History of Cherokee Hot Springs Apartments in T or C, NM


In the late 1800's, the civil war drove many people in the southeast out of their homes and jobs. People experienced in dryland farming were moving north from Mexico to take advantage of the virgin soil and irrigation from the Rio Grande. The New Mexico territory's main features were that it was lawless and unsettled, which attracted miners and cattle ranchers to the Apache Indian Territory of southwest New Mexico. Homesteads were started and lost in the extreme desert environment next to the mosquito-infested Rio Grande, harrassed by others who wanted their hard-won land. A group of Californian speculators snapped up the deeds to the homesteads as they were abandoned, eventually reaching a total of about 22,000 acres along the Rio Grande around the Elephant Butte and Turtleback mountain.

Then in the early 1900's, the Elephant Butte Dam was planned. To finance it, the newly formed Elephant Butte Irrigation District announced a tax of $1.00 per acre of all land along the Rio Grande. Naturally, the children that inherited the 22,000 acres of land from their Californian-speculator parents didn't want to pay that. So they searched and found a Texan lawyer who would take trade of some of that land in exchange for getting them out of the tax. He wrote a letter, stating that since the property owners did not use the water, they didn't have to pay the tax. Mr. Austin chose the hot springs area as his land.

He joined with a group of other Texans, whose names adorn our streets, to survey and otherwise develop the town of Hot Springs. By the time the flood had changed the course of the river, and the swamp was drying out south of town, the dam was also nearing completion. This was the roaring 20's. The Texans parlayed the leftover materials from the damsite and used them to develop the townsite--couples were offered a lot and enough building materials for a house, up on the hills surrounding what is now downtown T or C. As the swamp dried out, the downtown area grew up and more hot springs were exposed.

Mr. Austin also decided to live here and build Cherokee Hot Spring Apartments. Why he would choose to keep Cherokee Hot Springs when he could have kept any of the springs? He certainly knew the area, he used to bring children here to the vacant land for baseball games in the 1920's. Van Patten, at the time, was a rough trail to the Rio Grande.

The old timers talk about how the different kinds of clay have different healing properties, and the springs that filter through them therefore had different properties. The clays that I find around Cherokee are all of them: yellow, for antibacterial properties; red, for bones and joints; lavender, for moods; white, for skin; etc. This is presumably why he chose to locate his home here at Cherokee Hot Springs, the springs had broad spectrum qualities.

In the 1950's, the land south of Austin street was annexed by the city and the streets were paved. The property owners were assessed a fee for this. Mr. Austin, rather than pay the fee, gave the city the land for the park and swimming pool, now called Hodges Park, after the mayor at the time. In order to bring another industry to the town, Mr. Austin gave land to the state for Carrie Tingley Childrens Hospital, which is now the Veterans Center and Memorial Wall. Gambling was one of the town's sources of income and a very irritating source of trouble to the people who wanted families, until it was outlawed in the 40's, shortly after the alternative, Carrie Tingley Hospital, was announced.

Mr. Austin passed away about the same time that my Great-grandparents (Clint Bertha Morris, see the Family History) moved here to take care of my Great-great grandmother, in the 1940's. M&M Reality was my Great-grandfather's business, he got a great deal on slate rock and built all the slate rock houses around here, including one next door to Cherokee Hot Springs on the east side of the property.

After Mr. Austin passed away, the Hot Springs went through 14 owners in quick succession, becoming more debilitated with each owner. In the 50's, the town's name was changed to Truth or Consequences, after 3 court challenges and referendums. The town, same as the rest of the nation, was going through a severe recession.

My grandmother moved here to take care of her mother in the 70's. She got together with my mother and bought the Cherokee Hot Springs in the 80's. My mother, an interior designer, decided to keep the historic buildings and renovated them with the historic exterior intact, including the 1920's style of stucco and the arches in the center with the name "Cherokee" painted on them, the 1930's ceramic sconces, and the wood windows and doors. She added geothermal heating, jacuzzi tubs, and brought the buildings up to code. I moved to T or C to take care of my grandmother in the 90's, after numerous visits since the 70's. It's tradition. My mother joined us in 2000.