Madrid - New Mexico Ghost Town

MADRID

NAME: Madrid
COUNTY: Santa Fe
ROADS: 2WD
GRID #(see map): 2
CLIMATE: Cool winter, warm summer
BEST TIME TO VISIT:Anytime

COMMENTS: Town was once for sale for $250,000. There were no takers. Great article on Madrid. Another great article on Madrid. And yet another great article on Madrid. And another article on Madrid.
REMAINS: Many original buildings.

The story of Madrid is the story of one Oscar Huber. Madrid was a coal-mining town owned and operated by the Albuquerque and Cerrillos Coal Company. Huber worked for the company beginning in 1910 and became superintendent after a few years then eventually buying the company. Electricity was unavailable to homes as late as 1913. Generated in a company powerhouse, electricity was limited to company uses only. After Huber acquired the company, he paved the streets, built new homes on lots made vacant by fires, constructed a six room hospital and made arrangements for unlimited use of electricity and much, much more. Oscar Huber made Madrid a town proud of itself. Its Christmas display of the nativity and other lighted Biblical scenes created a display the like of which had never before been seen in New Mexico. Thousands of visitors from all parts of the state came each year to view the magnificent pageant through 1941 when the lights were turned on for the last time. Conversion to other than solid fuels took its toll on Madrid as it did on other coal mining towns. Submitted by Henry Chenoweth. Madrid, New Mexico Courtesy Dolores Steele Madrid, New Mexico Courtesy Dolores Steele Madrid, New Mexico Courtesy Dolores Steele Madrid, Row of company houses Courtesy Dolores Steele Taken in 1972 - the buildings burned down shortly after. Courtesy Kevin S. Denney	Madrid, circa 1925 Courtesy Museum of New Mexico Madrid Courtesy Bill Yanneck Madrid, New Mexico Courtesy Dolores Steele Madrid, Old Hotel and Boarding House Courtesy Dolores Steele Madrid, Row of company houses Courtesy Dolores Steele Madrid Courtesy Samuel McWhorter

The story of Madrid is the story of one Oscar Huber. Madrid was a coal-mining town owned and operated by the Albuquerque and Cerrillos Coal Company. Huber worked for the company beginning in 1910 and became superintendent after a few years then eventually buying the company. Electricity was unavailable to homes as late as 1913. Generated in a company powerhouse, electricity was limited to company uses only. After Huber acquired the company, he paved the streets, built new homes on lots made vacant by fires, constructed a six room hospital and made arrangements for unlimited use of electricity and much, much more. Oscar Huber made Madrid a town proud of itself. Its Christmas display of the nativity and other lighted Biblical scenes created a display the like of which had never before been seen in New Mexico. Thousands of visitors from all parts of the state came each year to view the magnificent pageant through 1941 when the lights were turned on for the last time. Conversion to other than solid fuels took its toll on Madrid as it did on other coal mining towns. Submitted by Henry Chenoweth.