Albuquerque, New Mexico

Albuquerque is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County, and it is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 555,417 as of the July 1, 2012 population estimate from the United States Census Bureau, and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. The Albuquerque MSA has a population of 901,700 according to the United States Census Bureau's most recently available estimate for July 1, 2012. Albuquerque is the 53rd-largest United States metropolitan area. The Albuquerque MSA population includes the city of Rio Rancho, Bernalillio, Placitas, Corrales, Los Lunas, Belen, Bosque Farms, and forms part of the larger Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Vegas combined statistical area, with a total population of 1,162,777 as of the 2012 Census.

Albuqeurque is home to the University of New Mexico (UNM), Central New Mexico Community College (CNM), Presbyterian Health Services, Kirtland Air Force Base, Sandia National Laboratories, Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, and Petroglyph National Monument. The Sandia Mountains run along the eastern side of Albuquerque, and the Rio Grande flows through the city, north to south.

History
Timeline of Albuquerque, New Mexico History

Etymology
It is generally believed that the growing village that was to become Albuquerque was named by the provincial governor Don Francisco Cuervo y Valdes in honour of Don Francisco Fernandez de la Cueva y Enriquez de Cabrera, viceroy of New Spain from 1653 to 1660. One of de la Cueva's aristocratic titles was Duke of Albuquerque, referring to the Spanish town of Albuquerque.

The Albuquerque family name dates from pre-12th century Iberia (Spain and Portugal, being the old name of the Portuguese family Albuquerque) and is habitational in nature (de Albuquerque = from Alburquerque). The Spanish village of Albuquerque is within the Badajoz privince of Extremadura region, and located just fifteen miles (24 km) from the Portuguese border. Cork trees dominate the landscape and Albuquerque is a center of the Spanish cork industry. Over the years, this region has been alternately under both Spanish and Portuguese rule. The name of the New Mexico city of Albuquerque is identical to the Portuguese rule. The name of the New Mexico city of Albuquerque is identical to the Portuguese spelling with only one 'r' of the family name in Portugal, probably due to Spanish or native local pronunciations. The name is Latin (Roman) in origin and from alba quercus or "white oak" (the wood of the cork oak is white after the bark has been removed). The seal of the Spanish village of Albuquerque is a white oak tree, framed by a shield, topped by a crown.

Western folklore offers a different explanation, tracing the name Albuquerque to the Arabic 'Al-Barquq', meaning "the plum", and the derivative Galician (Galicia, northwest Spanish region) work 'albaricoque', the 'apricot'. The apricot was brought to New Mexico by Spanish settlers, possibly as early as 1743. As the story goes, the settlement of La Ciudad de Albaricoque was established near an apricot tree. As frontiersmen were unable to correctly pronounce the Spanish (Galician) work, they pronounced it as "Albuquerque."

Early Settlers
Albuquerque was founded in 1706 as the Spanish colonial outpost of Ranchos de Albuquerque. Present-day Albuquerque retains much of its historial Spanish cultural heritage.

Albuquerque was a farming community and strategically located military outpost along the Camino Real. The town was also the sheep-herding center of the West. Spain established a presidio (military garrison) in Albuquerque in 1706. After 1821, Mexico also had a military garrison there. The town of Albuquerque was built in the traditional Spanish village pattern: a central plaza surrounded by government buildings, homes, and a church. This central plaza area has been preserved and is open to the public as a museum, cultural area, and center of commerce. It is referred to as "Old Town Albuquerque" or simply "Old Town." Historically it was sometimes referred to as "La Placita" (little plaza in Spanish). On the north side of Old Town Plaza is San Felipe de Neri Church. Built in 1793, it is one of the oldest surviving buildings in the city.

After the American occupation of New Mexico, Albuquerque had a federal garrison and quartermaster depot, the Post of Albuquerque, from 1846 to 1867. During the Civil War Albuquerque was occupied in February 1862 by Confederate troops under General Henry Hopkins Sibley, who soon afterward advanced with his main body into northern New Mexico. During his retreat from Union troops into Texas he made a stand on April 8, 1862, at Albuquerque and fought the Battle of Albuquerque against a detachment of Union soldiers commanded by Colonel Edward R. S. Canby. This daylong engagement at long range led to few casualties.

When the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad arrived in 1880, it bypassed the Plaza, locating the passenger depot and railyards about 2 miles (3 km) east in what quickly became known as New Albuquerque or New Town. Many Anglo merchants, mountain men and settlers slowly filtered into Albuquerque creating a major mercantile commercial center which is now Downtown Albuquerque. Due to a rising rate of violent crime, gunman Milt Yarberry was appointed the town's first marshall that year. New Albuquerque was incorporated as a town in 1885, with Henry N. Jaffa its first mayor, and it was incorporated as a city in 1891. Old Town remained a separate community until the 1920s when it was absorbed by the city of Albuquerque. Old Albuquerque High School, the city's first public high school, was established in 1879.

Early 20th Century
By 1900, Albuquerque boasted a population of 8,000 inhabitants and all the modern amenities, including an electric street railway connecting Old Town, New Town and the recently established University of New Mexico campus on the East Mesa. In 1902, the famous Alvarado Hotel was built adjacent to the new passenger depot, and it remained a symbol of the city until it was razed in 1970 to make room for a parking lot. In 2002, the Alvarado Transportation Center was built on the sit in a manner resembling the old landmark. The large metro station fuctions as the downtown headquarters for the city's transit department. It also serves as an intermodal hub for local buses, Greyhound buses, Amtrak passenger trains and the Rail Runner commuter rail line.

New Mexico's dry climate brought many tuberculosis patients to the city in search of a cure during the early 20th century, and several sanitaria sprang up on the West Mesa to serve them. Presbyterian Hospital and St. Joseph Hospital, two of the largest hospitals in the Southwest, had their beginnings during this period. Influential New Deal-era governor Clyde Tingley and famed Southwestern architect John Gaw Meem were among those brought to New Mexico by tuberculosis.