Plaza is evolving

The Plaza has been re-created many times since its establishment in 1610 by colonial Gov. Pedro de Peralta, most notably its transformation into a Pueblo-style court during the revolt of 1680.

Once Gen. Stephen Kearney claimed New Mexico in 1846, and the U.S. Army won the Battle of Glorieta Pass in 1862, an Army captain led the construction of a formal Eastern-style square with landscaping and a bandstand at the center. However, in 1867 the recently destroyed war memorial obelisk was installed, in the same style used throughout the Southwest for survey monuments. The Plaza buildings then were transformed toward Greek Revival to suit Eastern tastes and pave the way for statehood.

Finally, in 1917, Edgar Lee Hewett and John Gaw Meem drove the present design, and Santa Fe Style was created. So the Plaza is already an amalgam and overlay of 400 years of history, and this should be celebrated and respected, for all three cultures who contributed blood, toil and treasure to make it so.

Northern New Mexico has created a unique culture of three mingled but still separate cultures, each with strong traditions. It is only natural then to respect the strengths of each culture with three monuments, not one, and to let each culture influence the design.

With a restored bandstand now occupying one side of the inner Plaza, why not open up the center to allow larger throngs of our eager summer dancers and celebrants, while placing three monuments on the other three open sides? What a breath of fresh air it is to live in a state that can balance three (actually four, if you consider red and blue Anglos) cultures, compared to the national agonies and ghosts we have seen awaken these last 20 years. ¡Viva Nuevo Mexico!

Mark Dunham Santa Fe