D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
January 2012
Building on the Past
The Hidalgo County Heritage Society works to rescue
the former Lordsburg High School.
by Dawn Newman-Aerts
It's not easy finding the town of Lordsburg, New Mexico, on the map, and more difficult still to remember where some of the town's historic buildings once stood. The Southern Pacific Railroad building is gone. The Hidalgo and old Roy Hotel are gone. But the old Lordsburg High School still stands — for now.
 |
Lordsburg High School in the 1930s. |
Lordsburg is a smallish town — so small that people traveling past on I-10 and even locals who live there don't take much notice of the history waiting to be told about a hodgepodge of brick buildings that remain near Main Street and Motel Drive. This was and always will be a crusty, dusty railroad town, once humming with tourists who flocked to its motels to see the real America — New Mexico-style.
Today, many of Lordsburg's aged brick-and-mortar structures have fallen into disrepair — or, worse, are boarded up for demolition. That, in fact, was about to happen to the old Lordsburg high school, built in 1914, until a group of members of the Hidalgo County Heritage Society, along with a handful of other local and government folks, decided that this building deserved a second chance — as a real icon from the past.
Buildings don't usually get much of an opportunity to tell their story, says Edmund Saucedo, a long-time resident and Lordsburg High alumnus, who admits that saving old buildings can be a peculiar and costly decision in a ever-thinning economy. Supporters of the Heritage Society understand that few such buildings stand the "test of time" when under the scrutiny of keen budget-crunchers who don't always see the same vision for the future.
But the early Lordsburg High School is an exception to the rule, say renovation proponents. This building, says Saucedo, has a story to share about civic pride that he and other supporters hope young people and locals will one day discover and treasure again. While a long list of restoration and fundraising proposals have been put on the table over the past 40 years, says Saucedo, by college presidents and lawyers, cattle ranchers and government officials, none has survived scrutiny.
Still, the Lordsburg community has taken note, once again, of this architectural gem. The nearly forgotten structure served as the hub of education for local high school and junior high students between 1915 and the early 1970s, when it was retired, used as office and storage space, and redefined as the community's Enrichment Center. In 1978, the building was eventually boarded up and abandoned.
Saucedo, who is gathering much of the historical documentation for the building, says it's the work of celebrated Southwest architect Henry C. Trost, of the firm Trost & Trost of El Paso. Three Trost brothers — Adolphus, Gustavus and Henry C., born to German immigrants in Toledo, Ohio — formed the firm. But it was Henry, principal designer and visionary, who designed both Hidalgo County buildings and El Paso's first skyscraper, the 12-story Bassett Tower. The firm is also renowned for El Paso's Paso Del Norte Hotel (1912) and Palace Theatre as well as UTEP's School of Mines building, later "Old Main," and La Tuna Federal Correction Institute built in 1933.
Trost also left his mark on Silver City, according to Susan Berry, former director of the Silver City Museum and co-author of Built to Last, about the town's architecture. "By far the best example of Trost's work in Silver City is the present City Hall building, originally constructed as the home of the Silver City National Bank in 1923," she says. "He also designed Light Hall and Bowden Hall at WNMU, and a remodeling of the home now occupied by Smith Real Estate, as well as a major 1928 remodeling of the Palace Hotel block."
Trost's Lordsburg High School is still structurally sound, according to engineering reports by New Mexico State University, but there is a list of practical upgrades needed. Among them are roof work, asbestos abatement, selective interior demolition and sub-floor replacement.
Saucedo, an elected officer of the newly formed Hidalgo County Heritage Society and steering committee, says initial estimates for roof support are $50,000. He hopes the building will be included in the New Mexico State Registrar of Cultural Properties and the and the National Register of Historic Places. The Lordsburg School District recently turned over ownership and use of the property to the City of Lordsburg and Hidalgo County in order to access outside funding.
"The Enrichment Center was mostly abandoned and neglected since 1978," says Saucedo of the old school building. "Unfortunately, the interior of the building had suffered severe deterioration with collapsed areas of the roof. But the good news is that these issues can be corrected and the community, I believe, will fully support this ongoing effort to save this building from demolition."
The continuing demand for classroom and administrative office space by students and school district ensured the building's survival for so many years. "I think the City of Lordsburg, Hidalgo County and the Lordsburg School District have all come to recognize the importance of saving the structure for future generations," says Saucedo.
Michael Terrazas, a teacher in the Albuquerque school district who grew up in Lordsburg, says, "I'm not an alumnus of the old high school, but it's one that I have always loved and hoped would be restored to its former years," says. "I was always greatly inspired by the school buildings. They weren't the grand skyscrapers thousands of miles away, in another state or country. This was in my own hometown."
Terrazas adds that from his perspective, school buildings are not designed like the old high school any longer. "A building like this, I believe, is a treasure of iconic value for American school design," he says. "Many schools today do not have the symmetry and stature, not to mention the detail that was brought into the early design with the use of brick and mortar. We know this was designed by a very gifted architect and the building served thousands of students over the years."
In fact, it was this very school that in 1952 provided an eighth-grade classroom for the future first woman US Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O'Connor.
"I think more people are seeing value in preserving buildings in this country and in New Mexico, because of the history here — because of the role they once played in forming this community," says Terrazas of the restoration project. "It may not be in use right now, but it's a wonderful thing to say that this building is still standing, and remains as a beautiful piece of architecture."
That alone is a grand story to tell — and Lordsburg is putting this architectural history back on the map.
For questions, donations or further information about efforts to restore the former Lordsburg High School, email evs@aznex.net.
Dawn Newman-Aerts is a former Minnesota newspaper
journalist who lives in Rodeo.
Crowded Skies
Virgin Galactic's spaceship designer builds a rival to
Spaceport America's launches.
by David A. Fryxell
Just what Spaceport America needs: more competition in the already-dicey business of shooting people into space (or near-space, in the case of Virgin Galactic's space tourism plans). Burt Rutan, who designed the vehicles supposed to give Spaceport America tourists a $200,000 ride to weightlessness, is teaming with Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen to build a very similar-sounding spacecraft. As the Associated Press described the plan, "unlike traditional rockets and government spaceships, this new commercial spaceship will drop from a high-flying airplane instead of blasting off from a launch pad." Exactly like at Spaceport America, in other words.