The Past and Future Las Cruces Adobe

The Past and Future Las Cruces Adobe. . The California Department of Parks and Recreation has been awarded a federal TEA (Transportation Enhancement Activities) grant to fund the restoration of the Las Cruces Adobe. You may see historians, archaeologists and architects on site researching and documenting the history of the adobe, in preparation for completing the preliminary planning and working drawings. Our goal is to reopen the stabilized and restored 19th century adobe as a local historical landmark. , , Revealing the Past , , The Las Cruces Adobe is thought to have been built by Jose Antonio Cordero between 1846 and 1857. In 1861, the adobe was enlarged and remodeled as a stage station in order to accommodate travelers on the new wagon road that linked Los Angeles with San Luis Obispo. As the settlement of Las Cruces grew, the adobe changed owners and uses. It served as a post office, polling place, an inn and as a family dwelling. Rumors circulated that it was also once a brothel and whiskey emporium. Railroad expansion in the late 19th century and the stage line closure in 1901 brought a decline to Las Cruces. By the 1930s the abandoned adobe had deteriorated significantly. , , Graphics Text , , Chipped stone projectile points were often attached to arrowshafts or were used as knives. , Stone beads served the Chumash as money in their bartering. The more rare the raw material, the more valuable the bead was considered. , Lacking steel needles or drill bits, the Chumash used antlers, stones and other natural materials to puncture wood, shells and buckskin. , , The Coastal Chumash lived here when the Great Wall of China (cir. 240 B.C.) was being built. They were in this area 1,200 years later, at the height of the Mayan Civilization and they met the Spanish explorers here in the 18th century. Why did the Chumash live here? What basic needs for life were they able to find here for more than 2,000 years?