LONGFELLOW

NAME: Longfellow COUNTY: Pecos ROADS: 2WD GRID: 2 CLIMATE: Warm winter, hot summer BEST TIME TO VISIT:Winter, spring, fall

COMMENTS: A few Residents. REMAINS: Many abandoned railroad structures and a few occupied buildings.

Mexican ranchers first settled the area that later became Longfellow, named after the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow by the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1881. The town became a livestock shipping point after the railroad built a depot and facilities for supplying water to steam locomotives. As time passed, a community developed around the Longfellow railroad station. With the advent of diesel locomotives and other improved transportation methods, the economic base for Longfellow began to decline. In 1944, the freight and telegraph office for the railroad closed and the water well facilities were closed in 1954. A few residents remain but there are no stores. However, the abandoned railroad structures remain. SUBMITTED BY: Henry Chenoweth

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