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History · Ojo Caliente

Ojo Caliente’s post office opened in 1871, and 3 of its places are on the National Register

Its Register listings are the Chapel of Santa Cruz, the Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs and the Ojo Caliente Hot Springs Round Barn. Below: 5 old photos and papers and maps from 1953 on.

1871first post office
3on the National Register
5old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Ojo Caliente’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Ojo Caliente began

When was Ojo Caliente founded?

1871

The Ojo Caliente post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 135155 years
Founding year: the first Ojo Caliente post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
The story so far

Ojo Caliente, in brief

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

Ojo Caliente, (Hot Spring, an incorrect translation to English is often "Hot Eye", but in Spanish the word Ojo means either spring or eye, and in this context it obviously means spring.) is an unincorporated community in Taos County, New Mexico, United States, along the Rio Ojo Caliente. As of the 2020 census, Ojo Caliente had a population of 135. The community is known for the Ojo Caliente Hot Springs, a health resort.

Its first post office opened in 1871.

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

Timeline

Ojo Caliente, 1871 to 1985

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1871Post officeThe Ojo Caliente post office opens
  3. 1884In the archiveLooking up Caliente Rio at the Hot Springs
  4. 20th century
  5. 1920In the archiveOjo Caliente Mineral Springs Hotel, built in 1916
  6. 1924BuiltOjo Caliente Hot Springs Round Barn is built
  7. 1953On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1985In the archive85003496 Ojo Caliente Hot Springs Buildings (historical)
By decade

Ojo Caliente, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1880s3 items
Looking up Caliente Rio at the Hot Springs1884Looking up Caliente Rio at the Hot SpringsInterior of Hon. A Josepth's Store1885Interior of Hon. A Josepth's StoreApache Indians bathing at Ojo Caliente. Antonio Monyes, Mannaha, Wite(?) Suyh, Touce and papoose1889Apache Indians bathing at Ojo Caliente. Antonio Monye…
1890s–1910snothing 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
1920s1 item
Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs Hotel, built in 1916c. 1920Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs Hotel, built in 1916
1930s–1970snothing 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
1980s1 item
85003496 Ojo Caliente Hot Springs Buildings (historical)198585003496 Ojo Caliente Hot Springs Buildings (historic…
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
Today8 recent
Taos Mountain, known locally as Pueblo Peak, may not look like it towers over this valley near Ojo Caliente outside Tao…2021Taos Mountain, known locally as Pueblo Peak, may not …Bridge over the Royal Gorge of the Rio Grande River, near Ojo Caliente, ten miles from Taos, New Mexico2021Bridge over the Royal Gorge of the Rio Grande River, …Bridge over the Royal Gorge of the Rio Grande River, near Ojo Caliente, ten miles from Taos, New Mexico2021Bridge over the Royal Gorge of the Rio Grande River, …Bridge over the Royal Gorge of the Rio Grande River, near Ojo Caliente, ten miles from Taos, New Mexico2021Bridge over the Royal Gorge of the Rio Grande River, …Ojo-Caliente2014Ojo-CalienteOjo Caliente2014Ojo CalienteCollared lizard2014Collared lizardCairns grow pretty well around here2014Cairns grow pretty well around here
On the map

Ojo Caliente on the map, 1953 to 1995

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

Ojo Caliente on the 1953 USGS mapOjo Caliente on the 1995 USGS map1953Ojo Caliente 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 Ojo Caliente.

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.

Looking up Caliente Rio at the Hot Springs
Retake this viewLooking up Caliente Rio at the Hot Springs, 1884

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

3 historic places in Ojo Caliente

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

places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
4
each building in a district counts
first listed
1975
Chapel of Santa Cruz
Chapel of Santa CruzOjo Caliente Mineral SpringsOjo Caliente Hot Springs Round Barn, built 1924
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

New Mexico Colonial1
Spanish Mission Revival1
Territorial1
Round Barn1
Chapel of Santa CruzNew Mexico Colonial
Ojo Caliente Mineral SpringsSpanish Mission Revival
Ojo Caliente Hot Springs Round BarnRound Barn · Built 1924

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

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Ojo Caliente’s post office has been open since 1871.

Gone or out of use
Mica MillmineStanko and Springer Propertymine
1cemetery inside Ojo Caliente
Ojo Caliente

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

Help out

Finish Ojo Caliente’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 viewLooking up Caliente Rio at the Hot Spri…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Ojo Caliente’s history

What year was Ojo Caliente founded?

The Ojo Caliente post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Ojo Caliente?

Three places: the Chapel of Santa Cruz (listed 1975), the Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs (1985) and the Ojo Caliente Hot Springs Round Barn (2003).

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 (8), the Library of Congress (5), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.