Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Nara Visa

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 · Nara Visa

Nara Visa’s post office opened in 1902, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Nara Visa was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. Its Register listing is the Nara Visa School. Below: maps from 1954 on.

1902first post office
1on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Nara Visa began

When was Nara Visa founded?

1902

The Nara Visa post office opened in 1902, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 51124 years
Founding year: the first Nara Visa post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

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

Start Nara Visa’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Nara Visa’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

How Nara Visa came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Nara Visa.

Read it all →

Nara Visa traces its beginnings to brothers Sim and Fred McFarland of La Veta, Colorado. The brothers originally came to New Mexico to work on their uncle's cattle ranch. When word came that the Rock Island Railroad would be building a track through the area, the McFarlands moved to a location near the proposed route. The community was first known as Narvaez, named after the Narvaez family, who lived in the area in the 1880s. English-speaking settlers changed the name into its current name Nara Visa.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Nara Visa, decade by decade

Today4 recent
Nara Visa2021Nara VisaNara Visa New Mexico2008Nara Visa New MexicoNara Visa NM2008Nara Visa NMCatholic Church2008Catholic Church
On the map

Nara Visa on the map, 1954 to 1971

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

Nara Visa on the 1954 USGS mapNara Visa on the 1971 USGS map1954Tucumcari sheet · 1:250,000

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

On the National Register

1 historic place in Nara Visa

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
4
each building in a district counts
first listed
1983
Nara Visa School
Nara Visa School
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Mission Revival1
Bungalow1
Nara Visa SchoolMission Revival

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Questions about Nara Visa’s history

What year was Nara Visa founded?

The Nara Visa post office opened in 1902, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Nara Visa?

One place: the Nara Visa School (listed 1983).

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 (4), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (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.