New Mexico Tech

The territorial legislature placed the School of Mines in Socorro in 1889, in the silver boom, and forbade it to build anything until it owned twenty acres. Local families gave twenty-two and one-fifth: Juan José and Francisca Baca, Estevan and Catalina Baca, Severo and Josefina Baca, Edward and Emma Hubbard, Antonio Abeyta y Montoya, Robert Collins and Jacob Naumer. Classes began in 1893. The school took its present name in 1951, and in 2003 the state House of Representatives asked its regents to honor the families whose land made it possible.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker New Mexico Tech Founded in 1889 as New Mexico's School of Mines, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology offers degrees through the doctorate in a number of science and engineering disciplines. In addition to its academic functions, the institute also conducts extensive research and development activities.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge — 18 mi
  A Rio Grande refuge south of Socorro where cranes and geese winter by the tens of thousands on wetlands and fields kept by people, because the river no longer floods to make them.

More markers nearby

• New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Museum — 0.2 mi
• Socorro — 0.8 mi
• The Garcia Opera House — 0.9 mi
• Jumbo — 0.9 mi