Editing Santa Rosa, New Mexico (section)

==History==
The first Euro-American settlement in the area was Agua Negra Chiquita,{{citation needed|date=September 2020}} "Little Black Water" in [[Spanish language|Spanish]], in 1865. The name was changed in 1890 to Santa Rosa (Spanish for "Saint Rose"), referring to a chapel that Don Celso Baca (the founder of the city) built and named after both his mother Rosa and [[Saint Rose of Lima]].<ref name="Pearce_1965">Pearce, T.M.,editor, ''New Mexico Place Names, A Geographical Dictionary'', University of New Mexico Press 1965. {{ISBN|0-8263-0082-0}}</ref> The "Rosa" may also refer to the roses in the story of [[Our Lady of Guadalupe]] and is indicative of the [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholicism]] of the [[Spanish colonization of the Americas|Spanish colonizers]] who settled in the area.

At the turn of the twentieth century, Santa Rosa was not the largest settlement within the region. [[Puerto de Luna, New Mexico|Puerto de Luna]], approximately ten miles south, held the county seat for Guadalupe County. Santa Rosa was smaller than Puerto de Luna until 1901 when the [[Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad]] was extended into Santa Rosa from the east, quickly followed by arrival of the [[El Paso and Northeastern Railway]] in February 1902, from the southwest, thereby creating a [[transcontinental railroad#Subsequent transcontinental routes|transcontinental]] connection.<ref>Myrick, David F. (1990). New Mexico's Railroads: A Historical Survey (revised ed.). Albuquerque, NM.: University of New Mexico Press. {{ISBN|0-8263-1185-7}}.</ref> As the terminus and [[Interchange (freight rail)|interchange]] point of the two railroads, a thriving community quickly developed (The interchange was moved to Tucumcari after 1907). The county seat was moved to Santa Rosa from PDL in 1903.

The east–west highway through the town was designated as [[U.S. Route 66 in New Mexico|U.S. Route 66]] in 1926, and the increase in traffic made the community a popular rest stop with motels and cafes. Santa Rosa's stretch of Route 66 is part of film history. When [[John Steinbeck]]'s epic novel, ''[[The Grapes of Wrath]]'', was made into a [[film|movie]], [[film director|director]] [[John Ford]] used Santa Rosa for the memorable [[train]] scene. Tom Joad ([[Henry Fonda]]) watches a freight train steam over the Pecos River railroad bridge, into the sunset. It was also one of the shooting scenes for ''[[Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw]]'' starring [[Lynda Carter]] in the role of Bobbi Jo.

Santa Rosa was the childhood home of author [[Rudolfo Anaya]], and is the basis for the fictional town of Guadalupe in his autobiographical novel ''[[Bless Me, Ultima]]''.
[[File:NM Fort Sumner 190662 1954 250000 geo.jpg|thumb|Santa Rosa and other towns such as [[Vaughn, New Mexico|Vaughn]] and [[Fort Sumner, New Mexico|Fort Sumner]] in 1954.]]