15 Vintage Photos Of New Mexico In The 1970S

The 1970s was a decade of beginnings and endings. Vietnam ended and the Watergate scandal started. The Beatles split up while Aerosmith got together. Both Microsoft and Apple were founded and Sony began selling the Walkman. These are just a few of the events that happened on a global and national level, but what about life in New Mexico? These vintage photos provide a literal snapshot of our state during the 1970s.

Crew members for the Apollo 15 lunar landing mission practice during a simulation near Taos.

Flickr/NASA Johnson

A coal train leaving the York Canyon mine, near Raton.

Wikimedia Commons/Energy.gov

New Mexico currently has nine wind power plants. This turbine near Clayton is an example of one of our state’s early wind turbines.

Wikimedia Commons/Energy.Gov

A group of people posing by the sign to Carlsbad Caverns.

Flickr/judylcrook

Albuquerque’s Sandia Peak tramway opened in 1966. This is what the view looked like from a cable car in 1972.

Barbara Ann Spengler

City of Rocks State Park, near Silver City, was just as beautiful during the 1970s.

Wikimedia Commons/Guywets

Hidden Cave, which is in the Lincoln National Forest, hasn’t changed much over the years either!

Flickr/The Greater Southwestern Exploration Company

The area around Gallup, captured in 1977.

Flickr/Ross Funnell

This is what the San Juan Church, built in 1887, looked like during the 1970s.

Wikimedia Commons/Richard Greenwood

The interior of St. Joseph’s Apache Mission, a neo-Gothic style church, in Mescalero.

Wikimedia Commons/Bozotexino

Santa Fe’s Palace of the Governors in 1972.

Flickr/Barbara Ann Spengler

This is a great shot of Mayhill in the 1970s. This small community is near Cloudcroft.

Flickr/Kent Kanouse

During the 1970s, the historical Santo Domingo Trading Post (built in 1922) was still standing. It burned down during a fire in 2001. Fortunately, the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program funded efforts to rebuild this structure.

Wikimedia Commons/Svobodat

During the 1970s, St. Vrain, located in Curry County, still had a post office.

Wikimedia Commons/Sksoffrocker

Mail vans traveling by train through New Mexico in 1976.

Flickr/Rafael Edwards

Were you living here during the 1970s? Do you have any photos of New Mexico from that time? We’d love to see them. Share your best 1970s shots on our Only In New Mexico Facebook page.