Las Cruces (Images of America). This item is unavailable.Las Cruces (Images of America)

The city of Las Cruces, situated under blue skies in the Chihuahuan desert, boasts a wealth of Native American and Wild West history. As New Mexico's second largest city, it is a modern metropolis that has held fast to its picturesque past. Spanish explorers arrived in the 1500s in search of the Seven Cities of Gold, and after the United States conquered the territory, the area became a transportation hub, blossoming from its adobe beginnings into a permanent, important city. The photographs contained in this volume tell the unique story of this town of contrasts, where historic plazas sit next to modern office buildings and subdivisions sprawl alongside old Indian trails. Many of the original buildings are now restaurants, galleries, and shops, but here readers see them as they once stood, making this book a fascinating reference for those familiar with the city or exploring it for the first time.

In Las Cruces, historian Jon Hunner and students from the Public History Program and at New Mexico State University have gathered a fascinating array of images drawn primarily from the Rio Grande Historical Collection. The result is a view of the city that is as unique and farranging as the cosmopolitan face of Las Cruces itself.