Deming New Mexico Tourism

Deming, is in the southwest part of the state on Int. 10 between El Paso, TX and Tucson, AZ. The earliest beginnings of this area goes back to the Mimbres Indians who claimed the Mimbres Valley in southwest NM as home from A.D. 650-1150.

Their legacy is the black and white Mimbreño pottery that is nationally acclaimed. Those Indians disappeared long before the Spaniards conquered and called the region their kingdom. Geronimo, Victorio and other Apaches roamed the Territory and the nearby Florida Mountains in the 1800s. There was a Butterfield Stage Trail Stop in the 1850s.

But it was the entrepreneurs from the eastern states of the U.S. who left their permanent mark. Deming was founded in 1881 by railroad magnates, and the design of many of its historical buildings was influenced from the eastern dignitaries. It was named for Mary Deming Crocker, wife of a railroad magnate. During that time, windmills were everywhere – they were necessary to draw water from the underground Mimbres River water basin.

Camp Cody, and later the Holy Cross Sanatorium, were important establishments in the early 1900s. Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa made his name famous from his attack on Columbus in 1916. During WWII, Deming had an active military base, the Deming Army Air Field which even housed prisoners of war. The Rio Mimbres Country Club was originally the Army Air Field’s Officers Club. Many of the military buildings are still around town, and part of the old base is still here.

Today, the Florida Mountains are the same…except now they are dotted with homes on the western slope which gently travel down to the bustling city of Deming – around 28,000 people within Luna County, which includes the border town of Columbus. Ranching is still popular, dairies are numerous, and farmers produce crops such as cotton, grains, melons, pumpkins, onions, pecans, and, of course, the famous green and red chili of which Deming is the largest producer in the world. The local wineries have earned outstanding recognition and art galleries are popular.