NM History: A Century Ago

Only in Your State | New Mexico | by Juliet White | Revised by Jaymi Firestone

A little over 100 years ago, New Mexico was a territory rather than a state. So much has changed since then that it’s challenging to envision life here at the start of the 20th century.

Fortunately for us, old photographs provide a glimpse back in history and help us to imagine what life might have been like in New Mexico 100 years ago. Join us in a step back in time…

The photo below depicts the north side of Jemez Pueblo. Ladders like these were used to climb from one floor to the next. This is much like many other Pueblos around the state that have been there much longer than 100 years.

Pueblos have always been a large part of New Mexico’s history, and the natives who call them home have made a way of life that’s much different than what we know as life in the 21st century. This next image depicts two women baking bread in a horno (outdoor oven) in Taos, in 1916, outside the Taos Pueblo.

Another piece of history comes from Radio. In the early 1900s, radios were the entertainment in households, because TVs didn’t exist for quite some time. Families would gather around their single radio and listen to stories portrayed by the radio employees. Radio DJs have been around for many, many years. Radio Technology has changed a lot since the days of the radio tractor (picture below was taken in 1916). This mobile device was used by the Signal Corps for communications.

This next set of pictures might be the most interesting from the early 1900s in New Mexico. They are all from Columbus, NM which was a gateway to Mexico. A train ran through the town, and was one of the few ways of transportation back in those days. In fact, not many families owned automobiles yet. They rode horses and hauled wagons by horse still. A very few wealthier families did have old cars, however. But, if you wanted to travel a long distance between towns or states, train was the best way to you. This one in particular was pulling into the station in Columbus in 1916.

That photo was just shortly before Columbus experienced an attack. This photo below was taken around the time the train image was photographed as well. Columbus’ main street looked so peaceful.

However, on March 9th, 1916, Pancho Villa crossed the border with a group of guerrilla fighters and attacked Columbus. They burned the town and killed 19 people. This is what the town looked like after the raid.

In response to the raid, Mexico reluctantly allowed General Pershing and 6000 troops to pursue Pancho Villa across the border. They were accompanied by the 1st Aero Squadron. This was the first and only U.S. air unit participating in combat before the start of WWI, making it a very interesting part of our state’s history.

Given the chance, would you travel back in time to experience New Mexico 100 years ago?

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