Self read the following in a brochure she picked up from the Double Eagle, a restaurant facing Mesilla’s old plaza, itself a National Historic Landmark:
The name Mesilla is first found and inscribed on a map in a report to the King of Spain by Don Juan de Onate dated 1598. This makes it predate the arrival of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock by 22 years. It was first part of Mexico: the US border lay just 3 miles north. It became part of the United States as part of the Gadsden Purchase of 1854.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
Kanlaon 