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History · Playas

Playas’ post office opened in 1912

Most of Playas was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Below: maps from 1918 on.

1912first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
1famous people
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Quick answers

How Playas began

When was Playas founded?

1912

The Playas post office opened in 1912, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 25114 years
Founding year: the first Playas post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

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

Start Playas’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Playas came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Playas.

Read it all →

It is a former company town, named after a nearby former settlement along the Southern Pacific Railroad. It was developed by the Phelps Dodge Corporation in the 1970s for employees of its then-new Hidalgo Copper Smelter, located 10 miles (16 km) south of the development. Over 270 rental homes, six apartment buildings, a post office, grocery/dry goods store (Phelps Dodge Mercantile), medical clinic with heliport, a bowling alley ("Copper Pins"), grill, a rodeo arena, horse stables, a fitness center, a shooting range, an airstrip and a swimming pool were built for the community, which even has its own ZIP Code (88009). At its peak, the town had about 1,100 residents and included two churches built on land leased from the mining company.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Playas, 1912 to 1976

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1912Post officeThe Playas post office opens
  3. 1917Post officeThe Playas post office closes
  4. 1918On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1976Born hereCharlie Ragle is born here
By decade

Playas, decade by decade

Today1 recent
Playas, New Mexico Panoramic2024Playas, New Mexico Panoramic
On the map

Playas on the map, 1918 to 1982

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

Playas on the 1918 USGS mapPlayas on the 1982 USGS map1918Playas 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 Playas.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Playas had its own post office from 1912 to 1917.

Playas
1912–1917
19101970today

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

Questions about Playas’ history

What year was Playas founded?

The Playas post office opened in 1912, 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 →
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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 (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.