[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 151 (Wednesday, October 21, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12894-S12896]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 125TH BIRTHDAY OF ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO

 Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I am proud to pay tribute to one 
of the most resilient cities in America--Roswell, New Mexico. One-
hundred and twenty-five years ago, the Roswell Post Office opened its 
doors and a town's identity was established. Since that time, the 
residents of Roswell have displayed a hearty ``can-do'' attitude as 
they adapted to the constantly evolving economic climate of the region.
  Roswell has served as an economic and educational hub for 
southeastern New Mexico. It has been a center for sheep ranching, 
cattle driving, space exploration, and military aviation. Today, 
Roswell supports a thriving dairy industry and, because of its warm 
winters and relaxed pace, it has become a popular retirement 
destination for senior citizens across the country. Roswell is the site 
of the New Mexico Military Institute, one of the finest military 
preparatory academies in the

[[Page S12895]]

country, and many noteworthy figures such as Pat Garrett, Roy Rogers, 
Roger Stauback, and Nancy Lopez have called it their home.
  Roswell has come a long way from its humble beginnings as a supply 
post. Throughout its history, it has exemplified the feisty optimism so 
typical of the American spirit. Roswell's 125 years of history and 
development merits a fitting celebration and recognition. I ask that 
the article entitled ``Roswell, Then and Now, An Overview'' which 
appeared in the August 16, 1998 Roswell Daily Record be printed in the 
Record.
  The article follows:

             [From the Roswell Daily Record, Aug. 16, 1998]

                   Roswell Then and Now: An Overview

                 (By Elvis E. Fleming--City Historian)

       Roswell's 125th birthday celebration actually commemorates 
     the opening of the Roswell post office Aug. 20, 1873. While 
     the settlement predated the post office by three of four 
     years, there are no records to pin down exactly when the town 
     was actually founded. It was called ``Roswell'' starting in 
     the spring of 1872, but it took a while for the name to catch 
     on.
       Mescalero Apaches had roamed this area for a long time, but 
     the Pioneer Period in the history of Roswell and Chaves 
     County actually started when the first permanent residents, 
     who were Hispanic farmers and sheep ranchers, came about 1865 
     to start several area settlements, including Rio Hondo--that 
     part of Roswell that today is called ``Chihuahuita.''
       The Anglo cattlemen from Texas soon followed. Charles 
     Goodnight and Oliver Loving blazed the Goodnight-Loving Trail 
     in 1866. John Chisum soon settled down here to become the 
     ``Cattle King of the Pecos.'' By the mid-1870s, he was the 
     largest cattle producer in the United States.
       The area around the confluence of the Rio Hondo and the 
     Pecos River made an excellent spot for cattlemen to rest 
     their herds. There was no supply post between Seven Rivers 
     and Fort Sumner, so James Patterson built a little adobe 
     trading post in what is now the 400 block of North Main 
     Street. The future Roswell was born when Van C. Smith showed 
     up about 1869 or '70 and enlarged Patterson's trading post 
     into a hotel and built a store nearby to cater to the needs 
     of drovers on the Goodnight-Loving Trail.
       Smith identified his place with the nearby Hispanic 
     settlement of Rio Hondo. In the spring of 1872, however, he 
     decided he needed a more exact address, so he started calling 
     his place ``Roswell'' after his father. The Roswell post 
     office operated in Smith's store 125 years ago, Aug. 20, 
     1873, and he was the first postmaster. He was too much of a 
     gambler to develop the town. That job fell to Capt. Joseph C. 
     Lea, ``The Father of Roswell.''
       The Lincoln County War was going on about the time Capt. 
     Lea arrived in 1877-78, but he pretty well kept it away from 
     Roswell. The Army sent the now famous ``Buffalo Soldiers'' to 
     protect the town. It was up to another Roswell man, Pat 
     Garrett, to become sheriff of Lincoln County, put an end to 
     the violence and hunt down Billy the Kid.
       The Developmental Period in Roswell and Chaves County's 
     history dates from around 1890. Chaves County was created in 
     1889 and organized in 1891, the town of Roswell was 
     incorporated in 1891, and artesian water was discovered in 
     town in 1890. Also, New Mexico Military Institute was 
     established in 1891.
       Before 1894, Roswell claimed to be farther from a railroad 
     than any other town in the United States. The arrival of the 
     Pecos Valley Railway changed that in 1894, which was an 
     important turning point in the area's history--especially 
     after it was extended to Amarillo in 1899.
       J.J. Hagerman was the one most responsible for both 
     railroad developments. The impact of the railroad on the 
     economic expansion of the city and county cannot be 
     overstated. Many new settlers arrived, which meant new growth 
     for Roswell--the first bank, the first newspaper, many other 
     new businesses, the first schools and the first churches.
       The Maturing Period in the history of Roswell and Chaves 
     County started around 1903 when Roswell was reincorporated as 
     a city. Over the next several years, utilities and paved 
     streets were developed. The Carnegie Library and the Roswell 
     Country Club were established. The Sisters of the Sorrowful 
     Mother came to Roswell and started St. Mary's Hospital in 
     1906.
       New Mexico finally became a state in 1912. In preparation 
     for that, Chaves County built a new courthouse that was one 
     of the largest buildings in the Southwest and still is one of 
     the most beautiful public buildings in the state. Roswell's 
     first airport was built in 1929, and the first radio station 
     went on the air in 1931--KGFL.
       Roswell has been connected with several world-class 
     athletes and entertainers. In the 1920s, local rancher/cowboy 
     Bob Crosby became the ``King of the Cowboys'' when he won the 
     Roosevelt Trophy for being world champion rodeo cowboy three 
     years.
       Local musicians Louise Massey and the Westerners got their 
     start here in 1928 and went on to become big country/western 
     stars. Roy Rogers, the movies ``King of the Cowboys,'' used 
     to hang out here back in the 1930s. His first wife was a 1932 
     graduate of Roswell High School, Arline Wilkins, whom he 
     married here in 1936. Singer/composer John Denver was born at 
     St. Mary's Hospital in Roswell in 1943.
       Clear skies and wide open spaces attracted Dr. Robert H. 
     Goddard, the ``Father of Modern Rocketry,'' to Roswell in the 
     1930s. Here, he made man's first attempts to explore outer 
     space.
       The Great Depression and the New Deal of the 1030s visited 
     Roswell, and there are a number of monuments to show for it. 
     For example, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) boys built 
     Bottomless Lakes State Park--the first state park in New 
     Mexico. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built City 
     Hall, Cahoon Park and Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge. 
     The WPA also built schools, DeBremond Stadium and the Roswell 
     Museum and Art Center.
       The museum opened in 1937 and has continued to grow. One of 
     its most important collections is the Peter Hurd paintings. 
     Peter Hurd, who was born in Roswell in 1904, was the greatest 
     native son artist of New Mexico.
       The Military Period in Roswell's history dates from the 
     early 1940s, to 1968, but Roswell has always done its part in 
     our nation's military conflicts. National Guard Battery A, 
     one of the oldest and most honored outfits in the state, had 
     gone to the border back in 1916 when Pancho Villa invaded New 
     Mexico; they also went to France in World War I, and were a 
     major part of the infamous Bataan Death March in the early 
     stages of World War II.
       Roswell's climate brought the U.S. Army here in the early 
     1940s to establish the Roswell Army Air Field, which after 
     World War II became the home of the world's only atomic 
     warfare unit, the 509th Bomb Wing and the ``Enola Gay'' B-29 
     bomber. The Orchard Park prisoner of war camp brought 4,800 
     Germans, some of whom made life-time friendships here and 
     others came here to live after the war. New Mexico Military 
     Institute in every war has produced a large portion of 
     officers for the military.
       In July 1947, Lt. Walter Haut of the Roswell Army Air Field 
     told the Roswell Daily Record--and the world--that the Army 
     had captured a flying saucer that crashed on Mac Brazel's 
     ranch near Corona, 75 miles north west of Roswell. Maj. Jesse 
     Marcel saw the wreckage and said it was not of this world, 
     but Gen. Roger Ramey insisted it was only a weather balloon!
       You couldn't tell that to Glen Dennis and others who not 
     only saw the strange debris, but also saw some little gray 
     bodies. Apparently, the federal government has been covering 
     up the ``Roswell Incident'' story ever since. The 
     International UFO Museum and Research Center is dedicated to 
     learning the truth and has become Roswell's No. 1 tourist 
     attraction.
       In January 1948, Roswell Army Air Field became Walker Air 
     Force Base, an important link in the Strategic Air Command. 
     In 1960 it was designated as a support base for a squadron of 
     Atlas ICBMs. A dozen missile sites were built in a 25-mile 
     radius of Walker. They were completed by the end of 1962, 
     then deactivated by March 1965.
       The deactivation of the missile squadron was the first blow 
     to the military economy of Roswell. The main calmaity was the 
     closure of Walker, which took place June 30, 1967. Parts of 
     Roswell became ghost towns as thousands made their exodus. 
     Roswell's economy collapsed.
       The present Industrial Period started in 1967 with the 
     conversion of Walker Air Force Base into the Roswell 
     Industrial Air Center (RIAC). The former air base has seen 
     the manufacture of many products, from fireworks, lollipops 
     and Levis jeans to mobile homes and city buses--first by 
     Transportation Manufacturing Corps and more recently by 
     NovaBUS.
       Roswell Community College moved to the RIAC and used many 
     of the former Air Force buildings for expanded vocational and 
     academic-transfer programs, changing its name to Eastern New 
     Mexico University-Roswell. The college added several new 
     buildings over the years, and in the 1980s built a beautiful 
     new campus for the booming school.
       An auxiliary landing strip several miles south of Walker 
     was converted to civilian use as well, first as a school for 
     retarded boys and as a minimum security prison--Roswell 
     Correctional Center--since 1978.
       Other major economic developments in Roswell since 1967 
     include the influx of retirees, attracted by low living costs 
     and warm weather. THe town has a continued a steady and 
     prosperous growth. Many national chains have branches in 
     Roswell, some of which have been around for a long time. 
     Numerous others have come in the 1990s, so that national 
     names are represented among the department stores, fast-food 
     restaurants and motels. The trend toward modernization of 
     business in Roswell was boosted by the opening of the Roswell 
     Mall north of town in the 1980s.
       Over the years, several locals have achieved national fame 
     on the fields of sport: such as Tom Brookshier, Pete Jaquess, 
     Chick Smith, Nancy Lopez and the 1956 Little League World 
     Champions. Dallas Cowboys football great Roger Staubach 
     played at NMMI for a year in the early 1960s.
       Roswell, on the 125th birthday of its post office, is a 
     city approaching 50,000 in population. There is no larger 
     city within a radius of about 200 miles, so Roswell serves as 
     a hub for southeast New Mexico. It is still small enough that 
     traffic is not a big problem; and the business, educational, 
     medical,

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     legal, religious, fraternal and industrial communities 
     provide for virtually all the needs of the folks in Roswell 
     and the area.
       The next 125 years will no doubt see similar developments--
     growth, problems, ups and downs--as these years since 1873 
     have witnessed. But the good folks of Roswell will be proud 
     to live here and enjoy being a part of the Land of 
     Enhancement!

                          ____________________