Photo by J.D. Olson
Tularosa, New Mexico
Population: 2,891 ~ 4,514 Feet ASL
Tularosa Cotton
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I moved to Tularosa in 1951 with my four brothers, one sister and two parents.
At that time the valley was loaded with cotton fields and the big industy was
the local cotton gin. The tractors would pull their big trailers, with their high side walls, into the gin and a man would use a big suction tube to empty the wagon. The sides of the wagons were made with screen mesh so you could see the cotton disappear as a man would move the big tube from side to side in the trailer. The wagons would be lined up to the end of the block.
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Photo by J.D. Olson
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I had only been in Tularosa about two weeks before Miss Ross took me, with the rest of the second grade class, to the local cotton gin to watch them bail the cotton. The machines would remove the fine cotton from the hard shells that had popped open as they ripened. Next the cotton was run through a combing process that removed contamination from the cotton, and then great big presses would compress the cotton into great big bails of cotton.
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Granado Street
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On the corner of Granado Street and the highway that ran through Tularosa, there was a little post office.
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Next was a flower shop, and up a ways was a big Stanley's Hardware Store. Across the street was a
Champion's Grocery Store and a Ben Franklin 5 and Dime Store. Next to the dime store was
The Tularosa Motel.
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There was a little Mexican restaurant where you could get two tacos with refried beans for a quarter.
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Across the street from the Mexican restaurant was Tularosa Motors.
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Beside Tularosa Motors was a movie theater and beside that was Cordrey's Electronics.
A few years later as pre-teenager, I would work for Cordrey's to learn how to repair radios and televisions.
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On the other side of Tularosa Motors was a bank with a big safe and money and bankers and everything.
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Photo by Samantha Portillo
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Two blocks toward the school, on the right side of the street, was the Methodist church. It may be a Baptist church now.
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At the end of Granado was the big red school building that housed grades one through seven. Beside the grade school building was a Santa Fe style high school building.
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The Old Church
Photo by Samantha Portillo
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On the next street over from Granado was the Catholic church. Every day at twelve oclock, the church bells would ring to signal that it was noon.
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The Old Police Department
Photo by Tyrone Chatfield
Across the highway from the Catholic church is, what they now call, the "Old Police Department".
I can remember when it was
the "New Police Department".
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New Police Department
Photo by Tracey Trujillo
New Fire Department
Photo by Tracey Trujillo
Tularosa Village Hall
Photo by Tracey Trujillo
Times Change
Photo by J.D. Olson
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The cotton fields have been replaced by vineyards and pecan orchards. The old red school building has been replaced by a new school on the other side of town. The post office moved into a new building about fourty five years ago, and Stanley's was replaced by Whites Auto Store in 1956. It was later replaced with Western Auto.
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Tularosa High School
Photo by Tracey Trujillo
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I made it through the seventh grade before the old red building was replaced and it was shortly after I graduated before the old style high school building was replaced. The last time I visited Tularosa which was about 1995, the old high school building was being used for administration and my very young ninth grade P.E. teacher and the high school coach, was just about to retire as the high school principal.
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Tularosa Middle School
Photo by Samantha Portillo
The Old Post Office
Photo by Samantha Portillo
The New Post Office
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There is now a new post office that replaced the new post office that was built after I moved to Tularosa.
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And there is a new, modern,
and huge Civic Center!
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The Y Restaurant
Photo by Tracey Trujillo
McGinns's Vineyard
Photo by Tracey Trujillo
McGinns's Wine Nuts
Photo by Samantha Portillo
Not Everything Changes
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The mountains that start at the edge of Tularosa have not changed. They are just as magnificant as ever. The sky is still the color that nature meant for it to be, and the people are still friendly.
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Tularosa Hills
Photo by J.D. Olson
Tularosa Desert
Photo by J.D. Olson
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If you travel just a short distance west of Tularosa, you will come to the New Mexico high desert that is just about the way it has been for the last severl hundred thousand years. The fact is that now as a ol' grandad, and having moved away from Tularosa about thirty years ago, I still miss Tularosa and the people that live there.
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Road Through Tularosa
Take this road in either direction and it will take you to anywhere in the United States. However, you will never find another place in the world that can offer better memories than Tularosa did,
Circa 1952.
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Tularosa Sunset
Photo by Tyrone Chatfield
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The Tularosa Basin produces some beautiful sunsets, and none more beautiful than this one captured by Tyrone.
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Special thanks to
Mr. Ron Castle of the Tularosa High School
and the photographers of his class for their
contributions to this website.
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Click on the link below to see the photographers
who have contributed to our websites
America's Photo Gallery
This website is provided by
The Conger Street Clock Museum
The Conger Street Clock Tower
This clock tower mechanism was built about 1780 and the
pendulum is 13 feet long. It takes almost 4 seconds
for the pendulum to complete one cycle.
This old clock tower mechanism is just one of the many
time related items you will find in this museum.
Click on the 1949 Firetruck to visit the
Conger Street Clock Museum
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Creative Clock
at
The Conger Street Clock Museum
of Eugene, Oregon
was the
Featured story of the
July/August 1990
Watch & Clock Review
Vol. 57, No. 7
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The Conger Street Clock Museum
730 Conger Street
Eugene, Oregon 97402
STORE HOURS
Monday - Saturday 10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Phone 541-344-6359 Fax 541-338-0869
Creative Clock, PO Box 2100, Eugene, Oregon 97402
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