~ Est 1983 ~
Touring Roswell, New Mexico - UFO Capital of the World!
$14.95 from Amazon
9.99 on Kindle
(readable on iPad,
PC, Mac,
etc.)
also available from
The
Book Depository
(FREE Worldwide Delivery!)
or in
Espresso Book Machines,
and on
NOOK
About Roswell
1947 UFO Crash
Characters, Events
(coming soon)
Tour Roswell
About the Book
Find
Other Books, DVDs, CDs about
Roswell
Links (coming soon)
Contact Us
Along the Hondo River Recreation Trail
The popularity of the Spring River Recreation Trail—and the persistence
of City Councilwoman Mary Anaya (who had her own connection to the
Roswell Incident)—led the City to establish this
recreational trail in southeastern Roswell beginning in 2003. It follows
the Hondo River nearly one and one-half miles (2.5 km) from the Yucca
Recreation Center on the west to the 900 block of East 2nd Street on the
east, through the heart of the original settlement of Rio Hondo (today, Chihuahuita) that
later became Roswell, past several locations associated with Roy Rogers,
to a great source for our State Cookie, the biscochito.
Some of Our Attractions:
Roswell Headstart Center (George Washington Carver School site)
(205 East Hendricks Street). The first public “Colored School” in
Roswell opened in Smith Chapel on South Michigan Avenue in 1907, then
moved across the street to the Colored Masonic Hall where students
attended classes for the next 23 years.
The Roswell School Board let a contact to build a school for
African-American students on this site in July 1930. The two-room
building was completed shortly after the school year began and the
students moved into their new George Washington Carver School for grades
1 through 12. Roswell’s African-American students attended school here
until the fall of 1952 when the junior and senior high schools were
integrated. Elementary students continued to attend Carver School until
it closed in 1955.
Today the new building on this site serves as one of Roswell’s three
Headstart Centers, preparing disadvantaged children for kindergarten.
Chihuahuita means “little Chihuahua,” and is named after the
Mexican state just south of the New Mexico border, as well as its
capital city, that was the birthplace of many of its original citizens.
The oldest part of Roswell, originally called Rio Hondo, Chihuahuita
hugs the south bank of the Hondo River on slightly higher ground than
the rest of downtown Roswell, which protected it from the flooding that
was once so common. Immigrants from Chihuahua and Hispanics from
Northern New Mexico and Texas settled here before Anglo Roswell existed.
This was one of the first of several small Hispanic communities of
farmers and sheep ranchers that sprang up in eastern New Mexico after it
became a part of the United States in 1850 because settlers found empty
spaces, plentiful water for farming, and abundant grass for grazing
livestock.
Little is known of Chihuahuita’s early history. In 1867 it appeared on a
U.S. survey as Rio Hondo and contained several adobe buildings, as did
the Hispanic settlements of La Plaza de Missouri 15 miles (25 km) to the
west and El Berrendo, a few miles to the north.
After the Civil War a wave of Anglo cattlemen, then farmers taking
advantage of the Homestead Act and later the discovery of artesian water
and the arrival of the railroad, came to dominate the earlier Hispanic
inhabitants. Other Hispanic settlements died out, but Chihuahuita
persisted.
Two separate societies, one Anglo and one Hispanic, developed in
Roswell—and to some extent remain today. Chihuahuita had its own
markets, laundries, barber shops, bars and restaurants, curanderas
(healers), builders, churches, and schools. In 1902 twenty-four charter
members organized La Sociedad Union y Fraternidad Mexicana de Roswell, a
mutual aid society for social and financial support in the Hispanic
community.
In the early 1900s the Chihuahuita area was platted as the Acequia
Subdivision of Roswell and its street names were anglicized. Today
Chihuahuita is bounded generally by Atkinson Avenue on the east, Poe
Corn Park and 2nd Street on the north, Virginia Avenue on the west, and
Bland Street on the south. Many of the oldest houses in this section are
made of adobe. Generations have rebuilt, repaired, and added on to the
original structures, usually without keeping any records. It is
difficult to know just how old some of these houses are, but the oldest
are probably at 105, 106, 107, 114, and 115 South Mulberry Avenue
(originally called Calle Alamosa); 708, 712, 718, and 901 East Walnut
Street; and 715, 717, 719, 721, 725, 729, and 733 East Alameda Street
(originally called Calle Camino Real). These houses are all built in the
New Mexico Vernacular Style: adobe walls but pitched roofs, often
covered with tin, rather than the flat-roofed Pueblo Revival style adobe
houses usually associated with New Mexico. Houses in Chihuahuita are
generally small. Yards are often filled with ornaments and
decorations—including a space ship at the corner of Alameda and Elm
Streets.
Chihuahuita remains the traditional heart of Hispanic Roswell. Recent
interest in renovating and revitalizing this neighborhood is leading to
a resurgence of community spirit in the Chihuahuita area, a district
that has long been one of the poorer sections of town.
St. John-the-Baptist Catholic Church (506 South Lincoln Avenue).
Franciscan priests founded two Catholic churches in Roswell in 1903: St.
Peter’s for Anglo Catholics and St. John’s for Hispanic Catholics. St.
John’s, built here close to the early Hispanic settlement on the Rio
Hondo, was originally named St. John-the-Baptist Mexican Catholic
Church. The one hundred thirty families that made up the congregation by
1904 first met in a small building on East Hendricks Street, then moved
into this current building in 1916. Brown adobe walls, colorful tiles,
religious statues in niches along its bell towers, and a splashing
fountain in a lovely courtyard give this church a Mexican flavor. As a
part of its Centennial Celebration in 2003, St. John’s parish erected a
Memorial Wall inscribed with the names of all deceased church members,
along with all the priests who have served the parish over the years.
Both of these interest visitors researching family history.
Priests say several masses in Spanish here each week, in addition to
those in English. In the days leading up to Christmas the congregation
participates in Las Posadas, an Hispanic tradition of traveling from
house to house that commemorates Mary and Joseph’s search for lodging.
The congregation also celebrates the Festival of St. John on June 24 and
the Festival of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12.
A recently demolished building next door to the church served as a
school of eight grades taught by the Order of the Sisters of St. Cisinni
from 1922 until the mid-1960s when it closed due to financial and
staffing problems. In 2008 the parish broke ground for a new Community
Center on this site.
Poe Corn Park (former Hondo Park, Greenhaven Tourist Court site)
(606-618 East 2nd Street). Picnic tables, shade trees, and playground
equipment make this an inviting rest stop along the Hondo River. The
East Side Little League, one of three Little League organizations in
Roswell, plays on the baseball fields here.
G. A. Greene opened Greenhaven Tourist Court here along 2nd Street in
1928. Operating until 1971, it also included a Texaco service station, a
grocery, and a trailer park at various times. Greenhaven Tourist Court’s
most famous guest was Roy Rogers, who stayed here with his singing group
in 1933 while tour-ing the Southwest (p 65).
The land between Greenhaven Tourist Court and the river was originally
called Hondo Park. In 1973, the year after Hondo Park was renamed in
honor of Poe Corn, the City acquired the area that had been Greenhaven
Tourist Court and added it to Poe Corn Park.
Pan Dulce Bakery (912 East 2nd Street). Flavorful Mexican
pastries, burritos, biscochitos (the New Mexico State Cookie), the
ever-popular menudo, and much more are available to enjoy here or at a
picnic table in adjoining Poe Corn Park. 622-5970. Open T-Sat 5 a.m.-6
p.m., Sun 5a.m.-2p.m., closed M, holidays variable.
For more complete information about the Hondo River Recreation Trail and Chihuahuita . . .
BUY the paperback version
(single copies or in bulk) of Lynn Michelsohn's guidebook
Roswell,
Your Travel Guide to the UFO Capital of the World!
also $9.99 on
Kindle
and available from other online booksellers, through your local
bookstore, or on
NOOK.
Also available . . .
Roswell, NM: The Ten Best FREE Things To Do (Plus a Few More)
Your Brief Travel Guide to Fun in the UFO Capital of the World!
$2.99 on
Kindle
Copyright
© 2008 -2011
by Cleanan Press, Inc.
All rights reserved. .