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History · Gallina

Gallina’s post office opened in 1890

Most of Gallina was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. Below: maps from 1940 on.

1890first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Highlightwiki · CC BY 4.0
Quick answers

How Gallina began

When was Gallina founded?

1890

The Gallina post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Capulin (1879) and Jaquez (1888), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 299136 years
Founding year: the first Gallina post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Gallina’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Gallina are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Gallina, and 2 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Gallina’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Gallina’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Gallina’s post office has been open since 1890. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Capulin
1879–1880
Jaquez
1888–1890
Gallina
1890–today
Capulin
1922–today
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
CapulinGallina Plaza

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story so far

Gallina, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Gallina yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Gallina is a census-designated place (CDP) in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2020 census, Gallina had a population of 299. Gallina has a post office with ZIP code 87017. New Mexico State Road 96 passes through the community. Gallina is derived from the Spanish word gallina, meaning "hen", and used figuratively to denote a coward.

Its first post office opened in 1890.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Gallina, 1879 to 1940

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1879Post officeThe Capulin post office opens
  3. 1880Post officeThe Capulin post office closes
  4. 1888Post officeThe Jaquez post office opens
  5. 1890Post officeThe Jaquez post office closes
  6. 1890Post officeThe Gallina post office opens
  7. 20th century
  8. 1940On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Gallina, decade by decade

Today1 recent
Gallina, New Mexico in 20242024Gallina, New Mexico in 2024
On the map

Gallina on the map, 1940 to 2002

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Gallina. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Gallina on the 1940 USGS mapGallina on the 1963 USGS mapGallina on the 2002 USGS map1940Cuba sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Gallina.

Famous people

Famous people close to Gallina

Nobody well known was born in Gallina itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Antonio José MartínezNew Mexican priest, educator, publisher, ranche… · b. 1793
José Manuel GallegosAmerican politician · b. 1815
Francisco Antonio ManzanaresAmerican politician · b. 1843
Julian A. ChavezAmerican politician · b. 1808

Questions about Gallina’s history

What year was Gallina founded?

The Gallina post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.