[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
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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!
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