Las Vegas, NM Beginnings

The town actually started with 29 families building their homes around this central plaza. In 1835 it was established as a land grant of 140 acres to each of these families. The town was originally called Nuestra Senora de Los Delores de Las Vegas Grandes, (Our Lady of the Sorrows of the Great Meadows.) As a majot trading post on the Santa Fe trail, it became a prosperous Spanish town.