Cowboy & Historical figures in New Mexico

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Cowboys & Historical Figures:

Archbishop Lamy - On February 12, 1875, Bishop Lamy became Santa Fe's first Archbishop.

Billy the Kid - William Henry McCarty, better known as Billy the Kid, but also known by the aliases William Antrim and William Harrison Bonney, was a famous 19th century American frontier outlaw and gunman who was a participant in the Lincoln County War.

Charles Bent - Charles Bent (1799-1847) was appointed as the first Governor of the newly acquired New Mexico Territory by Governor Stephen Watts Kearny in September, 1846. He was assassinated on January 19, 1847 during the Taos Revolt.

Kit Carson - A true American frontiersman, he was a trapper, guide, military man and farmer.

Willa Cather - Writer. In 1973, Willa Cather was honored by the United States Postal Service with her image on a postage stamp. Cather is a member of the Nebraska Hall of Fame. In 1986, she was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame.

Flying Padre - A Catholic priest in rural New Mexico, Father Fred Stadtmuller used a Piper Cub airplane (named the "Spirit of St. Joseph") to travel from one isolated settlement to another because his 400-square mile parish was so large.

Pat Garrett - Lincoln County sheriff known for killing Billy the Kid.

Greer Garson - Actress, who owned and lived at the Forked Lightning Ranch in Pecos.

Geronimo - He was never a chief, he was a military leader. In his old age, Geronimo became a celebrity. He appeared at fairs, including the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, and sold souvenirs and photographs of himself.

Conrad Hilton - He formed the Hilton Hotels Corporation in 1946. The company expanded into credit cards, car rentals, and other travel services.

Fred Lambert - Sworn in at the age of 16, Lambert was the youngest Territorial Marshal in New Mexico.

Mable Dodge Lujan - Mable Dodge Lujan established an artist colony in Taos and wrote several books.

John Gaw Meem - Meem was most closely associated with the Pueblo Revival style, though he also employed the Territorial Revival and occasionally Modern and Gothic styles. He gained an extensive knowledge of Pueblo and Spanish Colonial building techniques through his volunteer work with the Committee for the Preservation and Restoration of New Mexico Mission Churches (CPRNMMC) during the 1920s and 1930s.

Robert Ollinger - Although Robert “Bob” Ollinger was a lawman, he was actually better known as a killer with a penchant in fighting in range wars.

Millicent Rogers - Millicent Rogers was an heiress, granddaughter of one of the original founders of Standard Oil. While she was a legend in the fashion industry, she was a compassionate and tireless humanitarian as well.

Will Schuster - Shuster was famous as an artist but is especially recognized for his 1926 invention of the enormous effigy puppet, Zozobra (Old Man Gloom), which is burned each year at Santa Fe's annual Fiesta.

Carrie Tingley - Carrie and her husband, Governor Clyde Tingley, were both outspoken advocates for healthcare, especially for children.

Lew Wallace - He served as governor of New Mexico Territory from 1878 to 1881, as U.S. Minister to the Ottoman Empire from 1881 to 1885, and wrote Ben Hur.

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Museums and Monuments

American International Rattlesnake Museum - An educational museum about rattlesnakes.

City of Las Cruces Log Cabin Museum - The log cabin dates from the late 1870s, when it was built in the once flourishing mining town of Grafton, New Mexico. Later it was gifted to the city of Las Cruces.

Cleveland Roller Mill Museum - This three-story adobe roller mill played a major role in the agricultural economy of Northern New Mexico for a period of 80 years.

E.L. Blumenschein Home & Museum - Blumenschein was instrumental in establishing the famous Taos Society of Artists. The society was organized to promote the splendor of Taos and the art of the American West to ever greater audiences.

Kit Carson Home & Museum - Frontiersman Kit Carson's home in Taos.

Farmington Museum - The exhibit features a walk-through replica of a 1930s trading post with a bull pen stocked with period goods and artifacts, a pawn room and office.

Fort Selden State Monument - The United States Government built Fort Selden near the town of Las Cruces in 1865 to protect settlers from outlaws and Apache Indians, and for a quarter of a century it served its purpose.

Fort Union National Monument - Fort Union was established in 1851 as the guardian of the Santa Fe Trail. During its forty-year history, three different forts were constructed close together.

Harvey House Museum - In 1870, Mr. Harvey met Charlie Morse, President of the fledgling Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway. For the next near century, Fred Harvey's company would bring good food at reasonable prices in clean, elegant restaurants, to the traveling public throughout the Southwest. They also brought civilization, community, and industry to the Wild West.

Historical Center For Southeast New Mexico - This museum and historical center is a beautiful prairie-style house built in 1912. The first floor is furnished and decorated as it would have been in 1912 to 1920. Many of the furnishings are the original piece found in the home.

Lincoln State Monument - Lincoln State Monument is unique in that it manages most of the historical buildings in the community of Lincoln.

Las Vegas City Museum & Rough Rider Memorial - Housed in a 1940's-era Works Project Administration (WPA) building, the city of Las Vegas manages a collection of Rough Riders memorabilia and artifacts belonging to Northern New Mexico's territorial history and regional culture.

Miles Mineral Museum - Fred Miles and his wife Gladys' love affair with minerals and rocks lasted 40 years and marked the beginning of the Miles Collection, located on the campus of Eastern New Mexico University in Portales.

New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum - This interactive museum in Las Cruces, which has welcomed visitors from all over the world, brings to life the 3,000-year history of farming and ranching in New Mexico.

Old Mill Museum - Housed in Aztec Grist Mill in Cimarron, built by Lucien Maxwell in 1864, for a cost of $50,000, to furnish grain to the Indians, the museum exhibits regional artifacts, memorabilia, and early photographs pertaining to the history of the area.

Palace of the Governors - Originally constructed in the early 17th century as Spain's seat of government for what is today the American Southwest, the Palace of the Governors chronicles the history of Santa Fe, as well as New Mexico and the region.

Pecos National Historical Park - Pecos preserves 12,000 years of history including the ancient pueblo of Pecos, Colonial Missions, Santa Fe Trail sites, 20th century ranch history of Forked Lightning Ranch, and the site of the Civil War Battle of Glorieta Pass.

Raton Museum - The museum, created by the Raton Historical Society in 1939, has shown its vast collection in numerous buildings around the city.

Roosevelt County Museum - This museum, located in Portales on the campus of Eastern New Mexico University, displays include relics of the home including antique furniture and an Edison phonograph as well as the technology of the past as evidenced by a printing press and a medical instrument collection.

Silver City Museum - The Silver City Museum creates opportunities for residents and visitors to explore, understand, and celebrate the rich and diverse cultural heritage of southwestern New Mexico by collecting, preserving, researching and interpreting the region's unique history.

Tucumcari Historical Museum - Experience the legendary past through collections located on three floors of the 1903 schoolhouse, containing a wide variety of artifacts and memorabilia from the surrounding area.

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