Dona Ana County Historical Society

02/18/2026

PRESENTATION CANCELLED
NOTICE!!!! Due to unforeseen circumstances concerning repairs with the auditorium at Las Cruces Village, Thursday's DACHS Speaker Series on the 19th has been canceled. We are working on rescheduling it later this season. Please stay tuned.

02/05/2026

Feb. 19, Thursday night at 7 p.m., the historical society will begin its spring series of presentations. They are FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. On the 19th, Steve Dobrott will relate the history of the Concord coach dubbed "Mountain Pride" that served Lake City, Kingston and Hillsboro in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and now resides in the Black Range Museum in Hillsboro. By the way, Steve managed Ted Turner's Ladder Ranch for 24 years.
Meetings are held at the former Las Cruces Good Samaritan Village in the Stucky Auditorium downstairs in the main activities building, 3011 Buena Vida Cir. There is parking on the street or in the lot just to the east of the building.

01/29/2026

Yep, it is National History Day and the kids are ready to present. They need volunteer judges all across the country to help out. Here in Las Cruces, you can use this link to get more information about the day, Feb. 20, and how to sign up. Link = https://nm-lcsdc.nhd.org/App?f=a7506931-1c22-4d92-8df8-0aa4c8ec92d1

01/19/2026

11/06/2025

Our speaker for November will be DeAngelo Nieves. Nieves’ presentation will include discussion of the Doña Ana Village Historic Preservation Committee'd preservation efforts, as well as the many challenges it has faced over the years, from working with church officials and local governments to organizing community members to preserve our cultural heritage. In the 1990s, the group worked on the restoration of the historic Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria church which was completed in 1999. See photo ................. As always, the talk is free and you’re encouraged to attend – the Zoom link is not always dependable - Thursday November 20 at 7 p.m. at Las Cruces Village’s Social Center at 3011 Buena Vista Circle (previously known as the downstairs auditorium of Good Samaritan Village).

10/08/2025

WESTERN HISTORIAN TO TALK BRAZITO BATTLE
DACHS Speaker Series talk Thursday, October 16

The legendary Battle of Brazito is the focus of the next DACHS Speaker Series talk Thursday, October 16 at 7 pm at Las Cruces Village’s Social Center (3011 Buena Vista Circle).Western historian Dr. Albert Burnham will discuss events surrounding the short but pivotal battle that took place south of Las Cruces at the beginning of the Mexican-American War.
Burnham is a professor of history at El Paso Community College and a former assistant professor of history at the University of Minnesota in Duluth. He’s a member of an Old West re-enactment group and a historian with the Concordia Heritage Association, which works to preserve and research Concordia Cemetery in El Paso.The Battle of Brazito took place on December 25, 1846 south of Las Cruces in the Vado-Brazito area between Col. Alexander Doniphan’s 1st U.S. Dragoons and a larger Mexican volunteer force coming up from El Paso. With superior marksmanship and a strong defensive position, Doniphan’s Dragoons defeated the Mexican force in about 30 minutes, with only seven Americans wounded. Doniphan’s troops would ultimately capture El Paso and then Chihuahua City the following year. For years, historians have debated the specific location where the battle took place, although some insist they’ve nailed down the spot.

09/11/2025

The first presentation of the Fall Season for DACHS will be about Wendell Chino, the fascinating leader of the Mescalero Apache.

05/19/2025

NMSU grad student Sean Shifano lectures on technology pioneer James Edson. ((NOTE: the video starts a couple of minutes into the lecture just as Sean is introducing Edson to the audience)) In addition to being Clyde Tombaugh's brother-in-law, Edson was an astronomer, meteorologist, and inventor of photo-optical instruments, U.S. Army ordnance physicist and engineer, scientific project manager, science policy advisor and
planner, administrator at NASA during its first decade, Cold War theoretician of human progress, public lecturer, idea wizard, and more.

04/21/2025

PLEASE BE PATIENT as the first 3 minutes have some technical issues. After that it is fine. NMSU history student Joel Parra talks about the how the border with Mexico was shaped after the Mexican American Ware. The presentation covers the history of repatriation colonies along the US-Mexico border following the Mexican-American War, focusing on the relocation of Mexican citizens and the establishment of new towns. Discussions included the complexities of citizenship, land ownership, and cultural identity during this transitional period, as well as the political and economic factors that influenced people's decisions to relocate. The meeting also explored the fluid nature of the border, the ongoing relationships between communities on both sides, and the challenges faced by residents in adapting to changing national allegiances.

03/28/2025

Curator and manager Stephanie Long talks about the new Wingfield Heritage House Museum in Ruidoso, NM.