Otowi Historic District

{{short description|Historic district in New Mexico, United States}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}

{{Infobox NRHP | name = Otowi Historic District | nrhp_type = hd | nocat = yes | designated_other1 = New Mexico | designated_other1_date = August 20, 1973 | designated_other1_number = [http://www.nmhistoricpreservation.org/assets/files/registers/2012%20Report_%20Section%203_%20Arranged%20by%20Number.pdf 295] | designated_other1_num_position = bottom | image = Buildings at Otowi Crossing, Otowi NM.jpg | caption = Buildings at Otowi Crossing | nearest_city = [[Santa Fe, New Mexico]] | coordinates = {{coord|35|52|31|N|106|8|31|W|display=inline,title}} | locmapin = New Mexico#USA | built = {{Start date|1886}} | builder = [[Union Bridge Company]] | architecture = | added = December 4, 1975 | area = {{convert|29|acre}} | refnum = 75001170<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref> }} [[File:Otowi Suspension Bridge, Otowi NM.jpg|left|thumb|247x247px|Otowi suspension bridge]] The '''Otowi Historic District''' is a {{convert|29|acre|adj=on|km2}} [[historic district (United States)|historic district]] in northern [[Santa Fe County]], [[New Mexico]], having four [[contributing buildings]] and three [[contributing structures]] including [[Otowi Suspension Bridge]] and was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1975.<ref name="nris" />

Otowi ([[Tewa]], ''p'otsuivi'', "gap where water sinks")<ref>Pearce, T.M., editor, ''New Mexico Place Names, A Geographical Dictionary'', University of New Mexico Press 1965. {{ISBN|0-8263-0082-0}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/nm/otowi.html|title = OTOWI - New Mexico Ghost Town}}</ref> is a place on the west bank of the [[Rio Grande]] at the head of [[White Rock Canyon]]. Established in 1886 with the name ''White Rock Cañon'', it was little more than a stop (with a salvaged [[boxcar]] for a station building) and a river crossing on the [[D&RGW]]'s Santa Fe Branch, the [[narrow-gauge]] railroad popularly known as the [[Chili Line]]. [[File:Chili line at Otowi.jpg|thumb|left|Railroad bridge at Otowi in 1890 by [[William Henry Jackson|W H Jackson]] (the road bridges would later be built to the right of this image)]]In 1923, nearby [[Los Alamos Ranch School]] requested a post office here using the ranch name. But a place near [[Las Vegas, New Mexico|Las Vegas]] already had that name, so three other names were submitted, and the [[US Post Office Department]] chose Otowi. A single-lane, suspension road bridge was built in 1924. The railroad was removed and the post office closed in 1941. When Los Alamos Ranch School was taken over by the [[Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, third and fourth terms|US Government]] in 1943 to become the secret [[Project Y|Los Alamos nuclear physics laboratory]], most passenger traffic serving the town and laboratory travelled on [[New Mexico State Road 4]] (now renumbered [[New Mexico State Road 502|NM 502]]), crossing the river at Otowi (heavy freight traffic was routed further north, crossing the river at [[Española, New Mexico|Española]], due to limited loading on the suspension bridge).

This place is the setting for [[Peggy Pond Church]]'s historical memoir, ''The House at Otowi Bridge,'' (1959) which chronicles the life of [[Edith Warner]] from 1921 to 1951. She was postmistress and shopkeeper in the early years, and later the hostess of tearooms which became popular with scientists from the [[Manhattan Project]].<ref name="snyder">{{cite web |url=http://newmexicohistory.org/people/history-in-the-writings-of-peggy-pond-church |title=History in the Writings of Peggy Pond Church |last= Snyder |first= Sharon|date= |website=New Mexico History |access-date=20 January 2019}}</ref>

==See also== {{Portal|National Register of Historic Places}} *[[National Register of Historic Places listings in Santa Fe County, New Mexico]]

==References== {{reflist}}

[[Category:Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in New Mexico]] [[Category:Geography of Santa Fe County, New Mexico]] [[Category:Northern Rio Grande National Heritage Area]] [[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Santa Fe County, New Mexico]] [[Category:New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties]] [[Category:Railway stations in the United States opened in 1886]] [[Category:1886 establishments in New Mexico Territory]] [[Category:Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in New Mexico]] [[Category:Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad]]