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Las Cruces, New Mexico Vacations, Experiential Tours and Las Cruces Luxury Travel Packages


Las Cruces City Photo

Nestled in the fertile Mesilla Valley between the majestic Organ Mountains and the meandering Rio Grande, Las Cruces, New Mexico is quickly becoming a popular southwestern destination

Our ideal location at the crossroads of Interstate 10 and 25 brings visitors into contact with 72 holes of spectacular year-round golf, unique special events, historic attractions such as Old Mesilla - not to mention world-class Mexican food! Las Cruces also blends a unique variety of attractions, culture, historical sites and superb year-round weather with 350 days of sunshine per year!!

Las Cruces is the second most populous city in New Mexico, the county seat of Doña Ana County,[4] and a United States Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is the the home of New Mexico State University and the center[clarify] of an agricultural region in the Mesilla Valley irrigated by the Rio Grande.

Las Cruces History

Early settlers
The area where Las Cruces rose was previously inhabited by the Manso people, with the Mescalero Apache living nearby.  The area was colonized by Juan de Oñate beginning in 1598, and he became its first governor.

Las Cruces was founded in 1849 when the US Army laid out the new town after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo had ceded the land to the United States in 1848.  The settlement was created as an oveflow area from the colony of Doña Ana, located six miles north of the new settlement.

Doña Ana was on the US side of the Rio Grande, and the nearby village of Mesilla had been founded in 1848 by settlers from Doña Ana who wished to stay in Mexican territory. In 1853, the Mesilla region was incorporated into the United States with the Gadsden Purchase.

Las Cruces Pioneer Days

Mesilla became the leading settlement of the area, with more than 2,000 residents in 1860, more than twice what Las Cruces had.  When the Santa Fe Railroad reached the area , the landowners of Mesilla refused to sell it the rights-of-way, and instead residents of Las Cruces donated the rights-of-way and land for a depot in Las Cruces. The first train reached Las Cruces in 1881. Las Cruces was not affected as strongly by the train as some other villages, as it was not a terminus or a crossroads, but the population did grow to 2,300 in the 1880s.

Pat Garrett is best known for his involvement in the Lincoln County War, but he also worked in Las Cruces on a famous case, the disappearance of Albert Jennings Fountain in 1896.

Las Cruces Ghost Towns
  
Chloride
Chloride, Located 60 miles north of Las Cruces on Highway 52, was settled in 1881 by miners after silver chloride ore was discovered nearby. The town grew to a population of 2,000, at one point boasting eight saloons, three general stores and 12 producing mines - the one in St. Cloud is still in operation. Today, about 20 people reside in Chloride.

Hillsboro
Located 70 miles north of Las Cruces on Highway 152, Hillsboro, was founded in 1877 as a gold miners town. Today, Hillsboro’s fortunes now rest on apples, not gold. There are quaint gift shops, restaurants, the Black Range Museum and the remains of the Sierra County Courthouse. The annual Hillsboro Apple Festival is held the first weekend in September.

Winston
Located 100 miles north of Las Cruces on Highway 52, Winston was first settled in 1881, growing to a population of 3,100 within three years. Today, the home and carriage house owned by founder Frank Winston still stands, along with an 1890’s schoolhouse.

Chise, Cuchillo, Monticello, Placita & Kingston
Small, historic ranching towns along Highway 52 and 142 with plazas, churches and interesting old buildings.

Las Cruces in Modern Times

New Mexico State University was founded in 1888 as Las Cruces College, led by Hiram Hadley.  It was established as the land grant college and experimental station by the State Legislature in 1889.  Its name was changed to New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in 1890 [1]:134 and to New Mexico State University in 1958.

Elephant Butte Dam was constructed to provide irrigation water for the Mesilla Valley. The project was approved by the United States Secretary of the Interior in 1895, but the project was in the courts for many years due to a rival proposal to build a dam near El Paso. The dam was finally completed in 1916.

During World War II, both German and Italian POWs worked at Las Cruces in the Emergency Farm Labor Program.

Since World War II the growth of the nearby White Sands Missile Range has made the defense industry a key part of the local economy.

In the 1960s Las Cruces undertook a large urban renewal project, intended to convert the old downtown into a modern city center.  As part of this, St. Genevieve's Catholic Church, built in 1859, was torn down to make way for the Downtown Mall.

In 1982, Las Cruces became the scene of the a new Roman Catholic Diocese, "Diocese of Las Cruces", which encompasses the southern half of the state and is a suffragan of Santa Fe.

Origin of Las Cruces Name

The origin of the city's name is unknown. In Spanish "Las Cruces" means "the crosses". (Some have claimed an alternative meaning of "the crossroads" but this is grammatically implausible, as "cruce", the singular form of crossroad, is masculine and the phrase would be "Los Cruces".) Robert Julyan writes, [5]:198 "Numerous stories attempt to explain why this city is named "the crosses." Some attribute the name to crosses marking the graves of unfortunates massacred by Apaches."

Las Cruces Recreation  
  
With over 350 days of sunshine a year, Las Cruces provides visitors with an opportunity to enjoy a wide variety of indoor and outdoor activities year-round. Golf some of southern New Mexico’s finest courses or learn about the life in the desert with a trip to the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Park. Spend the day shopping at the Mesilla Valley Mall, Laguna Seca Plaza or the Mesilla Plaza. 

www.wikipedia.com
www.las-cruces.org
www.lascrucescvb.org
Las Cruces Convention and Visitors Bureau

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