This is a list of all 21 markers on Santa Fe’s Commemorative Walkway at Hillside Park. There is a link on the list to a map of all markers on the walkway.
Santa Fe is the oldest capital city in the United States, a successful blend of three cultures and yet a modern city of over 50,000 residents.
The Commemorative Walkway Park, constructed in 1986, provides a historical walk through Santa Fe . . . — — Map (db m76131) HM
From 500 A.D. onward, New Mexico underwent a number of comparatively rapid changes. The people throughout the western two-thirds of the state became increasingly restricted to smaller and smaller areas resulting in the development of many regional . . . — — Map (db m76136) HM
Seeking to expand the domain of the King of Spain in 1540, Francisco Vásquez de Coronado led an expedition of over 1,000 men and women north from Mexico into what is now Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. The Spanish explorers, in . . . — — Map (db m76166) HM
The viceroy of New Spain appointed Juan de Oñate as New Mexico’s first governor and directed him to settle the area along the upper Rio Grande. Accompanied by 200 settlers and over 7,000 head of livestock, Oñate arrived in New Mexico and established . . . — — Map (db m76183) HM
New Mexico’s third governor, Pedro de Peralta was instructed to relocate the capital to a more central location. He founded the Villa de Santa Fe, or Town of Holy Faith. The villa was named for a city of Spain built by King Ferdinand and Queen . . . — — Map (db m76198) HM
In the seventeenth century New Mexico was plagued by drought, conflicts between civil and church authorities, and extreme demands placed by the Spanish settlers on the native population. The latter situation caused a deterioration so severe that by . . . — — Map (db m76202) HM
Under the direction of Don Diego de Vargas, the Spanish returned to recapture New Mexico after twelve years of exile in El Paso. In an attempt to encourage settlement of the land in the Rio Grande Valley, Don Diego de Vargas issued land grants for . . . — — Map (db m76222) HM
In order to fulfill a promise that Don Diego de Vargas made, the government leaders of Santa Fe issued a proclamation calling for an annual fiesta to commemorate the peaceful reentry of the Spanish into Santa Fe in 1692. This annual celebration held . . . — — Map (db m76236) HM
When the Declaration of Independence was signed, Santa Fe was already 166 years old. English and American explorers and traders replaced the French as a source of concern to Spanish officials in New Mexico. The successful American War of . . . — — Map (db m76238) HM
In May of 1846, U.S. President James K. Polk ordered the invasion of Mexico by U.S. troops, thus beginning the Mexican War. Three months later, General Stephen Watts Kearney led a victorious U.S. Army unopposed across northern New Mexico and into . . . — — Map (db m76263) HM
Shortly after the Civil War began, the Confederacy turned its attention to the Southwest, and in February, 1862, three thousand three hundred troops under the command of Confederate General Sibley, defeated the Union troops at Valverde, raised the . . . — — Map (db m76264) HM
While the nation was celebrating the Centennial, Santa Fe was into its 266th year. Although the Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago guaranteed the property of Hispanics and Indians, problems in the interpretation of Spanish and Mexican land laws worked to . . . — — Map (db m76269) HM
In 1906, Congress passed an act that would enable New Mexico and Arizona to become one large state. The residents in Arizona voted against the act, while the New Mexicans voted for it. It was not until 1912 that the opposing forces were reconciled . . . — — Map (db m76270) HM
Every year since 1926, when Will Shuster and Jacques Cartier created the image, Santa Fe and friends have been able to release their ties to depression, gloom and uncertainty by burning a symbol of these misfortunes . . . Zozobra! The burning of the . . . — — Map (db m76273) HM
During World War II, the federal government set up a secret facility in Los Alamos to coordinate the Manhattan Project, resulting in the development of the first atomic bomb. On July 16, 1945, the atomic bomb was exploded at “Trinity . . . — — Map (db m76309) HM
Santa Fe celebrated its 350th anniversary. During that year, special guests Maria Teresa Perez-Balsera and Maria Luisa Perez-Balsera arrived from Spain. The two ladies are direct descendants of Captain-General Don Diego de Vargas, the central figure . . . — — Map (db m76311) HM
Santa Fe, now 366 years old, joined the rest of the United States in celebrating the nation’s 200th birthday. New Mexico and the entire Southwest continued to see tremendous expansion and population growth with the influx of migration from the . . . — — Map (db m76316) HM
While responding to a request to give the Last Rites to a dying man, Franciscan Father Reynaldo Rivera, rector at St. Francis Cathedral, was kidnapped and brutally murdered, sending Santa Fe and the entire state into shock. Ironically, Father Rivera . . . — — Map (db m76317) HM
By proclamation of the City Council, Santa Fe celebrated its 375th anniversary. During the year, this property was donated to the city by Archbishop Robert Sanchez and the Santa Fe Fiesta Council. These gifts, together with appropriations by the . . . — — Map (db m76319) HM
