Taos, New Mexico – Art, Architecture & History
Nestled in the north-central region of New Mexico, amidst the towering Sangre de Cristo Mountains, lies Taos, the county seat of Taos County. This captivating town derives its name from the Taos language itself, a testament to its deep-rooted Native American heritage. The name translates to "place of red willows," evoking the natural beauty that has characterized the area for centuries. Taos boasts a rich history spanning hundreds of years, and it stands today as a vibrant tapestry woven from three distinct cultures: Native American, Anglo, and Hispanic. This confluence of traditions has shaped Taos into a city brimming with colorful people and a uniquely captivating heritage.
The Taos Valley, a landscape dotted with ancient settlements, is a treasure trove of historical significance. Home to two prominent Pueblos, the historic town of Fernando de Taos, and the even older Ranchos de Taos, the valley is among the most fascinating historical locales in the American West.
The eastern edge of Taos County is dominated by the majestic Taos Range, a part of the vast Rocky Mountain chain. Taos Valley, cradled within this range, is an exceptionally picturesque setting. Encircled on the east by a crescent of mountains, the valley lacks foothills, allowing the grandeur of the mountains to dominate the landscape. Eleven streams descend from these mountains, flowing westward across the valley, while the Rio Grande carves its path through a canyon that plunges 500 feet deep.
Before the arrival of European explorers, the region had been inhabited for millennia, with evidence suggesting human presence as far back as 12,000 BC. These early inhabitants were nomadic, roaming the land in pursuit of large game such as mammoths, and gathering wild plants for sustenance. Around 3,000 BC, the concept of agriculture, learned from communities in Mexico, began to take root. This shift towards agriculture led to a more sedentary lifestyle, fostering the development of long-term communities.
The Pueblo people, often referred to as the Anasazi, were the first permanent inhabitants of the Taos Valley. Archaeological evidence in the form of room blocks and pit houses points to their presence in the Taos area as early as 900 AD. Around 1200 AD, these early settlers began constructing small above-ground structures, consisting of 50 to 100 rooms. The present-day Taos Pueblo, a remarkable testament to their architectural prowess, is believed to have been built between A.D. 1300 and 1450.
In its early years, Taos Pueblo served as a crucial trading hub, connecting the native populations along the Rio Grande with the Plains Tribes to the northwest. Each autumn, following the harvest, Taos Pueblo hosted a trade fair, a grand event that left a lasting impression on the first Spanish explorers to encounter the ancient settlement. As time passed, trade routes expanded, linking Taos to the northernmost towns of New Spain and the bustling cities of Mexico via the famed Chihuahua Trail.
The first Spanish visitors to Taos Pueblo arrived in 1540 as part of the Francisco Vásquez de Coronado expedition. This expedition, driven by the allure of the rumored Seven Cities of Gold, explored numerous pueblos in New Mexico. Hernando de Alvarado, a member of the expedition, described the pueblo as a cluster of adobe houses, tightly packed together and rising five or six stories high. The homes narrowed as they ascended, with the roofs of each level serving as floors and terraces for those above. Enclosed by a low defensive wall, the community was divided into two main building complexes, separated by the Rio Grande, which provided water for both the residents and their crops.
Spanish-influenced architecture first appeared in Taos Pueblo following the arrival of Fray Francisco de Zamora in 1598. Zamora, under the orders of Spanish Governor Don Juan de Oñate, established a mission in the pueblo.
The village of Taos, initially named Fernando de Taos, was founded around 1615, after the Spanish conquest of the Indian Pueblo villages by Geneva Vigil. In the beginning, relations between the Spanish settlers and Taos Pueblo were generally amicable. However, as missionaries began to meddle and demands for tribute to the church and Spanish colonists increased, resentment grew, leading to a series of revolts. Taos became a focal point for many of the Pueblo rebellions against the Spanish. The first of these nearly erupted in 1609 when Governor Don Juan de Oñate was accused of throwing a young Taos Indian from a rooftop, although Onate was soon removed from his position. Another minor revolt was quickly suppressed in 1613. Yet, these small uprisings did not deter the determined Spanish priests and colonists. Around 1620, the first Catholic Church in the pueblo, San Geronimo de Taos, was constructed.
Historical accounts from this period indicate that the native people of Taos resisted the construction of the church and the imposition of the Catholic religion. Throughout the 1600s, cultural tensions escalated between the native populations of the Southwest and the growing Spanish presence. In 1631, another act of rebellion occurred when a resident missionary and the soldiers escorting him were attacked and killed. The tension continued to mount, and in 1640, the Taos Indians killed their priest and several Spanish settlers before fleeing the pueblo. The people would not return to their pueblo for over two decades until 1661.
In the 1670s, a severe drought gripped the region, causing widespread famine among the pueblos and leading to increased attacks from neighboring nomadic tribes. Overwhelmed by the number of attacks, the Spanish soldiers were often unable to defend the pueblos effectively. Simultaneously, European-introduced diseases swept through the pueblos, significantly reducing their populations. Increasingly dissatisfied with the Spanish, the Puebloans returned to their traditional religions, provoking a wave of repression from the Franciscan missionaries. While the missionaries had previously tolerated occasional Pueblo ceremonies as long as the people attended mass, the Puebloans’ renewed devotion to their religions prompted Fray Alonso de Posada to forbid Kachina dances and order the missionaries to seize and burn all masks, prayer sticks, and effigies they could find. Furthermore, the Indians were forbidden, under penalty of death, from practicing their native religions. When some Spanish officials attempted to curb the power of the Franciscans, they were charged with heresy and tried before the Inquisition.
In 1675, tensions reached a boiling point when Governor Juan Francisco Trevino ordered the arrest of 47 medicine men, accusing them of practicing witchcraft. Four of the men were sentenced to be hanged; three were executed, while the fourth committed suicide. The remaining men were publicly whipped and sentenced to prison. Upon hearing this news, Pueblo leaders marched to Santa Fe, where the prisoners were being held. With many Spanish soldiers away fighting the Apache, Governor Trevino released the prisoners. Among those released was a medicine man from the San Juan Pueblo (now known as Ohkay Owingeh) named Pope, who would soon become the leader of the Pueblo Rebellion. Pope then relocated to Taos Pueblo and began collaborating with men from other pueblos to drive the Spaniards out.
In August 1680, a coordinated effort involving several pueblo villages was launched. Throughout the upper Rio Grande basin, north of El Paso to Taos, the Tewa, Tiwa, Hopi, Zuni, and other Keresan-speaking pueblos, along with the non-Pueblo Apache, planned to rise against the Spanish simultaneously.
On August 10, 1680, the attack, known as the Pueblo Revolt, commenced. The Taos, Picuri, and Tewa Indians targeted 40 Franciscans and 380 other Spaniards, including men, women, and children, in their respective provinces. The Spaniards who escaped fled to Santa Fe and the Isleta Pueblo, one of the few pueblos that did not participate in the rebellion. Pope’s warriors, armed with Spanish weapons, besieged Santa Fe, surrounding the city and cutting off its water supply. Barricaded in the Governor’s Palace, New Mexico Governor Antonio de Otermín soon ordered a general retreat. On August 21, the remaining 3,000 Spanish settlers streamed out of the capital city and headed for El Paso, Texas. Believing themselves to be the only survivors, the refugees at the Isleta Pueblo also left for El Paso in September. During this time, the Pueblo people destroyed most of the Spanish homes and buildings. The Taos Indians once again destroyed San Geronimo and killed two priests.
After the Spanish Reconquest of 1692, Taos Pueblo continued to resist the Spanish until 1696, when Governor Diego de Vargas defeated the Indians at Taos Canyon. He then persuaded the Taos Pueblo Indians to lay down their arms and return from the mountains.
In 1723, the Spanish government prohibited trade with the French and restricted trade with the Plains Tribes to Taos and Pecos, leading to the annual summer trade fairs at these locations. Comanche, Kiowa, and other tribes arrived in large numbers to trade captives for horses, grain, and trade goods from Chihuahua.
In 1776, at the time of the American Declaration of Independence, approximately 67 families, comprising 306 Spaniards, resided in the Taos Valley. At that time, the Ranchos de Taos area was the most populated. The first Spanish church was built in Ranchos de Taos that same year. A few years earlier, the first church in the area was built in 1772. The Franciscans oversaw the construction of the historic San Francisco de Assisi Mission Church, which was finally completed in 1816.
During the 1770s, Taos was repeatedly raided by the Comanche, who lived on the plains of eastern Colorado. Juan Bautista de Anza, governor of the Province of New Mexico, led a successful punitive expedition against the Comanche in 1779.
Construction of the church at Fernando de Taos began in 1796 but was not completed until 1806. The ancient church at the Pueblo, which was destroyed during the Taos Revolt in 1847, served as the headquarters of the Roman Catholic diocese. Spanish/native relations within the pueblo briefly improved as both groups found a common enemy in the invading Ute and Comanche tribes. However, resistance to Catholicism and Spanish culture remained strong. Nevertheless, Spanish religious ideals and agricultural practices gradually integrated into the Taos community, largely starting during this period of increased cooperation between the two cultural groups.
Between 1796 and 1797, the Don Fernando de Taos Land Grant distributed land to 63 Spanish families in the Taos Valley. A more formal settlement was established northeast of Ranchos de Taos, featuring a fortified plaza and adobe buildings surrounded by residential areas. Homes were built in large quadrangles, providing a fortress-like structure. Hostile raiding Indians from outside the Taos area were prevented from entering the village. Sentries stationed at the corners of the fortified village maintained vigil day and night. A large gate served as the only means of entry and exit to the Plaza. The enclosure provided refuge for livestock at night, and merchants used the area to display their wares during trade fairs.
For many years following the American occupation, Taos was the primary political center of the Territory. The presence of figures such as Charles Bent, the first Governor; Colonel Christopher "Kit" Carson, the renowned scout and guide; Colonel Ceran St. Vrain, the well-known merchant; "Don Carlos" Beaubien, one of the original proprietors of the notorious Maxwell Land Grant and the first Chief Justice of New Mexico; and Father Martinez, a controversial figure, gave the community a position in Territorial affairs equal to that of Santa Fe, the capital.
Alongside these famous names, numerous French, American, and Canadian trappers operated in Taos County. A thriving fur trade emerged, bringing another element – the mountain men – to the Taos trade fair. By this time, the Taos Valley was well-populated with livestock, agriculture, and people who supplied Mexico with inexpensive goods. Goods also arrived in Taos, including the first printing press west of the Mississippi River in 1834, used to print books for the co-educational school founded by Padre Antonio Jose Martinez. In 1835, the padre began printing the first newspaper, El Crepusculo, which preceded The Taos News. By 1840, approximately 20,000 Rio Grande wool blankets were exported south to Mexico.
In 1842, Padre Martínez baptized Kit Carson as a Catholic to allow him to marry Josefa Jaramillo. The following year, Kit and Josefa married, and Kit purchased a house from the Jaramillo family as a wedding gift for his new bride. The house, built in 1825, served as Carson’s home until 1868 and is now the Kit Carson Home and Museum. Three years later, in 1846, Colonel Stephen W. Kearny, with his "Army of the West," occupied New Mexico for the United States. Charles Bent of Taos was appointed as the first American Governor. That same year, business remained brisk in Taos, with $1.7 million in beaver and other furs traded through the town.
New Mexico officially became a territory of the United States in 1847 with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. However, many native Mexicans and Indians were unhappy with this development. Mexicans in the Taos area resented the newcomers and enlisted the Taos Indians to assist them in an insurrection. Mexican Pablo Montoya and Tomasito, a leader of the Taos Pueblo Indians, led a force of Mexicans and Indians who opposed becoming part of the United States. Charles Bent, the new American governor headquartered at Taos, was killed and scalped in January 1847, along with numerous other American officials and residents. The rebels then marched on Santa Fe, but the American Army responded swiftly. A force of over 300 soldiers from Santa Fe and Albuquerque quickly rode to Taos, and after battles in Santa Cruz and Embudo, the rebels were decisively defeated. The remaining Mexicans and Indians sought refuge in the San Geronimo Mission Church. American troops bombarded the church, killing or capturing the insurrectionists and destroying the physical structure. Around 1850, a completely new mission church was built near the west gate of the pueblo wall.
In 1852, Taos and other counties in New Mexico were redefined from an earlier division made in 1846, which was based on an old Mexican government Partido and made Taos the county seat of Taos County.
The Taos Valley prospered during this period as other cultures entered the territory. Taos served as an excellent trade center for the region, but criminals also arrived alongside honest merchants and families. Before the Civil War, it became a hotbed of early conspiracies against the American government. After the Civil War, most criminals moved on, and Taos became mainly peaceful. However, one notable exception was a notorious character known as "Colonel" Thomas Means. A surveyor by profession, he arrived in New Mexico Territory shortly after the Americans inaugurated civil government. He lived in Colfax County for some time and was associated with the tragic events that marked the early history of the Maxwell Land Grant. He eventually settled in Taos, where he made life miserable for everyone he encountered. His insolent and confrontational behavior constantly led him into trouble, making him a nuisance to the more peaceable residents, who found drastic measures necessary. He not only insulted and attacked anyone within his reach but also severely beat his wife on numerous occasions, endangering her life.
Finding that their appeals to the courts were futile, in 1868, several citizens decided to organize a Vigilance Committee to deal with "Colonel" Means and his meanness. Despite warnings about his inevitable fate if he continued his violent actions, Means ignored the threat. On January 2, 1867, after a "big spree," he drew his knife, fired his pistol at several people, and assaulted and nearly killed his wife, leading to his arrest. That night, a group of 15-20 heavily armed men "in disguise" entered the room where Means was being held and forcibly removed him from the custody of his guards. The vigilantes then took him to an adjoining room, which served as the county courthouse, and hanged him from a heavy rafter. The coroner’s jury described Means as "not deserving of the sympathy of anyone, being as he was altogether a dangerous character, continually threatening the lives of peaceable citizens, without distinction and even the lives of members of his own family and innocent children." The conclusion was that Means had died at the hands of "persons unknown." The following day, the community rejoiced at being rid of one of its most disagreeable and dangerous elements. This marked the end of the career of one of the most widely known and, at one time, one of the most influential men in northern New Mexico.
The 1880s brought a different type of newcomer to the Taos Valley as news of gold, silver, and copper spread throughout the region. Gold had been discovered in Elizabethtown, New Mexico, about 30 miles northeast of Taos, in 1866, and in the 1870s, miners began searching for gold in the Red River area. The fever spread, and from 1880 to 1895, placer miners actively searched the Rio Hondo, which originates high in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains near what is now Taos Ski Valley. However, mining in the Taos area proved unproductive.
In 1898, two young artists from the East, Ernest Blumenschein and Bert Phillips, discovered the valley after their wagon broke down north of Taos. Captivated by the area’s beauty, they decided to stay. As word of their discovery spread throughout the art community, other associates joined them. This marked the beginning of Taos’ history and reputation as an artist’s community.
In 1912, New Mexico became the 47th state. Three years later, in 1915, the Taos Society of Artists was formed, inadvertently contributing to the growth of one of Taos’ leading sources of revenue in the 20th century – the tourist trade. In 1917, socialite Mabel Dodge Luhan arrived and attracted creative luminaries such as Ansel Adams, Willa Cather, Aldous Huxley, Carl Jung, D.H. Lawrence, Georgia O’Keeffe, Thornton Wilder, and Thomas Wolfe to Taos.
On May 9, 1932, the Taos County Courthouse and other buildings on the north side of the Plaza were destroyed by a series of fires in the early 1930s. This led to the incorporation of the town of Taos on May 7, 1934, and the establishment of a fire department and public water system. That same year, a new Spanish-Pueblo-style courthouse was built with partial funding from the Works Progress Administration. In 1956, the Taos Ski Valley was established, bringing more tourism to the valley. Soon after, other area ski resorts emerged nearby – Red River, Sipapu, and Angel Fire.
In 1965, the second-highest suspension bridge in the U.S. highway system was built, spanning the Rio Grande Gorge. During its construction, it was dubbed the "bridge to nowhere" because funding was lacking to continue the road on the other side. However, its grandeur can be seen today along U.S. Highway 64, heading northward to Colorado.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Taos became known as a Hippie community. The city was an ideal place for the 1960s counterculture to express itself, as Taos had long been accustomed to blending cultures. Taos and the rest of New Mexico have long been recognized as an artistic and spiritual destination. By 1969, at least six communes were in the Taos area; some say as many as 25. One of the communes’ leaders took to the stage at the Woodstock festival in 1969, inviting everyone to his commune and beautiful Taos – and they came. Although the commune era peaked in the early 1970s, many "old" hippies gradually integrated into the Taos community, and their sensibilities remain today.
Unfortunately, on July 4, 2003, the Taos area experienced a fire in the nearby mountains ignited by lightning. The Encebado Fire came within a mile of the historic Taos Pueblo buildings. It took over a thousand firefighters 13 days to contain the 5,400-acre blaze. Fortunately, there was no loss of life or structures, but the Rio Pueblo watershed and the sacred land will take a generation to recover.
Today, Taos is recognized globally by artists, outdoor enthusiasts, and historians. The heart of the Taos Downtown Historic District is the Taos Plaza. Just west of that is the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. The Governor Charles Bent House and the Taos Inn are north of the Taos Plaza. Further north in Taos is The Bernard Beimer House. La Loma Plaza Historic District is on the southwestern edge of the Taos Historic District. East of the plaza on Kit Carson Road is the Kit Carson House and Museum.
Located just two miles northeast of Taos, under the shadows of towering mountains and straddling Red Willow Creek, is the pueblo of Taos. Its impressive terraced buildings stand as a remarkable example of Indian architecture. The Tiwa Indians have occupied this site for nearly a millennium, living on a fertile tract of 17,000 acres granted by the Spanish government. The grant was originally much larger, but for protection against the Comanche, Kiowa, Cheyenne, and Ute tribes, who formerly caused them great trouble, they ceded the eastern part of their grant to Mexican settlers, with the understanding that the settlers would help them repel invasions from Taos Canyon. It is the northernmost of the New Mexico pueblos, with buildings that reach up to five stories and combine many individual homes with shared walls. The Taos Pueblo community comprises over 1,900 people, although many modern homes are located nearby. Approximately 150 people live at the pueblo year-round. Taos Pueblo was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992.
Ranchos de Taos is situated about four miles southwest of Taos, amidst fertile agricultural and fruit lands. It once housed several flour mills, schools, and missions.
Taos is now a community rich in history and brimming with cultural attractions. It features numerous historic buildings, a vibrant arts scene, recreational opportunities, and a population of approximately 5,900 people.