Atrisco to Zena Lona: A Snappy Survey of Selected Albuquerque Street Names

By Judy Nickell

Want to know something about the story behind Albuquerque’s street names—Who are they named for and why?How do you pronounce the names?What do they mean?What’s the largest street name in Albuquerque’s history?Many people were interviewed for this book; research began when the author was a columnist for a local newspaper. People would call to ask for the origin of one street name or another. This provided the germ for this book. Research continued with further interviews of developers and others responsible for naming streets.In addition to stories of street names, the book lists certain categories of street names, such as animals, birds and flowers. There is a concise explanation and pronunciation of Spanish names.This “snappy survey of selected Albuquerque street names” is not a doctoral dissertation, but rather fun reading for anyone living in or visiting New Mexico’s biggest city.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Mar 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781936744732

Book preview

Copyright © 2012, 2014 Judy Nickell

Published by Río Grande Books

925 Salamanca NW

Los Ranchos, NM 87107-5647

505-344-9382

www.LPDPress.com

Printed in the United States of America

Book Design: Paul Rhetts

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced

or transmitted in any form by any means without permission

in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Nickell, Judy.

Atrisco to Zena Lona : a snappy survey of selected Albuquerque street names / by Judy Nickell.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-890689-74-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)

ISBN 978-1-936744-73-2 (ebook formats)

1. Street names--New Mexico--Albuquerque. 2. Albuquerque (N.M.)--History. I. Title.

F804.A3N53 2012

978.9’61--dc23

2012004324

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

ONE-ONCE UPON A TIME

TWO-LOCAL COLOR

THREE-THE BIGGEST STREET NAME CHANGE IN HISTORY

FOUR-WHAT’S IN A NAME?

FIVE-NUMBERS

APPENDIX

INDEX

1898 ALBUQUERQUE

In 1898, Mountain Road was about as far north as Albuquerque went, with very little north of that. Central was called Railroad Avenue. There was nothing between Barelas Road and the river and very little east of High Street, though streets had been laid out. Southern was the south limit of the city. The map shows buildings, so it’s easy to see that many streets had been platted but not inhabited.

INTRODUCTION

Who put that crazy name on your street?

Who was that street named for?

What does that street name mean?

What language does that name come from?

How many times have you asked yourself or a friend questions like those? Maybe you can find the answers in this book.

Some Albuquerque streets were named so far back that there’s no one alive to tell the tale. Even some recent street name origins have been lost because the person who named the street has moved away or died.

Some are fairly common names — names found in many cities across the country: names of trees or flowers or birds; names of presidents, war heroes or other national figures; names of states or of counties in the state; or names of famous vacation places. Those are easy to understand.

Intriguing are names of more obscure people, places or events. Names can reflect local color, too: Spanish, Italian or Indian words.

We have not run out of names, either. We have some streets near La Cueva High School named for famous artists, and some of these, fortunately, carry full names: Joseph Sharp, Peter Hurd, Helen Hardin, Betty Sabo, R.C. Gorman and others. One of them, Wilson Hurley, is the son of Pat Hurley, for whom a West Mesa street is named. In a state like New Mexico, there are still more artists, writers and musicians who can be honored with street names.

So far, we do not have streets named for influential teachers. Albuquerque could use an Eldred Harrington Street, a Faye Meyer Avenue, a Bernice Rebord Place. Other teachers who come to mind are Charlotte Truesdell, N.G. Tate, Glen O. Ream, Gertrude McGowen, Vi Hefferan and many more. We could honor local people who did much for the city’s cultural life, such as the founders of the Symphony, Little Theater, Public Library, etc.

We do have some aviation pioneers honored on street names: Clark Carr, Floyd Odlum and others. There’s a small park named for another aviation pioneer, J.G. Oxnard. A street in the Taylor Ranch area may have been named for him. Missing is Harriet Davidson Nye, pioneer New Mexico woman flier.

Also of interest are street names that are not spelled correctly or those involving bad grammar. These occur mostly in Spanish, but some are in English.

One that comes to mind is Terragon. It is near other plants, so one can assume that Tarragon was intended. A resident of Terragon suggested that Terra (Latin for dirt) was combined with Middle English gon for gone—an unlikely combination in the desert. For a long list of oddities of spelling and grammar in Spanish names, see Chapter Two Local Color.

Are errors such as Terragon cast in concrete? Maybe not. They could be changed, but changes must be requested by someone, usually one or more residents of the street. Anyone wishing to correct a street name needs to write to the City Survey Department asking for the change. Many people who call to ask about the procedure don’t follow up. The change of Cattelya to Cattleya was initiated by a resident of the street. City policy is to accept names as proposed, as long as they don’t repeat. There have been attempts made to talk developers out of mistakes, but that doesn’t always work.

Once a street has been occupied for a long time, residents are not too keen about changes, even if the change involves correcting a goof.

While such changes are not necessary, they would have the effect of improving the impression others have of our street names. And people living on those streets would not have to apologize to anyone about their funny addresses.

Because the stories of so many names are lost or close to impossible to find, this work does not pretend to be a comprehensive history. It is intended as a look at some of the city’s street names.

I have tried to include as much information as possible on each name described. However, some of that information has been lost. Most people names are only one name (first or last), rarely both. Much of the time that is as specific as we can get because the background has been lost. Street names in other areas of Bernalillo County are included because they are such an integral part of Greater Albuquerque.

I hope you enjoy this little book on Albuquerque street names and street history.

Please don’t ask Why didn’t you write about ----? The answer is This is not an encyclopedia. The subtitle tells readers that this is a snappy survey. It is not a list of every street in town with some encyclopedic notation on each.

July Nickell

2012

ONE-ONCE UPON A TIME

ON the PLAZA

Albuquerque street names come in many forms. Some represent history. Some are named for minerals, others for plants, others for states and still others for presidents.

A good many have been named for or by people related in some way to the growth of the city: developers, engineers, farmers, land owners, historical figures and politicians. Some streets are named for old automobiles, Hollywood personalities, television shows and football players.

Albuquerque itself has not always been Albuquerque.

Alburquerque was founded in 1706 by Don Francisco Cuervo y Valdez, New Mexico’s 28th colonial governor. It was founded as San Francisco de Alburquerque in honor of Don Francisco Fernandez de la Cueva Enriquez, Duque de Alburquerque and 34th viceroy of New Spain (who lived in Mexico City). San Francisco (St. Francis Xavier) was patron saint of the governor and the viceroy.

But to avoid problems with King Philip V of Spain (who had not approved the founding of the little village) the name was changed to San Felipe de Alburquerque, to honor the king’s patron saint (St. Philip).

The name San Felipe remains on the church in Old Town and on one of the streets that borders the Plaza.

THE LOST R

The extra R was dropped many years ago, probably soon after New Mexico became part of the United States.

In the 1880s, when New Albuquerque was established around the railway, street names showed some consistency. Walter Marmon, a civil engineer with the Townsite Company, is credited with the street designs and names. Numbered streets went north-south. Several east-west streets were given names of metals and minerals, as New Mexico was a mining state.

METALS and MINERALS

In the Downtown area we have Gold, Silver, Lead, Coal and Iron south of Central (then Railroad Avenue) and Copper on the north. Other minerals appear further north: Marble, Granite and Slate.

Central Avenue was