Editing Española, New Mexico (section)

==History==
{{See also|History of New Mexico}}
===Etymology===
Española was referred to as ''La Vega de los Vigiles'' ('the Vigils' Meadow') before the presence of railroads.<ref>[http://www.newmexicohistory.org/filedetails.php?fileID=1319 La Vega de Los Vigiles was a small farming community, today Española] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927180921/http://www.newmexicohistory.org/filedetails.php?fileID=1319 |date=September 27, 2013 }}</ref> ''La Española'' means 'Spanish woman', and folk history attributes the name to railroad construction workers who named the area after a woman who worked in a small restaurant in the area. In fact the name is a shortened form of ''Plaza Española'' ('Spanish town'), which likely was to differentiate it from the Tewa pueblo just to the south.<ref name=":0">[http://www.newmexicohistory.org/filedetails.php?fileID=1319] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927180921/http://www.newmexicohistory.org/filedetails.php?fileID=1319|date=September 27, 2013}}</ref>

===Spanish settlement===
Tewa people have lived in the area since the 13th century. They built towns in the area, now called 'pueblos', four of which still exist: Ohkay Owingeh, Pojoaque, Santa Clara and San Ildefonso.<ref name=HisSpa>{{cite web |url=http://www.cityofespanola.org/History.html |title=History of Spanish settlers |publisher=Cityofespanola.org |access-date=August 3, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161130074706/http://cityofespanola.org/History.html |archive-date=November 30, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The upper reaches of the Rio Grande region were explored by the Spanish in 1540. [[Don Juan de Oñate]] was the first to bring settlers here in 1598. His group stayed at Ohkay Owingeh for a time (calling the Tewa town '''San Juan de los Caballeros'''), before settling in an abandoned Tewa village which he renamed '''San Gabriel'''. San Gabriel, close to modern Española, can thus be seen as the first capital city founded by people of European racial descent in what is now the United States.<ref name=HisSpa/>

Oñate arrived in the Española area on July 11, 1598, at the confluence of the [[Rio Chama (Rio Grande)|Chama River]] and the Rio Grande, where he established a camp at a place then called Yunque-Yunque.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}

Almost a century later, near the same region, [[Don Diego de Vargas]] established his villa at [[Santa Cruz, New Mexico|Santa Cruz]].<ref>Simmons, Marc, ‘’The Last Conquistador: Juan de Oñate and the Settling of the Far Southwest’’, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1991 p. 108-108</ref>

===Railroad era===
[[File:Espanola 1885.png|thumb|left|Downtown Española, 1885]]
[[File:Espanola Depot 1920.jpg|thumb|right|The Española train depot, 1920]]
[[File:Espanola Downtown, 1920.jpg|thumb|left|Townspeople gather at the depot, 1930]]
[[File:Frank Bond 1903.png|thumb|right|175px|Businessman and self made millionaire [[Frank Bond]] was a pivotal part of Española's growth]]

Prior to the arrival from [[Antonito, Colorado]] of the [[narrow gauge]] [[Denver and Rio Grande Railroad]] in 1880, the hamlet on the west-side of the Rio Grande was known as La Vega de los Vigiles in reference to the Vigil family who initially settled that area. The earliest document found indicates that La Vegas de los Vigiles had been populated by 1751, over 100 years before the railroad's arrival. With the coming of the railroad the name of the hamlet was changed to Española. Until 1886, when it was extended to [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]], Española was the terminus of the line. The Española station included an engine facility along with a roundhouse and [[Turntable (rail)|turntable]] so it could service the locomotives. The facilities were built but torn down or no longer in use after six years; plans for the town had changed.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ghostdepot.com/rg/mainline/san%20juan%20branch/espanola.htm |title=Española, New Mexico |publisher=Ghostdepot.com |access-date=August 3, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150204101757/http://www.ghostdepot.com/rg/mainline/san%20juan%20branch/espanola.htm |archive-date=February 4, 2015 }}</ref> Later popularly known as the "[[Chili Line]]", this was part of an ambitious but unsuccessful proposal to connect [[Denver]] with [[Mexico City]]. 

The route extended into what today is the downtown Española area, and the railroad began selling lots in the area. Anglo merchants, mountain men, and settlers slowly filtered into Española.<ref>''Rio Grande Sun'', Historical Issue on City of Española, 1961–62</ref> [[Frank Bond]] and his brother George, who were [[Canadians|Canadian]] [[emigrant]]s, would later arrive in the city. Together they established the state's largest mercantile and a multi–million dollar wool empire. With them came economic growth and prominence. Española was the headquarters for all the Bond family interests which included over 12 businesses across New Mexico.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/newmexicohistori37univrich/newmexicohistori37univrich_djvu.txt |title=Full text of "New Mexico historical review" |access-date=August 3, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://rmoa.unm.edu/docviewer.php?docId=nmu1pict000-133.xml |title=RMOA - Document |publisher=Rmoa.unm.edu |access-date=August 3, 2014 |archive-date=June 28, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140628231857/http://rmoa.unm.edu/docviewer.php?docId=nmu1pict000-133.xml |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Frank R. Frankenburger, a business man born in [[Fort Scott, Kansas]], was the first "elected" mayor; he was elected in 1923. The first mayor who was chosen in "popularity" was Frank Bond, in 1907. In 1925 Española was [[Municipal corporation|incorporated]] as a city.<ref>''Rio Grande Sun'', Historical Issue on City of Española, 1975</ref> As the population rose, there was a high demand for public education in the city. Española High School was established; it would be the largest school in the area for decades. The first high school in the area, however, was [[Santa Cruz High School (Española, New Mexico)|Santa Cruz High School]]. Two miles away from downtown Española, it opened in 1906 in the historic [[Santa Cruz, New Mexico|Santa Cruz]] area. Neither high school operates after a merger of school districts in 1975.<ref>[http://www.k12espanola.org/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=216 Brief History of EVHS] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080803201151/http://www.k12espanola.org/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=216 |date=August 3, 2008 }}. Española Public School District. Retrieved on February 28, 2008.</ref>

The importance of the railroad began to lessen as minimal passenger traffic and low shipments forced the railroad to close in 1941, with the tracks removed the following year. Many locals would become unemployed and would follow the railroad to Santa Fe, [[Albuquerque]] and central [[Colorado]] for jobs. Española's population would fall dramatically and many homes in the downtown became abandoned. Most of the locals who remained would turn to farming as a way of life. Many people saw Española as another failed railroad town.<ref>''Denver Rio Grande Rail Road Closes'', Santa Fe New Mexican, 1998</ref> The city removed the railroad tracks and the train depot in the 1960s, and the railroads completely vanished.

{{quote box
| quote = Businesses in Española vigorously opposed the abandonment of the [[D&RGW]]'s narrow gauge in the early 1940s. Their calls for continued rail service were at odds with the grim realities of the marketplace, which had for years rendered the "Chili Line" woefully unprofitable. Although Española was an integral 
part of the saga of railroad construction in the West, it was destined to become one of the region's first notable communities bereft of its trains.
| source = '''When the Railroad Leaves Town''', –Joseph P. Schwieterman<ref name=rail>{{Schwieterman-Leaves-Western|page=199}}</ref> <br /> ''American communities in the age of the rail line abandonment''
| align = center
}}

===Post-railroad===
With the beginnings of [[Manhattan Project]] in nearby [[Los Alamos, New Mexico|Los Alamos]], many locals eventually found jobs at the [[Los Alamos National Laboratory]] (LANL). As much as nearly 9% of Española's population have been employed at LANL.{{full citation needed|date=July 2018}}

In the 1980s, many historical buildings and homes of historical significance were torn down for [[urban renewal]]. Española followed many other New Mexico cities in this trend, but in Española, it failed. More modern business began to move into town, but the growth of Española had now expanded east across the Rio Grande. Although several buildings of historical significance remain in downtown Española, many are unused or abandoned.{{cn|date=September 2023}} Strip malls became visible in Española, the first being the 'Big Rock shopping center', founded by oil tycoon Roy Honstein.

In the 1990s, a controversial plan to build a "plaza" and [[mission (station)|mission]] [[Church (building)|church]] where many historic buildings once stood was up for consideration. The city agreed to the plan, and locals supported the plaza. Although a plaza never existed in Española before the railroads, it was built to pay tribute to the Spanish culture in the area.<ref>''Española officials plan to revitalize downtown'', ''Santa Fe New Mexican'', 1997 {{full citation needed|date=June 2014}}</ref>

===Recent history===
[[file:Espanola New Mexico Convento.jpg|thumb|Española Plaza, replica convento]]
On September 18, 2008, [[Barack Obama]], then a candidate for president, visited Española for a rally at the city's New Plaza in the Main Street district.<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.koat.com/politics/17479462/detail.html?rss=alb&psp=news
| title = Obama Visits Española
| date = September 18, 2008
| publisher = [[KOAT-TV|KOAT 7]] News
| location = Albuquerque, New Mexico
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110723130156/https://www.koat.com/politics/17479462/detail.html?rss=alb&psp=news
| archive-date = 2011-07-23
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
|url = http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/Espa-amp-ntilde-ola-Town-braces-for-Obama-rally
| title = Obama Rally In Española
| date = September 18, 2008
| newspaper = [[Santa Fe New Mexican]]
| location = Santa Fe, New Mexico
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120314080725/https://www.santafenewmexican.com/local%20news/espa-amp-ntilde-ola-town-braces-for-obama-rally/
| archive-date = 2012-03-14
| access-date = 2020-07-12
}}  Contains 3 articles.</ref>