Doña Ana Village Historic Preservation Committee

09/04/2026

La Capilla de Santo Niño de Atocha is believed to be the first building built in Doña Ana in 1843. There are a lot of legends surrounding La Capilla, but one of the more peculiar ones involves a rooster. It is said this rooster would perch on top of the small chapel. In Maude McFie's 1903 book titled "A history of the Mesilla Valley" she writes "With the history of Doña Ana a great deal is said about a wonderful rooster which would never utter a sound except when some danger was near...this one rooster proved, on many occasions, such a true prophet that the settlers held it in great reverence, listening for his first sound of warning. Instance after instance do the old settlers give of the marvels of the rooster's instinct...the fowl lived to a good old age and the settlement was grief stricken when the end came". The danger the rooster warned about was raiding Apaches who were approaching the village.

09/03/2026

James Wiley Magoffin was born in Harrodsburg, Kentucky in 1799. He would become governor of Kentucky and later be appointed as the American consul in Saltillo, Mexico. He would later move to Chihuahua and become a prominent businessman. His wagon trains that moved merchandise into New Mexico along the Santa Fe Trail made him a very wealthy man and his familiarity with the terrain of New Mexico and Chihuahua along with his Mexican contacts made him a valuable asset to the American military when war with Mexico broke out. He helped negotiate the surrender of Santa Fe and was then sent by Colonel Doniphan to Chihuahua. While traveling down El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro he stopped in Doña Ana. Mexican authorities in Paso del Norte sent word to Doña Ana to have Magoffin arrested for spying. Juez de Paz of Doña Ana, Pablo Melendrez, had Magoffin and four others arrested as spies in Doña Ana in September 1846. Magoffin and the others were sent to El Paso del Norte and later imprisoned in Chihuahua and then Durango. At the conclusion of the war he would stay in the area and built a large hacienda across the river from El Paso del Norte in an area that would become known as Magoffinsville and later evolve into the modern city of El Paso, Texas.

09/02/2026

99-years ago today, William Charles Weir was buried in the Geck family plot in the Doña Ana cemetery. William was born in Illinois in 1860 and arrived in Doña Ana around 1886. He married Caroline Geck, whose father was a wealthy merchant and influential Doña Ana resident. The El Paso Herald Post published an article about his death on September 2, 1927.

09/01/2026

Sunshine on the altar inside Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria. The clerestory of the church was discovered in the early 1990s during the church restoration. The clerestory had been covered up at some point (more than likely during the remodeling of the church that took place between 1910-1918). By the early 1990s no one in Doña Ana remembered the church having a clerestory. The clerestory on the church was constructed so that sunlight would shine upon the altar of the church. Unfortunately, the clerestory allows very little natural sunlight inside the church because it was constructed incorrectly. During the restoration of the church it was decided to restore the clerestory to its original design even though it was incorrect.

09/01/2026

We absolutely love the remaining historic adobe buildings that are still standing in Doña Ana...

08/31/2026

Over 50-years later the Doña Ana Community Center continues to serve the needs of our community. It is important to remember that the center came to existence due to the hard work of volunteers. Priscilla Vanegas was able to secure Doña Ana County owned land for the center and volunteers Ruben Vanegas, Evaristo "Leve" Giron, Victor Arguello Sr., Frank Dominguez, Bismundo Murillo, and Margarito Frausto provided the labor to clear the land and build the center. White Sands Missile Range donated the use of their heavy equipment for the project and donated an old barracks building that was used as a daycare center. This was a community effort led by volunteers who saw a need in their community and they stepped up and worked on weekends to get the center built. Their selfless efforts are still benefiting our community and shows the power of volunteerism.

Doña Ana County community centers recorded more than 47,000 encounters last fiscal year as staff served vulnerable residents and sometimes bought drinking water themselves.

08/23/2026

Louie Atencio was a dear friend to many of us and played a pivotal role in our Committee evolving into what it is today. He is deeply missed.

08/13/2026

Unfortunately, Dia de los Mu***os in the historic heart of Doña Ana is cancelled this year. Doña Ana County Government is refusing to approve our repeated requests to utilize the Doña Ana Plaza and De La O Visitors Center for Dia de los Mu***os. We submitted the required forms in February and repeatedly followed-up with the County. They told us they would approve the forms and get them back to us and now they are just ignoring us. This is very disappointing since we are all volunteers and do this for our community. Several others also benefit from this event including youth groups who get to perform for the community, other nonprofits who fundraise during this event, and local vendors who get to sell their handmade goods. Doña Ana County Government and specifically County Commissioner Manuel Sanchez have been undermining our efforts in Doña Ana for years and this is their way of trying to push us out of our community. We are not going anywhere and Dia de los Mu***os in the historic of Doña Ana will be back next year in one form or another.

08/11/2026

It is believed that James and Margaret Skinner were killed by Apaches outside of Doña Ana in July 1849. James Skinner first came to Doña Ana during the Mexican-American War with Company H of the 1st U.S. Dragoons. After his discharge from the military he returned home to Illinois. In 1849, James and his wife Margaret left Illinois to move to California. They left their children behind in Illinois with family members and would write letters home whenever they reached a town with a post office. They planned to stop in Doña Ana on their way to California so James could retrieve property that he had left in Doña Ana with his friend Louis Geck. The couple never made it Doña Ana as it appears that they were ambushed by Apaches. Travelers along El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro came across their wagon and then quickly made their way to Doña Ana where they told villagers what they had encountered. Men in the village organized and a large group went to where they were told the Skinners had been ambushed. The men found the bodies of James and Margaret and brought them back to Doña Ana for burial. In 1902 their eldest daughter came to Doña Ana to place a tombstone on their gravesite.