Two historic sites approved for the State Register of Cultural Properties

A state agency tasked with protecting, preserving and interpreting the unique character of New Mexico has approved the addition of two historic districts for state and national registers.

The Cultural Properties Review Committee within the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs is adding Fort Wingate near Gallup and Albuquerque’s University Heights neighborhood to the State Register of Cultural Properties.

“The State Register of Cultural Properties is a program that’s enshrined in the state’s Cultural Properties Act,” said Steven Moffson, New Mexico Historic Preservation Division state and national register coordinator. “Our office, the Historic Preservation Division, has a responsibility to identify and list in the state register properties that meet the criteria for listing.”

Benefits of being added to the state register include being listed as a historic property and potential tax credits for approved rehabilitations, according to a video from the New Mexico Historic Preservation Division. The New Mexico Historic Preservation Division has been working with the community to get these historic sites proposed and approved.

“The University Heights nomination was first a student effort; students in the historic preservation program at (the University of New Mexico) wrote a draft nomination,” Moffson said. “That’s what formed the basis of our effort to list it in the state and national register.”

Moffson says that the University Heights nomination was exciting because, although it was not the largest in terms of acreage, it was notable in terms of density. The area is in the East Mesa area and a block south of UNM.

“It’s one of the densest nominations that our office has done in a long time,” Moffson said. “There’s about 1,000 houses listed in that district.”

According to the National Register of Historic Places registration form, houses in the district have traditional architectural styles from 1925 to the 1960s.

“University Heights, which retains high levels of location, setting, design, materials, and workmanship, also includes association with its significance as an early suburb on the East Mesa of Albuquerque because its gridiron plan is consistent with traditional planning efforts by the city before the Second World War. Its houses reflect architectural trends before and after the war,” according to the form.

Fort Wingate, outside Gallup, was added to the National Register in 1978, but the listing concentrated on the small area of the fort, according to Moffson. The approved proposal expands the boundaries and adds documentation to the Fort Wingate Historic District.

“It really concentrated on military history,” Moffson said. “And what we have done very recently is to identify the importance of the Fort Wingate, as an Indian school.”

The boarding school ran from 1926 to 2009, according to the National Register of Historic Places registration form for the expansion proposal.

“In later years, the school embraced Navajo cultural practices and even taught the Navajo language. Unlike many Indian boarding schools, Fort Wingate is remembered fondly by former Navajo students and other tribal members who wish to see it recognized as a historic site,” according to the form.

Identifying and preserving these historical sites is important because “history is part of the built environment” for people, according to Moffson.

“(History is) part of the buildings and landscapes that they can see, these often remind people of important historic events or important architecture,” Moffson said. “When we lose these important places, they’re often just no longer in mind, and they could be forgotten.”