Tome ( es, Tomé) is an unincorporated village and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...

Valencia County Valencia County is a county in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 census, the population was 76,569. The county seat is Los Lunas. Valencia County is included in the Albuquerque, NM Metropolitan Statistical Area. The county was a si ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

, United States. It is located in the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...

valley near the foot of Tome Hill (El Cerro Tomé), a notable

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

pilgrimage site. The village lies along

New Mexico State Road 47 New Mexico State Road 47 (NM 47) is a state highway in Bernalillo, Valencia, and Socorro Counties in New Mexico. NM 47's southern terminus is at an intersection with U.S. Route 60 (US 60). The highway then proceeds north inters ...

and is neighbored by

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

to the north and Adelino to the south. It is the location of the Valencia Campus of the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

. Tome has a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

with ZIP code 87060. The population was 1,867 as of the 2010 census. The community was established when land abandoned by Tomé Domínguez de Mendoza following the

Pueblo Revolt The Pueblo Revolt of 1680, also known as Popé's Rebellion or Popay's Rebellion, was an uprising of most of the indigenous Pueblo people against the Spanish empire, Spanish colonizers in the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México, larger than prese ...

was granted to a new group of settlers in 1739. Once an important town on the Camino Real, it suffered due to Native American attacks and flooding during the 1800s. It was the seat of Valencia County from 1852 to 1872, and again briefly in 1875. For census purposes, Tome was previously combined with Adelino in the Tome-Adelino census-designated place (CDP). The CDP was split prior to the 2010 Census.

Demographics

History

Tome was originally part of an

encomienda The ''encomienda'' () was a Spanish labour system that rewarded conquerors with the labour of conquered non-Christian peoples. The labourers, in theory, were provided with benefits by the conquerors for whom they laboured, including military ...

granted to Tomé Domínguez de Mendoza in 1659. During the

of 1680, Domínguez fled to

El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...

along with the other surviving Spanish settlers, but 38 members of his household were killed. Understandably, he was hesitant to return and remained in El Paso even after the Spanish reconquered New Mexico in 1692. In 1739, a group of 29 settlers from

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

petitioned to take over the abandoned land. Governor Gaspar Domingo de Mendoza granted the request and conveyed to them the Town of Tome Grant. Like other Spanish colonial towns, Tome had a central plaza surrounded by houses and a church. Although plagued by flooding and Native American attacks, it was a notable waypoint on the Camino Real and was frequently mentioned in travelers' accounts. In 1776, Fray Atanasio Domínguez reported that the town had 727 inhabitants, which made it about the same size as Albuquerque at the time. In 1821, Mexico gained its independence from Spain. By this point Tome was sizable enough to have its own local government with an

alcalde Alcalde (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian '' cabildo'' (the municipal council) a ...

(mayor) and

ayuntamiento ''Ayuntamiento'' ()In other languages of Spain: * ca, ajuntament (). * gl, concello (). * eu, udaletxea (). is the general term for the town council, or ''cabildo'', of a municipality or, sometimes, as is often the case in Spain and Latin Amer ...

(legislative council). During the Revolt of 1837, counter-revolutionaries led by

Manuel Armijo Manuel Armijo (ca. 1793–1853) was a New Mexican soldier and statesman who served three times as governor of New Mexico. He was instrumental in putting down the Revolt of 1837, he led the force that captured the Texan Santa Fe Expedition, and h ...

met at Tome to formulate a plan for retaking Santa Fe. In 1852, now under the control of the United States, Tome was designated the county seat of

. An account of the town was given by U.S. Attorney William W.H. Davis in 1853 as he traveled the territorial District Court circuit: The county seat was moved to Belen from 1872–4, then back to Tome. In 1875, a new two-story adobe courthouse was built on the plaza with an adjacent stone jail building which is still standing. Despite this brand-new facility, the county seat was moved permanently to

Los Lunas Los Lunas is a village in Valencia County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2010 census, the village population is 14,835 inside the village limits due to the new housing developments at El Cerro de Los Lunas (Huning Ranch). It is the county ...

the following year. In 1968, the community was divided over whether to sell the land grant, still in force after almost 200 years, to a private developer. Ultimately the land was sold, but the grant was able to reacquire the spiritually significant El Cerro Tome Site in 2013.

Education

About half of Tome is in Belen Consolidated Schools and the other half is in Los Lunas Public Schools.

Belén High School Belén High School (BHS) is a public high school located in Belen, Valencia County, New Mexico. A part of Belén Consolidated Schools, it opened in 1916 as the first public high school in Valencia County. Attendance zone Within Valencia County ...

is the Belén district's comprehensive high school.

Notable people

* Rosa Maria Calles, artist and playwright

Demographics

History

Education

Notable people

References

Further reading