Santa Fe was growing by leaps and bounds in 1959. A brand new airport, finished in 1958 at a cost of $884,000, gave the city jet service. The bridges at Camino Alire and DeFouri streets were finished. The Casa Solana subdivision – phase 1 – was completed with more to come. And the City was just raising the money to buy the old Bruns Hospital land to build De Vargas Jr High School, a public library and swimming pool.
Senator Dennis Chavez announced funding for major repairs to the Arroyo Mascaras, almost a $1 million to prevent erosion and to build dam checks. The plant was to proceed from Griffin, crossing near Star Lumber upstream to a point between Ft Marcy Park and Magers Field. And the State of New Mexico began clearing the land on the river side at College and Alameda for the new 50,000 square foot State Land Office Building across from the Desert Inn.
In 1959, the City of Santa Fe began negotiations to acquire property of the Public Service Company and the old U&I Cafe, both fronting on Water Street, to build a large parking garage at corner of Water and Don Gaspar. A second site, the old Nusbaum building on the east side of Washington Avenue, between Palace Avenue and Nusbaum Street, was also being examined for more parking near Plaza. That plan was simple. Buy the building, tear it down, and put up a parking lot.
The first annexation ever in City history occurred in 1959. Expanding from traditional 4 leagues (about 2 ½ miles from plaza in cardinal directions – the boundaries of the original Santa Fe Grant) all the way to Airport Y along Cerrillos Road, enclosing some 2,000 acres.
Who was responsible for all these changes? The City leaders in Santa Fe in 1959. Well, Leo Murphy was the mayor who headed up councilors Ray Arias, Andre Senutovitch, Willie Seligman, Ray Smith, Orlando Fernandez, P.A. Baca, Pat Hollis and George Bernstsen. This was the administration, incidentally, which doubled the parking meter fees in town from a nickel an hour to a dime an hour.
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