albuquerque - february 12, 1876

Albuquerque's first telecommunications link with the outside world was established via telegraph on February 12, 1876. The telegraph office was located in the Centennial Hotel owned by Major Melchior Werner.

albuquerque - february 10, 1897

Fire completely destroyed the Armijo House, Albuquerque's first major hotel, on this date in 1897. Located on the southwest corner of Railroad Avenue (now Central) and 3rd Street, the Armijo House was a favorite stopping place of many visitors traveling through the New Mexico Territory via the transcontinental railroad. The railroad continues to service this burg today.

albuquerque - february 9, 1883

Milt Yarberry, Albuquerque's first marshal, was hanged after being found guilty of shooting an unarmed man to death. It wasn’t the first time Milt had killed an unarmed man, but it was the first time he was hanged for it.

Legend has it that tickets were sold to the hanging that took place around 3 p.m. on February 9, 1883. Approximately 100 men were allowed into the yard, while an estimated 1,000 more gathered outside the fence on rooftops and in trees to witness the first legal execution in Bernalillo County.

Following a lengthy speech, witnesses stated that Yarberry uttered his last words as Archie Hilton pulled a black cap down over his face… “Well, you are going to hang an innocent man.” Doctors present stated that it took 9 minutes for Milt’s heart to stop beating after he was hanged.

Yarberry was buried in the Santa Barbara Cemetery in Martineztown. Although it was reported that Milt was buried still wearing the noose as his necktie, I can’t help but suspect that that particular detail was in fact, fiction.

86 years

More from the “Did you know” department…

It became legal for Albuquerque women to vote on February 19, 1920 when New Mexico became the 32nd state to ratify the Suffrage Amendment.

where have you gone miss nellie bly?

I find it difficult to believe that 116 years have passed since Nellie Bly (born Elizabeth Jane Cochran), a 23-year-old reporter for the New York World visited Albuquerque on January 22, 1890 during her record-breaking trip around the world. Given that she completed her trip a full seven days quicker than the fictional Phineas Fogg in Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days, one would think that Miss Bly could have spent more than TWO MINUTES in the Duke City. As it was, she didn't even have enough time to disembark from the Atlantic & Pacific train in order to purchase a burrito from a vendor outside the Alvarado Depot.



I uncovered this historical tidbit recently while conducting research for a special project that I look forward to sharing with you in the not-too-distant-future. I also discovered an intriguing Nellie Bly website that contains images of a handful of Victorian trade cards that used Nellie’s globe-trotting image to promote canned goods, clothing, and (my favorite) Dr. Morse’s Indian Root Pills. Mostly, I was astounded to learn that the New York World actually published a parlor game called "Around the World with Nellie Bly.” (Good luck finding that on eBay!)

Obviously, Albuquerque is a very different place today that it was when Miss Bly breezed through. I can’t think of a better way to illustrate the changes than to point you toward this very cool map of Albuquerque that was hand-drawn by artist Augustus Koch in 1886. The map has been reprinted a number of times, and was even reproduced as a 12” by 16” image for the 1973 calendar distributed by the Ackerman-Grant Realty Company.

If you wish, you may purchase a print from Photos to Go in various sizes and paper stock starting at $15.95. I’m definitely going to have to pick one up since the map includes the location where our house was constructed two decades later.