User:Fletchersparadox/sandbox/projects/towns/ElRito
El Rito, (Spanish for Little River),[1] is an unincorporated community in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, USA.[2] Its elevation is 6,875 feet (2,096 m).
El Rito is located on NM 554; 18 miles (29 km) Northwest of Española and 15 miles (24 km) Northwest of Ojo Caliente. It is surrounded by the Carson National Forest.
Originally named El Rito Colorado, the red creek, it took its name from the creek that passes through the village. Tewas call the El Rito region "pink below place" for the El Rito Mountains, known to them as the pink mountains.[3] It was established around 1780 as one of the early Spanish land grant settlements in northern New Mexico. The Spanish land grant claim for El Rito was presented to the US Court of Private Land Claims in 1898 and eventually the land was deeded to the land occupants under the Homestead Act of 1891.[4]
The Church of San Juan Nepomuceno was constructed 1827-1832. The church was restored in the 1980s. A Folkstreams interview with the former San Juan Nepomuceno priest, Fr. Jerome Martínez, records his thoughts on the histories of El Rito and the church.[5]
It is the home of the Carson National Forest Service – El Rito Ranger District, the El Rito Public Library, the Las Clinicas del Norte, and a campus of Northern New Mexico College.
Gallery[edit]
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Front view of San Juan Nepomuceno church -
Side view of San Juan Nepomuceno church -
Sign outside San Juan Nepomuceno church
Sources[edit]
- ^ Pearce, TM, ed. (1965). New Mexico Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. ISBN 0826300820.
- ^ "El Rito, Rio Arriba County, New Mexico". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ Julyan, Robert (1998). The Place Names of New Mexico. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. p. 120. ISBN 0826316891.
- ^ Bowden, J.J. "Town of El Rito Grant". New Mexico Office of the State Historian. Archived from the original on August 28, 2018.
- ^ "History of the Region and El Rito". Folkstreams. September 17, 1983. Archived from the original on August 28, 2018.
Municipalities and communities of Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, United States | ||
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| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
36°20′44″N 106°11′14″W / 36.34542°N 106.1873299°W
Category:Unincorporated communities in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico Category:Spanish-American culture in New Mexico Category:Unincorporated communities in New Mexico