Prewitt () 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 ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), 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 counte ...

(CDP) in

McKinley County McKinley County is a county in the northwestern section of the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 72,902. Its county seat is Gallup. The county was created in 1901 and named for President William ...

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 along

Interstate 40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States, southeastern and Southwestern United States, southwestern portions of the United States. At a leng ...

, northwest of

Grants Grant or Grants may refer to: People * Grant (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Grant (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters ** Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885), the 18th president of the U ...

. Prewitt has a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

with ZIP code 87045. As of the 2020 census, the population of Prewitt was 842.

Geography

Prewitt is within the Baca/Prewitt ( Kin Łigaaí)

Chapter House A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room that is part of a cathedral, monastery or collegiate church in which meetings are held. When attached to a cathedral, the cathedral chapter meets there. In monasteries, the whole communi ...

boundary in the "Checkerboard Area" of the

Navajo Nation The Navajo Nation (), also known as Navajoland, is an Indian reservation of Navajo people in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah. The seat of government is located in ...

. This means that Prewitt lies within the external boundaries of the Navajo Nation, but contains a mix of tribal, BLM
state
and private lands. It is a part of the Zuni Uplift, and is characterized by piñon/juniper woodland, red rock hoodoos,

mesa A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge, or hill, bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and standing distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks, such as shales, capped by a ...

s, and desert grasslands. Prewitt is in eastern McKinley County, along

, east of Gallup, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

, northwest of Grants, and west of

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

. According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the Prewitt CDP has an area of , all land. The community is drained by Mitchell Draw, which runs southeast toward the Rio San Jose, a tributary of the

Rio Puerco The Rio Puerco is a tributary of the Rio Grande in the U.S. state of New Mexico. From its source on the west side of the Nacimiento Mountains, it flows about ,Calculated in Google Earth generally south to join the Rio Grande about south of ...

leading southeast to the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...

Demographics

Prewitt was first listed as a census-designated place prior to the 2020 census, covering a smaller population than that covered by the Prewitt ZIP Code area. Prewitt Post Office

Railway crossing with red cliffs in background

Education

Prewitt is the home of Baca /Dlo'Ay Azhi Community School run by the

Bureau of Indian Education The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) is a division of the U.S. Department of the Interior under the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs that directs and manages education functions. Formerly known as the Office of Indian Education Programs ...

. Baca /Dlo'Ay Azhi Community School serves grades K-6. The Associated Deputy Director for this school is Navajo Schools in Window Rock, AZ and the Education Resource Center is Crownpoint. It is in

Gallup-McKinley County Public Schools Gallup-McKinley County Schools (GMCS) is a school district based in Gallup, New Mexico which serves students from Gallup and surrounding areas of McKinley County. History Prior to 1980, the district had of land. That year parts left to form t ...

. Zoned schools are Thoreau Elementary School, Thoreau Middle School, and

Thoreau High School Thoreau High School is a public high school in Thoreau, New Mexico. It is a part of Gallup-McKinley County Schools. Communities in its boundary include Thoreau, Continental Divide, Prewitt, and Smith Lake. History In 1964 the Navajo Tribal ...

Points of interest

Bluewater Lake State Park Bluewater Lake State Park is a state park in Prewitt, New Mexico, United States, located in the Zuni Mountains west of Grants. The park itself encompasses approximately , and the lake has a surface area of approximately . The park is popular ...

* Casamero Pueblo * Trail of the Ancients Scenic Byway

Notable people

* Paddy Martinez, prospector who discovered

uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...

at Haystack Mesa

References

External links

Census-designated places in McKinley County, New Mexico Census-designated places in New Mexico Unincorporated communities in McKinley County, New Mexico Unincorporated communities in New Mexico {{NewMexico-geo-stub