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History · Melrose

Melrose’s post office opened in 1906, and 24% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 16 old photos and papers, maps from 1957 on, and the census since 1920.

1906first post office
0on the National Register
24%homes built before 1940
16old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Melrose’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Melrose began

When was Melrose founded?

1906

The Melrose post office opened in 1906, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Brownhorn (1905), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 364 in 19202020 census: 622120 years
Founding year: the first Melrose post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Melrose’s past

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

Boom and bustPeaked at 936 in 1950; 622 people lived here in 2020.A town in old photos16 old photos, postcards and papers.Old housesHalf of Melrose’s homes were built before 1961.
★ What stands out · People over time

Melrose, census by census

02004006008001,000192019401960198020002020Peak: 936

Peaked at 936 in 1950; 622 people lived here in 2020.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Melrose’s Wikipedia page.

By decade

Melrose, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1930s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s–1940s16 items
Santa Fe R.R. near Melrose, New Mexico1939Santa Fe R.R. near Melrose, New MexicoSanta Fe R.R. train1939Santa Fe R.R. trainWestbound freight train stopping for water1939Westbound freight train stopping for waterSanta Fe R.R. west bound freight stopping for water1939Santa Fe R.R. west bound freight stopping for waterSanta Fe R.R. near Melrose1a34739v1943Santa Fe R.R. near Melrose1a34739vSanta Fe R.R. train, Melrose1a34738v1943Santa Fe R.R. train, Melrose1a34738vSanta Fe R.R. west bound freight stopping for water1a34737v1943Santa Fe R.R. west bound freight stopping for water1a…Westbound freight train stopping for water, Melrose1a34747v1943Westbound freight train stopping for water, Melrose1a…Westbound freight train stopping for water1a34747v1943Westbound freight train stopping for water1a34747vMelrose, New Mexico. Train stopping for water along the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad1943Melrose, New Mexico. Train stopping for water along t…Melrose, New Mexico. Pulling out of the town on the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad1943Melrose, New Mexico. Pulling out of the town on the A…Melrose (vicinity), New Mexico. Dry scrub country and well along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad1943Melrose (vicinity), New Mexico. Dry scrub country and…Melrose (vicinity), New Mexico. Going across the cattle and sheep country along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railr…1943Melrose (vicinity), New Mexico. Going across the catt…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Melrose, New Mexico. Train stopping for water along the Atchison, Topeka, and Sant…1943Untitled photo, possibly related to: Melrose, New Mex…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Melrose, New Mexico. Pulling out of the town on the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe…1943Untitled photo, possibly related to: Melrose, New Mex…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Melrose (vicinity), New Mexico. Going across the cattle and sheep country along th…1943Untitled photo, possibly related to: Melrose (vicinit…
1950s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today2 recent
AT&SF 5978, Melrose, NM, October 19852016AT&SF 5978, Melrose, NM, October 1985NMMap-doton-Melrose2004NMMap-doton-Melrose
The story

How Melrose came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Melrose.

Read it all →

During the New Deal, a series of federal programs were to counteract the woes of the Great Depression, and the Melrose Art Center was established. The facility was considered to be located in the smallest town to have such a federal art center. Estella García was one of the teachers at the Center.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Melrose, 1905 to 1957

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1905Post officeThe Brownhorn post office opens
  3. 1906Post officeThe Brownhorn post office closes
  4. 1906Post officeThe Melrose post office opens
  5. 1910Born hereWilliam Hanna is born here
  6. 1939In the archiveSanta Fe R.R. near Melrose, New Mexico
  7. 1943In the archiveSanta Fe R.R. near Melrose1a34739v
  8. 1950CensusPopulation peaks at 936
  9. 1957On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
On the map

Melrose on the map, 1957 to 1973

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

Melrose on the 1957 USGS mapMelrose on the 1973 USGS map1957Melrose 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 Melrose.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Santa Fe R.R. near Melrose, New Mexico
Retake this viewSanta Fe R.R. near Melrose, New Mexico, 1939

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Melrose’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and burying grounds

Melrose’s post office has been open since 1906. Another post office, Brownhorn, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Brownhorn
1905–1906
Melrose
1906–today
19001960today
1cemetery inside Melrose
Memorial

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

Help out

Finish Melrose’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewSanta Fe R.R. near Melrose, New Mexico: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Melrose’s history

What year was Melrose founded?

The Melrose post office opened in 1906, 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 (7), the Library of Congress (11), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.