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History · Reserve

Reserve’s post office opened in 1901

Most of Reserve was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1966. Below: 8 old photos and papers, maps from 1965 on, and the census since 1980.

1901first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
8old photos & papers
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Reserve’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Reserve began, and where its name came from

When was Reserve founded?

1901

The Reserve post office opened in 1901, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 439 in 19802020 census: 293125 years

How did Reserve get its name?

Reserve was named after an attorney and political leader from Santa Fe, Thomas B. Catron.

Founding year: the first Reserve post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓
The story

How Reserve came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Reserve.

Read it all →

In the 1860s, Mexican-Americans established a string of villages along the San Francisco River, naming them the Upper, Lower, and Middle San Francisco Plazas. In the late 1870s Anglo settlers began arriving. They renamed Upper Frisco Plaza as Milligan's Plaza, naming it after a merchant and saloon owner.

Catron became a county in 1921. It was named after an attorney and political leader from Santa Fe, Thomas B. Catron.

Milligan's Plaza was the site of the Frisco shootout of Elfego Baca.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Reserve, 1901 to 1965

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1901Post officeThe Reserve post office opens
  3. 1940In the archiveOne of the oldest houses
  4. 1957Born hereMark Anderson is born here
  5. 1965On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Reserve, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1940s8 items
One of the oldest houses1940One of the oldest housesStore and post office at Reserve, New Mexico, county seat of Catron County1940Store and post office at Reserve, New Mexico, county …On the main street of Reserve, New Mexico. This is the county seat of Catron County1940On the main street of Reserve, New Mexico. This is th…Entrance to adobe post office at Reserve, New Mexico. Reserve is the county seat of Catron County, a county in which no…1940Entrance to adobe post office at Reserve, New Mexico.…Uncle Bill, old character living at Reserve, New Mexico. He was once a cowboy rancher. He now runs a saloon1940Uncle Bill, old character living at Reserve, New Mexi…Untitled photo, possibly related to: On the main street of Reserve, New Mexico. This is the county seat of Catron County1940Untitled photo, possibly related to: On the main stre…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Uncle Bill, old character living at Reserve, New Mexico. He was once a cowboy ranc…1940Untitled photo, possibly related to: Uncle Bill, old …Uncle Bill, old character at Reserve, New Mexico. He says he is the only man alive who was tried before the court of Ju…1940Uncle Bill, old character at Reserve, New Mexico. He …
1950s–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
Today4 recent
Untitled photo2012Untitled photoUntitled photo2012Untitled photoNear Reserve, NM, San Francisco Watershed of the Gila River, View NW, 20122012Near Reserve, NM, San Francisco Watershed of the Gila…ICP2012ICP
On the map

Reserve on the map, 1965 to 1999

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

Reserve on the 1965 USGS mapReserve on the 1999 USGS map1965Reserve 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 Reserve.

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.

One of the oldest houses
Retake this viewOne of the oldest houses, 1940

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Reserve, census by census

0100200300400198020002020Peak: 439

Between 289 and 439 people in every census since 1980.

5 censuses, 1980–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Reserve’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Reserve

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
M
Mark AndersonAmerican politician in Arizona · b. 1957
P
Patricio M. SernaAmerican judge
Help out

Finish Reserve’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewOne of the oldest houses: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Reserve’s history

What year was Reserve founded?

The Reserve post office opened in 1901, 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 →
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), the Library of Congress (8), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.