Pinehill, New Mexico facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Pinehill, New Mexico
Census-designated place
Location of Pinehill in Cibola County
Pinehill, New Mexico Location in the United States
Country	United States
State	New Mexico
County	Cibola
Area
• Total	3.54 sq mi (9.15 km2)
• Land	3.54 sq mi (9.15 km2)
• Water	0.00 sq mi (0.00 km2)
Elevation	7,119 ft (2,170 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	586
• Density	165.77/sq mi (64.01/km2)
Time zone	UTC-7 (Mountain (MST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-6 (MDT)
ZIP code	87357
Area code(s)	505
FIPS code	35-57190
GNIS feature ID	1852631

Pinehill (sometimes called Pine Hill) is a special kind of community in Cibola County, New Mexico, United States. It's known as a census-designated place, which means it's an area identified by the U.S. Census Bureau for statistical purposes.

Pinehill is located on the Ramah Navajo Indian Reservation. In 2020, about 586 people lived there. The area called Pinehill today is a bit different from where it was in 2010. The original 2010 Pinehill is now known as Mountain View. The current Pinehill is about 8 miles (13 km) south of that old location.

Exploring Pinehill's Location

Pinehill is found in the western part of Cibola County. It's about 12 miles (19 km) south of New Mexico State Road 53. If you travel southeast from Gallup, it's about 62 miles (100 km) away.

Grants, which is the main town in Cibola County, is about 58 miles (93 km) to the northeast. In 2010, the Pinehill area was about 8 miles (13 km) north of its current spot. That older area included Mountain View, where many Ramah Navajo government offices are located.

The United States Census Bureau says that in 2010, Pinehill covered an area of about 3.36 square miles (8.7 square kilometers). All of this area is land.

Who Lives in Pinehill?

In 2000, there were 116 people living in Pinehill. There were 36 households and 29 families. The population density was about 34.5 people per square mile (13.3 people per square kilometer).

All the residents in 2000 were Native American. About 47% of the households had children under 18. The average household had about 3.22 people, and the average family had about 3.62 people.

The age of people in Pinehill in 2000 was spread out:

• 31% were under 18 years old.
• 11.2% were between 18 and 24.
• 26.7% were between 25 and 44.
• 19% were between 45 and 64.
• 12.1% were 65 years or older.

The average age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were about 87 males.

Learning and Schools in Pinehill

Pinehill is home to the Pine Hill Schools. This is a special school run by the Ramah Navajo School Board.

Many children from Pinehill also go to public schools in Ramah, New Mexico. These include Ramah Elementary School and Ramah Middle/High School. These schools are managed by the Gallup-McKinley County Schools. The nearest schools in Cibola County are about 50 miles (80 km) away. Because of this, Cibola and McKinley counties agreed that students could attend schools in McKinley County.

Even though Pinehill is officially in the Grants/Cibola County Schools area, few children go to those schools. This is because there is no school bus service from Pinehill to them.

How Education Developed in Pinehill

For a long time, Native students on the reservation went to Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) boarding schools. These schools were in New Mexico and other states. In 1943, the BIA opened Mountain View Day School on the reservation for younger students (Kindergarten to 3rd grade). It started with 30 students.

In 1954, a dormitory opened in Ramah Village, which had the closest public schools. Mountain View Day School then closed. The public high school in Ramah Village closed around 1968 because it was unsafe. At first, high school students had to go to distant BIA boarding schools. The dormitory in Ramah only took elementary students. The Gallup-McKinley school district did not provide bus service to other public schools.

In August 1968, a group called the Navajo Legal System Program (DNA) sued the school district. They wanted the public school to reopen. The courts decided that the reservation could have bus service to public schools in Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico (including Zuni High School). However, the Gallup-McKinley County district chose not to send its buses into Cibola County, where the reservation is.

Because of this, the Ramah Navajo Indian School Board was created in 1970. They planned to open their own tribal school. This school opened in the old Ramah School building in 1970. In 1975, the tribal school moved to Pinehill. The Ramah Village public high school reopened in 1983.

In 1994, the Ramah tribal government and the governments of Cibola County and McKinley County agreed to have two bus stops on the Ramah reservation. Neither of these was at Pinehill at first. But after parents spoke up, a bus stop was set up across from Pine Hill schools in December 1994.

In January 1995, the Ramah Navajo chapter and the Ramah Navajo School Board sued the New Mexico Public Education Department and the Gallup McKinley County Schools. They argued that allowing the school district to extend bus services further into tribal lands took students away from Pine Hill Schools. They felt this went against a previous agreement between the tribe and the counties.

Pinehill's Post Office

Pinehill has its own post office. The ZIP code for Pinehill is 87357.

Local Radio Station

The studio for the KTDB radio station is located in Pinehill. This station broadcasts to the Ramah Navajo Indian Reservation and the areas around it.

See also

In Spanish: Pinehill (Nuevo México) para niños