Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Pajarito Mesa

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
Rio Puerco BridgeRio Puerco Bridge · Photo: Creator:Michael Quintieri · CC BY-SA 3.0
–Not graded
History · Pajarito Mesa

The history of Pajarito Mesa

Below: maps from 1952 on.

0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

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

Start Pajarito Mesa’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Pajarito Mesa’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

Pajarito Mesa, in brief

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

Pajarito Mesa is a census-designated place in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2020 census, Pajarito Mesa had a population of 260. It is part of the Albuquerque Metropolitan Statistical Area. Pajarito Mesa is an informal settlement lacking basic services including electricity, running water, and formal roads, and existing largely outside of government regulation. It does not meet the U.S. government definition of a colonia because it is more than 150 miles (240 km) from the U.S.–Mexico border, but otherwise exhibits the same features as a colonia. The mesa was first settled in the 1970s and the population had grown to about 250 families by 2013.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 579 to 260 (-55%).

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

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

Pajarito Mesa on the map, 1952 to 1991

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

Pajarito Mesa on the 1952 USGS mapPajarito Mesa on the 1967 USGS mapPajarito Mesa on the 1991 USGS map1952Wind Mesa 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 Pajarito Mesa.

Famous people

Famous people close to Pajarito Mesa

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

See all →
Demi LovatoAmerican singer-songwriter and actress · b. 1992
J
Jeff BezosAmerican business magnate · b. 1964
N
Neil Patrick HarrisAmerican actor · b. 1973
William NordhausAmerican economist and Nobel laureate · b. 1941
Jace NormanAmerican actor · b. 2000
Annabeth GishAmerican actress · b. 1971
Places that used to be

Places now gone

Gone or out of use
Mc Elroy Pitmine

Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Pajarito Mesa’s 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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps 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.