A Ghost Street
in an Old New Mexico Railroad Town

by Mel Fenson

I've driven on Highway 285 through Vaughn, New Mexico - south of Santa Fe - on my way home to Roswell many times. On trips home from college, we used to stop at a little cafe - that's no longer there - for cherry pie. We'd chat with the State Police, who also usually stopped there. It's the last stop before Roswell, which is ninety miles southeast.

But as many times as I have driven through Vaughn, I never realized that there was an old deserted Main Street a few blocks away from the highway. Last time I drove through, I cruised around the back streets of this little town, looking for interesting photo opportunities and discovered this pleasant old deserted former downtown street. There was plenty of parking, so I stopped for a while, checked out the old buildings and shot these photos. - MF


Ghost Street

 

The overhang has not been repaired lately. So, if it rains, you will want to stand somewhere else.
While cities pay a lot of money to landscape Main Street sidewalks, nature has done it in Vaughn - for free.
Of course, politicians can always find some uses for old boarded-up buildings.
I stopped in at the local hotel to find out what was going on there. There was no valet parking and the pigeons living there did not appreciate the intrusion. Nothing was going on.

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The Santa Fe Railroad still runs through Vaughn - and extends all the way to Mexico City. This depot once housed one of the famous Harvey House restaurants. Vaughn has a population of around 1,000 people and lies in the center of good grazing land, which supports extensive sheep and cattle ranching.
The Spurs Saloon, which is located on the new Main Street, which is Highway 285 was a hot spot for political activity, when I stopped in one Saturday night a few years ago. A country-western band was playing and a candidate for county commissioner was making his pitch to a saloon full of voters.
I didn't hear if he won.