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History · Vanderwagen

Vanderwagen’s post office opened in 1951

Below: maps from 1963 on.

1951first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Vanderwagen began

When was Vanderwagen founded?

1951

The Vanderwagen post office opened in 1951, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 4875 years
Founding year: the first Vanderwagen post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

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

Start Vanderwagen’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Vanderwagen’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 so far

Vanderwagen, in brief

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

Vanderwagen is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in McKinley County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 48.

Its first post office opened in 1951.

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

Timeline

Vanderwagen, 1951 to 1966

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1951Post officeThe Vander Wagen post office opens
  3. 1963On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 1966Post officeThe Vander Wagen post office closes
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

Vanderwagen on the map, 1963 to 1981

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

Vanderwagen on the 1963 USGS mapVanderwagen on the 1981 USGS map1963Vander Wagen 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 Vanderwagen.

Famous people

Famous people close to Vanderwagen

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

See all →
Carolyn S. ShoemakerAmerican astronomer, researcher and university … · b. 1929
T
Tony GenaroAmerican actor · b. 1941
Hiroshi MiyamuraUnited States Army Medal of Honor recipient · b. 1925
S
Sydney FreelandAmerican film director · b. 1980
E
Evon Z. VogtAmerican anthropologist · b. 1918
Mark CharlesNative American activist
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Another post office, Vander Wagen, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Gone or out of use
Vanderwagen Post Officepost office

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

Questions about Vanderwagen’s history

What year was Vanderwagen founded?

The Vanderwagen post office opened in 1951, 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 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.