Place · United States
The history of Albuquerque
Assembled from 2 dug tiles · 18 sourced records · 1909–2003 · last reviewed 13 September 2026
Albuquerque's ground holds two quieter stories beneath its streets: a 1716 land grant held by a soldier's widow, and a farming settlement called Los Griegos. Railroad platting and the city's expanding grid reduced both to street names, one of which no longer even carries its original name.
These are the individual spots Strata has dug in Albuquerque — not a guide to the town, but a record of what happened on particular ground.
Digs in Albuquerque
A village that became a number then vanishedElection Precinct 8, Los Griegos, once named this ground and then the city stopped naming it at all. Colleen Avenue Northeast
1909–2003 A grant faded into a grid of streets
A soldier's widow once held this land in her own name, before the city renamed it after itself. Lafying Street Northeast
1909–1988
Albuquerque in layers
about 13-14 km away
Miles west of this spot, thousands of images were pecked into black basalt boulders at Boca Negra and Rinconada canyons, carvings that predate written record on this ground. National Park Service
about 9 km away
Across the city, Martineztown developed where El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro met Tijeras Canyon, a junction Indigenous groups had used for trade long before Spanish colonial roads followed the same path. National Park Service
about 10 km away
A restored adobe farmhouse north of Albuquerque, Casa San Ysidro in Corrales operates today as a satellite of the Albuquerque Museum, showing how families lived along the river valley generations ago. National Park Service
Bernalillo County, New Mexico
This ground once fell within Election Precinct 8, known as Los Griegos, in Bernalillo County. FamilySearch
Petroglyph National Monument, Albuquerque
Boca Negra and Rinconada canyons, part of Petroglyph National Monument roughly 13 km west, hold thousands of images carved by Ancestral Puebloan and later Spanish-era hands into black basalt boulders. National Park Service
Martineztown, Albuquerque
Martineztown, several miles southwest, sat at the historic crossroads of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro and Tijeras Canyon, a route used for trade and travel long before Albuquerque existed as a city. National Park Service
Albuquerque
The University of New Mexico, based in Albuquerque, issued its general bulletin in 1909 and a chemistry series bulletin in 1913, part of a young institution documenting itself in print. Internet Archive
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
The University of New Mexico issued its scholarly bulletins from Albuquerque starting in 1909, and its chemistry series by 1913. Internet Archive
Albuquerque
The University of New Mexico's 1918 alumni directory recorded the school's board of regents, administration and faculty going back to 1892. Internet Archive
Albuquerque
The Soil Conservation Service published a population survey of the upper Rio Grande watershed out of Albuquerque in 1937, part of Depression-era land and water planning for the region. Internet Archive
Upper Rio Grande watershed
The U.S. Soil Conservation Service published a study in 1937 on the population of the upper Rio Grande watershed, the region that includes Albuquerque. Internet Archive
Albuquerque, New Mexico
The New Mexico Hospital Association, a statewide organization for hospitals, was founded in Albuquerque in 1945. Wikidata
University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque
The University of New Mexico Press published works from Albuquerque through the 1950s, including a 1953 history of London theater criticism and a 1952 aviation medicine symposium volume. Internet Archive
Albuquerque
An issue of the Sandia Lab News dated July 15, 1955, survives from the nuclear weapons research laboratory headquartered in Albuquerque during the Cold War. Internet Archive
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Del Norte High School, a public high school in Albuquerque, opened its doors in 1964. Wikidata
Albuquerque, October 11, 1988
Congress held an oversight hearing in Albuquerque in October 1988 on preserving the ancient rock carvings at what became Petroglyph National Monument, a landscape of volcanic basalt boulders on the city's west side. HathiTrust
Albuquerque, New Mexico
A veterinary clinic for cats was established nearby in 2003. Wikidata
Questions about Albuquerque
What is Albuquerque known for historically?
Within the city, specific ground carries layered histories: Lafying Street Northeast lies on the old Elena Gallegos Grant, land awarded by a Spanish governor to a widow in 1716, while Colleen Avenue Northeast sits within the former farming settlement of Los Griegos.
What happened to the Elena Gallegos Grant?
A Spanish governor awarded the grant in 1716 to a widow, with land running from the Rio Grande to the Sandia Mountains. Railroad-era platting in the 1880s cut the grant into streets that no longer carried her name, one of which became Lafying Street Northeast.
What was Los Griegos in Albuquerque?
Los Griegos was a farming settlement in the Rio Grande valley where families grew alfalfa and corn on narrow irrigated plots. Bernalillo County later logged the ground as Election Precinct 8, Los Griegos, and the name survived only on a ballot box before the area was absorbed into the city's subdivisions.
Why did Los Griegos disappear from maps?
As Albuquerque's street grid expanded, the settlement's name stopped being used for the ground itself, surviving instead as a county election precinct designation before the corner became part of the city's subdivisions.
What came before the streets in these parts of Albuquerque?
Before platting, this ground held a Spanish-era land grant to a widow and a farming village irrigating narrow plots along the Rio Grande valley, both later overtaken by railroad-era street grids.