Springer, New Mexico

The town of Springer is located in the southern part of Colfax County. The land on which Springer is now situated was part of the Maxwell Land Grant. (LINK) In 1870, When Lucien Maxwell sold the grant to the Dutch East Indies Company in 1870, Frank Springer, a successful attorney, rancher and scientist, handled the legal affairs of the company. For his services, he was given a 320-acre tract of land within the Maxwell grant. This became the present site of Springer.

Springer was the county seat of Colfax County from 1882-1898. From 1869-1871 the county seat was Elizabethtown and from there it was moved to Cimarron because the Maxwell Land and Cattle Company had established its offices there, thinking the AT&SF Railroad would go through Cimarron. During the years Springer was the county seat, the citizens put up a gallant fight to hold it, but with only one commissioner in the Springer district against two in the northern district, Raton was successful in gaining the right to be the county seat.

The Old County Courthouse building, which houses the Santa Fe Trail Museum today, has been used for many purposes. It housed the New Mexico Reform School for Boys from 1909 to 1917. After 1917, the building housed the Springer Public Library, nursery school, municipal offices and marshals quarters, jail, Work Projects Administration supply rooms, Red Cross sewing rooms and the Woman's Progress Club rooms. The Santa Fe Trail Museum received a National Scenic Byway grant in 1999 to build an extensive Santa Fe Trail Interpretive Center.

With the coming of the Atchinson, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad in 1879, Springer became an extremely important trading and shipping point. Cattle and sheep were driven in for miles around and shipped from the Springer railhead.

People shopped in quite a different manner in the early days. They came from all around once or twice a year in large wagons or wagon trains bringing hides of wool to ship out, and buying supplies to last for six months to a year.

The first merchants were C.A. Clouthier and H.M. Porter. Their store was located on Colbert Street where the Zia Theater building now stands. In time it grew to be the largest wholesale business in Northeast New Mexico. Henry M. Porter bought out Clouthier's interests in their store, but from that date until 1939, the time of Mr. Clouthier's death, he was in business in Springer almost continuously. In 1896 Sol Floersheim came to Springer and bought Mr. Porter's store and from that time until the present, the Floersheim family has been in business in Springer and other parts of Northeast New Mexico.

Another early store was the general merchandise of P.P. Talle. This building still stands with its sign; it is the Verbeck shop. Still another general store was that of Manuel Salazar and Son. It was next to the Zia Theater.

Saddle making and boot making were important occupations at that time, there being one of each in Springer in the early days. Last, but not least, Springer supported seven saloons, two hotels and a livery and feed stable owned by R. H. Cowan. The Livery was constructed in 1880 of quarried stone and was later occupied by the Bowers Garage. Today, the old Livery Stable houses an antique business. An amusing advertisement Mr. Cowan had in an old paper was as follows:

"Good rigs and saddle horses at reasonable rates. Tourists taken to any part of the country with good teams and experienced drivers."

Springer's first school house was an adobe building on the lot adjoining the Guthman residence. In 1893 a two story building was built on the hill; in 1904 an addition was added which served as a grade and high school. With the addition of a new gymnasium, agriculture building, library and class rooms, part of this building is still being used. In 1936 a new grade school was built on the Old Courthouse grounds and the old grade school building was torn down.

The Catholic Church has played an important part in the history of Springer. Previous to 1882, Springer was a mission and under the jurisdiction of Onate. In 1882, it was made a parish with a very large mission territory under it. Some of the missions which the parish priest had to visit and which gives one an idea of the size of the parish were Raton, Ponil, Blossburg, Vermejo, Dillon, Colmor, Agua Dulce, Folsom, Albert, Martinez and Arroyo Yutes. These places were visited every two months by the mission parish priest from Springer. Considering the roads and means of travel it is not surprising that it took a priest so long to cover his territory and pay visits. Beginning in 1882, Father Accrosini became the first priest in Springer's St. Joseph Parish.

The early citizens of the community did not have the modern entertainment which we have today. The Springer Opera House operated on Colbert Street, later to become the Zia Movie Theater which operated from 1937 to 1995. The Zia Theater building now serves as a church meeting house.

Skating parties on the river in winter, home talent plays, dances, church and lodge suppers and socials, church and school entertainment were all popular forms of amusement. And one must not forget that Springer had its own "Springer Cornet Band" as early as 1903.

In 1903 a catastrophic fire occurred in Springer. It wiped out the entire business section of town where the Floersheim and Salazar stores were located. Cause of the fire was never learned, but as the Springer Cornet Band had practiced the night before in the upstairs of the Olona Building on the corner where the fire was first sighted, it was thought that a carelessly dropped cigarette might have started the blaze. The business district was rebuilt on what is now Third Street.

Disasters for Springer did not end with the fire of 1903, for the following year came the flood which caused a great amount of damage and some loss of life in the growing community.

People thought with the coming of the railroad that law and order would be better enforced and that the day of the desperados was past, but each man was more or less his own law. Even as late of 1907 an article in a local newspaper tells a story of an accidental shooting, which killed a young man of Springer.

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