Page 14 - 2019 Las Vegas & San Miguel Co. Visitors Guide

Castañeda Rediscovered
by Stephen Fried
In the late morning of June 24, 1899, a Santa Fe train carrying Teddy Roosevelt and his entourage of political hangers-on in straw hats and fellow soldiers in their old uniforms was barreling its way toward one of the most important cities in the west: the original Las Vegas, the one in northeast- ern New Mexico.
It was, in U.S. history, the day of the first Rough Riders reunion, celebrating the anniversary of the end of the Spanish-American War. But for Las Ve- gas and the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (its new name after recently emerging from bank- ruptcy), this was the national debut of the stun- ning new trackside hotel, the Castañeda. It was designed not only to thrill visitors, but to usher in a whole new era of American tourism.
with lush, inviting gardens just off the train tracks- -was the Santa Fe’s gateway to the new Southwest. And to make sure it received all the attention it deserved, the railroad made a bold publicity move. When every major city in the country vied to host the Rough Riders reunion, the Santa Fe made a deal to ensure that Roosevelt—with the nation’s press in tow—would hold that celebration in Las Vegas, and showcase the Castañeda.
When Roosevelt stepped out of his Pullman car at the Las Vegas depot, a huge wave of people pushed toward him. He was, “almost lifted bodi- ly from his feet by the press of persons anxious to grasp his hand,” according to one reporter. And over the next two days of parades, rodeos and other events, thousands filled the streets day and
Castañeda postcard
As the CBS Sunday Morning cameras rolled, the huge white cloth obscuring the sign was pulled and a tremendous cheer went up.
The Castañeda, and Las Vegas, were coming back!
Las Vegas and Fred Harvey have been inter- twined for over 130 years, since the first railroad train crossed the Raton Pass into NM on July 4, 1879, and Las Vegas became the first major city in New Mexico connected by rail to the east. Long a major mercantile center and health re- treat for those arriving by horseback and wagon on the Santa Fe Trail, the city was turned into a cowboy-novel town almost overnight. Billy the Kid, Doc Holliday and other legendary western characters regularly made headlines in the lo- cal newspapers, especially the Las Vegas Optic, which went from weekly to daily, allowing its opinionated and often hilarious editor, Russel Kistler, more space for his one-liners. Reporting a new reward for “the Kid,” he wrote, “Here is an opportunity for some daring man to engrave his name upon the roll of dead heroes.” After Billy was killed, Kistler reported he had secured his severed trigger finger, which was in a jar of alco- hol on his desk (and may still be in Las Vegas.)
Soon the Optic was reporting on a new rising western hero in town, railroad restaurant entre- preneur Fred Harvey, who in his mid-forties had just recently begun his business, with eateries in Topeka, Florence and Lamy, Kansas, and La Junta, Colorado. Las Vegas was to be the launching point for a dramatic expansion in New Mexico. Before the depot could be finished, the railroad parked three old dining cars on a side track, which were quickly refurbished and turned into a beautifully appointed restaurant. The Harvey formula was New York or Chicago quality dining in the middle of nowhere, with fresh ingredients brought in on the train.
Photo Courtesy Las Vegas Citizens’ Committee for Historic Preservation, LVCCHP, Archives
night for an amazing celebration of patriotism and frontier exuberance, honoring the joys of the nation’s past and the ex- citement for the coming American century. Pic- tures of all the events ran in newspapers all over the country, including a full page in the New York Times.
Railroad management had decided that the Southwest was no longer going to be a stinking desert you hoped to ride through quickly on the way to California. It was going to become a tour- ist destination, the “Land of Enchantment” and “America’s Orient”—where you could experience not only breathtaking natural beauty, but the His- panic, Native-American and European cultures, uniquely intermingled.
The railroad was planning to create a string of oasis hotels all across the Southwest, to be overseen by its world-famous hospitality partner, run by British-born entrepreneur Fred Harvey and his son Ford. Their company, simply called “Fred Harvey,” was based in Kansas City but for over twenty years had run all the trackside restaurants along the Santa Fe, which expanded to almost eighty cities from Chicago west to the Pacific, and south to the Gulf of Mexico.
Fred Harvey dining rooms and lunch counters were staffed by the most renowned servers in the world—the “Harvey Girls,” the country’s first major all-female national work force. The company had recently added dining cars and station retail stores, and was experimenting with hotels.
The Castañeda—designed to look like a spec- tacular U-shaped Mission Revival-style mansion
It was arguably the greatest, and certainly the most high-profile event
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to ever take place in Las Vegas, NM. Until now.
Last November, a crew from one of the nation’s highest-rated and most beloved television shows— CBS Sunday Morning—quietly snuck into Las Ve- gas. They wanted to be there at the very moment when the Castañeda was officially reborn—as a recreation of its original 1898 sign was unveiled. That would signal the beginning of a year-long pro- cess of reopening the old hotel, breathing new life into the section of town it once anchored, and help- ing reconnect Las Vegas to New Mexico tourism.
At 3:59 pm on November 4th, the couple who were saving the hotel--entrepreneur Allan Affeldt and artist Tina Mion, who had previously saved La Posada, the Harvey hotel in Winslow, AZ--were standing on its balcony. With them were many of the local workers who had been devoted to the $5 million restoration of the Castaneda, along with CBS correspondent Michelle Miller. Down below the courtyard was filled with visitors—some from Las Vegas and Santa Fe, but others from all over the country who had come to see this event, includ- ing many of Fred Harvey’s descendants. They were standing in the same place where the crowds had gathered to greet Roosevelt.