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Roswell
In 1866, when Charles Goodnight took a herd of Texas cattle up the grassy Pecos Valley, blazing the famous trail that would bear his and partner Oliver Loving's names, cattle became king. From his sprawling ranch outside Roswell (elevation 3,570 feet or 1,088 meters), John S. Chisum oversaw 80,000 head of cattle and let them graze along a 150-mile stretch of the Pecos River. Billy the Kid knew Chisum's South Spring Ranch well. Roswell began in 1869, when businessman Van C. Smith started a general store and inn there when it was known as Rio Hondo. Smith renamed his place Roswell, after his father, in 1872. Ash Upson (who coauthored Pat Garrett's 1882 book) was one of its first postmasters. Garrett and his deputy, John Poe, built homes and lived there (as did Garrett's unmarried daughter, Elizabeth, until her death in 1947). Worcester, Mass., native Dr. Robert H. Goddard (1882-1945), the Father of Modern Rocketry, was drawn to Roswell and the nearby, wide-open Eden Valley in 1930 for his liquid-fuel rocket launches (Nazi Germany jump-started its rocketry program by cribbing from Goddard's published experiments). Roswell, the largest city in southeast New Mexico (and the fifth largest in the state) is home to an elite military institute, and two historic districts. UFOlogists who embrace the famed 1947 Roswell Incident, regard the city's must-see International UFO Museum & Research Center as a national gathering spot for true believers, especially during the city's UFO Festival every July. The Chaves County seat, Roswell is the center of a thriving dairy cattle industry. It has 21 inns and motels, two bed and breakfasts, 80 restaurants, six museums, and two historic districts. Lincoln is 57 road miles (91.7 kilometers) away, Ruidoso 71 miles (114.3 km) away, Fort Sumner 84 miles (135.2 km) away, Portales 91 miles (146.4 km) away, Santa Fe 192 miles (309 km) away, Albuquerque 199 miles (320.3 km) away, and El Paso 203 miles (326.7 km) away.
Roswell Chamber of Commerce
131 W. Second, Roswell, New Mexico 88201
(575/623-5695 or 877/849-7679)
www.roswellnm.org
information@roswellnm.org
