Historic designation sought for NM neighborhood

MESILLA, N.M. (AP) - A New Mexico State University professor and his students are seeking recognition for one Mesilla neighborhood.

They say it should be designated as a historic district since it was once home to astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered Pluto.

It was also home to Ralph Goddard, a former NMSU dean who created a radio station in the 1920s that broadcast one of the first signals west of the Mississippi.

Students in history professor Jon Hunner’s historical preservation class began by surveying Mesilla Park in November.

The hope is to preserve the area’s cultural heritage by adding the neighborhood to the New Mexico Register of Cultural Properties and the National Register of Historic Places.

Hunner says it could take another year or two to finish the surveying and prepare the nomination.