Last updated on .
The Wild West town of Cimarron can be a fun and interesting destination for anyone traveling through northeastern New Mexico. It has plenty of opportunities for outdoor adventure along with a touch of history.
History
Cimarron was officially founded in 1859 and named for the Spanish word describing a wild mustang. It was built on land owned by Lucien B. Maxwell (1818-1875), a fur trapper who later came to own more than 1,700,000 acres around the town.
Cimarron was a stage stop on the Sante Fe Trail and replaced Elizabethtown as the seat of Colfax County in 1872. The county seat moved to Springer in 1881. Since then, the town has thrived first on production of railroad ties and later on tourism.
Park
We arrived in town and stopped at a park in the center of modern Cimarron. The park contains a small visitor center as well as a statue of Lucien B. Maxwell.
There are a few historic buildings lining the park, including the Brooks Mercantile Building. It was built in 1909.
Old Town
From there, we took a short drive south across the Cimarron River to the historic Old Town district. Once there, we started an interesting walking tour of the Old Town we had downloaded from the village’s official website. This entry includes most sites on the walking tour except the St. James Hotel and the Old Aztec Mill Museum. Those are covered in separate posts.
Lucien B. Maxwell House
First, across the street from the St. James Hotel once sat the Lucien B. Maxwell House. It was completed in 1858 and was built by John “Uncle Jack” Holland. The eastern half of the house burned down in 1888 and the rest of it burned down in 1924. The current house on the site was built in the 1950s.
Beaubien-Maxwell Family Graves
Next, we visited the graves of Charles “Carlos” Beaubien (1800-1864) and his wife, Maria Pabla Lobato (1811-1864). Beaubien was a French Canadian who moved to Taos in 1823 to open a dry goods and fur trapping supply store. He became a Mexican citizen in 1827 and in 1840 acquired the Beaubien-Miranda Land Grant (also known as the Maxwell Land Grant) with his business partner, Guadalupe Miranda (1810-1890). The grant consisted of over 1,700,000 acres of land in northeastern New Mexico and he entrusted his son-in-laws, Lucien Maxwell and Jesus Abreu (1823-1900), to help him develop the land.
Buried alongside the two is their granddaughter, Verenisa Maxwell (1860-1864). She was the daughter of Lucien Maxwell and Beaubien’s eldest daughter, Luz (1829-1900). Lucien and Luz married in 1844.
Dold Brothers’ Warehouse
The graves sit near the Dold Brothers’ Warehouse, which was built by M. R. Whiteman in 1848 as a freighting depot. It was later used by the Dold brothers as a warehouse. In 1861, it became a trading station and Indian agency as well as a commissary for Lucien Maxwell.
Henry Miller Porter and Asa Middaugh turned the building into a general store in 1873, and in 1875 it became the office of Dr. R. H. Longwill. It’s now a private residence.
Plaza and Well
Just to the south is the plaza and well. The well was dug in 1871 and the gazebo is a 1962 reconstruction of the original. The plaza was used by travelers on the Santa Fe Trail as a campground. It lost importance in 1880 with the arrival of the railroad.
National Hotel
South of the plaza and well was the National Hotel. It was originally built with adobe in 1858 and used as a residence. The home was remodeled in 1871 for Henry Tinson of London, England, who was the secretary-treasurer of the Maxwell Land Grant & Railway Co. John McCullough later turned the home into the National Hotel. It now serves as a private residence.
Carey Building
Across the street was the Carey Building. It was built in the 1870s as a hardware store and livery stable, and later as an office for the Cimarron News and Press. The building has been a private residence since the 1920s.
Barlow, Sanderson & Company Stage Office
A block south of the St. James Hotel was the Barlow, Sanderson & Company Stage Office, which was built in 1863. In 1870, it began to handle mail on the Independence, Missouri, to Santa Fe, New Mexico, route, which was inaugurated in July 1850. Barlow, Sanderson & Company obtained the route in 1866 and managed it until it closed in 1880. The building later served as a Wells Fargo office and was converted to a mercantile store in the early 20th century.
Schwenk’s Hall
Across the street was Schwenk’s Hall, which was originally built as a brewery in 1854. Henry Schwenk purchased it in 1875 and turned it into a gambling hall and saloon. Next door was Canyon Lunch, which was managed by Fred Lambert, the town marshal and son of St. James Hotel owner Henry Lambert. The buildings were later used as a community meeting place, mercantile store, gas station, garage, and tourist center. When we visited, they housed an antique store.
Colfax County Courthouse
To the west of Schwenk’s Hall was the Colfax County Courthouse. It was built in 1872 when Cimarron became the seat of Colfax County. Later, it was used as a drafting office, school, and private residence. It’s now a Masonic lodge.
Immaculate Conception Catholic Church
After stopping by the Aztec Grist Mill, which houses the Aztec Mill Museum, we went past the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. It was built in 1864 by Lucien and Luz Maxwell in memory of their deceased children, Julian and Verenisa. The church was dedicated by the first Archbishop of Santa Fe, Jean-Baptiste Lamy (1814-1888). It was enlarged in 1909 and restored in 2004.
Old Jail
The final site we visited was the Old Jail. It was built in 1872 and was once surrounded by a wall 10 feet high and four feet thick. Dynamite used during a jailbreak in the early 1900s caused a huge hole in that wall.
The southeast corner of the jail, which was in use until the early 1960s, may have held the sheriff’s office. The building was renovated in 1998.
