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"Las Cruces" redirects here; for the city in Chile, see Las Cruces, Chile.

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, 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 through the city. Las Cruces is also the home of New Mexico State University. NMSU is New Mexico's only land-grant institution, citing more than 23,000 graduate and undergraduate students on the main campus and four branch campuses. The Organ Mountains are to the east of the city. Las Cruces has a mayor-council form of government with a city manager. It is the county seat of Doña Ana County.

Las Cruces is also home to the annual Whole Enchilada Fiesta. The fiesta's main attraction is the creation of a very large (on average 10 feet in diameter) flat red enchilada by local restaurant owner Roberto Estrada. Besides this, the fiesta offers live music, rides, food vendors, and other attractions typical of fairs. In fact, the Southern New Mexico State Fair is usually held only a few days after the end of the Whole Enchilada Fiesta. The fiesta's mascot, "Twefie"(taken from the abbreviation of the fiesta's name) is a large red chile pepper wearing a sombrero. At the 2004 event, the Guinness Book of Records confirmed that Estrada had made the world's largest flat enchilada. (There was a pre-existing record for world's longest rolled enchilada, but not for world's largest flat enchilada.)

History

Las Cruces' name (Spanish for "crossroads" or "the crosses") has been a disputed topic among legitimate historians. One of the many folklore tales is that in 1830, there was an Apache massacre of a party of nine travelers, including a Mexican Army General, a priest, and five (or four) choir boys. Only one choir boy survived the massacre, and buried the others, marking the graves with crosses, according to the story that "Tio" Tuseño told tourists for a handout. According to one of the folktales, the area became known as "El Pueblo del Jardín de Las Cruces." ("The Village of the Garden of the Crosses) The nearby village of Mesilla was founded in 1848 by settlers from Doña Ana, a village just north of the newly established U.S.-Mexico border, who wished to stay in Mexican territory after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that year. However in 1853, the region was incorporated into the United States with the Gadsden Purchase. Las Cruces was incorporated as a town in 1907.

The completion of the Elephant Butte Dike to the north of the city in 1916 provided water for agriculture and electricity for urban development. Since World War II the growth of the nearby White Sands Missile Range and its National Aeronautics and Space Administration facilities added greatly to the local economy.

Geography

Las Cruces is located at (32.319693, -106.765157). Elevation 4000 ft or 1219 m above sea level. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 135.2 km² (52.2 mi²). 134.9 km² (52.1 mi²) of it is land and 0.3 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (0.25%) is water.

Demographics

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 550.5/km² (1,425.7/mi²). There were 31,682 housing units at an average density of 234.8/km² (608.2/mi²). 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.

Education

Las Cruces Public Schools, the school district website.

Downtown

Unlike many cities its size, Las Cruces lacks a true central business district. Most Las Crucens would agree that the modern "heart" of the city, where most stores and restaurants are located, is the area running down Telshor Boulevard and 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 weekend where many different foods and cultural item can be purchased from small stands that are set up by locals. It also contains many different businesses, churches and theaters, which add a great deal of character to Las Curces by continuing to exist in the historic downtown. Plans to re-open the mall to vehicular traffic have drawn criticism from people who feel the project will be too costly and from others who enjoy the aesthetics 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 two-way traffic to Main Street.

Transportation

Airports

Major Highways

Media

Newspapers

Radio Stations

  • AM
  • FM

Television Stations

Points of interest

Sister cities

Las Cruces has two sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International, Inc. (SCI):

External links

Cities in New Mexico | Doña Ana County, New Mexico | Las Cruces, New Mexico

Las Cruces | Las Cruces

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Las Cruces, New Mexico".

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