Constructed 1930. Anchored by its courthouse square with numerous heritage evergreen and deciduous trees, the compact Lovington Commercial Historic District retains its early twentieth and mid-twentieth century building stock, its historic feeling, and associations with ranching, function as a county seat, and later, with the oil and natural gas industry Read more
Constructed 1948. The Lea Theater was built in 1948 in Lovington as the post-WWII economy and local oil discoveries launched a boom in Lea County. Situated across the street from the impressive Lea County Courthouse, The Lea Theater is an excellent example of the mid-century modern International Style that was Read more
Constructed 1920. Lovington is the county seat of Lea County, it became a town in 1908 when settlers from east of the Texas line homesteaded the western edges of the Llano Estacado in New Mexico Territory. New Mexico became a state in 1912. Lea County was founded in 1917. The Read more
Constructed 1937. While it appears that the funds used to construct the Lea County Courthouse are NOT the result of New Deal programs, the style is similar to that of other New Deal-era courthouses. The county was experiencing an oil boom at the time and it is possible that it 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
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 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 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 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
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