The city fathers of East Las Vegas, influenced by Eastern city planning sensibilities, rejected the radiational Southwestern community plan dominated by the central plaza which had been introduced by the Spaniards centuries earlier. Instead, on the flat land east of the Gallinas, an orderly, grid plan was the established. The plan created two parks, Lincoln Park and Carnegie Park, located north and south (respectively) of the east side's main commercial avenue, Douglas Avenue. By 1882, East Las Vegas had been transformed into a thriving community of several hundred permanent houses and commercial buildings.
Together, Lincoln Park and Carnegie Park are two of the finest examples of 19th Century landscape architecture in New Mexico. They exemplify principles of city planning developed by the French Beaux-Arts School; namely, symmetry, and long vistas of greenspace terminating in a monument or a building. (Incidentally, these principles governed the design of our nation's capital.) In both parks, sidewalks radiate outward from a central structure to the corners of the park in a symmetrical pattern. Trees and shrubs were planted in a pattern.
On June 23, 1899, Spanish-American War veterans, including Teddy Roosevelt, camped in Las Vegas' Lincoln Park for the nation's first Rough Rider Reunion.
On the southwest corner of Lincoln Park, three great brownstone residences stand, a legacy of one of Las Vegas' pioneer citizens, James H. Ward. Ward's career as a contractor with the AT&SF Railroad brought him to Las Vegas in 1879. He bought lots by the newly created Lincoln Park, which was to become one of Las Vegas' most fashionable neighborhoods by 1900.
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Buildings on this tour include:
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This page is taken from the brochure "Historic Las Vegas, New Mexico: Along the Santa Fe Trail", a project of the Citizens' Committee for Historic Preservation, Las Vegas,
New Mexico. The brochure was made possible in part by the New Mexico Department of Tourism, the Federal Highway Administration through a New Mexico Scenic Byways Grant, and City of Las Vegas Lodgers Tax with assistance from the Historic Preservation Division, Office of Cultural Affairs, State of New Mexico, 228 E. Palace, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501. The brouchure was financed in part by federal funds from the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Portions of it are from earlier CCHP publications and include the work of Chris Wilson, Ellen Threinen, Amy Caldwell, Elmo Baca, Scott Clark, Olivia Lovato, Robin Oldham, Katherine Slick, Adelita Medina, Stephen Whitmore, Mary Whitmore, and Raymundo Valdez.
