Lordsburg, New Mexico | |
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City | |
Hidalgo County Courthouse in Lordsburg
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Location of Lordsburg in New Mexico |
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Location in the United States | |
Coordinates: 32°20′49″N 108°42′26″W / 32.34694°N 108.70722°WCoordinates: 32°20′49″N 108°42′26″W / 32.34694°N 108.70722°W | |
Country | United States |
State | New Mexico |
County | Hidalgo |
Founded | 1880 |
Government | |
• Mayor | Arthur Clark Smith |
Area | |
• Total | 8.4 sq mi (21.7 km2) |
• Land | 8.4 sq mi (21.7 km2) |
• Water | 0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2) |
Elevation | 4,250 ft (1,295 m) |
Population (2000) | |
• Total | 3,379 |
• Density | 400/sq mi (160/km2) |
Time zone | MST (UTC-7) |
• Summer (DST) | MDT (UTC-6) |
ZIP codes | 88009, 88045 |
Area code(s) | 575 |
FIPS code | 35-42180 |
GNIS feature ID | 0891335 |
Lordsburg is a city in and the county seat of Hidalgo County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 3,379 at the 2000 census.
Lordsburg was founded in 1880 on the route of the Southern Pacific Railroad.
Lordsburg is the birthplace of the official New Mexico State song, O Fair New Mexico. It was written by Lordsburg resident Elizabeth Garrett, the blind daughter of famed sheriff Pat Garrett. In 1917, Governor Washington Ellsworth Lindsey signed the legislation making it the official state song. In 1928, John Philip Sousa presented Governor Arthur T. Hannett and the people of New Mexico an arrangement of the state song embracing a musical story of the Indian, the cavalry, the Spanish and the Mexican.
In December 1938, the Lordsburg Municipal Airport (KLSB) began operation. It was the first airport in New Mexico. In 1927, Lordsburg was one of the stops on Charles Lindbergh's transcontinental "Spirit of Saint Louis" air tour. In the early 1950s the airport was served by the original Frontier Airlines (1950-1986) which flew DC-3's on a route from El Paso to Phoenix that included stops at Las Cruces, Deming, and Lordsburg, NM as well as Clifton, Safford, and Tucson, AZ. It is owned by the City of Lordsburg and is southeast, about one mile outside the city limits.
Lordsburg held as many as 1,500 Japanese Americans in a Japanese American internment camp operated by the U.S. Army during World War II. On July 27, 1942, shortly after the Lordsburg Internment Camp was opened, Private First Class Clarence Burleson, a sentry at the facility, allegedly shot two Japanese American internees under questionable circumstances. One of the victims, Hirota Isomura, apparently died instantly. The other, Toshiro Kobata, died before dawn. After a military investigation and court-martial, Burleson was found to have lawfully killed the two men. The camp operated until July 1943. The incident inspired an episode of the new Hawaii 5-0 series, "Ho'oani Makuakane," Episode 4/9 (original air date December 13, 2013).