Reserve, New Mexico

Reserve is a village in Catron County, New Mexico, United States. The town population was 293 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Catron County.<ref name="GR6">Template:Cite web</ref> Currently the village has two grocery stores, a hardware store, a bar, fairgrounds, and a health clinic. It is the site where Elfego Baca held off a gang of Texan cowboys who wanted to kill him for arresting cowboy Charles McCarty.

History

File:Reserve NM - 3.jpg

Monument to Elfego Baca

In the 1860s, Mexican-Americans established a string of villages along the San Francisco River, naming them the Upper, Lower, and Middle San Francisco Plazas. In the late 1870s Anglo settlers began arriving. They renamed Upper Frisco Plaza as Milligan's Plaza, naming it after a merchant and saloon owner.

Catron became a county in 1921. It was named after an attorney and political leader from Santa Fe, Thomas B. Catron.<ref>Collier, H.P. (1936) San Francisco Plaza, Catron County: Brief history. Workers Progress Administration. Retrieved 6/12/07.</ref>

Milligan's Plaza was the site of the Frisco shootout of Elfego Baca.<ref>French, Capt. William: Recollections of a Western Ranchman</ref>

Geography

File:Reserve NM - 2.jpg

Main square in Reserve

Reserve is located in western Catron County in the valley of the San Francisco River. New Mexico State Road 12 passes through the village, leading west Template:Convert to U.S. Route 180 near Reserve Airport and northeast Template:Convert to U.S. Route 60 at Datil. NM 435 leads south through the communities of San Francisco Plaza and Lower San Francisco Plaza before ending Template:Convert south of Reserve.<ref name=usgs>Reserve, New Mexico, 7.5 Minute Topographic Quadrangle, USGS, 1965 (1986 rev.)</ref>

Reserve is situated in the Gila National Forest about Template:Convert east of the Arizona/New Mexico border.<ref name=usgs/> The area includes ruins from the Mogollon and Anasazi tribes, as well as petroglyphs and historic Old West sites.<ref>Catron County: National Register of Historic Places</ref>

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of Template:Convert, all land.<ref name="Census 2010">Template:Cite web</ref>

Demographics

As of the census<ref name="GR2">Template:Cite web</ref> of 2000, there were 387 people, 177 households, and 103 families residing in the village. The population density was Template:Convert. There were 238 housing units at an average density of Template:Convert. The racial makeup of the village was 80.10% White, 0.52% African American, 0.52% Native American, 13.95% from other races, and 4.91% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 40.57% of the population.

There were 177 households, out of which 25.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.8% were married couples living together, 14.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.8% were non-families. 39.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.14 and the average family size was 2.84.

In the village, the population was spread out, with 24.5% under the age of 18, 7.5% from 18 to 24, 20.9% from 25 to 44, 28.2% from 45 to 64, and 18.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.6 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $24,750, and the median income for a family was $30,536. Males had a median income of $30,833 versus $16,000 for females. The per capita income for the village was $14,612. About 14.2% of families and 17.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.6% of those under age 18 and 9.1% of those age 65 or over.

Climate

Reserve has a Mediterranean climate of the warm-summer type (Köppen: Csb), unusual in New Mexico.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Despite having mild to hot daytime highs year round, temperatures substantially cool off during nighttime due to Reserve's high elevation and aridity. Even in the summertime, 90 degree days can cool off into the 40's. A freeze has been recorded every month of the year except August. Reserve receives most of its rainfall in the form of thunderstorms from mid-summer into fall from the North American Monsoon, which can produce hazardous flash floods very quickly. Snow usually falls once or twice a year, but melts quickly due to the high daytime temperatures.

File:Ancestral Pueblo, Reserve black on white jar, 1050-1100 CE, Heard Museum.JPG

Reserve black on white olla, 1050-1100 CE, Heard Museum.

Education

The city is served by the Reserve Independent School District.<ref>"Contact Info." Reserve Independent School District. Retrieved on September 27, 2009.</ref>

Reserve prehistoric pottery

This Ancestral Pueblo pottery type was named for the Reserve area, where it was first found, and is a major subdivision of the Cibola Whiteware group. Common designs are opposed solid and hatched motifs that are interlocked with each other. Usually the hatching is diagonal, but parallel hatching in late examples occurs as well. Squiggle hatching may occur on some early examples. Usually the hatched motifs average two to four times as wide as the solid motifs but occasionally approach the same size. Framing and hatching lines are usually the same width. "Bulls eyes" are common in Reserve Black-on-White.<ref>Reserve Black-on-White, Pottery guide and photo index</ref>