Steven and I had arrived late the night before in Silver City, also known as Silver to the locals, a mountain town in southwest New Mexico that has consistently ranked high on quality-of-life lists. A sizable number of its 10,000 population was attracted from out of state due to its alluring combination of outdoor activities, an educated population thanks to the local university, a thriving arts community, and striking housing that dates back to the city's boom times in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Our abode for the night was the historic Palace Hotel, which was built in 1890.
Though we'd chosen a room on the ground floor, we hadn't realized it had its own entrance on the main street. Looking at it, we wondered what we'd gotten ourselves into all over again, thinking back to our first night on the road. Luckily, initial appearances were deceiving as the room was large, surprisingly quiet, and it even had its own small kitchenette.
The next morning, we continued our wander through Silver. I've always liked how some of America's small towns honor their high school graduates with banners on lampposts along their main street, as Silver City does.
This mural was part of a 2009 Youth Mural Project commemorating the history of the city's Chihuahua Hill neighborhood.
If we saw one of these "Art" signs in front of galleries while traipsing through Silver City, there must have been twenty of them! It was gratifying to see how much emphasis a relatively small city placed on its arts scene.
Silver City has some of the highest sidewalks we have ever seen! I wondered whether that might have been due to the massive floods the town experienced over a century ago, which caused major devastation.
The former Silver City Museum was initially built in 1881 as the home of H.B. Ailman, a prospector turned banker, during the height of the silver mining boom in the late 19th century. The architectural style was described as Mansard-Italianate and was constructed with local brick and lumber. A massive tile mosaic on the side described the building as always being part of the city's civic life: a home, a business, the town hall, a firehouse, and a museum.
Next door was the current Silver City Museum in an old Victorian home.
When the Art Deco-style Murray Hotel originally opened its doors in 1938, it immediately became a symbol of luxury and prosperity in southwest New Mexico.
At the end of the main street and up the hill, stood the Grant County Courthouse, renowned for its collection of 1934 murals that depicted the local ranching and mining industries. However, the security guards were rather officious and refused to allow me to enter to view the murals, as no recording devices, including cameras, were permitted.
A few blocks away were some other magnificent mosaics.
The El Sol Theatre was constructed in 1934, during the height of the Depression, by a local contractor without the use of an architect's drawings, utilizing recycled, locally made, soft bricks. Newspaper articles boasted at the theatre’s opening that the entire building, two-and-a-half stories with a balcony and a basement, had been built in ninety days from the signing of the contract to the showing of the first movie.
By the 1940s, the theatre primarily showed afternoon Western serials and evening Spanish-language films. It was alternately opened and closed throughout the 1950s, following the construction of the Gila Theatre in the same block. When it finally closed, the auditorium was converted into a warehouse for a neighboring sporting goods store, and the lobby was divided into two sections to provide storerooms and bathrooms for two retail rental spaces located at the front of the building. Like a few other buildings in Silver, it has been closed for many years.
A very long mural made out of mosaics told the story of the evocatively named Big Ditch, a 50-foot, greenery-filled chasm below street level. The small canyon park was once Silver City's unpaved Main Street until a series of floods over a century ago transformed the gully into a gorge. A very long mural made out of mosaics told the story of the Big Ditch, and its transformation from a makeshift dump and sewer to a beautiful public park.
With the Big Ditch Riverwalk, Silver City continued to impress us.
The Log Cabin Curio Shop on Main Street was built in the 1860s.
Our guidebook must have been way out of date, as the Buckhorn Saloon across the street was listed as a restaurant with a Wild West setting, a watering hole that oozed character, and live music! However, it didn't look as if food or music had graced the interior for a long time.
Our guidebook must have been way out of date, as the Buckhorn Saloon across the street was listed as a restaurant with a Wild West setting, a watering hole that oozed character, and live music! However, it didn't look as if food or music had graced the interior for a long time.
Next door was the equally shuttered Pinos Altos Opera House, whose sign indicated it was established in 1863. Both establishments opened during the Gold Rush era. Imagine the stories both buildings could have told!
A few blocks away was the Hearst Church, an odd-pitched-roof adobe property that had been built in 1898 by William Randolph Hearst's mother, Phoebe, who had gained her family's fortune from an area gold mine. Sadly, like everything else in the community we'd come to view, it was also closed.
Next post: Exploring Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument.
Posted on May 31st, 2025, from San Francisco while visiting our elder son and his family for the weekend. It's challenging to have each of our four children in a different time zone, but we're fortunate that our home in Denver is relatively equidistant from New York, Chicago, and the "City by the Bay," and each is a great place to visit! At least, our youngest and his fiancée live in the Denver area, so we see them regularly. Wishing each of you time with loved ones.
I wonder where Silver City, the former name of our Cineplex theatre in Ottawa, got its name from ? Could it be related to theatre (the silver screen) ? Based on the number of beautiful ceramic mosaics, the town is definitely rich in artists ! Thanks for the tour ! xo Lina xo
ReplyDeleteLina, I should have specified that it's named after the silver deposits as it was a huge mining town a century ago. Good thought, though, about it being named after the silver screen, as there were no fewer than three theaters in Silver City.
ReplyDeleteXOXO from San Francisco