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Contact: Carolyn Gonzales 277-5920
cgonzal@unm.edu

Feb. 13, 2007

NMHR Focuses on Albuquerque in Latest Issue

Albuquerque’s history – from the development of its metropolitan area to community activism in Martineztown – are article topics in the New Mexico Historical Review’s Winter 2007 issue. It’s a must-read for Albuquerqueans.

Stephen Wheeler, formerly of the School of Architecture and Planning, teamed up with Wade Patterson on the lead article, “The Rise of the Regional City: Spatial Development of the Albuquerque Metropolitan Area.” The article notes the city’s development through the decades in the 20th century. The authors note, “As with most U.S. cities, certain street patterns predominated in the Albuquerque region during particular historical periods. From 1900 to 1920, landowners platted additions in the square block grid pattern. New neighborhoods such as Huning Highlands were added."

From 1920 to 1940, neighborhoods around UNM boomed. “In these neighborhoods, developers adopted the ‘streetcar suburb’ pattern of grids.” These grids comprise today’s Nob Hill, Monte Vista, College View and Southeast Heights neighborhoods.

From 1940 to 1960, federal spending and construction of facilities fueled urban growth “to an extent that Albuquerque became known locally as ‘Little Washington.’” New federal facilities included Kirtland Air Force Base and Sandia National Laboratory. Development spread over the city’s East Mesa and certain areas of the Rio Grande Valley such as Atrisco in Southwest Albuquerque.

The authors document the amounts of land covered by different types of development in Albuquerque – rural sprawl, middle-class tracts, upscale fringe, commercial, trailer parks and more. They also mark how the change in demographics correlates with urban form.

The authors also note implications for future regional planning and development.

Brian Luna Lucero’s article, “Old Towns Challenged by the Boom Town: The Villages of the Middle Rio Grande Valley and the Albuquerque Tricentennial.” Lucero sheds light on the history of some of Albuquerque’s neighborhoods that used to be their own town, Atrisco, Los Griegos, Los Candelarias, Pajarito, Los Duranes, and more, dotted the landscape along the river between Sandia and Isleta pueblos.

Vanessa Macias’ article, “En Unidad, Hay Poder (In Unity There is Strength): Community Activism and Ethnicity in South Martineztown,” Macias chronicles the struggles of the neighborhood to preserve their homes and “claim public space as proud Chicano/as in a changing urban setting.”

Another article, “Frank Huning’s Highland Addition: Albuquerque’s Railroad-Era Development” by Ann L. Carson, notes how the train coming to Albuquerque changed the once agricultural-base economy into a cash economy as Anglos came into the city. Among them was merchant Franz Huning, grocer Elias Stover and lawyer William Hazeldine. Carson writes about how Huning Highland was platted and residential lots were for sale by December 1880. Carson describes particular houses in the neighborhood and Perkins Hall, located at 324 Central Avenue NE. In 1898 it housed Albuquerque Academy, but after the school moved out banker Joshua Raynolds purchased it and donated it to Albuquerque to use as a library, which it did until it burned down. Today, the Special Collections Branch of the library system is housed there. Great photos accompany the article.

The issue ends with an article by Enrique Lamadrid, UNM Spanish professor and director of Chicano/Hispano/Mexicano Studies, and Gabriel Meléndez, chair, American Studies. Their article is a review essay on the Penitente Brotherhood.

To get a copy of this article or to subscribe to the publication, visit http://www.unm.edu/%7enmhr/index.html or call 277-5839.

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