Hondo is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Lincoln County,

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, United States. It is located about thirty-five miles downstream (east) from Ruidoso Downs, where the Rio Bonito and Rio Ruidoso rivers join together to form the Rio Hondo. It is located at the point where

U.S. Route 70 U.S. Route 70 or U.S. Highway 70 (US 70) is an east–west United States highway that runs for from eastern North Carolina to east-central Arizona. It is a major east–west highway of the Southeastern, Southern and Southwestern United States ...

is joined by

U.S. Route 380 U.S. Route 380 (US 380) is an east–west United States highway. The highway's eastern terminus is in Greenville, Texas at an intersection with Interstate 30, of which the easternmost 3–4 miles are concurrent with US 69 in a loop around ...

, which conjoined route continues eastward. It has had a post office since 1900.Pearce, T. M. (1965) "Hondo" ''New Mexico place names; a geographical dictionary'' University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, New Mexico, p. 71,

History

The community was founded by Hispanic settlers from the

Rio Grande valley Lower Rio Grande Valley (), often referred to as the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) of South Texas, is a region located in the southernmost part of Texas, along the northern bank of the Rio Grande. It is also known locally as the Valley or the 956 (the ...

in the 1880s after the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

had controlled the

Apache The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...

in the area. It was originally called La Junta (the junction) because of the joining of the Rio Bonito and the Rio Ruidoso.Julyan, Robert (1998) "Hondo" ''The Place Names of New Mexico'' (revised edition) University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, New Mexico, p. 169, Later it was called ''Hondo'' (deep) after the river. Prior to settlement, the Apache lived in the area, and skirmishes continued to occur after the establishment of

Fort Stanton Fort Stanton was a United States Army fort near Lincoln, New Mexico. Army Fort It was built in 1855 by the 1st Dragoon and the 3rd and 8th Infantry Regiments to serve as a base of military operations against the Mescalero Apaches. Numerous ...

. According to an interview of Frank Coe, settlers arriving before 1861 lived in ''placitas'', or "adobe family compounds enclosed for defensive purposes", which are still visible in the linear layout Hondo continues to maintain today. The earliest settlers ranched and farmed, sometimes trading with Fort Stanton. By the 1930s,

was built, passing fairly north of Hondo. By then, the community consisted of a school, community buildings, and several households.

Events

In May 1948, Fermín S. Montes and his wife, Cirenia, started a fiesta highlighting the springtime flowers and traditional Mexican dances, now known as the Hondo Fiesta or Fiesta de Hondo. Since then, every year the community of Hondo has come together to celebrate the town's history and culture through food, children's performances, and traditional music and dancing. The Hondo Fiesta is open to the public and is a celebration of the town's heritage and culture.

Notes

External links

"Coe Ranch in Hondo, New Mexico"
America's Byways, photograph Unincorporated communities in Lincoln County, New Mexico Unincorporated communities in New Mexico {{NewMexico-geo-stub