The First New Mexicans

12,000 Years of Occupation

The history of human occupation in this area goes back to 11,000 BC. At this time the ice was receding in North America and the glaciers were disappearing across Northern New Mexico.

As the ice receded native hunters followed. You may have heard of Clovis or Folsom points. These are beautifully carved spear points and though rare, one Santa Fean, Forrest Fenn, has one of the largest collections.

Though finding any archeological evidence of these sites is rare, one has been discovered along the Rio Grande. The most probable reason for the rarity of these sites is weather-related. As weather patterns changed between 11,000 BC and 6,000 BC, so did the surface areas of our region. With dry and rainy spells the character of the surface of the land changed. This buried many remnants of these first occupants and interestingly enough, it is believed that because of the incredible fine craftsmanship of their points they were used by peoples that followed the first hunters.

With the extinction of some of the larger hunted animals came necessary changes to the diets of those first occupants. Between 6,000 BC to 900 AD the roaming hunters were replaced by nomadic hunter-gatherers. Their game were the deer, antelope and elk of the present day New Mexico, but in addition a very important development occurred. These ancient people started collecting seeds, nuts and other plant materials that were edible. This lead to the need to process foods, which meant “camps” had to be established. This was the true beginning of the settlement of the Santa Fe area. Santa Fe’s climate, biodiversity, water availability, and proximity to the mountains where big game was plentiful all lead to this settlement.

Within this period our first archeological findings suggesting settlement have been found in the Santa Fe River area. Cooking pits, earthen pit houses (the first adobe homes) and metates (grinding stones) are frequent finds of this era. On a personal level I was involved in a real estate partnership that owned 200 acres by Las Campanas. As required for development an archeological study was done and probably close to seven pit houses were identified. These sites will be preserved forever. No excavation was done at these sites, but numerous surface objects, points, and grinding stones could be seen.

The next substantial period was from 900 AD to 1200 AD. Further establishment of more agricultural based settlement occurred in Northern New Mexico river valleys including Santa Fe. These are the predecessors to the pueblo Indians and some may have migrated from Colorado to the pristine and unoccupied river valleys of Northern New Mexico.

The findings suggest agriculture had become permanent, plants and animals were beginning to be domesticated and primitive pottery-making had begun. These sites have been found along the Santa Fe River valley and foothills overlooking Santa Fe.

The period of 1200 AD to 1500 AD was the true beginnings of Santa Fe style. Native populations were thriving and if you were lucky enough to be walking through the Galisteo Basin, you would have seen one of the largest concentrated populations in North America. Adobe and timber structures were multiple stories and in some cases had more than a 1,000 rooms usually centered around ceremonial structures.

As these established communities took root their culture flourished and trade with populations both north and south of New Mexico occurred. In some of the pueblo excavations, parrot and tropical bird feathers have been found as have sea shells. Interestingly enough, it’s believed that large pueblo development probably was occurring in what is present day downtown Santa Fe. A unique opportunity may present itself soon in the excavation for the new convention center and underground parking lot at the Sweeney Center site. Maybe remnants of a pueblo from this period lie below.

The materials used by the pueblos were a precursor to our fascination with the building type today. The first pueblos chose adobe as their preferred material for many reasons, the primary reason being the abundance of its basic ingredient – soil.

It could be poured, molded, formed and dried into vertical walls that had the highly desirable insulative qualities of being cool in the summers and warm in the winters, to this day we are not able to apply our modern formulas of determining the “R” value of a wall to adobe. It has unusual qualities which when combined with a soil roof created a totally natural yet man-made environment on the interior.

Vigas (beams) and latillas (decking) were use to support the soil roofs and even bark was incorporated to fill the gaps between the latillas to keep soil from between the decking onto the inhabitants below. The vigas with one big end and one little end provided the natural slope to create a sloped roof, this was and is important to drain standing water. Vigas were hard to come by in these times and the native populations maximized their use by spacing them far apart and spanning the gaps with smaller branches (latillas). These materials were those that were available from the land in this semi-arid environment and for many centuries these were the only materials available (of course stone was used in many old structures also).

The availability of new materials coincided with the coming of the Europeans, first the Spanish from Mexico and then the Anglos from the new United States.

The Next New Mexicans

The mid-1500’s brought great changes to New Mexico. Spaniards were entering New Mexico and traveling up the Rio Grande. Their main motivation was primarily gold. Tales of fantastic cities full of gold caused the drive north. What they found were incredible multi-storied buildings with numbers of occupants that rivaled even some European cities.

They also found what was, in their mind, uncivilized people and felt the necessity to civilize them, and thus the establishment of the Spanish missions, which were in many cases built either next to or right on top of the pueblos. The establishment of these missions lead to the European colonization of the Santa Fe area, which was formalized in 1610 when La Villa Real de Santa Fe was founded under the second governor of the Spanish Colony of Nuevo México. The town was laid out and constructed per royal decrees. A government building (Palace of the Governors) was built around a plaza, which extended to the front of the present St. Francis Cathedral. A church (the oldest church) was constructed on the south side of the river to serve the locals as well as the Mexican Indians, who accompanied the Spaniards.

The Spanish who came to New Mexico in the late 1600’s brought with them new skills that could be applied to existing materials in this area. Wood could be carved, metal could be created with the combination of certain natural elements, stone could be cut, glass could be made and wheels could be shaped. All these skills led to a metamorphous of the native style to a conglomerate of native and Spanish styles.

The Spaniards ruled this area until 1821 when Mexico gained its independence and included New Mexico. With Mexican rule, trade was furthered along the historical El Camino Real, which transversed New Mexico south to north along the Rio Grande and expanded to include a connection to the settlers from the U.S. heading west called the Old Santa Fe Trail. I don’t think the Mexican rulers had any idea of the gateway and ultimate expansion of the U.S. this trail would lead to.

Meanwhile, Santa Fe itself was becoming both a major agricultural area and trading center for the Mexicans, Indians and new Anglos arriving from the east. With the coming of 1846 brought the raising of the American flag over Santa Fe.

The Anglos who arrived in the mid 1800’s brought with them new skills as well. Brick making, wood milling, metal machining were some of the more important skills. These techniques were a result of the industrial revolution which made it easier to make units out of buildings. Now buildings could be measured, scaled, drawn and built. When the railroad came in the 1880’s everything changed. Non-native materials became readily available. Exotic woods, plasters paints and cement were all now within reach. New styles were introduced to this area. Victorian, Georgian, Territorial and Greco-Roman were now all possible and as more and more settles arrived, more and more dreams were realized by the newcomers resulting in a conglomerate of even more building styles. Metal roofs began appearing, grandiose details in wood and plaster were used and choices in building materials were available from wood to wrought-iron.

New Mexico gained statehood in 1912 and Santa Fe remained capitol of the area. Even this early Santa Fe’s cultural wealth was recognized and New Mexico and specifically, Santa Fe was recognized as an “ancient” city and was publicized as a tourist destination.

Then in 1912, revivalist leaders including archeologist Sylvaneous “Van” Morley, rancher Frank Springer, Archeologist Edgar Lee Hewitt (founder of the Museum of New Mexico), artist-builder and California-transplant Carlos Vierra, and others initiated a design forum called the “New Old Santa Fe Exposition”.

After New Mexico was granted statehood on January 6, 1912, the Santa Fe Planning Board was created, with Edgar Lee Hewitt as chair. One of the board’s first goals was to draft their thoughts on preserving the regional architectural style. While the document itself is elusive, researchers believe it was titled “Santa Fe Renaissance: City Planning Stylistic Preservations, 1912.” It called for “the preservation of the narrow and winding streets which lend a charm and distinction to Santa Fe” and recommended that “no building permits be issued until the proper assurance be issued that the architecture would conform exteriorly with the Santa Fe style”.

By that time Santa Fe had attracted top artists and architects, from whom Morley solicited designs and scale models for buildings that would emphasize the virtues of this style. The planning board offered these guidelines to designers:

• To preserve the essential identity of the unique heritage found in the streets and structures.

• To perpetuate regional forms of architecture in new construction.

• To provide for a systematic development of new streets, subdivisions and sanitary facilities.

• To promote the development of a principle parkway boarding the river with a citywide system of parks and playgrounds.

Armed with their drawings and scale models, the group and New Mexico state historian Ralph Emerson Twitchell next embarked on a vigorous promotion of the Santa Fe Spanish-Pueblo style. They traveled with their models to San Diego for the 1915-1916 Panama-California Exhibition.

Architects Isaac and William Rapp, brothers from Trinidad, Colorado, were selected to design the State of New Mexico’s exhibition building in San Diego, and the rest, as they is history. The building masterfully evoked the mythic Southwest-its power to stir the imagination and ignite the frontier spirit-and became a prototype of the southwestern regional style that would soon be heartily embraced all over the country.

In retrospect, given the enduring popularity of the style it represented, the exhibition building, which still stands in San Diego, might also be seen as an eerie tribute to marketing at its most effective.

After returning to Santa Fe, the exhibition’s proponents quickly honed this design for the city’s own Museum of New Mexico building (today the Museum of Fine Arts). Timing was everything.

As an archeologist, Edgar lee Hewett was naturally interested in protect and promoting discoveries from digs, and the museum was originally designed to house these artifacts as well as the works of New Mexico’s growing cadre of artists. The building now housing the Museum of Fine Arts was soon recognized not only as repository for southwest art and