Cibola County Historical Society expands
CIBOLA COUNTY, N.M. – A group of community members joined forces in 2009 and established the Cibola County Historical Society.
These dedicated volunteers have created two museums – one in 2011 and the latest in 2021. The Western New Mexico Aviation Heritage Museum, Milan-Grants Municipal Airport in Grants, was founded in 2011. And now the Cibola County History Museum, 525 High St. Grants, is hosting a May 29 ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The May 6 CCHS meeting included updates on various activities and last-minute details about the upcoming Open House and ribbon-cutting ceremony planned for Saturday of the Memorial Day weekend.
Nelcine Roland, membership committee, reported that 18 of the 29 current members have paid their annual fees. She recently contacted 25 past members and asked them to renew. Roland explained the five categories - senior, $20, individual, $25, family, $30, business/corporate, $40, and lifetime, $200.
Treasurer Jackie Heath noted that CCHS has sufficient funds to meet specific expenses.
The non-profit group has been awarded lodgers’ tax funding in the past. Those funds were used on planned upgrades such as the wrought iron fencing that encloses the outdoor exhibits. The group submitted a $5,000 request last month to the Grants Lodgers Tax Board for the 2021-22 fiscal year, which begins July 1. A total of nine area non-profit groups have applied for the FY 2021-22 funding.
(The LTB reviews the applications and recommends the amount to be awarded to each applicant.
The five-member city council makes the final decision on each non-profit’s request.)
Board member Steve Owen gave an update on the Western New Mexico Aviation Heritage Museum along with information about the High Street museum’s veterans’ exhibit which showcases a mannequin clad in a military uniform.
Other current exhibits feature education, telephone services, a children’s section, kitchen equipment along with household items such as treadle sewing machines, a collection of vintage Coca Cola memorabilia, the timeline panel that starts with 1890, one on the carrot industry, and another about the Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon, which celebrated its 38th annual event in 2021. This year the organizers utilized a virtual format because of the pandemic.
The City of Grants, which owns the building, and the CCHS have a contract that stipulates the terms for both parties, according to Jonnie Head, Society secretary. She said that the city owns the structure but the CCHS owns all the displays, both interior and exterior exhibits, and the equipment.
Heath described the challenges the volunteers have faced including leaks in the roof and a heating system which failed this past winter. The city replaced the furnace a few weeks ago acknowledged the treasurer.
The future of CCHS museum
The building was constructed in two sections. The later addition incorporated an interior steel beam that spans the east/west roofline. (Steel beams can hold significant weight and can carry a load across a large area, according t o https://www.infobloom.com/
) Head, Society secretary, explained that they recently hired Ernst Skeet, a local artist, to create a timeline mural on that interior beam. Skeet has designed and painted numerous outdoor murals including the giant carrot emblem in the traffic island between Milan and Grants on Historic Route 66, murals (depicting the carrot industry) on the exterior of two Village of Milan buildings, and created two others in Grants, the Native Basket Array piece at the entrance to the Double Six Gallery, and the coiled rattlesnake on the gallery’s east exterior wall, which faces Historic Route 66.
“Ernst is one of the many talented artists who contribute to the arts in Cibola,” commented Director Robert Gallegos, Double Six Gallery.
The CCHS is currently finalizing plans for the installation of three “heavy” donations – a large safe, a vintage farm tractor, and another large piece of agricultural equipment. The machinery will be added to the current outdoor exhibits and the safe will provide a secure storage site within the building.
Board members expressed concerns about the condition of the lawn which surrounds the High Street building. One person recommended that the city consider replacing the sod, which requires regular watering, with desert-friendly landscaping such as xeriscape to reduce or eliminate the need for irrigation.
A little history of this area
This region had originally been the western portion of Valencia County, but Cibola officially became a separate county in June 1981.
The CCHS was founded in 2009 to “preserve all aspects of days gone by in this region. We want to preserve artifacts, stories, and memories of our past – that is who and what made our area what it is today,” according to cibolahistory.org.
Sharing the past Society board members feel passionately about developing individual displays to represent each of the county’s communities: San Mateo, Bluewater, San Rafael, Milan, Grants, San Fidel, Cubero and Seboyeta. The Society has contacted area residents seeking information about each community’s history and asked for donations of artifacts to represent that community.
Society President Mary Savacheck added that future exhibits may focus on access to healthcare services including displays about Cibola General Hospital. Another possible display is the role of federal Rural Electrification Administration and origins of Continental Divide Electric Cooperative.
(The REA drafted the Electric Cooperative Corporation Act, a model law that states could adopt to enable the formation and operation of not-for-profit, consumerowned electric cooperatives. Congress enacted the legislation in 1937.)
The Society president said the evolution of “acequias” in New Mexico, especially in this county, is an important upcoming exhibit. (“Acequia” is a Spanish word for an irrigation system features dams, gates, and canals. The term has an Arabic origin.)
“Many people don’t understand the theory of ‘water rights’ and how this concept has played a major role in European migration west of the Mississippi River,” she said.
“People have such wonderful stories to share about this area’s history,” said Secretary Head and President Savacheck enthusiastically agreed.
Visit http://www.cibolahistory.org/ for more information.