Polvadera was founded as a farming community in the 1620s after
Juan de Oñate had established the province of
Santa Fe de Nuevo México, when Spanish settlers came north and settled among the
Piro Pueblo Indians. The name of the original Piro pueblo there is unknown and its ruins, which may have been destroyed by the meandering of the Rio Grande, have not been excavated. In 1629
Apaches destroyed the pueblo of Polvareda. It was subsequently rebuilt, but was abandoned as a result of the
Pueblo Revolt of 1680, and because of further Apache raiding after the
reconquest was not resettled again until the early 19th century after Governor
Fernando Chacón reopened the area for settlement. Apache and Navajo raids continued until after the
American Civil War when the US Army began a
strenuous interdiction policy. The town was attacked as late as 1846 by over a hundred Navajo who made away with a large number of livestock. Camp Connelly, sometimes called Fort Connelly,
Lt. William Brady was sent there as a recruiting officer to process volunteers. Camp Connelly was only maintained until the end of the civil war in 1865. The current church of San Lorenzo was built in 1898. Polvadera has always been subject to the flooding of the Rio Grande. Major floods occurred in 1898, which destroyed the church, in 1929, and 1937. Formerly, the major diversion of Rio Grande water for irrigation in Socorro County occurred at Polvadera; however, after the floods of 1929 a new diversion was built upstream at San Acacia. In 1958 when
Interstate 25 was being built down the Rio Grande valley, Polvadera was not given an exit, the nearest exit provided was at Lemitar a few miles to the south. ==Economy==