Home > New Mexico > Villanueva vicinity > Spanish American Villages of the Pecos River Valley, General View, Upper Pecos River Valley, Villanueva, County, NM
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Item Title
Spanish American Villages of the Pecos River Valley, General View, Upper Pecos River Valley, Villanueva, County, NM
LocationUpper Pecos River Valley,
Villanueva vicinity, NM
Find maps of Villanueva, NM
Created/Published
Documentation compiled after 1933.
Notes
Survey number HABS NM-131
Significance: The Spanish-American towns of the Pecos River Valley were established on the San Miguel del Vado Grant of 1794. Originally planned around defensible plazas, with semi-presidio status, the Colonial towns were created to serve as a buffer against the hostile incursions of the Comanche and Kiowa Indians. In 1821, William Bechnell's wagon train crossed the Pecos River at San Miguel del Vado (St. Michael of the Ford) on its journey to Santa Fe from Kansas, Missouri. The route he established for those who followed was the Santa Fe Trail. The great influx of American traders into New Mexico resulted in relative prosperity for the villages along the Pecos River. In 1841, the Texas-Santa Fe Expedition was captured at La Cuesta (Villanueva) by the forces of Governor Manuel Armijo of the Republic of Mexico. In the Mexican-American War of 1846, the Americans annexed the New Mexico territory to the United States. General Kearny stopped in the Pecos River Valley towns and proclaimed the American occupation of New Mexico while in pursuit of the 22nd Regiment of the Mexican army. With the advent of the railroad to New Mexico in 1879, the towns which had been bypassed began to decline in importance. Deterioration and abandonment increased rapidly in the Depression era. Presently, the Spanish-American towns consist of dirt streets and adobe buildings with added post-Civil War and Twentieth-Century forms. The Colonial architecture of the rural towns represents a fusion of native Indian forms, imported Spanish elements, and later American influences. The basic structure consists of one-story adobe walls supporting a flat adobe-covered roof on vigas (floor or ceiling beams). This form continued until the post Civil War period when the American economy began to have a significant effect upon the architecture of New Mexico. The new expression, classified as the "Territorial Style," is closely related to the American Greek Revival movement of the 1820's. The most apparent characteristic of the style is the pedimented lintel. The lintel features either a plain fascia or decorative moldings. Another easily recognizable form is the portal or porch. Usually extending across the front of a structure, the portal had smooth-sawn columns with beaded edges. The Later American period in architecture is marked by the pitched metal roof form; transported to New Mexico by rail and erected over the original flat adobe roofs. Due to the relative isolation of the communities of the Pecos River Valley, the American influences on the architecture is minimal.
Subjects
Indians Of North AmericaMigrationSettlement Patterns
Related Names
Becknell, William
Armijo, Gov. Manuel
Kearny
Bilello, Joseph J., Field Team
Lewis, Michele, Field Team
Yeates, Zeno A., Field Team
Schafer, Jack W., Delineator
Arroyo-Ortiz, Nelson, Historian
Borchers, Perry, Historian
Collection
Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)
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