Oh, little town ...: Spanish for 'Bethlehem,' Belén started as a small agricultural colony in the 1700s

 

Belen Fiesta 1895

Modern-day Belén grew up alongside the railroad line.

It morphed from a small village with a railroad stop into a town, finally reaching its stride and anointing itself a city in the 1960s.

But to find out how the community about 40 miles south of Albuquerque got its name, one has to travel back to its start as a small agricultural colony in the 1700s.

Spanish settlers captain Don Diego Torres and Antonio Salazar founded Belén in 1740 as a settlement for about 40 families.

The areas' proximity to the Rio Grande and fertile soil made it ideal for establishing roots.

They called it Nuestra Señora de Belén, which means Our Lady of Bethlehem, in honor of the Virgin Mary.

It was not uncommon at that time for the Spanish to assign religious titles to areas they were settling, paying homage to the Catholic Church.

The name was eventually shortened to Belén, the Spanish equivalent of Bethlehem.

Farming and ranching were the primary way of life Belén's early days.

"To Indian crops like corn, beans, squash, pumpkins, chile, and melons, the Belén colonists added crops such as oats, wheat, and all kinds of fruit trees, as well as European livestock such as sheep, horses, cattle, goats, chickens, and pigs," Chavez y Gilbert writes. "These first settlers built adobe homes with hornos to make bread, which required the use of Spanish yeast. Some of these Spanish settlers continued developing the cowboy, (vaqueros), and ranching industry while others specialized in grand farms."...more