Jan 7. The new Santa Fe County Courthouse, built by the federal Public Works Administration at a cost of a quarter of a million dollars, is formally dedicated. New Mexico Governor John E. Miles, Supreme Court Justice Dan Sadler and District Judge David Chavez deliver speeches. The new building, designed by Santa Fe architect John Gaw Meem, has 45 rooms and a large, spacious courtroom, to accommodate Judge Chavez and the Court Clerk (Iola Yashvin). County offices include County Clerk (Margaret D. Ortiz), County Treasurer William Thayer), County Assessor (Eduardo Naranjo), County Sheriff (Biterbo Quintana), Superintendent of Schools (J.R. Granito) and the Probate Judge (Julio Ortiz) and an office for the County Commissioners Miguel Leyva, H.L. Taylor and Abedon Lopez.
Jan 21. Santa Fe celebrates the 50th anniversary of the opening of Don Gaspar Avenue. The broad street, now lined with handsome residential dwellings, was named after Don Gaspar Ortiz, a “merchant prince” who ran wagon trains from Santa Fe to Chihuahua and, later, to St. Louis, Missouri. Don Gaspar, whose family lived on the property now occupied by the Montezuma Hotel, donated the land on which the street was built.
Mar 4. Santa Fe weatherman J.A. Rivera reports a record snowstorm with snowfall measuring from 12 to 16 inches. The worst storm in a decade brings down telephone wires, damages trees (including one on the Plaza), closes the airport and strands 70 motorists on the Taos road.
Mar 5. The St. Michael’s College Horsemen sweep the District 2 tournaments, defeating the Santa Fe High School Demons 30-22. Stars for the Horsemen include Buster Hiller, Sammy Ortiz, Tom Irigoyen, Stanley Gallup and Bob Rutherford. After the championship game, Horsemen Coach Stanley Perez announces that the team has been invited to participate in the National Catholic Tournament in Chicago later this year.
Mar 7. Harrington Junior High School presents new uniforms to the 40-member school band. The band, directed by Ernest K. Luce, was using old Santa Fe High School band uniforms of blue capes and caps lined in gold will now wear red and white military uniforms, just in time for their first concert at Seth Hall on May 10.
Mar 8. Henry Dendahl announces the opening of the Coronado Building, formerly the Santa Fe Courthouse, on Palace Avenue across from the hospital. The original building was a brick structure completed in 1886 and rebuilt after a 1909 fire. Remodeled in Territorial style, the building is expected to serve prominent local doctors, including Albert S. Lathrop and G. L. Renfro.
Mar 10. A coalition of republicans and independent democrats offers a full slate of candidates for City offices. Manual Lujan, insurance businessman, president of the Boy’s Club and former county school superintendent, will run for Mayor, leading the “Better Santa Fe Ticket.” Aldermen candidates are N.B. (Nat) Stern, Florentino Ortiz and Charles Batts. Currently, the Mayor of Santa Fe is Alfredo Ortiz and the Aldermen are R. L. Ormsbee, John Chapman, Eleuterio Martinez and Cesario Ortiz.
Mar 11. Raymond P. Sweeney, head of the state’s High School Athletic Association, publicly doubts that St. Michael’s High School’s basketball team can participate in the National Catholic basketball tournament, just weeks away. The Association’s rules bar member teams from playing in out-of-state tournaments. Officials at St. Michael’s College (as it was called in 1940) have no comment.
Mar 13. In a tight thriller, the St. Michael’s College Horsemen defeat the Santa Fe High School Demons, 27-24, to claim their first State Championship. A jubilant parade of cars escorts the team from Las Vegas, site of the tournament, home to Santa Fe.
Mar 20. St. Michael’s College Horsemen withdraw from the state high school athletic association to avoid violating the association’s rule and to allow them to participate in the National Catholic basketball tournament. The announcement is made by Brother Benildus, President of the school.
Apr 1. St. Michael’s College Horsemen take second place in the National Catholic basketball tournament in Chicago, losing to Ft. Wayne’s Central High School, 35-33. The team is welcomed at the Lamy train station by Governor John E. Miles who leads a parade of fans back to Santa where a week’s festivities awaits the team.
Apr 3. Democrats hold on to City Offices, Mayor Alfred Ortiz winning a 162-vote majority. All current Aldermen keep their seats. Losing mayoral candidate Manuel Lujan issues a gracious concession letter.
Apr 5. The Santa Fe High School Senior Class presents “You Can’t Take it With You” to an audience of 600 at Seth Hall. The play is memorable for the realistic set and for James Stumpff, excelling in the role of Grandpa Martin Vanderhoff. Other players include Bobbye Moore, Homer Pierce, Maxine Runyan, Rene McClatchy, Frank Zych (who really can play the concertina) and Pita Sena as the colored maid.
Apr 16. National radio show “Believe It or Not!” is broadcast live from Santa Fe. Host Robert Ripley features bits of New Mexico history, guest speaker Elfego Baca and a tale of Governor Lew Wallace’s dream of silver mines which made two prospectors rich. Baca related that he was once sentenced to 30 days in jail where he happened to be the jailer. As jailer, he earned 75 cents a day for feeding the prisoner – himself, believe it or not!
Apr 17. Father Sidney Matthew Metzger, 37, of San Antonio, Texas is named auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese of Santa Fe, under Archbishop Rudolph A. Gerken. The youthful bishop trained in Rome, was ordained there in 1926 and taught philosophy before being appointed titular bishop of Birta, a now extinct diocese in Asia Minor, then to his post in Santa Fe.
Apr 30. The City of Santa Fe reports a boom in local building early in 1940. The Immanual Lutheran Church plans a new chapel at the corner of Sheridan and Marcy, Henry Dendahl is building a warehouse at the corner of Manhattan and College streets, L. Peterson is building a house at 324 Sena not far from E.M. Quintana’s new house on Don Diego and Alfonso Baca is building a filling station on West Hickox. Dan Taichert has added to his store on San Francisco Street extending it in the back to Water Street and the Park Laundry building, on East Marcy, is nearing completion, owner George Park announced.
May 2. “Blondie,” Chic Young’s popular comic strip, joins “Nancy,” “Moon Mullins,” “Dick Tracy,” “Little Orphan Annie,” “Li’l Abner,” “Thimble Theater, starring Popeye” and “Gasoline Alley” in the pages of the New Mexican.
May 5. Leah Harvey Junior High School announces the honor roll for the six-week period ending April 17. Top scholars are Phyllis Bailey, Patsy Daly, Lorraine Kempenich, Joan Seligman, Lou Ellen Zent, Joe Barton and Lourdes Armijo. In the regular honor roll are Billy Lakin, Betty Pilkington and Bob Sweeney of the 7th grade, Pauline Duran, Dolores Garcia, Nola Jean Ross, Corrine Salazar, Dolly Mae Spohr and Jane Wiley of the 8th grade and Elaine Andreakis, Frances Anton, Richard Cook, Frank Packard, Edith Parton, Earl Robbins, Gus Rodriguez, Edwin Smith, Margie Wendland and Frank Willard.
May 28. Santa Fe High School graduates 142 students in 1940, the largest class ever. Joseph Byrne is valedictorian and Billy Cartwright is salutatorian. The theme of the commencement will be “Coronado’s Heritage” with three speakers, Dr. Edward Eyring, president of the Normal University in Las Vegas, and three graduating seniors, Gumersindo DeVargas, Betty Jo Moore and James Stumpff.
May 22. The New Mexico state high school athletic association schedules a vote on whether St. Michael’s College is eligible to re-join the association. A month ago, the school withdrew from the state association to join the national Catholic association and enter the national basketball tournament in Chicago.
May 24. Seth Hall is the site for the 1940 Santa Fe High School Junior-Senior Prom, drawing more than 365 students to the music of Bob Sadler’s orchestra. The traditional semi-formal prom was arranged by students Elizabeth Renfrew, Barbara Allgaler, Lloyd Cain, David Salazar and Carolyn Parkhurst.
May 26. Bishop Sidney Metzger of Santa Fe delivers the main address at commencement ceremonies at Loretto Academy. 36 young women gather at St. Michael’s gymnasium to receive their diplomas.
May 27. Santa Fe hosts two Corpus Christi Processions. The morning procession of about 2500 marchers is led by the newly established Christo Rey Parish, Father Daniel Krahe, rector, from the church to the Cross of the Martyrs. The traditional night-time Corpus Christi Procession, numbering more than 4,000 faithful led by Fathers Theodosius, Jerome and Eric of St. Francis Cathedral, marches to the Francisco Delgado altar (Delgado at Canyon Road), then to the Sena altar at Sena Plaza. Thousands of spectators line the sidewalks or watch from the hillsides as witnesses to the annual event.
May 30. St. Michael’s College is ruled ineligible to re-join the state high school athletic association, announces president Raymond P. Sweeney, casting that season’s football schedule into chaos.
Jun 2. The Lensic Theatre celebrates its 9th Anniversary with a selection of hit movies, a giant birthday cake and special ticket prices. Founders Nathan Salmon and E. John Greer take the opportunity to introduce the Lensic staff: Frank Mahboub, manager, Adolph Cantou, operator, Edward “Go Go” Lopez, doorman, Clara Garcia, cashier, Lily Martinez, Head Usherette, Nashie Gutierrez, Ethel Moya and Esther Mascarenas, usherettes and Dan Moya, car lot attendant. Featured movies during the celebration are “My Favorite Wife,” starring Irene Dunne and Cary Grant, “Irene,” starring Ray Milland and Ann Neagle, “One Million B.C.,” with Victor Mature and Carole Landis and “Waterloo Bridge,” starring Vivien Leigh and Robert Taylor.
Jun 28. The year of Coronado opens in Santa Fe with the planning of the Cuarto Centenario entrada led by Jose D. Sena, Jr., playing the part of Coronado. Other principals include Virginia Ortiz as Dona Beatriz and George W. Armijo as the Viceroy Mendoza as well as dozens of Santa Feans in costume in a re-enactment of Coronado’s entry into New Mexico. The program, conducted entirely in Spanish for one night, features real Indians for the Indian parts and Franciscan fathers playing the early padres.
Jun 5. Trustees of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad announce that, after years of running at a loss, the famous “Chili Line” would be abandoned. The narrow gauge train took a 125-mile course along rivers and through mountains from Santa Fe to Antonito, Colorado. Delegations from New Mexico and Colorado are organizing to protest the action at a hearing before the Interstate Commerce Commission to approve the railroad’s abandonment petition.
Jun 6. Christo Rey Church installs a 1500 lb. bell in the new parish church. The bell is six feet high with walls almost five inches thick and is composed of 80% copper and 20% tin. It is a gift of H. L. Brown of 555 Camino del Monte Sol who commissioned its manufacture from a German bell maker in St. Louis.
Jun 8. A twenty year tradition is broken when the game between arch-rivals the St. Michael’s College Horsemen and the Santa Fe High School Demons is cancelled as a result of a 5-1 vote of the state’s high school athletic association barring St. Michael’s from participating in any association-sponsored game.
Jun 10. Soap Box Derby chairman Jim Strosnider opens trial runs on Marcy Street, closed to traffic for the event. Among the early entrants are Buddy Baca driving his “Flying Eagle,” Mike Nevares piloting the “Red Devil” and Art Sena with an unnamed sleek silver racer.
Jul 4. Magers Field hosts more than 11,000 spectators to the City’s annual Independence Day fireworks show. Sponsored by the Lion’s Club, the show included a huge American flag, the Statue of Liberty and a lighted Cross of the Martyrs as well as the largest ever display of skyrockets, Roman candles, bombs and colored lights.
Jul 17. Citizen Roman Garcia complains that dozens of shoe shine boys swarming the plaza pay no taxes and should be prohibited from plying their trade. Mayor Alfredo Ortiz, speaking for the council, determines to do nothing as long as the boys stay out of barbershops, hotels and established shine parlors that pay a $5 occupation tax.
Jul 22. Jesse Urban, a 12-year old Leah Harvey 8th grader, wins the Santa Fe Soap Box Derby. Jesse is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Placido Urban of 617 Don Felix Street. Jesse’s black streamlined racer crosses two blocks of Marcy Street in 30 seconds, inching out second place winner Mike Nevares. Besides a trophy and gold medal, Urban wins an all-expense paid trip to Akron, Ohio to participate in the national Soap Box Derby.
Jul 25. St. Michael’s College Horseman, barred from games with any member of the state high school athletic association, announces an 8-game football schedule beginning Sept. 29 against Texas and Colorado catholic schools.
Jul 30. Margaret D. Ortiz and Maj. Herman Baca, co-chairs of the Fiesta Queen committee, receive candidates for the role of La Reina. Rules require all candidates to be unmarried and native born to Santa Fe. Candidates include Elvira Trujillo and Augustina Catanach, sponsored by La Union Protectiva Mujeril; Lucia Vigil and Victoria Ortiz, sponsored by the Alianza Hispano-Americana 25; Cuca Romero and Flora Romero, sponsored by the Alianza Hispano-Americana 43; Josefina Granito and Beatriz Branch, sponsored by the LULAC Women’s Council; and Adelina Delgado and Dolores White, sponsored by La Sociedad Folklorica.
Jul 31. 19 year old Jack Hardy, recent Santa Fe High School graduate and reporter for the New Mexican, receives a full scholarship to Harvard then reveals that he is really Ernest Jackson Harding who ran away from his Illinois home at 14. After stints on an Arkansas farm and Texas cattle ranch, Jackson took the name Jack Hardy and came to Santa Fe. Supporting himself with odd jobs, Hardy re-entered high school and graduated with honors. Hardy plans to visit his parents in Belleville, Illinois before entering Harvard University.
Aug 15. Cuca Romero is named Queen of the 228th Santa Fe Fiesta. Cuca, whose real name is Juanita, will be joined by Fiesta Princesses Lucia Vigil, Beatriz Branch, Flora Romero and Dolores White. New royal offices this year are Pages Rita and Paula Lucero and Trumpeters Angie Garcia and Adelina Ortiz.
Aug 31. The 228th Santa Fe Fiesta opens with the traditional burning of Zozobra, a 30-foot effigy, said to banish gloom and endow the event with a festive spirit. The Fiesta Queen is crowned as the highlight of the annual La Fonda Roof Show, followed by a “come one come all” ball at Seth Hall.
Sep 1. The 1940 Santa Fe Fiesta continues as Bishop Metzger leads a pontifical procession and high mass in the morning and a candlelight procession in the evening. The formal DeVargas Pageant takes place on the Plaza. Acrobats, street musicians, performing dogs and trained bears share the Plaza with Tio Vivo, a perennial Fiesta favorite. Singing and dancing continues at the La Fonda Roof Show and on the Plaza. Guests at the Conquistadores Ball are treated to a playlet, “The Birthday of the Infanta,” with parts played by Nina Otero-Warren, Jose Sena, Jr., Lorraine Delara, James J. Brennan and Charlotte Greer.
Sep 2. Over 100 entries in the Pet Parade, organized this year by Dolly Sloan, are welcomed back to the Fiesta. There had been no Pet Parade in 1939 but the event returned to the Fiesta schedule in 1940 by popular demand. Children show off their pets, including dogs, cats, one rat, one parakeet, two calves and a stuffed anteater on a cart. The favored entry is Tessie and Dorothy May Gonzales’ decorated cart, a “rabbit prairie schooner.” Dorothy Sosaya, just 2 ½ years old, accompanied by her brothers, Manuel and Edward, was likely the youngest participant in the Pet Parade. Afterwards, the children attack three giant piñatas on the City Hall lawn, with gifts and prizes for every child.
The Hysterical Parade follows, with floats sponsored by Closson & Closson, Capital Pharmacy, Del Rico Creamery, Bishop’s Lodge, La Posada, La Fonda and Handy Lumber and others. Prominent citizens are represented as well: George King, Ellis Bauer, Joe and Theresa Bakos, Don Clauser and Bates Wilson. The Parade features 100 floats including an 1864 stagecoach, an old circus wagon and artist John Sloan as a “blood-drinking Hitler.”
Sep 3. Inmate Bennie Mendez, a prison trusty, fails to check into prison on Saturday night after working at the Governor’s Mansion, a prison guard is sent looking and finds him celebrating Fiesta in a downtown bar. Benny Mendez is back in his prison cell early Sunday morning.
Sep 21. The body of Santa Fe shoe merchant, Richard Elias, 68, is found lodged in rocks on the bank of the Santa River. The body was first spotted by James Henson floating on a flash flood in the Arroyo Mascarenas, behind the Allison-James School. A search party discovers the body about 3 miles south of town. A doctor’s examination reveals that Elias died by gunshot to the head. Police find a suicide note in Elias’ room at the Paul Giers home on Grant Avenue, written in his native Syrian. Police surmise that Elias, known to be despondent, shot himself in a ravine north of town, perhaps the Arroyo Chamisa, and heavy rains caused a flash flood, carrying the body downstream.
Sep 30. The St. Michael’s College Horsemen lose their first game of an unusual football season. Barred from playing schools with membership in the New Mexico state high school athletic association, the Horsemen had scheduled an 8-game season with Texas and Colorado schools. In Denver, the St. Joseph’s Bulldogs defeat the Horsemen, 7-0.
Oct 5. The Santa Fe Board of Education buys two parcels of land on Camino Acequia Madre and negotiates for a third parcel to build a six-room grade school. Board secretary Mrs. Blanche Lucero says plans have already been sent to the WPA to construct a one-story, Santa Fe style building. The new school should relieve the overflow in the only other school in the area, Manderfield school on Upper Canyon road.
Oct 10. Harrington junior high school reports its honor roll. In the seventh grade, Eddie Garcia, Joan Evans, Antonio Fernandez, Pat Hamilton, Patricia Harding, Ira Jean Hathaway, Willie Herrera, Hazel Martinez, Rosemary Robinson, Judy Straw, Doris Thompson and Joyce Wilder. In the eighth grade, Shirley Gust, Paula Odor, Allan Bennett, Jack Bordner, Louis Brown, Burton Dwyre, Jr., Dolores Fernandez, Emily Gomez, Mary Grosvenor, Edward Kaune, Doris Moseley, Margaret Sue Muir, Gloria Padilla, Jennie Varela, Oleta Walker and Opal Wilson. In the ninth grade, Spurgeon Cozart, Robert Shockey, Stella Rodriguez, Francis E. Garcia, Lorraine Ferran, Dorothy Luchini, Helen James Proctor, Phyllis Charles, Earline Hazlitt, Margaret Wolfe, Ella Bynon, Richard Heine, Bernadyne Wallace, Helen Virginia Smiley, Billy Byrne and Martha Ann Barnes.
Nov 8. 3,824 Santa Fe men register for the draft at offices in the federal court building and in the basement of the Supreme Court building. First to receive a serial number from District 1 is Domingo Coriz, 26, truck driver, 637 West San Francisco Street, reports Esther Barton, secretary to the District 1 Board; the first from District 2 is Ralph Ward, Negro.
Oct 26. Governor John E. Miles dedicates and opens the new Santa Fe-Taos Highway, recently completed under the supervision of state Highway Engineer, Burton G. Dwyre. The new paved road generally follows the route of the “old original road” up out of the canyon, thought to be the Taos branch of the old Santa Fe Trail.
Oct 20. Federal Census officials report Santa Fe’s population at 20,325. At the last Census, Santa Fe’s population stood at 11,236.
Nov 15. Albert Gonzales, 27, is admitted to the State Bar in New Mexico following graduation from Georgetown University School of Law. Gonzales, a Las Cruces native, was blinded in a swimming accident as a youth but persevered in his studies to achieve his dream of being a lawyer.
Dec 12. The Trianon Nite Club holds a Grand Opening at a new location 2 miles out on the Albuquerque Highway. The club’s owners, Mr. and Mrs. N. T. Whittington, have completely renovated the former Sunset Inn building for an improved dance floor, modern rest rooms, bar service and check room. Santa Fe’s own Johnnie Hamilton, master of modern rhythm, and his orchestra provide entertainment.
Dec 20. The Mayflower Restaurant on San Francisco Street re-opens after extensive remodeling. Owners Pete and Tom Pomonis (now partnered with Pete Theodore) have engaged the services of Los Angeles chef, Nick Morris, and two expert bartenders as well as The Mayflower Swinging Strings, a four-piece combo under the direction of Paul McCallister, which will be heard regularly in the large private dining room.
Dec 28. Mrs. Bernabe Romero of Anita Place wins first prize of $10 in the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce Christmas lighting contest. Mrs. Carl Bishop of Circle Drive wins second prize of $5 and Mrs. Tom McCurdy of Gomez Road wins third prize of $2.50.
Notable Weddings of 1940. Josephine Wilma Balling and Arthur B. Scott, Lucy Balling and John Davie. Ronnie Gardner and Martha Carnahan, Sally Maestas and Rocky Varela, Baker McPhate and Elaine Rogers, Louise Barton and Edward B. Erekson, Manuelita Herrera and J.J. Romero, Jr., Louise Davidson and Harvey Yates, Loretta Feldhake and Reese Fullerton, Rosana Lujan and Fortino Gutierrez, Wanda Manker and Fred Kinsbrough, Wynona Freeman and Jon Rainer, Geraldine Carter and Stanley Mathis, Consuelo Lucero and Celso Lopez, Jr., Will Prince and Juanita Eva McGuire, Almee Sullivan and Dick Parish, Jane McDonald and Charles Husted, Mary Emily Cummings and Dan Estes, Jack Thompson and Katherine Anderson, C. Phelps Dodge and Eileen Hollis Martindale, Patricia Hurley and Dr. Henry Beall Gwynn, Erlinda Billas and Edward Romero, Mary Medina and Eddie Silva, Louise Trujillo and Ursulo Borrego, Jr., Eugene Valdez and Clara Baca, Mabel Stanton and John Sterrett, Doris Fish and Leonard J. Coyne, Kay Mera and Adj. Gen. Russell C. Charlton, Dorothy Black and Keith F. Quail, Edward Safford, Jr. and Thelma Conn, Peggy Lee and Howard Berliner, Duncan Scott Duncan and Mary Frances Huber, Ellen Elise Armstrong and H. Mannie Foster, Dean McAuliffe and Alene Champ and Lala Romero and Max Ortega.
Notable Deaths in 1940: Esterino Napoleon, Miss Luis Sena, Evaristo Duran, Miss Cora Garish, William W. Harah, Mrs. Almyra E. Brackett, W.H. Livingston, Mrs. Virginia M. French, Mrs. Charles B. Barker. N. Howard Thorpe, Captain James Baca, Mrs. Rose B. Nagle, Stanley Guy Lamoreux, Walter C. Rubeach, Marion Stewart, Richard S. Elias, J. Ashby Davis, Mrs. M.J. Fincke, Ralph H. Bushner, Mrs. Celia E. Hogle, H.H. Malcolm, Mrs. Donald C. Ortiz, M.W. Barrett, Martin Gardesky and others.
