In the Black: Albuquerque family's Seven Bar moniker synonymous with the city's northwest side

Tumbleweeds, sand dunes, dirt roads and cattle were all that once populated the area west and just south of the Alameda Bridge now bustling with activity.

There was no Cottonwood Mall, no Cibola High School, no residential area and not a congested road in sight in the first half of the 20th century. But there was a family and there was a ranch. That family was the Blacks and that ranch was Seven Bar – a moniker that continues to define the area today.

In the Black: Albuquerque family's Seven Bar moniker synonymous with the West Side

An elementary school, road and subdivision bear its name. In addition, it was the family that was responsible for helping transform the once barren open space into a thriving commercial and residential area.

Albert Franklin Black and his partner Guy Ray purchased the 20,600-acre San Mateo Ranch in 1929, according to his great-granddaughter Stephanie Black. It was initially part of the historic Spanish Gonzales-Alameda Land Grant and the men first changed the name to Black and Ray. Stephanie Black said the men purchased it with the intention of securing the right to bring natural gas to Albuquerque, but that contract instead went to Southern Union Gas Company at the behest of then-mayor Clyde Tingley.

That’s when the family pivoted to ranching. Albert Franklin Black’s son Albert J. Black and his wife Mary Jane, who was described as a “New Mexico pioneer woman” in her March 12, 1999, obituary, bought into part of the ranch and their portion became known as Seven Bar, Stephanie Black said. The couple had four children: Rolfe, William, John and Jane.

They primarily used the ranch to raise cattle, and the Seven Bar name was credited to Mary Jane.

“(It) was supposedly chosen by my grandmother because the brand was small and would not take up much room on the carcass of the cow, so more of it could be used,” Stephanie Black said. “She was a bookkeeper and very smart.”

Albert J. Black, according to his granddaughter, was a geologist and a staunch supporter of water conservation efforts of that time, helping to establish the bosque preserve around the river. Other facets of his life reflected his commitment to the natural world. He served as a state game commissioner, chairman of the Central Rio Grande Natural Resources Conservation District and was a member of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association, the New Mexico Wildlife Federation and the New Mexico Farm & Livestock Bureau, according to his obituary.

It was the establishment of the Seven Bar Flying School in 1947 that foisted the name into the public psyche. Cibola High School sits at the end of what was once one of the original runways, according to Stephanie Black.

Newspapers in 1947 described the Seven Bar Flying School as 10 miles north of Albuquerque with two dirt runways. The couple’s home was just 300 yards from it, according to a snippet in the July 27, 1950, edition of the Albuquerque Tribune. Stephanie Black said it was the return of several relatives from WWII that prompted the establishment of the aviation business. She said they expressed an interest in having a runway on the ranch so they could fly private planes. The family leveled some land for an airstrip and the company was born.

The Seven Bar designation, the family that made it a household name, and their eventual aviation business are so tightly woven into the narrative of Albuquerque, they appear in tales of everyday life here.

The sheriff’s department turned to one of the airport’s instructors in 1954 to track down stolen vehicles. One of its deputies hitched a ride on the instructor’s plane so they could fly over the mesa in search of the stolen automobiles.

“Bovinicide,” so the headline in the Oct. 17, 1957, Alamogordo Daily News described it, came to the ranch in 1957. The police arrested three, apparently hungry, 17-year-old boys who were accused of shooting a cow that belonged to Seven Bar Ranch.

“Police said they found the boys cooking part of the meat,” the article said. “Officers investigated a car parked on the east mesa, on the other side of town, and said the boys had hauled part of the beef over there to cook it.”

In another 1957 incident, police evoked the name of the airport to dispense of a rogue pilot driving his airplane around at the intersection of Candelaria Road and Carlisle Boulevard. The pilot, who never identified himself, “taxied up to a patrol car and said he was going to Montana and was looking for an airport so he could refuel,” an Oct. 29, 1957, article in the Albuquerque Tribune said. “The surprised officer directed the pilot to the West Mesa Airport or the Seven Bar Airport at Alameda. The man took off and that was the last officers heard of him.”

The aviation company offered flight training, tie-down and fueling when it first opened. Its first maintenance shop opened in 1957, according to the company website, and in 1963 crews constructed the first hangar. The Alameda Airport was established there in 1947 as well but closed in 1987. It was the same year the family built a new aviation and moved its operations to the Albuquerque International Sunport.

As Albuquerque grew, the family shifted its focus to development. They opened a real estate development division, of which Albert and Mary Jane Black became managing partners. They leased and sold the land that would become Cottonwood Mall, Cottonwood Corners, Cottonwood Plaza, Las Tiendas and Alameda West shopping centers. Paradise Hills and Ventana Ranch were once also part of the original Black Ranch.

Their son Rolfe Black became president of the Seven Bar aviation business in 1969 and pivoted again, offering air medical transport for the state’s rural communities. The year 1993 also turned out to be significant. Rolfe Black’s son Wade became president of the company and moved its headquarters to Dallas.

Albuquerque Public Schools opened Seven Bar Elementary in 2002 at the intersection of Seven Bar Loop and Ellison Road NW to handle the West Sides’ exploding population.

Albert J. Black died in 1989 and his obituary called him a prominent West Mesa rancher and developer. While most residents might not remember who he was, almost all are impacted by his legacy.

Curious about how a town, street or building got its name? Email columnist Elaine Briseño at ebriseno@abqjournal.com as she continues the monthly journey in “What’s in a Name?”