Albuquerque - A Synergy of Cultures
Founded in 1706 as the Spanish colonial outpost of Alburquerque , Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico. Present-day Albuquerque retains much of the Spanish cultural and historical heritage.
Initially, Alburquerque was a farming community and strategically located military outpost along the Camino Real. Our City was built in the traditional Spanish village pattern: a central plaza surrounded by government buildings, homes, and a church. This central plaza area has been preserved and is open to the public as a museum, cultural area, and center of commerce. It is referred to as "Old Town Albuquerque" or simply "Old Town."
Albuquerque city got its name when the provincial governor Don Francisco Cuervo y Valdes named it in honour of Don Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, Duke of Alburquerque, viceroy of New Spain from 1653 to 1660. The first "r" in "Alburquerque" was dropped at some point in the 19th century, supposedly by an Anglo-American railroad station-master unable to correctly pronounce the city's name.
During the Civil War Albuquerque was occupied in February 1862 by Confederate troops under General Henry Hopkins Sibley, who soon afterwards advanced with his main body into northern New Mexico. During his retreat from Union troops into Texas he made a stand on April 8, 1862 at Albuquerque. A day-long engagement at long range led to few casualties against a detachment of Union soldiers commanded by Colonel Edward R. S. Canby.
When the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad arrived in 1880, it bypassed the Plaza, locating the passenger depot and railyards about 2 miles (3 km) east in what quickly became known as New Albuquerque or New Town. Old Town remained a separate community until the 1920s when it was absorbed by the City of Albuquerque, which had been incorporated in 1891.
New Albuquerque quickly became a tidy southwestern town which by 1900 boasted a population of 8,000 inhabitants and all the modern amenities. The first travelers on Route 66 appeared in Albuquerque in 1926, and before long dozens of motels, restaurants, and gift shops had sprung up along the roadside to serve them. Route 66 originally ran through the city on a north-south alignment along Fourth Street, but in 1937 it was realigned along Central Avenue, a more direct east-west route. The intersection of Fourth and Central downtown was the principal crossroads of the city for decades. The majority of the surviving structures from the Route 66 era are on Central, though there are also some on Fourth. Signs between Bernalillo and Los Lunas along the old route now have brown, historical highway markers denoting it as Pre-1937 Route 66.
As Albuquerque spread outward, the downtown area fell into a decline. Many historic buildings were razed in the 1960s and 1970s to make way for new plazas, high-rises, and parking lots as part of the city's urban renewal project. Only recently has downtown come to regain much of its urban character, mainly through the construction of many new loft apartment buildings and the renovation of historic structures like the KiMo Theater. The Pueblo Deco style KiMo Theater is one of Albuquerque's best-known landmarks.
Albuquerque is famous for it hot air ballooning. While you are here, be sure to visit The Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum, the world's premier facility dedicated to the art, culture, science, history, sport and spectacle of ballooning. And don't miss our summer festival, the Albuquerque Summerfest, which featuries both local and national music and dance entertainment. Events are held during June and July on Saturday evenings from 5 - 10:30 pm at the Harry E. Kinney Civic Plaza (corner of 3rd St. and Marquette NW) in downtown Albuquerque and are free to the public. In addition to music and dance entertainment there are food vendors, a beer garden, an arts and crafts market, and plenty of children's activities such as facepainting, magic, juggling, interactive drumming, fun jumps and more.
Sources:
Wikipedia Encyclopedia
http://www.cabq.gov/crs/summerfest04.html
http://www.pdphoto.org
