Black and white image of Fort Wingate. Courtesy/NMDCA
NMDCA News:
SANTA FE — The New Mexico Historic Preservation Division is pleased to announce that a pair of historic districts have been added to the State Register of Cultural Properties.
In June, the Cultural Properties Review Committee approved two proposals: expanding the boundaries and adding documentation to the Fort Wingate Historic District outside Gallup and adding the University Heights Historic District in Albuquerque. Both districts will be referred to the National Register of Historic Places for inclusion.
“These two historic districts showcase very different portions of New Mexico’s history, while highlighting the range of architectural styles in our state,” State Historic Preservation Officer Michelle Ensey said. “The Historic Preservation Division is grateful for the work of the Cultural Properties Review Committee and all of our stakeholders to preserve both of these districts in our State Register.”
Originally added to the State and National Registers in 1978, the Fort Wingate Historic District focused on the history of the fort as a military installation from 1860 to 1914. This boundary expansion broadens the scope of the listing to include areas historically associated with the fort’s reuse as an Indian boarding school from 1926 to 2009 and highlights the fort’s many agricultural programs.
With the expansion, the district now includes school buildings constructed from the 1930s through 1974. These include administrative offices, a utility building, power plant, and small cottages built in the Pueblo Revival style in the 1930s, along with a dozen new administration buildings, classrooms, dormitories, a cafeteria, and a gymnasium constructed in the 1960s and early 70s. The expansion also encompasses the history of the Fort Wingate school and historic context of Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding schools in New Mexico to understand and evaluate the significance of the Fort Wingate school. While the atrocities that were perpetrated against Native American children in Indian Schools are well documented, Fort Wingate stands out among boarding schools because its operation as a school began after many of the abusive practices in boarding schools throughout the U.S. were curtailed by educational reforms. No abuses are known to have occurred at school during this period. In later years, the school embraced Navajo cultural practices and even taught the Navajo language.
About 130 miles to the east of Fort Wingate, Albuquerque’s University Heights encompasses one of the earliest automobile suburbs on the city’s East Mesa, located roughly a mile and a half east of downtown and one block south of the University of New Mexico. This district, bounded by Silver and Garfield avenues and Harvard and Carlisle drives, features a wide range of architectural styles, from Craftsman-style homes built in the 1920s to ranch houses built from the late 1940s through the 1960s.
The district retains a high level of historic integrity, including the plan of streets and the rhythm of one-and-two-story houses along the streets. University Heights has historic significance as an early suburb on the East Mesa because its gridiron plan is consistent with traditional planning efforts by the city before the Second World War.
More information about both districts is available on nmhistoricpreservation.org.
About the New Mexico Historic Preservation Division
NMHPD manages, oversees, and coordinates historic preservation activities across the state. The division educates the public about historic preservation and protects thousands of historic and archaeological sites in New Mexico. If you have ever visited an archaeological site, stopped on the side of the road to read a historic marker, or appreciated a well-maintained historic building in your community, you have likely engaged with the work of the NMHPD.