Las Vegas Plaza in 1867 Photo by Alexander Gardner From Our Lady of Sorrows Collection Courtesy of the Citizens' Committee for Historic Preservation

2. Nuestra Senora de los Dolores Church	NE corner Plaza & National	ca.1840-1869
3. Las Vegas Hotel	E corner Plaza & Hot Springs	ca.1850-1879
4. Whitlock House	On Acequia Madre	ca.1860-ca.1875

Here is the oldest photo of Las Vegas taken in 1867, showing the Plaza as one entered Las Vegas on the Santa Fe Trail. General Stephen Watts Kearny declared New Mexico U.S. territory in 1846 from atop of a building on the Plaza. The first church in Las Vegas, built in ca. 1840, was made of two and one half foot adobe walls with a wooden facade that probably was added around 1850 as Americans began influencing local architecture. During this time in the late 1840's Las Vegas was a quasi-military fort with two companies of Illinois volunteers protecting the Trail until the opening of Fort Union in 1851. The Las Vegas Hotel, was probably built by Samuel Streeter in 1850 for weary Trail travelers. If this building was built in 1850 it would be the first two-story adobe built in New Mexico. Dr J.M. Whitlock constructed a small sawmill at the Hot Springs in 1849. Later, he built an impressive two-story territorial style home in Las Vegas, with plate glass windows, that was quite an attraction at the time. The church was incorporated into the Wesche-Dold building in 1870 by John Dold. The Las Vegas Hotel predates the Plaza Hotel, and the Whitlock house stood behind the south side of Bridge St.

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