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History · Garfield

Garfield’s post office opened in 1896

Below: maps from 1961 on.

1896first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Garfield began

When was Garfield founded?

1896

The Garfield post office opened in 1896, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 131130 years
Founding year: the first Garfield post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Garfield’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 Garfield are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
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Start Garfield’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Garfield’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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The story so far

Garfield, in brief

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

Garfield is a census-designated place in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2020 census, Garfield had a population of 131. Garfield has a post office with ZIP code 87936, which opened on September 19, 1896. The community is located on New Mexico State Road 187 south of Exit 51 of Interstate 25 .

Its first post office opened in 1896. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 137 to 131 (-4%).

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

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

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On the map

Garfield on the map, 1961 to 1996

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

Garfield on the 1961 USGS mapGarfield on the 1980 USGS mapGarfield on the 1996 USGS map1961Garfield sheet · 1:24,000

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

Questions about Garfield’s history

What year was Garfield founded?

The Garfield post office opened in 1896, 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 →
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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 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.