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QuaraiQuarai · Photo: en:User:Nationalparks · CC BY-SA 2.5
–Not graded
History · Punta de Agua

Punta de Agua’s post office opened in 1890, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Below: maps from 1954 on.

1890first post office
1on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Punta de Agua began

When was Punta de Agua founded?

1890

The Punta de Agua post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Punta (1894) and Quarai (1916), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 68136 years
Founding year: the first Punta de Agua post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Punta de Agua’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 Punta de Agua are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Punta de Agua.A National Historic Landmark1 place on the National Register, including Quarai, a National Historic Landmark.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Punta de Agua’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Punta de Agua’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
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Punta de Agua had its own post office from 1890 to 1893. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Punta De Agua
1890–1893
Punta
1894–1913
Quarai
1916–1918
18901960today
Gone or out of use
Punta De Agua Post Officepost office
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Punta de Agua
Punta de Agua CatholicPunta de Agua

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

On the National Register

1 historic place in Punta de Agua

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmark
1
Quarai
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1966
Quarai
Quarai★
Districts★ landmark
★ Landmark
QuaraiDistrict

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

The story so far

Punta de Agua, in brief

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

Punta de Agua is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Torrance County, New Mexico, United States. It was first listed as a CDP prior to the 2020 census. As of the 2020 census, Punta de Agua had a population of 68. The CDP is in the western part of the county, 7 miles (11 km) northwest of Mountainair along New Mexico State Road 55, which continues northwest 5 miles (8 km) to Manzano. The Quarai unit of Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument is in the southwest part of the CDP.

Its first post office opened in 1890.

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

Timeline

Punta de Agua, 1890 to 1962

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1890Post officeThe Punta de Agua post office opens
  3. 1893Post officeThe Punta de Agua post office closes
  4. 1894Post officeThe Punta post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1913Post officeThe Punta post office closes
  7. 1916Post officeThe Quarai post office opens
  8. 1918Post officeThe Quarai post office closes
  9. 1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  10. 1962LandmarkQuarai named a National Historic Landmark
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.
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On the map

Punta de Agua on the map, 1954 to 1995

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

Punta de Agua on the 1954 USGS mapPunta de Agua on the 1986 USGS mapPunta de Agua on the 1995 USGS map1954Torreon 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 Punta de Agua.

Famous people

Famous people close to Punta de Agua

Nobody well known was born in Punta de Agua itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Mariano S. OteroAmerican politician · b. 1844
Rosa Maria CallesAmerican playwright · b. 1949

Questions about Punta de Agua’s history

What year was Punta de Agua founded?

The Punta de Agua post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Punta de Agua?

One place: the Quarai (listed 1966).

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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.