Railroad Avenue Historic District

As the AT&SF Railroad steamed into Las Vegas on July 4, 1879, hundreds of new citizens descended on the "City of the Meadows." Overnight, a new town was born a mile east of the Plaza populated by families, merchants, professionals, desperadoes and dance-hall girls, all hardy pioneers seeking their fortunes. All told, several thousand people came to Las Vegas that year, making it one of the largest towns in the Rocky Mountain West, rivaling Denver, Tucson and El Paso in size. At first a town of tents and sheds, the new town, "East Las Vegas," was laid out within six months and lots were sold at a brisk pace.

Las Vegas as a whole became an economic boomtown. Trade here earned the railroad $2,5000,000 from shipping and $500,000 from passengers between 1886 and 1891. The railroad provided direct jobs for track construction, maintenance and locomotive crews, and headquarters officials, as well as seasonal employment in the ice industry.

Not only a bustling mercantile center, the railroad district also boasted hotels, saloons and dance halls with notorious characters to match. In 1879, Dodge City's most famous dentist, "Doc" Holliday, bought a saloon on Center Street (now East Lincoln) and fatally shot a man named Mike Gordon. Holliday fled back to Kansas the following year.

The railroad brought modern technology to Las Vegas through improvements in communications and transportation, and new building materials and designs. Local businessmen and professionals installed telephones in their stores and offices the same year the railroad came to town. By 1881, the Las Vegas Street Railway was operating streetcar service between the train depot and the Plaza, west of the Gallinas River. The most visible legacy of this technology can still be seen in the use of fired brick, structural cast iron and pressed-metal in "new" construction.

The buildings on this tour include the following:

• Rawlins Building
  
• La Castaneda Hotel
  
• Gross Kelly Building
  
• Wells Fargo Building
  
• Center Block
  
• Lion Park

  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.