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Papen Center Added To New Mexico Register Of Historic Places

  The Frank O' Brien Papen Community Center, 304 W. Bell Ave., in now on the New Mexico Register of Historic Places. The Cultural Properties Review Committee, under the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, voted favorably on Friday, Dec. 12, to add the center to the register.

Mayor Pro Tem Greg Smith attended the meeting in Santa Fe when the vote was taken. "After they voted, they applauded, and there was genuine optimism about Las Cruces turning a new corner with respect to our appreciation of our cultural properties," Smith said. "We are getting a better grip on the things that are attractive, not just to tourists, but also to those of us who live here. This is significant."

The center was the original Mesilla Park Elementary School designed by Henry Trost and built in 1907. It was a one-story building in the Mesilla Park neighborhood of Las Cruces and served as a school until the mid ‘70s when the City of Las Cruces took it over as a recreation center.

It was named the Frank O’ Brien Papen Community Center in 2012, after longtime Las Crucen Frank O. Papen, a prominent business leader and influential state legislator.

The research for the nomination was done as graduate level course work by Francis Cochran, supervised by Graduate Advisor, Dr. Beth O'Leary.

According to Smith, “The Cultural Properties Review Committee will be passing along its recommendation that the facility be listed as a national landmark on the National Registry of Historic Places.”

Information from city of Las Cruces