City of Dust: Negra, New Mexico

Paying a Visit to the Williams

It’s time to head south out of House, New Mexico, drop down off the Llano Estacado, and into the town of Taiban, home of one of the most photogenic churches I’ve ever encountered. From there, we travel Highway 60 west for quite a stretch, past Fort Sumner, Yeso, Vaughn, and Encino. But then, five miles past Encino, we find Negra. So, at the gravel road, let’s turn south and have a look.

Negra, in Torrance County, was established, as were a number of other towns along Highway 60, when the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad (AT&SF) constructed the Belen Cut-off. This enabled trains to pass through the flat plains and avoid climbing into the northern mountains through Raton Pass. The cut-off came through about 1905 or 1906 and Negra’s post office was established in 1909. However, the post office didn’t last long. It shut down in 1918 with mail to those few still in Negra even then going to Encino.

There are a couple stories about how Negra (“black” in Spanish) got its name, including one about a black dog hanging around the early townsite. Robert Julyan suggests the town got its name because of the black soil in the area and mentions the presence of a black water tank. The tank is notable because Negra must’ve had good water and plenty of it. For instance, Encino once got their water from Negra. I was told that a man named Tenorio used a small tanker truck to haul water to town and sell it to the residents. Of course, the steam-powered locomotives would’ve stopped in Negra to get water, as well. After the conversion to diesel engines, Vaughn bought four wells near the tracks from the railroad and, at some point, even Duran, 20 miles away, got water from Negra.

Beyond the above, there’s not much information available on this little town. Nearest the highway is a vacant but nicely intact filling station that might be from as early as the 1920’s. It’s pictured below. (Note “U.S. POST OFFICE” written near the roof. Perhaps this was salvage material.) Behind it is an old tourist court. Both were built by C.E. Davenport, Negra’s first postmaster. A working ranch–the Davenport Ranch–is adjacent to the south. Even farther to the south, across the still-active railroad tracks, there’s a cemetery. To the west, where most of the community once was, only a couple buildings remain. Two, which are not much more than piles of sticks now, were an old school and a teacher’s residence. An adobe structure with a big hole in the middle (shown above) might’ve been a more recent school.

But the gem of Negra is the wonderful rock house, built on the site of an old grocery store, and its attendant barn and outbuildings. Despite the paucity of historical documentation, in a happy twist of fate it’s known who once called this lovely place home. In my article on Encino, I mentioned that there were once four beautiful murals on the walls of the high school gymnasium, which had sadly been torn down. Those murals were done in the very early 1940’s by Hallie Williams, and it is she and her husband Albert (nickname “Ollie”) who lived here. Hallie also painted at least one other mural and I’ve been told it still exists, in a store built by Mr. Williams in the 1950’s, also in Encino.

Mr. Williams ran a filling station in Negra—likely the vintage one just mentioned. He also operated a mercantile that fronted the railroad tracks in Encino. This store contained a reportedly very smelly stuffed buffalo head on a wall. Later, in the mid-1940’s, Mr. Williams built a smaller store on the north side of Highway 60. His third store in Encino, then, would be the one containing the mural.

Now, there are some abandoned places that legitimately feel creepy and leaving them brings with it an undeniable sense of relief. Then there are other locations, like the Williams’ homestead, that are peaceful, if not downright soothing. With the sun and clouds playing across the flat land of the eastern plains and a cool breeze rustling the grass, I could’ve stayed there—and, indeed, in all of what remains of Negra—for many more hours than I did. I hope to return soon. I feel like there’s more to be learned out there.

About the only published documentation of Negra that I’ve come across is Dixie Boyle’s “Highway 60 & the Belen Cutoff.” It’s a fantastic source for all kinds of info on the towns along the highway. Of course, Robert Julyan’s “The Place Names of New Mexico” handled the naming story, per usual. I even got a few facts, particularly about water, from comments left on the City of Dust Facebook page. Finally, Henry R. sent me a fascinating message about Encino and Negra, as well as background on Mr. Williams, his various stores, and his buffalo. As Henry R. was there back then, his is a fantastic first-person account.

John Mulhouse moved to Albuquerque in 2009 after spending the previous decade in Minnesota, Georgia, Tennessee, and California. He loves the desert, realizes it doesn’t care too much about him, and thinks that’s all as it should be. More of his documentation of the lost, abandoned, beaten, and beautiful can be found at the City of Dust blog and the City of Dust Facebook page.

11 comments

  1. I love this little report on Negra. I was just up that way from home in Deming, and I did not take the opportunity to explore as you did. This article makes me itch to go back. It is enchanting country, alright.

  2. LOved reading about Negra.. Thanks .. This is my husband’s childhood memories..

    1. Joann Lucero LaCanne from Salado, Texas enjoyed reading this article.
      The green house in the Web picture reminds me of my grandfather’s house in Belen, NM.
      It was located across the street from the railway where they would couple the trains.

  3. Just a little further from that Rock House on top of the Hill in Negra N.M. is a very old cemetery. Also that road crossing the Railroad in Negra is the shortest route from Encino N.M. to Pinos Wells whose Fiestas were Yesterday August 5th. 2017. Theres also a Treasure Story not far from that Rock House. el pintada kid

  4. Thank you so much for your articles from NM ghost towns. I am a NM native and currently live in NC but my heart will always be in the land of Enchantment. I used to drive from Carlsbad to Albuquerque to see my parents and have been thru some of these places – Encino, Vaughn, etc. Great articles and I really appreciate you for doing this!! I hope to get back to this area one day.

  5. Fascinating stuff, I love this site. I was just wondering if you had any information on the abandoned settlement of Pedernal in Torrence County, roughly nine miles west-southwest of Negra, a few miles south of 60. I was reading an old obituary and Pedernal, Torrence County, NM was listed as the place of birth. I can find no history or photos of this place at all. Just Google maps satellite images showing a collection of old structures where CO38 crosses the RR tracks a few miles south of 60. And also a very short piece in The Place Names of New Mexico.

    Thanks!

    1. Hi Ron,

      I’m sorry your comment got past me for…well, a couple years! My apologies! Perhaps in the interim you’ve learned a bit about Pedernal. I have never had a chance to visit, but it was a village along the Belen Cut-off, hence its proximity to U.S. Highway 60. Interestingly, the entire village was up for sale a few years ago. I don’ t know if it sold, but I can’t find the listing anymore. A friend of mine was able to visit and sent me some photos of the little that remains. So if you’d like to see something of the place, I can forward those to you. Feel free to contact me at jmhouse(at)cityofdust(dot)(com).

      Thanks for your message and, again, sorry for the absurd delay in responding!

      Best Regards, John

  6. I’d never heard of Negra until doing research on my great grandparents, they are both buried at the Negra Cemetery, very likely the one you mentioned. Until just yesterday no one in the family could explain what happened to them, it seems they moved west from Joplin, Jasper, Missouri and died only months apart at Negra. It was TB it turns out, my Grandmother Cora’s headstone from 1922 is still visible. Thank you for this, it makes me more determined than ever to come there and find James’ lost or buried grave marker.

  7. We recently visited and found the place to be so full of history. The house must have been a jewel with the soul it has still left behind. The barn made of railroad ties was amazing

  8. I’ve been told many times by my father and Grandfather that Negra got its name from a nearby outcrop of black rocks (basalts) that are exposed just to the North of highway on the old Perez ranch.

    Our family grew up just a few miles south of Negra and passed by there every time we had to go to town or school. My father attended school there at Negra for the first several years then moved on to Encino.

  9. Wow! My great grandfather was C.E. Davenport. I have a photo or two that say on the back that they were taken in Negra, and I Knew he had lived there, but I had no idea his doings were recorded.
    Anyone have old pictures of Negra?

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