The New International Encyclopædia/Santa Fe

SANTA FE. The capital of New Mexico, and the county-seat of Santa Fe County, on Santa Fe River and on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe and the Denver and Rio Grande railroads (Map: New Mexico, F 2). The city as originally laid out by the Spaniards has been much changed since the American occupation. The old Spanish buildings which still remain are constructed mostly of adobe. The main business structures centre about the Plaza, upon one side of which is the palace, an edifice where the various Governors of the Territory from the early Spanish times to the present have resided. In the historical museum connected with the palace are early Spanish paintings and interesting remains of the Indian and Spanish periods. Other places of interest are the partially reconstructed Cathedral of San Francisco, the Church of San Miguel, and old Fort Marcy. Santa Fe also has the Capitol, a penitentiary, a Federal building, a hospital, and the Territorial Orphan Asylum. The educational institutions comprise Saint Michael's College, schools for the deaf and dumb, the Loretto Convent, and the Government and Saint Catherine's Indian schools. The most important industries are stock-raising and mining. There are also deposits of kaolin and clay in the vicinity. The government is vested in a mayor, chosen annually, and a unicameral council. Population, in 1890, 6185; in 1900, 5603.

A party of Spaniards visited the site of Santa Fe in 1542 and found there a large Indian pueblo with a population estimated at 15,000. About 1605, the pueblo being then deserted, the Spanish made a settlement here under the name ‘La Ciudad Real de la Santa Fé de San Francisco,’ enslaved the Indians in the neighborhood, and opened up extensive gold and silver mines. In 1690 the Indians captured the place and expelled the Spaniards, who, however, regained possession in 1692. On August 18, 1846, it was occupied, without opposition, by United States troops under General S. W. Kearny. In 1851 it was chartered as a city and became the capital of the newly organized Territory of New Mexico. A trade with Missouri, opened in 1804 and facilitated in 1825 by the improvement of the ‘Santa Fe Trail,’ became very important subsequent to 1840. Consult: Bancroft, History of Arizona and New Mexico (San Francisco, 1884), and a chapter by Hodge in Powell's Historic Towns of the Western States (New York, 1901).