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History · Willard

Willard’s post office opened in 1902, and 14% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1956 on, and the census since 1920.

1902first post office
0on the National Register
14%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Willard’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Willard began

When was Willard founded?

1902

The Willard post office opened in 1902, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 421 in 19202020 census: 201124 years
Founding year: the first Willard post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Willard’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.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Willard’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewLandscape along the Santa Fe R.R.1a3474…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Willard, in brief

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

Willard is a village in Torrance County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2020 census, Willard had a population of 201. It is part of the Albuquerque Metropolitan Statistical Area. The village is not experiencing the same extreme growth that towns farther north in the state are. A wind farm has recently been constructed upon the mesa just south of the town.

Its first post office opened in 1902. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 253 to 201 (-21%).

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

Timeline

Willard, 1902 to 1956

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1902Post officeThe Willard post office opens
  3. 1943In the archiveLandscape along the Santa Fe R.R.1a34745v
  4. 1956On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Willard, decade by decade

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

1940s1 item
Landscape along the Santa Fe R.R.1a34745v1943Landscape along the Santa Fe R.R.1a34745v
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
Today3 recent
Welcome to the village of2019Welcome to the village ofOur Lady of Sorrows2019Our Lady of SorrowsNMMap-doton-Willard2004NMMap-doton-Willard
On the map

Willard on the map, 1956 to 1986

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

Willard on the 1956 USGS mapWillard on the 1986 USGS map1956Mountainair 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 Willard.

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.

Landscape along the Santa Fe R.R.1a34745v
Retake this viewLandscape along the Santa Fe R.R.1a34745v, 1943

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Willard, census by census

0100200300400500192019401960198020002020Peak: 482

Between 166 and 482 people in every census since 1920.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Questions about Willard’s history

What year was Willard founded?

The Willard post office opened in 1902, 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), 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.