A history of Quemado,
then and now
Postcards, papers and photographs of Quemado from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story so far
from Wikipedia & the U.S. CensusQuemado is a census-designated place in Catron County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2020 census, Quemado had a population of 163. Walter De Maria's 1977 art installation, The Lightning Field, is between Quemado and Pie Town, New Mexico.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 228 to 163 (-29%). Half of its homes were built before 1984.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Quemado yet — the old photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Intro from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Population and housing: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Quemado’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewCowboy at Rodeo, 1940: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Quemado, decade by decade
1990s
Nothing in Quemado is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Quemado has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is El Caso Lookout Complex in Aragon, 16.4 miles away.
Quemado and the nearest listed places
How a place gets listed
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Cowboy at Rodeo (1940) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (2) and the Library of Congress (4). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.