Taos Downtown Historic District | |
Location | NM 3 and NM 240, Taos, New Mexico |
---|---|
Coordinates | 36°24′24″N105°34′23″W / 36.40667°N 105.57306°W |
Area | 30 acres (12 ha) |
Architect | multiple |
Architectural style | Late 19th And 20th Century Revivals, Colonial |
NRHP reference No. | 82003340 [1] |
NMSRCP No. | 860 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | July 8, 1982 |
Designated NMSRCP | April 15, 1982 |
Taos Downtown Historic District is a historic district in Taos, New Mexico. [3] Taos "played a major role in the development of New Mexico, under Spanish, Mexican, and American governments." It is a key historical feature of the Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway of northern New Mexico. [4]
Taos Downtown Historic District is located in the center of Taos, New Mexico. It is roughly bounded by Ojitos, Quesnel, Martyr's Lane, Las Placitas and Ranchitos Streets. [3]
More broadly the area originally called Don Fernando de Taos [nb 1] is located in the Taos Valley, alongside Taos Creek and about 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Taos Pueblo. In the distance is Taos Peak. [5]
Arrowheads, potshards and pictographs found in the area provide evidence that Native Americans ranged through the Taos area about 6,000 years ago. About 900 years ago Pueblo people moved into the Taos and Picuris Pueblo areas. [7]
Spanish conquistadors, led by Hernando de Alvardo, entered the Taos Valley in 1540. [7] The area was settled by Spanish colonialists starting about 1615. [2] What had begun as good relationships between the people from the pueblo and the settlers became contentious due to "brutal treatment" of the pueblo residents by the Franciscan missionaries, pressure to convert to Christianity, and demands to make tributes to encomenderos. Some of the colonists left the Taos area in 1840 after the Franciscan priest was killed. In 1661 some people returned to the still difficult situation. [8] Due to the poor treatment of the residents of the pueblo, a revolt by indigenous peoples in 1680 resulted in the Spanish being driven out of the area. [7] [2] Sixteen years later the Taos valley was resettled by Don Diego de Vargas of Spain with a renewed and more respectful perspective. Spanish families settled in the Taos Plaza area and Ranchos de Taos. [7] [8] In 1710 the Spanish regained the territory. [2]
For protection against attacks by Plains Indians, many people of Spanish heritage lived on, [9] or built houses very near, the Taos Pueblo. Subsequently, concerned about the rate of intermarriage between the Spanish and people of the pueblo, the Spanish were asked to move at least "one league" away from the pueblo. [10]
In 1779 the Battle of Cuerno Verde was led by Juan Bautista de Anza against the Comanches. Several tribal leaders and the chief were killed during the battle. As a result, the hostilities by that tribe subsided. [8] In 1794 an order was initiated that prohibited Spanish, Negroes and mulattoes from living on pueblo lands. In addition, the General Indian Policy by Commandant General Teodoro de Croix resulted in a reduction in hostile attacks in the Taos Valley. [9]
In 1796, [nb 2] The Don Fernando de Taos Land Grant gave land to 63 Spanish families in the Taos valley, [6] [2] including the Taos Plaza which was then called Don Fernando de Taos. [3] [nb 1] The settlement was built as a fortified plaza, [3] with strong gates to enclose the settlement to protect the residents and livestock at threats of attack by Plains Indians. At each corner of the thick adobe walls of the plaza sentries stood guard for protection. Within the plaza, residents celebrated during fiestas, engaged in church festivities, and traded goods. [2] It is now a central plaza surrounded by residential areas. [3]
Taos was the most northern stop on the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, also known as the King's Highway, from Mexico City. [11]
Mountain men who trapped for beaver nearby made Taos their home in the early 1800s. [6] In December 1826 Kit Carson arrived [12] and later married Josefa Jaramillo from Taos. [7] At that time there were about 500 settlers in Taos. It was almost as important as Santa Fe and was the northernmost custom depot of the Spanish colonial settlements. [5] As the Santa Fe Trail was established between the American territory of Missouri and Santa Fe, fur trade and goods trade developed in Taos for people of American, Spanish and Native American heritage. [12] Santa Fe Trail traders included Charles Bent and William Bent who operated Bent's Fort. [13] Goods produced in Taos included furs, blankets, and "Taos lightning", made from fermented wheat. [12]
In 1826 Padre Antonio José Martínez began to serve the parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe. He also founded a newspaper, the first one west of the Mississippi, which was the precursor to the modern The Taos News . [7]
In 1830 building housing a jail and courthouse was built on the north side of the plaza. The Columbian and Don Fernando hotels, saloons and gambling establishments were built to accommodate the influx of visitors to Taos. [2]
The United States took possession of New Mexico in 1847 (during the Mexican–American War). In retaliation, some former Mexican citizens and Taos Natives rebelled and during the Taos Revolt Charles Bent, the first territorial governor, was killed in his home. In response, the United States Army killed more than 150 people at the Taos Pueblo and destroyed the original San Geronimo Mission. In 1850, New Mexico and Arizona became an official territory of the United States. [6]
Taos, one of the oldest Spanish settlements in the Taos valley, has examples of Spanish Colonial, Mission Revival, Pueblo Revival and Territorial architecture. [3]
In 1930 several buildings on the plaza succumbed to fire, including the courthouse building and the Don Fernando Hotel. A new courthouse building was built and in 1933 and 1934 the Works Progress Administration funded the creation of murals within the courthouse. The frescoes were painted by Taos art colony members Emil Bisttram, Victor Higgins, Ward Lockwood and Bert Geer Phillips. [2]
In the late 19th century members of the Taos art colony settled in homes and studios around the plaza. [3] The first of which were Bert Geer Phillips and Ernest L. Blumenschein who became "enthralled" by Taos scenery and clear light in 1898. The Taos Society of Artists was formed in 1912 with other artists who had moved to Taos. [6] [7]
Socialite Mabel Dodge Luhan arrived in Taos in 1917 and brought "creative luminaries" to the area, including Carl Jung, Georgia O'Keeffe, D. H. Lawrence, Thomas Wolfe, Willa Cather, Ansel Adams, Thornton Wilder, and Aldous Huxley. [7]
Inspired by the movie Easy Rider in which bikers "briefly discovered peace, creativity, and free love", [14] Hippies arrived in Taos in the 1960s and 1970s and their residence influenced the culture of Taos. [7]
Taos is a town in Taos County in the north-central region of New Mexico in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Initially founded in 1615, it was intermittently occupied until its formal establishment in 1795 by Nuevo México Governor Fernando Chacón to act as fortified plaza and trading outpost for the neighboring Native American Taos Pueblo and Hispano communities, including Ranchos de Taos, Cañon, Taos Canyon, Ranchitos, El Prado, and Arroyo Seco. The town was incorporated in 1934. As of the 2010 census, its population was 5,716.
The Taos art colony was an art colony founded in Taos, New Mexico, by artists attracted by the culture of the Taos Pueblo and northern New Mexico. The history of Hispanic craftsmanship in furniture, tin work, and other mediums also played a role in creating a multicultural tradition of art in the area.
Ranchos de Taos is a census-designated place (CDP) in Taos County, New Mexico. The population was 2,390 at the time of the 2000 census.
Charles Bent was an American businessman and politician who served as the first civilian United States governor of the New Mexico Territory, newly invaded and occupied by the United States during the Mexican-American War by the Military Governor, Stephen Watts Kearny, in September 1846.
Ceran St. Vrain, born Ceran de Hault de Lassus de Saint-Vrain, was the son of a French aristocrat who emigrated to the Spanish Louisiana in the late 18th century; his mother was from St. Louis, where he was born. To gain the ability to trade, in 1831 he became a naturalized Mexican citizen in what is now the state of New Mexico. He formed a partnership with American traders William, George and Charles Bent; together they established the trading post of Bent's Fort. It was the only privately held fort in the West.
Mora or Santa Gertrudis de lo de Mora is a census-designated place in, and the county seat of, Mora County, New Mexico. It is located about halfway between Las Vegas and Taos on Highway 518, at an altitude of 7,180 feet. The Republic of Texas performed a semi-official raid on Mora in 1843. Two short battles of the Mexican–American War were fought in Mora in 1847, where U.S. troops eventually defeated the Hispano and Puebloan militia, effectively ending the Taos Revolt in the Mora Valley. The latter battle destroyed most of the community, necessitating its re-establishment.
Old Town is the historic original town site of Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the provincial kingdom of Santa Fe de Nuevo México, established in 1706 by New Mexico governor Francisco Cuervo y Valdés. It is listed on the New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties as the Old Albuquerque Historic District, and is protected by a special historic zoning designation by the city. The present-day district contains about ten blocks of historic adobe buildings surrounding Old Town Plaza. On the plaza's north side stands San Felipe de Neri Church, a Spanish colonial church constructed in 1793.
The Taos Revolt was a populist insurrection in January 1847 by Hispano and Pueblo allies against the United States' occupation of present-day northern New Mexico during the Mexican–American War. Provisional governor Charles Bent and several other Americans were killed by the rebels. In two short campaigns, United States troops and militia crushed the rebellion of the Hispano and Pueblo people. The New Mexicans, seeking better representation, regrouped and fought three more engagements, but after being defeated, they abandoned open warfare. Hatred of New Mexicans for the occupying American army combined with the oft-exercised rebelliousness of Taos residents against authority imposed on them from elsewhere were causes of the revolt. In the aftermath of the revolt the Americans executed at least 28 rebels. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1850 guaranteed the property rights of New Mexico's Hispanic and American Indian residents.
Las Trampas or just Trampas, is a small unincorporated town in Taos County, New Mexico. Founded in 1751, its center retains the original early Spanish colonial defensive layout from that time, as well as the 18th-century San José de Gracia Church, one of the finest surviving examples of Spanish Colonial church architecture in the United States. The village center was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1967.
Carson National Forest is a national forest in northern New Mexico, United States. It encompasses 6,070 square kilometers and is administered by the United States Forest Service. The Forest Service's "mixed use" policy allows for its use for recreation, grazing, and resource extraction.
Taos Plaza is a center of shops and monuments within the Taos Downtown Historic District in Taos, New Mexico.
The history of New Mexico is based on archaeological evidence, attesting to the varying cultures of humans occupying the area of New Mexico since approximately 9200 BCE, and written records. The earliest peoples had migrated from northern areas of North America after leaving Siberia via the Bering Land Bridge. Artifacts and architecture demonstrate ancient complex cultures in this region.
Guadalupe Miranda was a Mexican public official who was mayor of Ciudad Juárez and recipient of the 1,700,000-acre (6,900 km2) Beaubien-Miranda Land Grant.
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. The name "Santa Fe" means 'Holy Faith' in Spanish, and the city's full name as founded remains La Villa Real de la Santa Fé de San Francisco de Asís.
The 56-mile (90 km) High Road to Taos is a scenic, winding road through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains between Santa Fe and Taos.. It winds through high desert, mountains, forests, small farms, and tiny Spanish land grant villages and Pueblo Indian villages. Scattered along the way are the galleries and studios of traditional artisans and artists drawn by the natural beauty. It has been recognized by the state of New Mexico as an official scenic byway.
Land grants in New Mexico and Colorado were awarded to individuals and communities by the Spanish, and later the Mexican, government to encourage settlement and expansion of the Territorio de Nuevo Mexico, which included southern Colorado. Land grants by the Spanish and Mexican governments between 1692 and 1846 numbered 291 in New Mexico, four partly in New Mexico and partly in Colorado, and three in Colorado. The total area of grants was tens of thousands of square miles. The majority of their land area was designated as common land for residents of the grant. Common land was mostly used for grazing cattle and sheep. Smaller acreages within the grants were devoted to irrigation agriculture and home sites. After its conquest of New Mexico in 1846, the United States adjudicated the grants and confirmed 154 as valid. The peace treaty between the U.S. and Mexico in 1848 guaranteed the right of former Mexican citizens to their land, but the adherence to that language was inconsistent and often compromised by legal actions of the U.S. biased in favor of Anglo claimants and Anglo land practices. Hispanic protests, legal action, and occasional violence to regain or retain their traditional rights to usage of former grant land continued into the 21st century.
Northern Rio Grande National Heritage Area is a federally designated National Heritage Area in the U.S. state of New Mexico. The national heritage area includes a section of the upper Rio Grande Valley that has been inhabited by the Puebloan peoples since the early Pre-Columbian era.
The La Loma Plaza Historic District is a historic neighborhood in Taos, New Mexico that was listed as a National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish or Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe is located just west of the Taos Plaza at 205 Don Fernando Street in downtown Taos, New Mexico.
The Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway is a New Mexico Scenic Byway and National Forest Scenic Byway located in Northern New Mexico. It begins and ends in Taos, New Mexico.