近距离内射合集

LAS CRUCES 鈥� The Las Cruces City Council unanimously added five historic sites to its register of cultural properties Monday, placing them under the protection of an ordinance preserving their historical integrity and requiring modifications to undergo a historical design review.

The city鈥檚 historic preservation specialist, Caitlin Beesley, said the designation 鈥渋s stating to the public that we view these buildings as important and worthy of preservation.鈥�

The approvals were the first for the city鈥檚 cultural register, and Beesley said the committee hoped to advance new nominations on an annual basis.

鈥淚t is something very fundamental to the core of who we are and where we鈥檙e going,鈥� Councilor Cassie McClure said during the meeting.

The properties included the Rio Grande Theatre, a rare two-story adobe and concrete building located downtown that operates as a city-owned venue for movies and live performances. The theatre, built in 1926, marks its centennial this year.

Also added were the Branigan Cultural Center, which originally housed the city鈥檚 public library, built during the Great Depression and opening in 1935. The city-owned facility has presented cultural exhibits and educational events downtown since 1981.

The Las Cruces Railroad Museum, sitting in the Alameda Depot Historic District, served as a depot for passenger and freight trains, once receiving President Theodore Roosevelt as a visitor before New Mexico was a state. In 1992, the depot was purchased by the city and opened as a museum in 2004.

The single-room adobe structure housing the Phillips Chapel Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in the Mesquite district, built in Vernacular style in 1911. In addition to standing as one of New Mexico鈥檚 oldest Black churches, it was the home of the segregation-era Lincoln High School from 1924 to 1934.

Completing the slate of properties was the former residence of Clara Belle Williams, 1885-1934, an educator who taught at Lincoln. Williams completed her teaching degree at New Mexico State University (then known as the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts), despite being required, as a Black student, to sit in the hallway during instruction. The home鈥檚 subsequent owner was chile broker and roaster Arturo Ch谩vez, who died in 2021, and his wife, Marcelina. The property includes the neighboring duplex residence.

The locations were recommended by the city鈥檚 Historic Preservation Committee, established in 2019, and most already appear on the National Register of Historic Places, New Mexico鈥檚 Register of Cultural Properties or both.

A call for remediation

Las Cruces attorney Israel Ch谩vez, a relative of Arturo Ch谩vez whose local ancestry reaches back generations, welcomed the slate of cultural designations 鈥渆ven though it鈥檚 largely symbolic.鈥� The next appropriate step, he argued, 鈥渋s remediation 鈥� remedying the injustices that the city has wrought on historically Black and brown communities.鈥�

In the Mesquite neighborhood, prior to segregation, Ch谩vez pointed out that the Lucero School, an integrated and ethnically diverse school before Black students were removed and schooled at Phillips Chapel, was demolished in the 1970s during a downtown urban renewal project. The site now holds the Thomas Branigan Memorial Library, named for the Scottish-born Civil War veteran who participated in the capture of Geronimo before settling in Las Cruces.

鈥淭he history of our city is very much curated around what those in power want it to be,鈥� Ch谩vez said. 鈥淚t's also important that we acknowledge that they have done a great deal of harm to these communities,鈥� he added, citing a process encompassing stories left out of historical accounts, a loss of physical records to catastrophic flooding in 1935, as well as historic structures bulldozed in more recent decades 鈥� including the demolition of legacy adobe structures Ch谩vez calls 鈥渁n endangered species.鈥�

More should be done, Ch谩vez argued, to preserve and exalt the city鈥檚 unique history of ethnic integration and its cultural history dating from the pueblos and original peoples of the region. Further, he said the city could seek funding to promote traditional building materials, preserve traditional skills while supporting employment opportunities.

Algernon 顿鈥橝尘尘补蝉蝉补 is the Journal鈥檚 southern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at adammassa@abqjournal.com.