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Las Cruces, New Mexico

Las Cruces (/lɑːsˈkrsɪs/; Spanish: [las 'kruses] "the crosses") is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico and the seat of Doña Ana County. As of the 2020 census the population was 111,385.[5] Las Cruces is the most populous city in both Doña Ana County and southern New Mexico.[6] The Las Cruces metropolitan area had an estimated population of 213,849 in 2017.[7] It is the principal city of a metropolitan statistical area which encompasses all of Doña Ana County and is part of the larger El Paso–Las Cruces combined statistical area with a population of 1,088,420 making it the 56th largest combined statistical area in the United States.

Las Cruces, New Mexico

1849

1907[1]: 135 

77.03 sq mi (199.51 km2)

76.93 sq mi (199.26 km2)

0.10 sq mi (0.25 km2)

3,901 ft (1,189 m)

111,385

1,447.82/sq mi (559.00/km2)

217,552 (US: 202th)

Las Crucen

88001, 88003-88007, 88011-88013

35-39380

2411629[3]

Las Cruces is the economic and geographic center of the Mesilla Valley, the agricultural region on the floodplain of the Rio Grande which extends from Hatch to the west side of El Paso, Texas. Las Cruces is the home of New Mexico State University (NMSU), New Mexico's only land-grant university. The city's major employer is the federal government on nearby White Sands Test Facility and White Sands Missile Range. The Organ Mountains, 10 miles (16 km) to the east, are dominant in the city's landscape, along with the Doña Ana Mountains, Robledo Mountains, and Picacho Peak. Las Cruces lies 225 miles (362 km) south of Albuquerque, 42 miles (68 km) northwest of El Paso, Texas and 41 miles (66 km) north of the Mexican border at Sunland Park.


Spaceport America, which has corporate offices in Las Cruces, operates from 55 miles (89 km) to the north; it has completed several successful crewed, sub-orbital flights. The city is also the headquarters for Virgin Galactic, the world's first company to offer sub-orbital spaceflights.[8]

56.8% (Hispanics may be of any race)

Hispanic and Latino Americans

34.3%

Non-Hispanic White

2.4% or Black

African American

1.7%

Native Americans

1.6%

Asian

0.1% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander

3.5% Two or more races

The 2018 film, , written, produced, directed by, and starring Clint Eastwood, filmed for 6 days in and around Las Cruces.[25]

The Mule

The 1964 pilot, Calhoun: County Agent, starring and Barbara Stanwyck, was filmed in and around Las Cruces, but never aired.[26] The process of writing and shooting the pilot is the subject of Merle Miller and Evan Rhodes's book Only You, Dick Daring![27]

Jackie Cooper

Branigan Cultural Center

Branigan Cultural Center

University Art Gallery

University Art Gallery

New Mexico State University Center for the Arts

New Mexico State University Center for the Arts

William Conroy Honors Center

William Conroy Honors Center

[78]

Arrowhead Park Early College High School

[79]

Centennial High School

[80]

Las Cruces High School

[81]

Mayfield High School

[82]

Organ Mountain High School

Alma d'arte Charter High School

[83]

– No current regularly scheduled commercial passenger flights since July 25, 2005, when Westward Airways ceased operations. General aviation, New Mexico Army National Guard (4 UH-72 Lakota Helicopters), private charters and CAP use the airport, among others.

Las Cruces International Airport

– Nearest airport with regularly scheduled commercial flights.

El Paso International Airport

(1923-2013), painter and sculptor, grew up in Las Cruces

Richard Artschwager

(1971-2011), Alleged Al-Qaeda spokesman and regional leader, born in Las Cruces; killed by the U.S. government in 2011 for his alleged propaganda on behalf of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula

Anwar al-Awlaki

career U.S. Army officer and a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War; spent six years in Las Cruces prior to the war

Barnard Elliott Bee, Jr.

professional golfer who played high school and college golf at Las Cruces High School and New Mexico State University; winner of the 2002 PGA Championship

Rich Beem

Mexican-American mixed martial arts fighter

Joseph Benavidez

cowboy, poet, philosopher, former large-animal veterinarian, and radio commentator, who grew up in Las Cruces and attended New Mexico State University

Baxter Black

NASA astronaut and engineer, has a home and auto dealership in Las Cruces. Known for Gemini VII, a nearly 14 day low Earth orbital mission (1965) and Apollo 8, the first humans to leave low Earth orbit, reach and orbit the Moon, and return safely (1968)

Frank Borman

Oscar-nominated screenwriter, born in Las Cruces

William Bowers

professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls while winning three NBA titles during 1996–98; previously played at New Mexico State University

Randy Brown

novelist, born in Las Cruces

Pamela Burford

Mexican-American association football player

Edgar Castillo

author, playwright, and stage director

Denise Chávez

professional basketball player in the NBA, played at New Mexico State University

Steve Colter

physician and educator, first president of the Association of American Medical Colleges, grew up in Las Cruces

John A.D. Cooper

actress, attended Las Cruces Union High School

Sharon Douglas

Major League umpire, lives in Las Cruces

Doug Eddings

U.S. Senator from New Mexico and U.S. Secretary of the Interior

Albert Fall

South African–American soccer player, grew up in Las Cruces

Richard Farrer

lawyer, Indian fighter, and Republican politician in Texas and New Mexico whose disappearance remains a mystery

Albert Jennings Fountain

Old West lawman who killed Billy the Kid

Pat Garrett

professor of English and Theatre Arts at the University of Texas at El Paso, specialist on authors Ayn Rand and John Steinbeck

Mimi Reisel Gladstein

basketball coach who coached New Mexico State University and University of Illinois teams to the Final Four

Lou Henson

running back who played four seasons for NFL's Philadelphia Eagles; played collegiately at New Mexico State University

Po James

first black mayor in New Mexico[115]

Albert Johnson

NFL quarterback, professor of chemical engineering at his alma mater, New Mexico State University, resides in Las Cruces

Charley Johnson

engineer and high fidelity audio pioneer, known for developing the high-efficiency folded horn loudspeaker; graduated from New Mexico State University

Paul Wilbur Klipsch

political consultant, 1980 campaign manager for Jimmy Carter, retired in Las Cruces

Timothy Kraft

soccer player, born in Las Cruces

Kiki Lara

U.S. Ambassador to South Africa, president and CEO of National Public Radio, resides in Las Cruces

Delano Lewis

football coach, most recently defensive line coach for NFL's New York Jets

Kerry Locklin

French writer best known for two books about her ordeals during World War II in Nazi Germany; lived in Las Cruces later in life until her death in 2008

Mireille Marokvia

Tony Award-winning playwright of Children of a Lesser God

Mark Medoff

scientist, pioneer in the sensory analysis of food, born in Las Cruces

Rose Marie Pangborn

racing driver, born in Las Cruces

J. R. Patton

first woman elected to the New Mexico Legislature[116]

Bertha M. Paxton

the saxophonist and musical director of the Saturday Night Live band was born in Las Cruces

Lenny Pickett

professional Canadian football quarterback who played for New Mexico State University; lives in Las Cruces during the off-season

Buck Pierce

long jumper in track and field, won a bronze medal in the 2007 Pan American Games; born in Las Cruces

Bashir Ramzy

writer of romance, mystery and erotic novels; born in Las Cruces

Patricia Ryan

Miss USA 1984

Mai Shanley

playwright and director, teaches at New Mexico State University, resides in Las Cruces

Tom Smith

astronomer, discovered Pluto, lived in Las Cruces until his death in 1997

Clyde Tombaugh

former WBA light-middleweight champion of the world, was born and fights out of Las Cruces

Austin Trout

member of the United States House of Representatives from Mississippi, lived part of his childhood in Las Cruces

Prentiss Walker

stage and screen character actress, Las Cruces resident along with her sister, Maud Witherspoon

Cora Witherspoon

four-time Pro Bowl football player for the Seattle Seahawks and the Indianapolis Colts; played for New Mexico State, lives in Las Cruces

Fredd Young

Las Cruces Police Department

, Durango, Mexico

Ciudad Lerdo

, Lower Saxony, Germany

Nienburg

Las Cruces has two sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International:


Las Cruces Sister Cities Foundation[117] is responsible for overseeing sister cities activities on behalf of the citizens of Las Cruces. The Foundation was created in 1989 to officially recognize a relationship that began in 1982 with exchanges between Dona Ana Community College and the Centro de Bachilleratio Technológico Industrial y de Servicios Numero 4 of Lerdo, Durango, Mexico. In 1993, a second partnership was established with Nienburg, Lower Saxony, Germany which grew from a school exchange between Mayfield High School and Albert Schweitzer School.

City of Las Cruces official website

Las Cruces Convention and Visitors Bureau

at Curlie

Las Cruces