Discover the History of Belen, New Mexico

MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - Oct. 14, 2013 - PRLog -- The newest addition to Arcadia Publishing’s popular Images of America series is Belen by Baldwin G. Burr. The book is set to release October 14, 2013 and boasts more than 200 vintage images depicting the New Mexico city.

In 1740, a group of Hispanic families, seeking new cultivatable land, received a grant of more than 200,000 acres from the governor of Spanish New Mexico. In 1793, a church was built in the Belen Old Town Plaza under the direction of Franciscan priests. An agricultural community was formed around several plazas and residents prospered through barter and subsistence farming.

In the 1850s and 1860s, German immigrants joined Hispanic merchants to form a vibrant business community. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad arrived in Belen in the 1880s and the nearby “Belen Cutoff” in 1908 linked both north-south and east-west rail lines to give Belen the nickname of the “Hub City.” Today, more than 100 trains travel through the Belen rail yard daily. Images of America: Belen looks at the “Hub City’s” founding and evolution through extraordinary, vintage images.

Chapters included in Belen:

•The Hub City
•An Agricultural Community
•The Railroad Comes to Belen
•A growing Business Community
•Public Service
•Church Life in Belen
•Schools, Sports and Recreation

Available at area bookstores, independent retailers, and online retailers, or through Arcadia Publishing at (888)-313-2665 or online.

Arcadia Publishing is the leading publisher of local and regional history in the United States.  Our mission is to make history accessible and meaningful through the publication of books on the heritage of America’s people and places.  Have we done a book on your town?  Visit www.arcadiapublishing.com/.