Living In Las Cruces- Spring/Summer 2008

MESILLA

By Jeff Becker
Photography provided by NMSU Library Archives and Special Collections

It may not be Paris. Here there is no Tour Eiffel or Cathedrale de Notre Dame (or restaurants serving snails). However,Mesilla,New Mexico offers a different kind of attraction. The humble mud buildings and narrow streets fit perfectly into the long stretch of blue sky and clouds above them. The architecture explains the lives of the people that came here and made a city out of what they had and what they could find. These old buildings tell that story. Yet, at the same time the adobe structures that crowd together in this small New Mexican town don't just remind residents and tourists alike of Mesilla's past, but the very buildings that are called historic serve a function in the daily lives of Mesilleros. Unlike many historical artifacts, people still use these buildings - they serve as the homes and businesses that make Mesilla what it is today. Their use has not vanished with time. However, with the fast pace of today's world, few know the story behind these buildings they see everyday. And that is a shame, really, for what stories these old buildings have to tell.

The first buildings in Mesilla were jacales, thatch-roofed huts created to provide defense from the Apaches. In fact,protection dominated the design of much of the architecture in this area. Even today, many buildings exhibit the zaguan, a large central hall that ran the length of the home that animals could be herded into. The walls were built above the roof, serving as parapets that men could use to defend their homes.

After the Gadsden Purchase in 1854,Mesilla became a center of commerce and transportation, and soon grew to be the largest city between San Antonio and San Diego. From this, one will see a number of architectural styles - including Territorial,Adobe Vernacular and Mission Revival.

When you travel through Mesilla, take a moment to consider the buildings you pass along the way. Some are decrepit now, the roof has fallen away, and they sit naked to the elements, slowly melting back into the earth. For the others, though, of which there are many, know that these houses, these stores that are still used today, have housed the residents of the Mesilla Valley for hundreds of years. They have withstood floods and wars and the transfer from one country to another. Our architecture tells the story of all the people that have lived here, and as we continue to live and work in them,we add to the tale.

>THE FOUNTAIN THEATRE, CALLE DE GUADALUPE:
Now a movie house, the site of the theater and the apartments that surround it were once the barracks for Confederate army soldiers during the Civil War. In 1861, Lieutenant-Colonel John R. Baylor and 220 Texas Mounted Troops arrived and made Mesilla the capital of the Arizona. In April of 1861, the Confederate flag was raised on the spot the theater stands today. They were gone, however, when the California Column (comprised of 2,000 Union volunteers) made its way through the Valley. The actual theater was built in 1905. Albert Fountain, son of Colonel Albert Fountain, a famous politician in the area who was murdered, started the theater. Over the years it has hosted a variety of per formances, from plays, to song and dance numbers to silent movies and films. The murals, which can still be seen inside, were painted by Fountain in 1914.

> LA POSTA,CALLE DE PARIAN:
The buildings that now make up the La Posta de Mesilla restaurant were originally constructed in 1840. Originally, they served as the Bean/Butterfield stagecoach outpost and was later fashioned into the Corn Exchange Hotel. When a woman named Katy Griggs Camunez took over the building, La Posta de Mesilla came to be. Today, they continue to prepare the recipes handed down by the Fountain, Chavez and Griggs families, all prominent in the history of the area. Furthermore, it is said that the Tostada Compuesta was invented in the La Posta kitchen.

> EL PATIO BAR, CALLE DE PARIAN:
This building has served as a bar for 147 years and counting. Originally a dram shop (which means bar) operated by Guadalupe Miranda, it was later owned by the two Bean brothers - Sam, (according to Devarse) the brother that did everything right, and Roy, the brother that did everything wrong. The story goes that when Sam went off on a business trip, Roy was left in charge of the bar and the safe inside. When Sam returned, Roy was gone and the safe was empty. This is Roy, who would later be known as Judge Roy Bean, Law West of the Pecos.

> SAN ALBINO CHURCH,CALLE DE SANTIAGO:
According to Devarse, the first settlers in Mesilla erected a jacale church they called Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe on the south side of the plaza (opposite where the church is now). An adobe church was built on the current site of the church in the 1850s, and was named San Albino in honor of the first waters to flow through the first irrigation ditch on the March feast day of San Albin. The adobe building was replaced by the current brick building in 1906, with the help of Reverend Jean Grange. The church is French in style, as Grange was a Frenchman, with some local inspiration (the facade between the belfries and the mission parapet are typical Southwestern features). By the 1960s, the walls of the church were leaning outward and Father Mario Polzer had to have steel braces installed to support the structure. Three bells inhabit the belfries, and for most of its existence they have been rung by members of the same Mesilla family (descendants of Manuel Valles, who rang the bells from the 1880 to 1940).

>THE REYNOLDS/ GRIGGS PROPERTY:
In the 1850s, merchants Joseph Reynolds and J. Edgar Griggs moved to the Valley and married two daughters of the prominent Ascarate family of Tortugas. They purchased the building from Rafaela Barela and opened their business. Griggs was killed in a buggy accident and Reynolds took over. What is interesting about this building is the Italianate Bracketed stamped metal storefront that Reynolds purchased from a mail order catalog and installed. This is marked by the widely overhanging eaves, the large, decorative brackets beneath the eaves, and the tall, narrow windows. While popular in the West at the time, it is the only building in Mesilla in this style.

>VALENTIN MAESE HOUSE/GOVERNOR’S MANSION (NOW THE DOUBLE EAGLE):
Originally a two room home made of stick and mud in 1849, this grew into the elaborate home that served as the governor's mansion during the Confederate occupation. Notice the dentil brick coping that caps the parapet. The interior of the restaurant holds a number of antiques and, apparently, a few ghosts. A young girl that served as a maid in the house was shot on the Plaza after the woman of the house discovered the girl's relationship with the man of the house. She and her lover haunt the building and it is said that the upholstery on two antique chairs wears out even though they are seldom used. In the bar, another ghost moves stuff around just for fun.

> OLD ADOBE COURTHOUSE (NOW BILLY THE KID GIFT SHOP):
Originally owned by Narcisco Johnson, then sold to Zanobia Madrid, who turned it into a store, the building became the county courthouse after the Civil War. As such, William McCart y, a.k.a. William H. Bonney or "Billy the Kid", was tried there and sentenced to hang (hence its current name). The building was later the Elephant Butte Saloon. (The Kid was transported to Lincoln by Pat Garrett and two deputies to await hanging. Soon thereafter, Garrett left town and the Kid killed the two deputies and escaped.)

> MAURIN STORE (NOW EL MARIACHI CURIO):
This is the oldest documented brick structure in New Mexico. Augustine Maurin, a French merchant had it built in 1863. In 1866, Maurin was murdered in the back room (supposedly for the large amounts of paper money he kept there). In 1869, Pedro Duhalde took over for Maurin, but was also murdered in the back room. (Essentially, it was hazardous to one's health to own this building between 1863 and 1869.) Since then is has been a saloon, a residence, town hall and is now a gift shop.