Santa Rosa, New Mexico

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Santa Rosa is a town, and the county seat of Guadalupe County, New Mexico. The population was 2,744 at the 2000 census. It is a small town between Albuquerque and Tucumcari, situated on the Pecos River at the intersection of I-40, Route 84 and Route 54. The town is in the llano estacado or "staked plains" of northern New Mexico.

The first European settlement in the area was Aqua Negra Chiquita, "Little Black Water" in Spanish, in 1865. The name was changed in 1890 to Santa Rosa, Spanish for "Holy Rose", referring to a chapel that Don Celso Baca, the founder of the town, built and named after either his mother Rosa or Saint Rose of Lima. The "Rosa" may also refer to the roses in the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe and is indicative of the Catholicism of the Spanish colonizers who settled in the area.

Santa Rosa was connected by railroad to Chicago, El Paso, and the world at large in the early 1900's.

Santa Rosa's stretch of Route 66 is part of film history. When John Steinbeck's epic novel, The Grapes of Wrath, was made into a movie, director John Ford used Santa Rosa for the memorable train scene. Tom Joad (Henry Fonda) watches a freight train steam over the Pecos River railroad bridge, into the sunset.

1 Geography
2 Demographics
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Geography

Santa Rosa has many natural lakes, an anomaly in the dry Desert climate surrounding it. These are sinkholes that form in the limestone bedrock of the area and fill with water, and thus the lakes are connected by a network of underground, water-filled tunnels. The most famous of these is Blue Hole, a popular spot for diving, where frigid 64° F (18° C) water forms a lake over 81 ft (25 m) deep.

Santa Rosa is located at 34°56′32″N, 104°41′2″W (34.942166, -104.683981)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 11.1 km² (4.3 mi²). 11.0 km² (4.2 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.04 mi²) of it (0.70%) is water.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 2,744 people, 898 households, and 616 families residing in the city. The population density was 249.3/km² (645.7/mi²). There were 1,024 housing units at an average density of 93.0/km² (241.0/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 57.47% White, 2.19% African American, 1.75% Native American, 0.87% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 33.13% from other races, and 4.56% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 81.16% of the population.

There were 898 households out of which 35.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.1% were married couples living together, 18.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.3% were non-families. 28.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 3.03.

In the city the population was spread out with 23.1% under the age of 18, 10.4% from 18 to 24, 34.4% from 25 to 44, 20.0% from 45 to 64, and 12.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 135.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 145.2 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $25,085, and the median income for a family was $28,782. Males had a median income of $20,161 versus $16,417 for females. The per capita income for the city was $11,168. About 18.9% of families and 23.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 27.5% of those under age 18 and 23.9% of those age 65 or over.