saw this unpainted original woodwork, and I was like, ‘This is…
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Rawlins Building Returns to Glory
FOURTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT ATTORNEY Thomas Clayton remembers playing as a child in the massive boarding house his grandparents owned at 515 Railroad Avenue. It was built by British saloon owner William…
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A Tale of Two Buildings
LAS VEGAS IS ESSENTIALLY A TALE OF TWO TOWNS—Old and New, West and East—that separately incorporated in 1888 and 1903, respectively, and did not join as one municipality until 1970. Similarly, the…
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Historic Masonic Lodge Waits for Revival
“THIS IS STILL OPERATING, yes, ma’am,” says Greg Baker, secretary for Chapman Masonic Lodge No. 2. We’re standing outside the ruddy, purplish sandstone front of what experts call the most…
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Take History 101 on Las Vegas Plaza
PLAZA HOTEL 1882 | 230 Plaza St. The three-story brick Italianate “Belle of the Southwest” cost $25,000 for a consortium of local partners to build. CHARLES ILFELD BUILDING 1882 and 1890 | 224 Plaza…
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Revival Las Vegas
WHEN LAWRENCE QUINTANA WAS A SENIOR at West Las Vegas High School, the class of 1977 was allowed to roam the nearby Las Vegas Plaza during lunch. But a sandwich—or even a bit of window shopping—could…
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Green Chiles Roasting on an Open Fire
AS POLITICS GO, it was a weighty issue. About 53,000 tons, if you’re counting. That’s the amount of chile harvested in New Mexico in 2022, and the root of state Senate Bill 188, which proposed adding…
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Howdy from Las Vegas
TWENTY-FIVE SECONDS INTO THE OPENING of Red Dawn, the camera pans across the peaceful streets of Las Vegas, New Mexico, before lingering on a mural of a cowgirl sitting on a fence next to the greeting…
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