Carlsbad MainStreet and Pearl of the Pecos Arts & Cultural District

Constructed 1892. Located along the banks of the Pecos River, Carlsbad was originally christened the Town of Eddy on September 15, 1888 and organized as a municipality in 1893. With the improvement of the mineral springs north of town, and their valuable medicinal qualities, the town changed the name to Read more…

According to the City of Carlsbad the Carlsbad Museum and Art Center was founded in 1931 and fulfills its mission as a cultural and educational institution through the collection, preservation, exhibition and interpretation of artifacts, documents and works of art relating to prehistory, history and aesthetic environment of the City Read more…

Constructed 1902 The depot at Carlsbad, NM started out as a traditional brick structure that was later extended and extensively rebuilt into a stucco structure with a more “southwestern” appearance. An as-built photo of the 1904 brick depot on page 184 of Robert Pounds’ Santa Fe Depots – The Western Read more…

Constructed 1951. The Cavern Theater was built in 1951 in downtown Carlsbad, New Mexico at 210 North Canyon Street, just one block north of the Eddy County courthouse square and in the heart of the downtown commercial district. The theater was designed in the International Style, a form of modernism Read more…

Carlsbad is home to a variety of murals throughout town. The downtown area has three of those murals. One, at 418 W. Fox St., depicts the people of the Carlsbad-area from several periods and the ways they made their living (mining, farming, caving, etc.) The mural located at the southeastern Read more…

Constructed 1939. The original courthouse built in 1891, was a Victorian structure built for $21,000 with a steeple and dark colored locally-made brick; later additions were built similarly. When New Deal funds ($185,000) became available in 1939, the architecture of the building was drastically changed to the early Spanish style Read more…

Constructed 1948. The Fiesta Drive-In originally opened in 1948 with a single screen. The massive original screen tower had a mural of a Mexican man and woman dancing and was animated with neon lighting. Above them was the theater’s name in streamlined style lettering. The Fiesta Drive-In closed in 1970 Read more…

Constructed 2006. The Halagueno Arts Park is a phased project to create an intercity arts park located in the historic MainStreet district, to serve the community, visitors and tourists as an instructional arts and botanical garden site. The project began with clearing the park area and updating the infrastructure in Read more…

Constructed 1903. The Pecos River, and particularly a structure called “The Flume,” are central to the history of the City of Carlsbad. In the 1860s, cattle drives moved from Texas up the river, taking livestock north. In 1887, Charles B. Eddy built the Halagueno diversion ditch on the Pecos River Read more…

Constructed 1892. The building was built in 1892 as the First National Bank where it housed the town’s first newspaper and later became the historic headquarters of the Carlsbad Irrigation District. In 2007, three partners bought the building with the dream of restoring the decaying property. Many in the community Read more…