Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Hernandez

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Hernandez

Hernandez’s post office opened in 1920

Most of Hernandez was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Below: maps from 1953 on.

1920first post office
0on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Ben from Talmo, GA, US · CC BY-SA 2.0
Quick answers

How Hernandez began

When was Hernandez founded?

1920

The Hernandez post office opened in 1920, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 756106 years
Founding year: the first Hernandez post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Hernandez’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 Hernandez are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Hernandez’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Hernandez, in brief

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

Hernandez is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, United States. Hernandez is approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) northwest of Española on highway US 84 / US 285. As of the 2020 census, Hernandez had a population of 756.

Its first post office opened in 1920. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 946 to 756 (-20%).

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

Timeline

Hernandez, 1920 to 1965

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1920Post officeThe Hernandez post office opens
  3. 1953On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 1965Post officeThe Hernandez post office closes
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.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Hernandez on the map, 1953 to 2002

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

Hernandez on the 1953 USGS mapHernandez on the 1977 USGS mapHernandez on the 2002 USGS map1953San Juan Pueblo 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 Hernandez.

Famous people

Famous people close to Hernandez

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

See all →
Maria MartinezNative American potter 1887-1980 · b. 1887
Manuel LujanAmerican politician · b. 1928
Scott TiptonAmerican politician · b. 1956
Patricia D. LopezAmerican computer scientist · b. 1950
J
Jacobo de la SernaAmerican ceramic artist, Spanish Colonial schol… · b. 1965
Julian MartinezSan Ildefonso painter and potter from New Mexico · b. 1879
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Hernandez had its own post office from 1920 to 1965.

Hernandez
1920–1965
19201970today
Gone or out of use
Hernandez Post Officepost office

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

El DuendeIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSan JoseIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townChamita1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Hernandez’s history

What year was Hernandez founded?

The Hernandez post office opened in 1920, 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 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.