Las Cruces is a city in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 74,267. The population was estimated at 91,865 as of July 1, 2008, making it the second largest city in the state. Las Cruces is the center of an agricultural region irrigated by the Rio Grande, which flows just west of the city. The city of Las Cruces bisects the fertile Mesilla Valley, the flood plain of the Rio Grande which extends from Hatch, New Mexico to the west side of El Paso, Texas. Las Cruces is also the home of New Mexico State University. NMSU is New Mexico's only land grant university, citing more than 16,000 graduate and undergraduate students on the main campus. As well as the Organ Mountains that are to the east of the city, the Las Cruces area is also in close proximity to the Dona Ana mountains, the Robledo mountains, and Picacho peak. Las Cruces has a council-manager form of government. It is the county seat of Doña Ana County.

History

Early settlers

The area where Las Cruces rose was previously inhabited by the Manso people, with the Mescalero Apache living nearby. ^:19 The area was colonized by Juan de Oñate beginning in 1598, and he became its first governor. ^:20–21

Las Cruces was founded in 1849 when the US Army laid out the new town after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo had ceded the land to the United States in 1848. ^:36,40 The settlement was created as an overflow area from the colony of Doña Ana, located six miles (10 km) north of the new settlement. ^:36–37

Doña Ana was on the US side of the Rio Grande, and the nearby village of Mesilla had been founded in 1848 by settlers from Doña Ana who wished to stay in Mexican territory.^:44 In 1853, the Mesilla region was incorporated into the United States with the Gadsden Purchase. ^:47

Pioneer days

Mesilla became the leading settlement of the area, with more than 2,000 residents in 1860, more than twice what Las Cruces had. ^:48 When the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway reached the area , the landowners of Mesilla refused to sell it the rights-of-way, and instead residents of Las Cruces donated the rights-of-way and land for a depot in Las Cruces.^:58 The first train reached Las Cruces in 1881.^:62 Las Cruces was not affected as strongly by the train as some other villages, as it was not a terminus or a crossroads, but the population did grow to 2,300 in the 1880s. ^:63

Pat Garrett is best known for his involvement in the Lincoln County War, but he also worked in Las Cruces on a famous case, the disappearance of Albert Jennings Fountain in 1896. ^:68

Modern times

Las Cruces was incorporated as a town in 1907. ^:135

New Mexico State University was founded in 1888 as Las Cruces College, led by Hiram Hadley. ^:76 It was established as the land grant college and experimental station by the State Legislature in 1889. ^:76 Its name was changed to New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in 1890 ^:134 and to New Mexico State University in 1958. ^:113,136

Elephant Butte Dam was constructed to provide irrigation water for the Mesilla Valley. The project was approved by the United States Secretary of the Interior in 1895, but the project was in the courts for many years due to a rival proposal to build a dam near El Paso. The dam was finally completed in 1916. ^:90–93

During World War II, both German and Italian POWs worked at Las Cruces in the Emergency Farm Labor Program.^:103

Since World War II the growth of the nearby White Sands Missile Range has made the defense industry a key part of the local economy. ^:111–112

In the 1960s Las Cruces undertook a large urban renewal project, intended to convert the old downtown into a modern city center. ^:115 As part of this, St. Genevieve's Catholic Church, built in 1859, was torn down to make way for the Downtown Mall. ^:44,75,115

Origin of name

The origin of the city's name is unknown. In Spanish "Las Cruces" means "the crosses". (Some have claimed an alternative meaning of "the crossroads" but this is grammatically implausible, as "cruce", the singular form of crossroad, is masculine and the phrase would be "Los Cruces".) Robert Julyan writes, ^:198 "Numerous stories attempt to explain why this city is named "the crosses." Some attribute the name to crosses marking the graves of unfortunates massacred by Apaches."

Crosses logo controversy

The city logo (official symbol) is a sunburst with three Latin crosses inside. A lawsuit was filed by Paul Weinbaum and Martin J. Boyd in September 2005 seeking the removal of the three crosses from the logo, claiming that their use violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment and that it expended public funds to promote religion. The lawsuit was dismissed by a United States district court judge in New Mexico, and the plaintiffs appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. On September 12, 2008 the Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's decision.

Geography

The approximate elevation of Las Cruces is 3,908 feet (1,191 m) above sea level.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 52.2 square miles (135 km²), of which 52.1 square miles (135 km²) is land and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km²) (0.25%) is water.

Dona Ana County lies within the Chihuahuan Desert ecoregion, and the vegetation surrounding the built portions of the city are typical of this setting; it includes Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata), Soaptree (Yucca elata), Tarbush (Flourensia cernua), Broom Dalea (Psorothamnus scoparius), and various desert grasses such as Tobosa (Hilaria mutica or Pleuraphis mutica) and Black Grama (Bouteloua eriopoda).

The Rio Grande bisects the Mesilla Valley and Las Cruces proper, supplying irrigation water for the intensive agriculture surrounding the city. Prior to farming and ranching, desert shrub vegetation extended into the valley from the adjacent deserts, including extensive stands of Tornillo (Prosopis pubescens) and Catclaw Acacia (Acacia greggii). Desert grasslands extend in large part between the edges of Las Cruces and the lower slopes of the nearby Organ and Robledo Mountains, where grasses and assorted shrubs and cacti dominate large areas of this mostly rangeland and occasional large-lot subdivision housing.

The desert and desert grassland uplands surrounding both sides of the Mesilla Valley are often dissected with arroyos, which are dry streams that often carry water following heavy thunderstorms. These arroyos often contain scattered small trees, and they serve as wildlife corridors between Las Cruces' urban areas and adjacent deserts or mountains.

Layout

Unlike many cities its size, Las Cruces lacks a true central business district. This is because in the 1960s a large urban renewal project tore down a large part of the original downtown. Most Las Cruceans would agree that the modern "heart" of the city, where most stores and restaurants are located, is the rapidly developing eastside area running north and south along Telshor Boulevard and east and west along Lohman Avenue. Las Cruces' only shopping mall and a variety of retail stores and restaurants are located in this area. However, the historic downtown of the city is the area around Main Street, a six-block stretch of which was closed off in 1973 to form the "Downtown Mall", a pedestrianized shopping area. The downtown mall has a farmers market each Wednesday and Saturday morning, where a variety of foods and cultural items can be purchased from a few small stands that are set up by local farmers, artists, and craftspeople. It also contains some businesses, churches, art galleries and theaters, which add a great deal to the changing character of Las Cruces by continuing to exist in the historic downtown.

Plans to re-open the whole mall to vehicular traffic besides the completed one-block example have drawn criticism from people who feel the multi-million dollar project is too costly and from others who enjoy the aesthetics, usually quiet, and the ever important shade of the fully covered area of the pedestrian mall. Nevertheless, the mall's north and south entrances have been torn down. Furthermore, in August 2005, a master plan was adopted, the centerpiece of which is the restoration of narrow lanes of two-way traffic on this model portion of Main Street shown to the right.

Climate

Las Cruces is classified as an arid, subtropical climate, with evapotranspiration being over twice the average precipitation. Winters alternate between cool and windy weather following trough and frontal passages, with warm, sunny periods in between; light frosts occur many nights. Spring months are warm and can be windy, particularly in the afternoons, sometimes causing periods of blowing dust and short-lived dust storms. Summers begin with hot weather, with some extended periods of over 100 °F (38 °C) weather not uncommon, while the latter half of the summer seeing increased humidity and frequent afternoon thunderstorms, with slightly lower daytime temperatures. Autumns quickly cool into warm to mild weather, and precipitation decreases.

Precipitation is often light from fall to spring, with some winter storm systems bringing steady precipitation to the Las Cruces area. Most winter moisture is in the form of rain, though some light snow falls most winters, usually enough to accumulate and stay on the ground for a few hours, at most. Warm season precipitation is often from heavy showers, especially from the late summer monsoon weather pattern.

 Demographics

Census 2000 data

As of the census of 2000, there were 74,267 people, 29,184 households, and 18,123 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,425.7 people per square mile (550.5/km²). There were 31,682 housing units at an average density of 608.2/sq mi (234.8/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 69.01% White, 2.34% African American, 1.74% Native American, 1.16% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 21.59% from other races, and 4.10% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 51.73% of the population.

There were 29,184 households out of which 30.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.3% were married couples living together, 15.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.9% were non-families. 27.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.46 and the average family size was 3.05.

In the city the population was spread out with 25.1% under the age of 18, 16.0% from 18 to 24, 26.9% from 25 to 44, 19.0% from 45 to 64, and 13.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 94.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.0 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $30,375, and the median income for a family was $37,670. Males had a median income of $30,923 versus $21,759 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,704. About 17.2% of families and 23.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 30.7% of those under age 18 and 9.7% of those age 65 or over.

2008 estimates

Las Cruces and the Las Cruces Metropolitan Statistical Area's July 1, 2008 populations were estimated at 91,865 and 201,603 respectively by the United States Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Cruces,_New_Mexico