Pre-Contact Indigenous Era Native people valued the hot springs and used them therapeutically. The hot springs were centrally located within the territory of the
Pueblo peoples, who lived in the area from time immemorial.
Pecos Pueblo, one of the largest and most fortified Pueblos, and an important trading center, was just 30 miles to the west. The Jicarilla Apache lived a semi-nomadic lifestyle, sharing the area that was home to
Pueblo people. on its way to Cicuye Pueblo, later called
Pecos, 30 miles to the west. Due to Spanish demands on Native land and labor, the introduction of slavery, the suppression of Pueblo religion, as well as famine, pestilence and disease, Pueblo resistance to the Spanish occupation grew. One of the leaders of the revolt, Felipe de Ye, was from nearby
Pecos Pueblo. That same year, the
Santa Fe Trail opened, crossing the
Gallinas River five miles south of present-day Montezuma. In 1823, wealthy sheepherder
Don Luis Maria Cabeza de Baca was granted 500,000 acres of land for himself and his 17 sons including the present-day Montezuma Hot Springs. He built two large adobe homes From that time, the Donaldson brothers' small bathhouse at the Montezuma hot springs, accessible for a fee, The army, seeking the springs' waters, built a hospital across the
Gallinas River from the Montezuma hot springs in 1846. The hospital was a long one-story
adobe building with a veranda across the front supported by natural log posts. With the arrival of the railroad, the focus of the soldiers at
Fort Union was no longer on protecting the
Santa Fe Trail and was solely on removing Native people from the area and forcing them onto
reservations. The
Jicarilla Apache were the last tribe removed from the area, in 1888. Rooms in this hotel rented for $2 or $3 per day. past the hot springs two miles to the reservoir. The ice was used for refrigerated freight cars transporting vegetables from
California to eastern markets. There was also a
lime kiln in the area. It was the largest frame building in the country at the time. The hotel and dining service were managed by
Fred Harvey, and the hotel was one of the grandest in the
Harvey House system. The dining room seated 500 guests at a time, "Even imaginary ailments give way before forces so potent for good," the railroad publication said. Rates at the time were $2.50 to $4.00 by the day, and $52 – $80 by the month, with discounts available under various circumstances. The book particularly recommended the hotel for those suffering from
tuberculosis. A book published by the railroad in 1901 extolled Montezuma's sunshine, dry climate, altitude and temperature, stating that the abundant sunshine encouraged one to spend time outdoors in the "aseptic air." The book said that Montezuma had a post office called the "Hot Springs Post Office" and was served by five trains daily in each direction on the Hot Springs branch of the
Santa Fe Railway that connected Montezuma to
Las Vegas, making it easy for guests at the Montezuma to access department stores, curio shops, dressmakers and dentists in
Las Vegas. At that time, the
Catholic Church in Mexico was impacted by the
Cristero War, which developed out of the
Mexican Revolution.
Mexican President Plutarco Elias Calles had sought to limit the power of the church, and so the
Montezuma Seminary was established in 1937 as a seminary in exile. The main Montezuma Hotel housed the theologians, the Stone Hotel housed the philosophers, and the Latin scholars lived in a white frame building at the foot of the hill. In 1981, the Montezuma Hotel, by then called the
Montezuma Castle, was not in a condition for occupancy, and the
Armand Hammer United World College of the American West made its home in the buildings surrounding the Montezuma Castle, leaving the castle as a backdrop rather than the centerpiece of the school. The college limited its immediate effort to making the Montezuma Castle weathertight, replacing broken windows, repairing the roof, and sprucing up the lobby for the dedication ceremonies in October 1982.
Armand Hammer renewed his commitment to restoring the Montezuma in 1990, but died later that year. In 1997, the
National Trust for Historic Preservation selected the Montezuma Castle as one of
America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. In 1998, the
White House Millennium Council designated the
Montezuma Castle as one of America's Treasures, the first property west of the
Mississippi River to receive this honor. Also in 1998, philanthropist
Shelby M.C. Davis announced a major challenge grant to attract funds to save the
Montezuma Castle. The renovated
Montezuma Castle was publicly unveiled on September 29, 2001, presided over by
Queen Noor.
Prince Pavlos of Greece, an alum of
UWC-USA, was present.
Shelby Davis, the globally-minded philanthropist who endowed much of the project, accepted an outpouring of gratitude from
UWC-USA students representing 83 nations and dressed in traditional costumes. == Education ==