Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Los Cerrillos

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 · Los Cerrillos

Half of Los Cerrillos’ homes were built after 1988

Most of Los Cerrillos was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1988. Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1961 on.

0on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Los Cerrillos’ archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Los Cerrillos’ past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Los Cerrillos’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewTurquoise Trail - A Large Dead Tree in …: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Los Cerrillos came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Los Cerrillos.

Read it all →

The first, confirmable human presence on the Galisteo River occurred around 10,500 years ago. Over the centuries, both large and small communities spread throughout the Galisteo Basin. Archeological evidence of pre-Columbian human inhabitants includes pottery, vases, cups, eating and cooking utensils, stone hammers, wedges, mauls, and religious items.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Los Cerrillos, 1880 to 1995

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1880Post officeThe Cerrillos post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1961On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1995In the archiveTurquoise Trail - A Large Dead Tree in Cerrillos
By decade

Los Cerrillos, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1990s1 item
Turquoise Trail - A Large Dead Tree in Cerrillos1995Turquoise Trail - A Large Dead Tree in Cerrillos
Today11 recent
View of U.S. Interstate Highway 25 in the vast valley southwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, near the settlement of Los Cer…2021View of U.S. Interstate Highway 25 in the vast valley…Southwest Chief at Los Cerrillos, February 20202020Southwest Chief at Los Cerrillos, February 2020Los Cerrillos, New Mexico, USA2019Los Cerrillos, New Mexico, USAWelcome to Cerrillos2018Welcome to CerrillosSkrip's Studio2018Skrip's StudioRail track2018Rail trackLos Cerrillos street art2018Los Cerrillos street artLos Cerrillos fence2018Los Cerrillos fenceCerrillos Official Scenic Historical Marker2018Cerrillos Official Scenic Historical MarkerDiamond Tail Formation2017Diamond Tail FormationTurquoise Cerillos Smithsonian2012Turquoise Cerillos Smithsonian
On the map

Los Cerrillos on the map, 1961 to 1990

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

Los Cerrillos on the 1961 USGS mapLos Cerrillos on the 1990 USGS map1961Madrid 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 Los Cerrillos.

Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.

Hamlets and corners on the map
CerrillosLos Cerrilos
Gone or out of use
Mount Chalchihuitl Turquois MineminePalace Hotelbuilding
1cemetery inside Los Cerrillos
Cerrillos Protestant

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

Questions about Los Cerrillos’ history

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 (11), the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, 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.