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Spring 1943. "Romeroville, near Chacon, New Mexico." View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by John Collier for the Office of War Information.
I am from northern New Mexico, and there are two Romerovilles in the area. This picture is of Romeroville near Chacon. The other Romeroville is about 50 miles south near Las Vegas, right off of I-25. Just thought I would clear things up.
Any guesses about why the Office of War Information would have been interested in Romeroville?
[The OWI photographer John Collier probably thought it was pretty. He took lots of scenic views while traveling to assignments in the West. - Dave]
You can find three horses together, one standing and two lying down. Several chickens can be seen also.
The blue in this picture is almost painful in its perfectness. Amazing.
"Settled in 1880, and named for Don Trinidad Romero, a rancher and member of the U.S. Congress. He entertained President and Mrs. Hayes and General Sherman in his $100,000 mansion here. The building was destroyed by fire in 1932."
-- T.M. Pearce (Ed.), New Mexico Place Names, 1st Ed. (1965).
I-25 bisection aside, you could probably take almost the same photo today -- either in Romeroville itself or somewhere nearby. Northern NM is full of little villages like this.
A quick Google maps search shows it's still there, and not much has changed. It is, however, rather neatly bisected by I-25.
Also, here's a small set of Flickr photos tagged "Romeroville."
According to the Geographic Names Information System, Romeroville had a post office from 1877 until 1953. It's off I-25 just south of Las Vegas. Chacon is about 50 miles north. Romeroville's location on a railroad probably gave it a reason for being.
My dad carried a Kodak all over the Pacific in WWII and shot Kodachrome, no less. I still have his slides and for the most part they look like they were shot yesterday. Still have the camera too and it works.
[Got a film scanner? Post them here! We'd love to see them. - Dave]
I see one person on one horse, lots of straw or hay piled up but no other sign of life. Is this an abandoned settlement? A former mining area? Any more info at all?
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