Mesilla, New Mexico is a small community
on the west side of Las Cruces, New Mexico. The
name is Spanish, and means "small table"
-- it refers to the flat plain west of the
Rio Grande from which you can look east,
down into the river valley and up to the
Organ Mountains. The name is also given to
the "Mesilla Valley," a section of the
Rio Grande including Mesilla itself, along
with Las Cruces. It predates New Mexico statehood
by several decades, though unlike its larger
neighbor to the east, Mesilla has remained
small and relatively unchanged for much of
its history.
Historical Mesilla
Prior to the town's founding in 1848, the
areas around Mesilla and the Mesilla Valley
were Indian country, a
mixture of Pueblo peoples, and more nomadic
ones such as the Apache. The region was
explored by Europeans during the Spanish period,
and the El Camino Real between Chihuahua,
Mexico and (modern-day) Santa Fe, New Mexico passed
through the area. The Mesilla Valley came under
full Spanish control after the Spanish and Indian
wars, when Juan de Oñate conquered the pueblos
around 1600. However, the Spanish (and later,
Mexicans) didn't begin to settle in large numbers
in the area until the mid-nineteenth century.
In the late 1840's, the region around the
early settlement at Doña Ana began to
grow, with the arrival of both Mexican and Anglo
settlers. In response to attacks by the Apache,
the United States built Fort Fillmore a few
miles from the town. After this, the region
became more attractive to white settlers, and
the migration began with many settling in what
is today Las Cruces. Many of the
Mexican residents
of the region weren't happy with the Anglo
settlers moving into the Valley, so they formed
their own settlement at Mesilla, which was still
in Mexican territory even after the Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo. Unfortunately
for them, their land was of great interest to
the United States as a potential
railway to the
Pacific Ocean. Mesilla lay within the
Gadsden Purchase, and the nationality of the
town was changed when United States finally bought
all of the border region from Mexico for $10 million
(in 1854 dollars). The Mexican residents of
the town officially became United States citizens
on November 16, 1854. Still, most
continued living according to their own Mexican
culture, and their descendants maintain
close cultural ties to Mexico.
Initially, Mesilla grew and became a well-known
gathering place for cultural and social activities
in the border region, as well as a stop on
the Butterfield Stage Coach line.
It served as a gathering place for merchants,
markets, miners, and the occasional outlaw.
Mesilla also saw its
share of political strife. In 1871, the
Democratic and
Republican parties
held competing meetings on opposite sides of the
plaza on the same date. While the meetings were
initially peaceful, rabble rousers on both sides
initiated a fight that turned deadly. Nine men
were killed and several dozen wounded, though no
one was ever prosecuted for the riot.
Mesilla also served as the judicial center for much of
the southern part of the New Mexico Territory --
Billy the Kid was
sentenced to hang in a
courtroom in Mesilla in 1881, in a building which is
now a tourist dime-store. 1881 also saw the arrival
of the railroads in the Mesilla Valley. The residents
of Mesilla rejected the idea of the railway passing
through town, so the railroads opted to run through
Las Cruces instead. As a result, Mesilla retained
its small town lifestyle, while Las Cruces
grew into the much larger town it is today.
Modern Mesilla
The geographic (and cultural) center of Mesilla
is the plaza, bounded on the north side by the
beautiful Church of San Albino,
and on the south by the El Patio bar. The
Church was originally built in 1855, and is one
of the finer examples of adobe construction in
the town (most houses around Mesilla are also
adobe). Like many churches in New Mexico,
San Albino conducts mass in Spanish and English
reflecting the ethnic makeup of Mesilla.
Both the plaza and the Church are
historic landmarks, and they're a nice place to
spend a few hours. The plaza is
surrounded by shops and
restaurants mostly catering to tourists, though
there are some good deals available -- one shop
has huge stacks of inexpensive rugs and blankets,
and there's also a used bookstore.
Just off the
plaza is the Fountain
Theater -- an independent film
house popular with students and faculty of the nearby
university. The Fountain stands on the former
site of the Confederate
headquarters, when the South briefly took control of
southern New Mexico during 1861-1862.
The current theater was built in 1905 as a
live theater and music venue, and later converted to
a movie theater. It is now the oldest continuously-operating
movie theater in the state. One street west of the
theater is the La Posta
restaurant, which has good New Mexican food
at a reasonable price. The Gadsden Museum
(unsurprisingly devoted to James Gadsden and the
territorial history of the region) is also just off
the plaza.
Further off the plaza, on Avenida de Mesilla (Route 28)
are two more popular restaurants; the Meson de Mesilla,
and Way Out West. The former is a gourmet restaurant
and small, 15-room hotel. (I could never afford it,
but I've heard it's nice.) The latter is a
restaurant and brewery situated on a small hill
overlooking the Rio Grande with what is probably the
best view of the Organ Mountains in the entire
valley. Way Out West used to be the "Old West
Brewing Company" -- a shack holding four or five
copper brewing tuns, a cash register, and
free hot dog and popcorn machines, surrounded by a
few dozen outdoor tables and chairs. Now the shack
has been replaced with a fancier adobe building and
ceramic tile patio, and they serve overpriced tapas
rather than free hot dogs and their own microbrew,
but the view on a clear, late autumn afternoon is still
worth whatever they choose to charge you for a piñon
nut and spinach quesadilla.
Surrounding Mesilla are several square miles of
farmland, mostly devoted to one of three crops:
pecans, cotton, and chiles.
Pecans are by far the most noticeable crop in the
region. The pecan orchards are easy to spot, as the
trees are usually laid out in straight rows,
with each grove surrounded by a foot-high berm used
for flooding the trees periodically.
Cotton is also an important crop, and there is a
ginning facility just south of town. And
they also grow chiles in Mesilla, though
some other town developed a better
reputation for them. In early October, it's impossible
to miss the smell of chiles
being roasted around the valley, and they can be bought
by the ristra or bagful at several roadside markets
around town.
Overall, Mesilla is well worth a visit. It's close enough
to Las Cruces (and even El Paso) to be an easy drive, and
yet it still retains much of its small town culture.
It's a nice place to go and relax for a few
hours if you're in the area, especially if you're
traveling on Interstate 10 and need a break. The
interstate has an exit directly onto Avenida de Mesilla,
so pay a visit to "Old" New Mexico if you're
passing through.
I obtained some of the historical information for this from:
http://www.oldmesilla.org/
http://www.zianet.com/snm/ftfillm.htm
http://www.zianet.com/snm/billykid.htm
The remainder is from pleasant memory.