No completion of Las Cruces Military Museum

It is sad that this has to be true at this time but our state has a lot of these and I did want more! We are too small in number to have more so this is what happens. I was one of those looking forward to a central place for honor as it is you have to travel around quite a bit to see the museums and memorials. Military museum far from completion | Santa Fe, N.M. | KRQE News 13

 

Unfortunate, but not totaly suprising in our current economy.

 

There's a part of this state that likes it's military history, and a part that does not. I remember the fuss people put up when the Atomic Museum here in Albuquerque put up it's Redstone missel around Old Town. "It glorified the military too much". Shoot, Albuquerque started as a Spanish military post to keep an eye on the middle Rio Grande valley in 1706.

With that said, I agree we can't afford it right now. It's funny, that they mentioned in the article that it was planned in 2007-8, when the state was "rolling in the dough". I'm sure that was Santa Fe getting happy and making their budget with revenue going up from the high gas prices (for a short time) back then. That helped us get into this hole the first place!

 

I was out at Trinity site yesterday. Quite a crowd there the police were worried about running out of parking.

 

Glad you reminded me of that outpost on the Rio Grande Valley as I am trying to make myself a personal list of all warfare related activities in New Mexico and that list is growing. That highway was still moving significant numbers of goods when the civil war days became a struggle for east west and north south trade. I had a neighbor who had a father who worked on the Panama canal(she was quite old) but she had many pieces of furniture ornately carved that came from that region up that trail all the way from Panama. I really liked the fact that they found a nuke trigger still intact in one of those bombs as they were moving the Atomic museum to its new location.

 

Victor, don't know if you have visited the Albuquerque Museum, but there is some pretty good information and artifacts dealing with military activity around the valley from the Spanish period through the Civil War and beyond.

The Reb flag once flew over the Plaza here in Old Town Albuquerque for a short time, when Sibley and his Texans invaded here in (1863?) Before the Civil War, around the time of the Mexican American War, General "Pete" Longstreet used to be stationed here in NM.

Also, it you would like some good reading, there is a book called "Rebels on the Rio Grande", which is actually a war diary by A.B. Petacolas. He came in the territory with Sibley's Army, and it details most if not all of the major battles.

 

Military museums are a good thing, if done correctly. When getting a museum off of the ground, it’s important to get all your ducks in a row. First, establish a fund while you buy the land. It looks like they paid a developer a whole lot of money for no other reason than to line his/her pockets.

Instead of Las Cruces, go to Roswell. Roswell has the UFO Museum, the Goddard center, and on the north side of town, New Mexico Military Institute has a very nice military museum. The buildings are gothic and memorable. While there, revel in the history of the place.

The museum is in Luna Natatorium (what they called indoor swimming pools prior to 1965). The pool has since been filled in, but it was once a scene of a tragedy. While prepping for “Final Ball” (a sort of prom) the pool area was being decorated like the fabled city of Atlantis. To that end, dry ice was being placed in the pool-in crates at the bottom. The cadets doing the work didn’t know how dangerous dry ice could be.

Because it is heavier than air, carbon dioxide tends to stay at the surface. The dry ice vapor floated to the pool surface and stayed there. When the cadets surfaced to breath, they gulped in nothing but carbon dioxide and were asphyxiated. It is said that a ghost still lingers in the natatorium.

Near the natatorium is the bell tower. The fifteen foot tower is capped with a bell from a wrecked Santa Fe steam locomotive. The bell tower is a memorial to another tragedy. When Polo was a big sport there, three cadets died in a single polo match from horse collisions. The bell tower is considered sacred by cadets. A ghost maintains the bell. When the bell rings by unseen hand, within 24 hours, a cadet will die.

If you get lucky, and get a look in Pearson Auditorium, you will see a grand theater of the art deco era. Built in the early 1930’s as a WPA project, the theater supposedly houses another ghost. The theater still has a lot of fixtures from the era of it’s building.

Hagerman barracks, a quadrangle, was built in segments. The southeast corner, the oldest part of the barracks, is now over 100 years old, and it still houses cadets. Hagerman was completed in the late 1920’s.

Next to Hagerman is Wilson and Lea hall, mirror images of each other, built in the 1920’s. Behind Wilson is McClure hall. McClure was one of those buildings built around a giant Univac computer. The Univac is long gone, but it is interesting history nonetheless.

 

Well put Dauntless. And add to the list the National Atomic Museum here in Albuquerque. I've been to it many times when it was at it's old locations but sadly not to the new and bigger one. Need to get off my duff and make the effort, since it's about five minutes away.

The museum not only has the aforementioned Redstone Rocket, but also now has a B-29 and B-52 parked out front. Its pretty cool to see a WWII bomber every time you go to Costco (it's across the street).

 

Thanks for the suggestions of books and places to visit. It is not very often that I get to run around the state but you guys have given me some good places to check out. I had a childhood friend who behaved similar to me and his parents decided he needed the correction of the Institute's good discipline and I don't think it hurt him a bit but he remained the same eventually becoming quite successful in his own career as time went by so I may invite him and visit the historic items found there when I can. I guess the reason this article upset me a little is I have always thought we had a lot of military history that is not preserved. I point out Fort Wingate Army Depot still going through processes to be given up and will probably end up in the hands of groups that hate "Calvarys". For example the Buffalo Soldiers graves at Bear Springs had to be moved to Santa Fe to be respected. The Kit Carson Cave cannot be visited by the public is another example.

 

I believe WSMR operates a space museum between Las Cruses and WSMR. There is a museum on WSMR as well. Was there today and they had some paintings of the Bataan Death March by a survivor of the same as well as lots of missiles including a V-2 in a specail building that's opened up so you can see the insides as well as the outside. I'm not sure how easy it is to get in if you don't have a CAC card or a friend who does. A military retirement card would probably work as well.

 

Iwd, do you live here in NM or just visiting? Hope your enjoying yourself if it's the latter!

I have not been there in years, but that Space Museum is awesome! That, and the Goddard Rocket Museum in Roswell are totally worth your time.

Sadly, I have never actually visited Trinity Site. They only have it opened at certain times of the year and always at the most unconvenient time for me. Still, someday I will make an effort to see it.

 

I'm just visiting. Trinity site will now be open twice a year first weekend in April and October I believe. This was the last free one I think it will cost about $20 per car load from now on but the rates should be on line.

 

lwd, thanks for the info as I too want to visit the trinity site, I was a student of Ralph Carlisle Smith who witnessed most nuke explosions and was in charge of the legalities of Bomb development. He is one of the "eye sight accounts" we often read describing the explosion. I was told he was one of the most exposed to bomb blasts due to his job. There are some interesting communications assembled at this website concerning the Manhattan Project. hhttp://www.mphpa.org/classic/COLLECTIONS/MP-PFIL/Pages-2/PFIL_Gallery_06.htmttp://

 

Manhattan Project by Rush Music Video on Yahoo! Music

Imagine a time when it all began
In the dying days of a war
A weapon that would settle the score
Whoever found it first would be sure to do their worst
They always had before...

Imagine a man where it all began
A scientist pacing the floor
In each nation, always eager to explore
To build the best big stick
To turn the winning trick
But this was something more...

[Chorus:]
The big bang took and shook the world
Shot down the rising sun
The end was begun and it hit everyone
When the chain reaction was done
The big shots tried to hold it back
Fools tried to wish it away
The hopeful depend on a world without end
Whatever the hopeless may say

Imagine a place where it all began
Gathered from across the land
To work in the secrecy of the desert sand
All of the brightest boys
To play with the biggest toys
More than they bargained for...

[Chorus]

Imagine a man when it all began
The pilot of 'Enola Gay'
Flying out of the shockwave on that August day
All the powers that be, and the course of history
Would be changed forevermore...