Las Cruces, NM news and local guide

At first nearby Mesilla, with a mostly Mexican population, was the leading town, and in 1860 it had more than 2,000 people, twice as many as Las Cruces. When the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway reached the area, Mesilla's landowners refused to sell rights-of-way, while Las Cruces residents donated right-of-way and land for a depot. The first train arrived in 1881, and although Las Cruces was neither a terminus nor a junction, its population grew to 2,300 in the 1880s. It was incorporated as a town in 1907. The lawman Pat Garrett, best known from the Lincoln County War, worked in Las Cruces on the famous case of the disappearance of Albert Jennings Fountain in 1896. The city is also home to New Mexico State University. Sources Wikipedia: Las Cruces, New Mexico