THE PAST 100 YEARS

From the Santa Fe New Mexican:

Nov. 20, 1919: Sheriff George W. Armijo announced today following his return from a second visit to Pojoaque in investigation of the blackhand attempt against Nicolas Gonzales y Roibal that he would give the threatening letter sent Gonzales to post office inspectors and enlist their aid in running down the sender.

Sheriff Armijo found that no one had called at Gonzales’ home since last Saturday night when he stayed there on watch for the men who, Gonzales

was warned, would call upon him.

… The letter is signed by the Black Hand and Red Flagger society and is written in Spanish.

Nov. 20, 1969: Santa Fe City Planner Myron Eckberg has been named acting city manager by Mayor George Gonzales ending a controversy that led to the enactment of city ordinance limiting the powers of the temporary post.

“I’m going to be wearing two hats for about the next 60 days,” Eckberg said.

While he doubles as City Manager, much of the work in the Planning Office will be taken over by Assistant City Planner Burton Roberts.

Nov. 20, 1994: Anyone who’s hefted even one adobe will have a deep respect for the men who made and set the 180,000 or so mud bricks that lie within the massive walls of Cristo Rey Catholic Church.

It took strength to make those bricks back in 1939 — mixing water from the nearby Acequia de los Lopez with earth dug from the church site. And it took even more hard work to lay those bricks in courses, creating walls that reach 9 feet thick in places.

… A handful of the original 134 men who built this church are still alive. After the congregation celebrates the Feast of Christ the King at 11 a.m. today, it will have a special ceremony to honor the survivors, and the memory of their fellows who have already passed.