Mountainair in Torrance County, New Mexico — The American Mountains (Southwest)

Shaffer Hotel

Photographed By Duane and Tracy Marsteller, October 10, 2023

1. Shaffer Hotel Marker

Inscription. Constructed in 1923, with later additions, this structure, both inside and out, exhibits the interesting decorative folk art of its builder, Clem “Pop” Shaffer.
Site No. 517
A Registered Cultural Property
State of New Mexico (Marker Number 517.)

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Architecture • Arts, Letters, Music. In addition, it is included in the National Register of Historic Places series list. A significant historical year for this entry is 1923.

Location. 34° 31.151′ N, 106° 14.46′ W. Marker is in Mountainair, New Mexico, in Torrance County. Marker is at the intersection of West Main Street and North Summit Avenue (New Mexico Road 55), on the left when traveling west on West Main Street. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 103 W Main St, Mountainair NM 87036, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 9 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Willard Mercantile Company (about 500 feet away, measured in a direct line); Mountainair (approx. 0.4 miles away); Salt Mission Trail (approx. 0.6 miles away); a different marker also named Mountainair (approx. 0.6 miles away); Quarai Ruins (approx. 6.1 miles away); Crossroads/El cruce

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(approx. 9 miles away); Abo Ruins (approx. 9 miles away); Fred Sisneros' Grave/Don Federico (approx. 9 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Mountainair.

Regarding Shaffer Hotel. Excerpt from the National Register of Historic Places nomination for the property:

Clem “Pop” Shaffer was born in 1880 in Harmony, Indiana and moved with his new wife to Mountainair in 1908. Like many folk artists the heart of his life's work began later in life. In the 1920's he began work on the Hotel Shaffer at the urging of his wife. As he says in his autobiography, “In 1929 I built a dining room on the hotel also 8 more rooms; the dining room is my unusual piece of work.” By 1931 he had built the fence which runs along beside the Hotel Shaffer. “Then in 1937 I started to build my tenant a house and barn on the ranch. I also built a show house for my wooden animals. I also built a work shop where I make all my wooden animals.” Today these buildings — the Hotel Shaffer, the cow barn, the show house, and the tenant's – remain remarkably intact. The creatures that inhabit their walls as unusual ornaments have not been vandalized, but serve to give an impression of the total universe,
Photographed By Duane and Tracy Marsteller, October 10, 2023

2. Shaffer Hotel Marker
The swastikas on the left building facade are Navajo "whirling logs," a symbol for peace. They were created in the 1920s, before the symbol was appropriated by the German Nazi party.
a very private universe, that “Pop” Shaffer created in this small, dying town.

Also see . . .
1. Shaffer Hotel (PDF). National Register nomination for the property, which was listed in 1978. (Prepared by Ellen Threinen, New Mexico Historic Preservation Program; via National Archives) (Submitted on November 4, 2023, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.)

2. Pop Shaffer Hotel, Harding Kayser and Joe Brazil, Mountainair, New Mexico. Collection of 20 photographs taken of the hotel and its then owners in 1984 as part of the American Folklife Center's New Mexico Folklife Project. (Carl Fleischhauer, photographer; via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division) (Submitted on November 4, 2023, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.)

3. Clem “Pop” Shaffer, Swastikas and the Shaffer Hotel in Mountainair (Part I). Although he was of German descent, Clem Shaffer built the Shaffer Hotel in the early 1920s before the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis’ use of the swastika as a symbol of evil and hate. Prior to that time, the swastika had been a symbol of peace and goodwill for many Native American tribes, including the Navajo and Hopi. Shaffer had used the swastika symbol on his hotel to welcome visitors, not to alienate them with extreme political views. (Richard Melzer, for the Valencia
Shaffer Hotel via Internet Archives (Public Domain)

3. Clem and Lena Shaffer
Lena, Clement's second wife, encouraged him to build the Shaffer Hotel.
County News-Bulletin, March 22, 2018; archived from original by Internet Archive) (Submitted on November 4, 2023, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.)

4. The History of Shaffer. Clem “Pop” Shaffer was born in Harmony, Indiana on July 20, 1880 and was the 13th of 16 children of a blacksmith [and] his wife. His father’s blacksmithing occupation was a common and necessary trade during the era, and his skills, he apprenticed to Pop. Pop wasn’t just a blacksmith though. (Shaffer Hotel via Internet Archives; archived from original Nov. 14, 2015) (Submitted on November 4, 2023, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.)

Credits. This page was last revised on November 4, 2023. It was originally submitted on November 4, 2023, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. This page has been viewed 56 times since then and 19 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on November 4, 2023, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.