Fruitland, New Mexico

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Fruitland, New Mexico is a village in San Juan County, New Mexico on the north side of the San Juan River. It is immediately west of Kirtland, New Mexico and north across the river from the Navajo Indian Reservation and Upper Fruitland, New Mexico. The 2000 Census classifies Fruitand as part of Kirtland.[1]

[edit] History

Prior to 1877 the area was part of the Apache Reservation. White settlers were allowed in that year. members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints first settled in the area in 1878 and an organized group of settlers was sent there by the church in 1881 with Luther C. Burnham being prominent among them. Burnham was made bishop of the LDS ward there in 1883, which was named the Burnham Ward. From this time until the 1930s most of the reidents called the area Burnham instead of Fruitland.[2]

For a time Brigham Young, Jr. maintained one of his residences at Fruitland.[3]

In 1930 the Burnham Ward had 718 members, including unbaptized children under age eight.[4]

The Young Stake was organized with headquarters at Burnham in 1912. By the 1970s the stake headquarters had shirted to Farmington. [5] In 1982 a Kirtland Stake was formed, which today covers from Kirtland west to Shiprock, New Mexico and beyond.[6]

[edit] Historic Populations

Fruitland had about 400 people in 1950 according to the Columbia-Lippincott Gazeteer.[7] Other sources place the population at this point at 200.[8]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ compare maps at census.gov and mapquest.com to see that what Mapquest calls Fruitland is in the census designated Kirtland
  2. ^ Jenson, Andrew. Encyclopedic History of the CHurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1941) p. 100
  3. ^ LDS Church News, December 4th, 2004
  4. ^ Jenson, Andrew. Encyclopedic History. p. 101
  5. ^ LDS Church Almanac, 2007, p. 241
  6. ^ Kirtland New Mexico Stake homepage
  7. ^ Columbia-Lippincott Gazeteer. p. 647
  8. ^ Hammonds Complete World Atlas (New York: C. S. Hammond and Co., 1951) p. 348

Coordinates: 36°44′21″N 108°23′44″W / 36.73917, -108.39556