History of Silver City

nd certificate programs. The WNMU athletic team is referred to as the Mustangs. Recognition for the university includes the 2003 Zia Award, the 2005 Best Practice Award (for the School of Education), the 2006 Chamber of Commerce Large Business of the Year Award, the 2008 Piñon Award, and the 2008 Compañero Award.

The town had originally been designed with the streets running north to south. The town was also built in the path of normal water runoff. Businesses sprang up, and people learned to deal with the inconveniences of the summer rain. Silver City was built with high sidewalks in the downtown area to accommodate high flood waters. Meanwhile, uncontrolled cattle grazing thinned down plant life on hills surrounding the town, as did deforestation. During the night of July 21, 1895, a heavy wall of water rushed through the downtown business district, leaving a trail of destruction. A ditch 55 feet (17 m) lower than the original street level was created in what was once known as Main Street. Businesses on Main Street began using their back doors on Bullard Street as main entrances and eventually, were permanently used as the new front entrances. To this day, the incorrect odd/even addressing conventions on the east side of Bullard Street are a reminder that the buildings were addressed on Main Street originally, not Bullard Street. Main Street now ends near the back of the Silver City Police Station, where the Big Ditch Park begins.

The Mimbres Mogollon Indians (A.D. 200 - A.D. 1140/50) once lived in the area, along with other prehistoric groups, including the Salado. Mimbres archaeological sites are located throughout Silver City and surrounding communities on federal, state, municipal, and private property. Collecting of Mimbres pottery by landowners and others is documented as far back as the late 1870s. Collecting was something that occurred during a Sunday picnic in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some