Charming Mesilla Reaches Out

New Mexico Business Journal, June, 2001 by Debbra O'Hara

IN 1860, THE RIO GRANDE CUT A new channel, placing Mesilla on the United States side of the U.S./Mexico border. By the late 1800s, Mesilla had reached 2,500-3,000 people, the largest town and trade center between San Antonio and San Diego. Both the San Antonio-San Diego Mail and the Butterfield Mail and Stage Lines used the town as a major stage stop for their passenger and mail services. Wholesalers from San Antonio and St. Louis advertised in Mesilla newspapers.

Today it is Mesilla doing the advertising and people are still stopping by. Other than agriculture, tourism is the most important industry in the town and is promoted by the Old Mesilla Association (OMA) of area business owners. In the past four years, the OMA $15,000 tourism budget has increased to more than $50,000. This in turn has resulted in increased membership as more business owners join in to share the benefits of the advertising efforts.

OMA uses matching funds from the New Mexico Department of Tourism cooperative advertising program to tell travelers near and far about the history and beauty of Mesilla. Jerry Harrell, general manager of the Double Eagle restaurant on Messily Plaza and a member of OMA said, "It has been proven in every state, when the state department of tourism increases funds, tourism increases in the state. When it decreases funds, tourism decreases."

The association is currently paying for six area billboards to encourage highway travelers to become visitors and has developed two types of travel brochures. One is a our-color rack card, or "lure" brochure, for display at visitors centers and convention bureaus more than 200 miles away. The other is a six-fold piece with a map and list of members for use within 250 miles. (About 25 percent of Mesilla traffic comes from El Paso, Harrell said.) Other tourism dollars go to entertaining and educating travel writers and industry executives.

Tourism, according to Mayor Michael M. Cadena, is the business that allows the town to function. Property taxes have not been raised in Mesilla since the 1950s. "We are dependent on the gross receipts that fund the day to day services such as police, fire, etc.," he said. "Part of the harm is people still live there. The town tries to make Mesilla a nice place for residents while attracting tourists."

The tourism that pays for city services necessarily brings outsiders to Mesilla, using the streets, parking on the Plaza, Harrell explained, a consequence not appreciated by all of the 2,000 residents, or "Mesilleros." And although the town government is short on funds for completing water and sewer lines to all residences, it seems "more intent on measuring the size of signs outside doors than generating more revenues to run the town," he said.

Regardless, revenues have been growing. Buddy Ritter, a fifth generation Mesillero, with large business property holdings in Mesilla, believes Mesilla has matured in the last 25 years. "It is real progressive and aggressive. The village government is doing a wonderful job of controlling the architecture and zoning, making Mesilla a jewel and preserving it."

Preservation is important to Ritter. His office is in the room that his mother's grandfather used as a surgery as the town's doctor. And his Double Eagle Restaurant features many antiques of historic significance.

Mesilla homes were usually built in Territorial Style with thick adobe walls which extended several feet above their flat roofs. Stores featured tin, brick, or adobe facades. In the 1950's and 1960's as more modern styles of architecture were introduced into the area, citizens of Mesilla enacted a zoning ordinance to retain the character of the town. Stabilization, restoration, and rehabilitation projects undertaken by individual property owners have, for the most part, retained the distinctiveness of the structures. The Mesilla district is on the State and National Historical Registers and Mesilla Plaza is a National Historic Landmark.

Mercado de Mesilla is a new development which successfully complements the historic nature of the town. Each building in the commercial complex is constructed with traditional techniques and materials and features one of five architectural styles outlined in the Mesilla historical register. Larry Sheffield, one of the Mercado's developers said preliminary studies had shown that tour buses stop in Mesilla, but that tour visitors do not spend the night or eat a meal there. In fact, Mesilla only captures two percent of the estimated 25 million people who travel Interstate 10 annually. And the average length of stay for those visitors is only two-and-a-half to three hours. They spend about $10-15 each. He hopes the Mercado will offer more incentive to visitors to stay longer and spend more money.

Mayor Cadena said, "So far the developers of the Mesilla Mercado have worked with us. Sheffield was very cooperative. We feel it fits into the area without competing with the Plaza. We want them to go to both places. It is the last commercial area and we want to work with developers to make sure it fits the whole thing we are creating."