LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- The Hispano Chamber of Commerce de Las Cruces Board of Directors took a tour of the Historic Amador Hotel, 180 W. Amador Ave., Wednesday, July 20, 2011, prior to holding their regularly-scheduled July board meeting at the Hotel.

The tour of the historic property was led by longtime Amador Hotel and Downtown advocate Heather Pollard, a member of the Amador Museum Foundation.

The history of the Amador Hotel, according to the Amador Museum Foundation, is as follows:

"In 1850, a widow by the name of Gregoria Rodela de Amador, arrived in Las Cruces from Juarez and opened a general store in the newly established town. Her son, Martin, worked at Fort Fillmore for six dollars per month and later became paymaster at the Bennett mine near Organ. Martin eventually took over his mother’s general store, expanding her successful business.

In 1866, Martin built the original structure of the Amador Hotel as one-story house for his family. He soon began hauling freight between Santa Fe and Chihuahua and Martin added sleeping rooms for teamsters to his home. For the next twelve years, the Amador family lived in the building and furnished rooms to their freight team drivers.

Then, in 1878, a new home was built across the street for the ever expanding Amador family. At that time the original Amador home was turned into a rooming house and hotel. As Las Cruces established itself as a major crossroad and a railroad town, the hotel business began to prosper. In 1885, a second floor, balcony, and lobby were added to enhance the hotel operation. The interior lobby accommodated theatrical performances and the bailes (social dances) vital to early regional entertainment. The county seat moved from Mesilla to Las Cruces in the early 1880’s so Amador remodeled the adobe building to provide temporary space as a county courthouse, post office, and jail. Martin Amador was converting his former teamster rest stop into the finest hotel in Las Cruces.

competing hotel, the Don Bernardo was located on Main just south of Court Street. Drivers for the Amador and the Don Bernardo often raced their horse-drawn carriages down Depot Avenue, now named Las Cruces Avenue, to get first call on Santa Fe railroad passenger arrivals. Both hotels had restaurants and they even competed over which notables had been guests. The Amador was said to have hosted Teddy Roosevelt while the Don Bernardo had Woodrow Wilson and Pancho Villa. Throughout the years, further additions and modifications were made the Amador to add space for a livery, open patio, and bar.

During most of the 20th Century this grand old building served the community as a social gathering place with fine dining, libations, and entertainment. All the while, it maintained its reputation as one of the best places to stay in the region. Numerous celebrities, politicians, military officers, and other notable and notorious figures frequented the Amador Hotel.

Unsympathetic urban renewal during the 1960’s, waning clientele, and waxing taxes, all conspired to create an untenable situation for the Amador. The family had no choice but to sell the building. The Citizens Bank of Las Cruces, established by J. A. Ikard and his sons, John and Jim, purchased the building from Martin Amador Campbell, Jr., the great-grandson of Martin Amador, in 1970. The building was renovated using concrete block and frame additions to accommodate the needs of the banking service. Additionally many of the historic features of the old Amador Hotel were preserved. In a familiar pattern witnessed throughout the state, however, the Amador’s original Territorial style was modified to a ubiquitous Pueblo-Revival style. The Ikards made an effort to display as many as possible of the old Amador historic artifacts in the Citizen’s Bank.

In 1985, the building was purchased by Dona Ana County to house the County municipal offices. The building was abandoned in 2006 when Dona Ana County moved its administrative offices to a new complex on Motel Blvd.

A year before moving out of the Amador and the County Courthouse, the County established the Dona Ana County Historic Buildings Advisory Committee, co-chaired by George Helfrich and Chuck Murrell of the Dona Ana Historical Society. Their task was to identify possible outcomes for each of the historic buildings and specifically to try to identify potential buyers who would put them to good use. The County wanted $700,000 for the Amador and in excess of $1 million for the Courthouse. After hours of meetings and interviews with a variety of community leaders from across southern New Mexico, no one stepped forward to actually purchase the Amador. The consensus, however, was that it was extremely important to find a way to preserve the building and not allow it to be razed.

At the urging of Buddy Ritter of Mesilla, proactive members of the Dona Ana County Historical Society established the Amador Museum Foundation. The Foundation functions as a non-profit community organization to save the Amador Hotel from disrepair and to raise funds for its adaptive re-use.

In October 2006, Cornerstones Community Partnerships was hired by the Amador Museum Foundation to conduct and prepare a Conditions Assessment and Preservation Plan. Despite the loss of structural integrity, the building is basically in excellent condition. Only the west wall has suffered any damage mostly from water."