New Mexico University of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts Original Plans
Las Cruces, New Mexico

Description: New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts Original Plans
Other Names: New Mexico State University
Address: Las Cruces (University Park), Dona Ana County, New Mexico
Type: educational: college, later university
Original Client: New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts
Historic Inventory:
Date: 1907
Condition: original plan largely extant; in use as a university

Architect or Firm: Henry C. Trost
Associated Architect or Firm: Trost & Trost
Contractors: Otto P. Kroeger & Co.
Dimensions and Orientation: see under Drawings
Budget/Cost: $500,000

Present Owner: State of New Mexico
Location of Drawings: El Paso Public Library: (E-2) Plot Plan, ink on linen; Block Plan, New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, pencil and wash on Bristol board, stepped up horseshoe, left to right: Armory, preparatory school, chemical laboratory, biological laboratory, domestic science and art, library, administration [center], fine arts, textiles and ceramics, horticulture, engineering, agriculture, Y.M.C.A.
Location of Documentary Photographs: Photographs of original campus: New Mexico State University Library: Rio Grande Historical Collections/Hobson- Huntsinger University Archives

Bibliography: (1) Lloyd C. and June F. Engelbrecht, Henry C. Trost: Architect of the Southwest (El Paso: El Paso Public Library Association, 1981) pages 93-94; figure 72, photograph of Hadley Hall; figure 73, drawing, elevation of Hadley Hall
(2) The American Architect and Building News, volume ___ no. ___ [Date], page 14. The thirteen buildings being planned at a cost of $500,000.
(3) The Swastika, [university yearbook] volume XXIX, 1935 [etc.]
(4) A Century of Memories, a New Mexico State University Centennial Publication (Las Cruces, New Mexico [1987])
(5) El Paso Times, November 4, 1987, page 1 (Neighbors section), Mary Margaret Davis, Famed architect designed NMSU with a bit of a flare. Photographs: Goddard Hall, Young Hall, old president’s residence, Henry C. Trost commemorative medallions.

Remarks:  The area for the campus was once a sandy cactus patch, then evolved to an alfalfa field, where college livestock grazed. Later, its east-west length was bisected by a flower and shrub bordered, “Lovers’ Lane”

The first building 1890 was ‘Preparatory Hall,” popular called “Old Main”, but officially called “McFie Hall”. The building burned September 12, 1910.

Prepared for the El Paso Public Library by Lloyd C. and June F. Engelbrecht under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, 1990