Roswell, New Mexico

History

thumb|White family home, built in 1912, now a museum

The first settlers were a group of pioneers from Missouri, who attempted to start a settlement 15 mi southwest of what is now Roswell in 1865, but were forced to abandon the site because of a lack of water. It was called Missouri Plaza. It also had many Hispanic people from Lincoln, New Mexico. John Chisum had his famous Jingle Bob Ranch about 5 mi from the center of Roswell, at South Spring Acres. At the time, it was the largest ranch in the United States.

Van C. Smith, a businessman from Omaha, Nebraska, and his partner, Aaron Wilburn, constructed two adobe buildings in 1869 that began what is now Roswell. The two buildings became the settlement's general store, post office, and sleeping quarters for paying guests. In 1871, Smith filed a claim with the federal government for the land around the buildings, and on August 20, 1873, he became the town's first postmaster. Smith was the son of Roswell Smith, a prominent lawyer in Lafayette, Indiana, and Annie Ellsworth, daughter of U.S. Patent Commissioner Henry Leavitt Ellsworth. He called the town Roswell, after his father's first name.

In 1877, Captain Joseph Calloway Lea and his family bought out Smith and Wilburn's claim and became the owners of most of the land of Roswell and the area surrounding it. The town was relatively quiet during the Lincoln County War (1877–1879). A major aquifer was discovered when merchant Nathan Jaffa had a well drilled in his back yard on Richardson Avenue in 1890, resulting in the area's first major growth and development spurt. The growth continued when the Pecos Valley Railroad arrived in 1892.

During World War II, a prisoner-of-war camp was located in nearby Orchard Park, New Mexico. The German prisoners of war were used to do major infrastructure work in Roswell, such as paving the banks of the North Spring River. Some POWs used rocks of different sizes to create the outline of an iron cross among the stones covering the north bank. Later, the iron cross was covered with a thin layer of concrete. In the 1980s, a crew cleaning the river bed cleared off the concrete and revealed the outline once more. The small park just south of the cross was then known as Iron Cross Park. On November 11, 1996, the park was renamed POW/MIA Park. The park displays a piece of the Berlin Wall, presented to the city of Roswell by the German Air Force.

Roswell was a location of military importance from 1941 to 1967. In 1967, the Walker Air Force Base was decommissioned. After the closure of the base, Roswell capitalized on its pleasant climate and reinvented itself as a retirement community.

Roswell has benefited from interest in the alleged UFO incident of 1947. It was the report of an object that crashed in the general vicinity in June or July 1947, allegedly an extraterrestrial spacecraft and its alien occupants. Since the late 1970s, the incident has been the subject of intense controversy and of a conspiracy theory regarding a classified program named "Project Mogul". Many UFO proponents maintain that an alien craft was found and its occupants were captured, and that the military then engaged in a cover-up. In recent times, the business community has deliberately sought out tourists interested in UFOs, science fiction, and aliens.

Roswell hosted the record-breaking skydive by Felix Baumgartner on October 14, 2012.

Geography

Roswell is located in the High Great Plains of southeastern New Mexico, approximately 7 mi west of the Pecos River and some 40 mi east of highlands that rise to the Sierra Blanca range. U.S. Routes 70, 285, and 380 intersect in the city. US 70 leads northeast 111 mi to Clovis and 117 mi west to Alamogordo; US 285 leads north 192 mi to Santa Fe and south 76 mi to Carlsbad; and US 380 leads east 134 mi to Brownfield, Texas, and west 164 mi to Socorro.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 29.776 sqmi, of which, 29.716 sqmi is land and 0.060 sqmi, or 0.18%, is water.

Climate

Roswell is located in both the High Plains and the Chihuahuan Desert and has four very distinct seasons, giving it a cold semi-arid climate (BSk) according to the Köppen climate classification. Winters are cool, but usually sunny, and snowfall can occur. Spring is mild and usually warm, but can still be cold on occasion. Summers are very hot (as is common with the High Plains of New Mexico and Colorado) and average around 30 days per year when the temperature rises above 100 F, which can be unpleasant. The North American monsoon occurs during the summer, and can bring torrential downpours, severe thunderstorms (with high winds and hail) and sometimes even tornadoes. The rain can provide a cooling relief from the scorching great plains heat. Fall is usually warm and pleasant, but can be cold late in the season. Snow is possible generally from late October to March.

The record low in Roswell is -24 F on January 11, 1962, and February 8, 1933. The record high is 114 F on June 27, 1994.

|Jan record high F = 88 |Feb record high F = 91 |Mar record high F = 95 |Apr record high F = 102 |May record high F = 107 |Jun record high F = 114 |Jul record high F = 112 |Aug record high F = 111 |Sep record high F = 106 |Oct record high F = 99 |Nov record high F = 94 |Dec record high F = 84 |Jan avg record high F = 76.2 |Feb avg record high F = 80.4 |Mar avg record high F = 87.3 |Apr avg record high F = 93.1 |May avg record high F = 100.4 |Jun avg record high F =106.3 |Jul avg record high F =104.0 |Aug avg record high F =102.5 |Sep avg record high F = 98.1 |Oct avg record high F = 93.0 |Nov avg record high F = 82.2 |Dec avg record high F = 75.3 |year avg record high F=108.0 |Jan avg record low F = 14.4 |Feb avg record low F = 17.3 |Mar avg record low F = 23.0 |Apr avg record low F = 31.4 |May avg record low F = 44.0 |Jun avg record low F = 55.9 |Jul avg record low F = 63.2 |Aug avg record low F = 61.3 |Sep avg record low F = 48.8 |Oct avg record low F = 32.4 |Nov avg record low F = 20.0 |Dec avg record low F = 12.0 |year avg record low F= 9.3 |Jan record low F = −24 |Feb record low F = −24 |Mar record low F = −5 |Apr record low F = 17 |May record low F = 27 |Jun record low F = 40 |Jul record low F = 52 |Aug record low F = 48 |Sep record low F = 30 |Oct record low F = 14 |Nov record low F = −6 |Dec record low F = −10 | Jan dew point C = −5.6 | Feb dew point C = −4.5 | Mar dew point C = −3.9 | Apr dew point C = −1.2 | May dew point C = 3.9 | Jun dew point C = 9.8 | Jul dew point C = 13.8 | Aug dew point C = 14.3 | Sep dew point C = 11.4 | Oct dew point C = 4.9 | Nov dew point C = −1.9 | Dec dew point C = −5.8

Demographics

|align-fn=center 2020 Census

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, there were 48,422 people, 17,929 households, and 11,844 families residing in the city. The population density was 1629.5 PD/sqmi. There were 20,220 housing units. The racial makeup of the city was 54.8% White, 2.2% African American, 1.5% Native American, 1.2% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 20.9% from some other races and 19.2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 58.8% of the population. 26.0% of residents were under the age of 18, 6.6% were under 5 years of age, and 15.2% were 65 and older.

The median income for a household in the city was $48,298, and per capita income was $25,906 (2018–2022 in 2022 dollars). In 2022, 23.2% of the population were living below the poverty line.

2010 census

As of the 2010 census, there were 48,366 people, 17,654 households, and _ families residing in the city. The population density was 1619.9 PD/sqmi. There were 19,743 housing units. The racial makeup of the city was 69.9% White, 2.5% African American, 1.2% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 22.1% from some other races and 3.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 53.4% of the population. 26.5% of residents were under the age of 18, _% were under 5 years of age, and 15.6% were 65 and older.

Economy

Leprino Foods, one of the world's largest mozzarella factories, is located here.

TMC, Nova Bus, and then Millennium Transit Services, manufactured the RTS city bus in Roswell until 2012.

Arts and culture

Roswell's tourism industry is based on aerospace engineering and ufology museums and businesses, as well as alien-themed and spacecraft-themed iconography. A yearly UFO festival has been held since 1995.

The Roswell Museum maintains an exhibit that includes a recreation of Goddard's rocket engine development workshop, as well as a planetarium and a collection of fine art. The Roswell Artist-in-Residence program has an associated museum, the Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art which features more than 200 artists in the collection.

Sports

The Roswell Invaders play in the Pecos League of professional baseball clubs. The Invaders wear lime-green uniforms to represent the city's extraterrestrial connections. Home games are played at the Joe Bauman Ballpark.

Previously, Roswell was home to the Roswell Giants (1923), Roswell Sunshiners (1937), Roswell Rockets (1949–1956), and Roswell Pirates (1959), who played in the Panhandle-Pecos Valley League (1923), West Texas-New Mexico League (1937), Longhorn League (1949–1955), Southwestern League (1956), and Sophomore League (1959).

Joe Bauman hit a minor-league record 72 home runs for the 1954 Roswell Rockets, and Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Willie Stargell played for the 1959 Roswell Pirates. Roswell was an affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1959.

Roswell hosted the 2025 National Championship Air Races.

Education

Public schools

• Roswell Independent School District
  • Goddard High School
  • Roswell High School
• Mountain View Middle School
• Mesa Middle School
• Sierra Middle School
• Berrendo Middle School

Private schools

• All Saints Catholic School, a pre-K through eighth-grade Catholic school
• Gateway Christian School, a pre-K through high school parochial school
• Immanuel Lutheran School, a Junior Kindergarten through 9th grade classical school
• Saint Andrews Catholic School, a K-6 Catholic School

Colleges and universities

• Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell is a branch of Eastern New Mexico University (headquartered in Portales). The Roswell campus offers several certificate and associate programs. Also, bachelor's and master's programs are available via ENMU's Instructional Television System.
• New Mexico Military Institute offers four-year high school and two-year associate college-degree programs.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Airport

• Roswell International Air Center is served by American Eagle.

Bus

• Pecos Trails Transit
• Greyhound Lines

Major highways

• U.S. Route 70
• U.S. Route 285
• U.S. Route 380

Railroads

• BNSF Railway freight services

Notable people

Main article: People from Roswell, New Mexico

• Robert O. Anderson, businessman and philanthropist
• Bobby Baldock, U.S. federal appellate judge (Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals)
• Tom Brookshier, professional football player and sportscaster
• John Chisum, pioneer, landowner, rancher
• Louise Holland Coe, first woman elected to the New Mexico Senate, first woman to run for U.S. Congress, 1894–1985
• Max Coll, 15-term New Mexico House Representative (1966–1970, 1980–2004), grandson of James F. Hinkle
• Ray Crawford, combat pilot and auto racer
• John Denver, singer and actor
• Pat Garrett, sheriff, killer of Billy the Kid
• Robert H. Goddard, rocket pioneer
• Susan Graham, opera singer
• J.J. Hagerman, businessman and railroad developer
• James F. Hinkle, Mayor of Roswell (1904–06), New Mexico State Senator (1912–1916), Governor of New Mexico (1923–25)
• Nancy Lopez, LPGA Hall of Fame golfer
• Jody McCrea, actor
• Demi Moore, actress
• Gerina Piller, professional golfer
• Priscilla Presley, actress and businesswoman
• Clinton A. Puckett, 6th Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, Navy Cross recipient
• James P. Riseley, Lieutenant General, USMC
• Austin St. John, first Red Power Ranger

References

Notes

Citations

• City Map, Roswell, New Mexico. Roswell: Roswell Printing, 1976.

References

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