THE PAST 100 YEARS

From the Santa Fe New Mexican:

Feb. 26, 1920: Hail Hail The Water Wagon’s Coming; Uncle Sam To Slake Thirst

Faucets All Around For Everybody To Drink Out Of; Part Of U.S. Road Equipment

The state highway department has received notice that a big lot of army equipment and supplies [have] been shipped and will arrive at the storage plant at Los Lunas in the near future.

Among other things, 52 F.W.D. three-ton trucks are coming from Chicago. There are 26 cars in the shipment, a comfortable trainload on the New Mexico division of the Santa Fe.

Feb. 26, 1945: Headquarters for the direction of the four-state campaign to raise half a million dollars for the expansion of St. Michael’s College were opened today at 200 East Water in the quarters recently occupied by the U.S. Employment Service.

Feb. 26, 1970: The ancient and beautiful legend of the Famous Staircase of the Chapel of Our Lady of Light in Santa Fe remains intact today although the identity of the mysterious builder has been unveiled.

Feb. 26, 1995: Could the bolo tie — that symbolic essence of casual Santa Fe style dress — be considered “unprofessional” neckwear during working hours?

As far as Santa Fe police Chief Donald Grady II is concerned, it is.

For the past three months of so, Grady has not allowed plain-clothes officers — detectives, administrators and high-level commanders — to wear bolos.

… “It’s not that I’m against bolo ties,” said the chief, who has made a host of changes since taking the helm of Santa Fe’s police force last year. “When [officers] are off duty they can wear them all they want. But when they are working I want their attire to reflect the utmost in professionalism.”