Come to the Las Cruces Railroad Museum, 351 N. Mesilla St., for a Brown Bag Lecture from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday, July 12, 2022.
Join Alexandra McKinney for an engaging discussion about the Mail Lines of Mesilla!
Before the arrival of the railroad in 1881, the U.S. government authorized a series of overland mail companies to transport passengers and postal mail to California by way of southern New Mexico. These transportation lines, including the Butterfield Overland Mail and the San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line, marked the first-time southern New Mexico was connected to the west coast.
It also brought new travelers to the borderlands. Though only active for a few short years, these mail lines were vital to the development of the Mesilla Valley in the years leading to the Civil War.
Alexandra McKinney is the instructional coordinator at the Taylor-Mesilla Historic Property and Fort Selden Historic Site. She has a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of New Mexico and a master’s degree in public history from the University of West Florida. She takes pride in getting to protect and share the history of the state her family has called home since the early 1850s.
No registration is required to attend the Brown Bag lecture.
For additional information, call 575/528-3444.
The Las Cruces Railroad Museum, 351 N. Mesilla St., is accessible via RoadRUNNER Transit Routes 4 and 7, Stop 1. Visit the website at: https://www.las-cruces.org/museums or follow the Las Cruces Museums on Facebook and Instagram @LCMuseums.
For information, contact Elizabeth Montoya, Education Curator, at 575/528-3444, or by email at emontoya@las-cruces.org.