Plaza Hotel (Las Vegas, New Mexico) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Plaza Hotel |
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| General information | |
| Type | Hotel |
| Town or city | Las Vegas, New Mexico |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 35°35′35″N 105°13′39″W / 35.593003°N 105.227600°W |
| Completed | 1882 |
The Plaza Hotel is a famous hotel in Las Vegas, New Mexico. It first opened in 1882. Back then, it was a fancy hotel for a town that was growing fast. This hotel has a long and interesting history. It is even listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This means it's an important part of history in the Las Vegas Plaza area.
Contents
Location and History of Las Vegas
The Plaza Hotel is on the north side of the old town plaza in Las Vegas. This area was once a parking spot for wagons. The town of Las Vegas was started in the 1830s.
Important Events at the Plaza
During the Mexican–American War in 1846, a general named Stephen W. Kearny gave a speech. He stood on the plaza and said that New Mexico was now part of the United States.
For many years, the town stayed small and quiet. But things changed when the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway arrived in 1879. The train station was about one mile east of the plaza.
Creating the Plaza Park
In 1880, the local newspaper, The Las Vegas Optic, asked people for money. They wanted to turn the plaza into a nice park. People gave money, and trees were planted. A bandstand was built, and a fence went up around the park.
Building the Plaza Hotel
By 1882, the town of Las Vegas had grown a lot. About six thousand people lived there.
Hotel Construction Details
The Plaza Hotel was built in 1882. A group of business people, led by Don Benigno Romero, built it. Carlos Blanchard, a local merchant, was also part of the group. Building the hotel cost $25,000.
The Plaza is a three-story building made of brick. It has an Italianate style front. The hotel rooms had high ceilings and were decorated in a grand way. The main lobby had two tall staircases leading to the second floor. The first-floor balcony used to have fancy iron railings, but they are gone now.
The hotel was advertised as the best in the area. People often called the Plaza the "Belle of the Southwest."
Hotel History and Famous Guests
In 1883, a large department store called the Great Emporium opened next to the hotel. The plaza area was the main business center for about thirty years.
Famous People and Clubs
In 1885, a former outlaw named Dick Liddil took over the hotel's bar and billiard room. The Plaza was the top hotel in Las Vegas until the late 1890s. That's when the Santa Fe Railroad built a new, fancy hotel called La Castañeda. It was run by Fred Harvey as part of his Harvey House hotels. By the end of the 1890s, Las Vegas was as important as cities like Denver, El Paso, and Tucson.
The dry weather in Las Vegas started to attract people who were sick. Many people with lung problems, like tuberculosis, came hoping to get better. By the 1890s, many guests at the Plaza were recovering from tuberculosis. A group called the One Lung Club was started at the hotel in the 1890s. It helped these guests have fun activities that didn't require too much effort.
The first meeting of Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders was held at the Plaza Hotel in 1899. Theodore Roosevelt stayed at the hotel twice. He even announced that he would run for president from Las Vegas.
The Hotel on Film
The Plaza Hotel was used in many cowboy movies. This included westerns starring Tom Mix. From 1913 to 1915, a silent film director and actor named Romaine Fielding rented the whole hotel. He even changed its name to the Hotel Romaine. You can still see parts of that old name on the brick outside.
The first movie Fielding made in Las Vegas was The Rattlesnake. It was a story about two rivals in love. He made four more short films in the next month. His longer movie, The Golden God, used about 5,000 local people as extras. It even showed cavalry and artillery moving through the old town streets. Sadly, the film was lost in a fire, and no copies exist today.
Mama Lucy's Restaurant
Mrs. Lucy Lopez, known as Mama Lucy, ran the Plaza Hotel Restaurant and Bar. She and her husband ran it for fourteen years. They also rented part of the hotel as a place for New Mexico Highlands University students to live. Students could buy meal tickets for the restaurant instead of eating at the university cafeteria. Lunch and dinner cost $30 a month. Students who didn't have much money could help out at the hotel instead.
The Plaza Hotel Today
In 1982, new owners fixed up the hotel. It then had thirty-six guest rooms and a fancy dining room. Later, they bought the building next door. This added thirty-five more rooms. It also added 3,100 square feet of space for meetings and parties. The rooms in this new part, called the Ilfeld section, are more modern. But the older part of the hotel still has its cozy, classic feel.
In 2006, the hotel had a restaurant and a lobby bar. The bar was named Byron T's after a past owner, Byron T. Mills. Some people say his ghost still haunts the building!
Several scenes from the 2007 movie No Country for Old Men were filmed at the Plaza Hotel.
The Plaza Hotel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
See also
In Spanish: Hotel Plaza (Nuevo México) para niños
