Welcome....Bienvenidos,
To the Las Esperanzas Inc. official website. After more than ten years of tending to our local neighborhood we are now expanding our communal touch to the world wide web. Why would a small neighbor organization do such a thing: because ours is one of a handful of historical neighborhoods between San Diego. California and Brownsville, Texas and we understand the need to assist other historic neighborhoods.
The town site of the Mesquite Historical District is rich with both history and culture. Within the original plotted town site, 22 of the original blocks exist and more than 20 families of the primary settlers continue to live on their properties.
Feel free to peruse through our site and read the various projects we have completed that resulted in decreasing the level of crime and juvenile delinquency and increased a level of pride in an area that many persons considered a blighted neighborhood. Since 1999, Las Esperanzas Inc., in collaboration with many civic, public and governmental organizations has initiated and completed more than a $1 million dollars in neighborhood.
Please note: We are currently in the process of building our website and are adding content daily. We appreciate your patience and feel free to contact us if you would like specific information on a particular item. Gracias. We welcome your comments and observations. Feel free to contact us at:
A message from our Director:
When colonists settled Doña Ana in
1843, the Mexican village only had a population of thirty-three. Despite Indian attacks and starvation, the poor farmers dug the Acequia Madre
madre, the mother ditch to bring water from the Rio Grande to irrigate their fields. Within a year, 261 people lived in Doña Ana and the community prospered.
When the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the war between Mexico and the USA in 1848, New Mexico became a U.S. territory and Doña Ana became an American town. In that same year the U.S. Army stationed troops in Doña Ana to protect the Mesilla Valley from Apache raids. The villagers feared these newcomers would take their lands and ruin their way of life.
Don Pablo Meléndrez, the Mayor and Justice of the Peace, asked Lt. Delos Bennett Sackett to survey a townsite further south.As incentive, Don Pablo Meléndrez offered Doña Ana residents free town lots to
those who agreed to relocate to the new area. In the spring of 1849 Don Pablo Meléndrez and Lt. Sackett found 120 eager settlers camped in the brush shelters on land that would become the heart of Las Cruces. Under a large cottonwood near Griggs Ave. and Mesquite St., the heads of the families drew lots from a hat to determine the new properties each family would own and to this day many of those families still own those properties.
The mid-nineteenth century is still with us here in the Mesquite Historic District. Our one-story adobes and the sounds of a neighborhood seem little changed. Now the Mesquite Historic District; Original Townsite is once again hoping to see our Main St. come back to life after 40 long years. We all hope the wait has been worth it and that Las Cruces can be proud of our downtown once more.
Have a great summer and take care.
David G. Chavez,
President of Las Esperanzas, Inc.