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DHistory
History · Sunland Park

Sunland Park’s post office opened in 1960, and 2 of its places are on the National Register

More historic than 13% of U.S. towns · #48 of 73 in New Mexico. What drives it

Most of Sunland Park was built recently: 0.4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2003. Its Register listings are the International Boundary Marker No. 1, U.S. and Mexico. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1955 on, and the census since 1990.

1960first post office
2on the National Register
0.4%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Sunland Park’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Sunland Park began

When was Sunland Park founded?

1960

The Sunland Park post office opened in 1960, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Orange (1904) and Anapra (1907), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 8,179 in 19902020 census: 16,70266 years

How historic is Sunland Park?

D

More historic than 13% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Sunland Park post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Sunland Park’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Sunland Park is more historic than 13% of U.S. towns, #48 of 73 in New Mexico. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Sunland Park’s overall grade.
Founding era1960, from the first post office: founded 1945 or later, an older era than 2% of U.S. townsD−Homes built before 19400.4% of homes (±0.5) · typical NM town 2.3% · U.S. 8.4%DNational Register2 listings, 1.1 per 10,000 residents · typical NM town 2.2 · U.S. 2.4B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 13%
NewerOlder
New Mexico towns of 2,500+ (73)Ahead of 35%

New Mexico towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical New Mexico town has 2.2 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Sunland Park’s 1.1 sits near the middle of its state (57% of New Mexico towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to C. The pre-1940 share (±0.5 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Sunland Park’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Sunland Park, and 2 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Sunland Park’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewEl Paso Brick Company Bridge, Spans Rio…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Sunland Park’s post office has been open since 1960. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Orange
1904–1925
Anapra
1907–1914
Sunland Park
1960–today
19001960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
AnapraOrange
Gone or out of use
Anapra Post Officepost officeOrange Post Officepost officeSunland Park Post Officepost office
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Sunland Park
Memorial PinesMemory Gardens of the Valley

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

The story

How Sunland Park came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Sunland Park.

Read it all →

Sunland Park was formed when the unincorporated communities of Anapra, Sunland Park, and Meadow Vista voted to incorporate as Sunland Park on July 13, 1983.

In February 2012, then-Mayor Pro Tem Daniel Salinas and City Manager Jaime Aguilera were arrested and charged with extortion of mayoral candidate Gerardo Hernandez. Salinas and Aguilera allegedly tried to blackmail Hernandez into withdrawing from the race with a videotape of Hernandez receiving a lap dance in his campaign office.

An election for mayor was held in March 2012, with Daniel Salinas winning the mayor's office, but he was denied taking office due to extortion, bribery, and election fraud charges filed against him, which disqualified him from taking an oath of office.

Chapters2012 extortion scandalBorder barrier

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Sunland Park, 1855 to 1960

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1855BuiltInternational Boundary Marker No. 1, U.S. and Mexico is built
  3. 20th century
  4. 1904Post officeThe Orange post office opens
  5. 1907Post officeThe Anapra post office opens
  6. 1914Post officeThe Anapra post office closes
  7. 1925Post officeThe Orange post office closes
  8. 1955On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1960Post officeThe Sunland Park post office opens
By decade

Sunland Park, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
El Paso Brick Company Bridge, Spans Rio Grande between West Paisano Drive (El Paso, TX) and Brickland Road (Sunland Par…Date?El Paso Brick Company Bridge, Spans Rio Grande betwee…
Today7 recent
Scotty Walden2026Scotty WaldenCoach Scotty Walden inspires players and Soldiers at summit2026Coach Scotty Walden inspires players and Soldiers at …U.S. Customs and Border Protection Autonomous Surveillance Tower (AST) in2025U.S. Customs and Border Protection Autonomous Surveil…Trump Wall, Sunland Park, 2024-01-062024Trump Wall, Sunland Park, 2024-01-06Marcia Hatfield Daudistel at the Texas Institute of Letters event at Ardovino's Desert Crossing, April 23, 20222022Marcia Hatfield Daudistel at the Texas Institute of L…DocumentMarcia Hatfield Daudistel at the Texas Institute of Letters event at Ardovino's Desert Crossing, April 23, 2022 (croppe…2022Marcia Hatfield Daudistel at the Texas Institute of L…DocumentNew Mexico corner at Anthony2014New Mexico corner at Anthony
On the map

Sunland Park on the map, 1955 to 1994

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

Sunland Park on the 1955 USGS mapSunland Park on the 1967 USGS mapSunland Park on the 1973 USGS mapSunland Park on the 1994 USGS map1955Smeltertown 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 Sunland Park.

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.

El Paso Brick Company Bridge, Spans Rio Grande between West Paisano Drive (El Paso, TX) and Brickland Road (Sunland Par…
Retake this viewEl Paso Brick Company Bridge, Spans Rio Grande between West Paisano Drive (El Paso, TX) and Brickland Road (Sunland Par…

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 historic places in Sunland Park

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

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1974
International Boundary Marker No. 1, U.S. and M…
International Boundary Marker No. 1, U.S. and Mexico, built 1855
Objects
International Boundary Marker No. 1, U.S. and MexicoBuilt 1855

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

People over time

Sunland Park, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00012,00014,00016,00018,0002000202016,702

Grew from 8,179 people in 1990 to 16,702 in 2020.

4 censuses, 1990–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Sunland Park

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

See all →
Debbie ReynoldsAmerican actress, singer, and dancer · b. 1932
G
Gene RoddenberryAmerican television screenwriter and producer · b. 1921
S
Sandra Day O'ConnorAmerican lawyer and jurist · b. 1930
A
Alan TudykAmerican actor · b. 1971
M
Marcell JacobsItalian athlete · b. 1994
Paulina ChávezAmerican actress · b. 2002
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Santa TeresaIts storyD−

Questions about Sunland Park’s history

What year was Sunland Park founded?

The Sunland Park post office opened in 1960, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Sunland Park rank for history?

Sunland Park is more historic than 13% of U.S. towns, #48 of 73 in New Mexico. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Sunland Park?

2 listings: 1 object.

How old are the homes in Sunland Park?

0.4% of Sunland Park’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 2.3% for a New Mexico town; the median home was built in 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).

From Wikimedia Commons (7), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.