NEIGHBORHOODS: MADRID

• Published in: The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, N.M. : 1988)
• Main Author: STORY: PAUL WEIDEMAN, PHOTOS: KIM KURIAN
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Santa Fe, N.M Santa Fe New Mexican 03.10.2004
• Subjects: Huber, Oscar; Johnson, Diana; McDaniel, Waz; Strathdee, Gavin; Varney, Philip
• ISSN: 1938-4068

  In 1928, the peak year of coal production, more than 180,000 tons were shipped out of Madrid. As the next decade went by, the demand for coal diminished as natural gas became more popular for home heating and as diesel locomotives replaced coal-fired steam railroad engines. By the time Mel and [Diana Johnson] arrived in 1973, Madrid was known as a ghost town. After the company sold the town in 1975 a new population consisting of artists and independent thinkers began settling in Madrid. The majority of today's residents live in wooden frame houses dating from the mining era. During a recent visit to Johnsons of Madrid, Mel Johnson brought out a copy of an old Colorado Fuel and Iron Company map of Madrid, pointing out that many of these homes were there when the map was drawn a century ago. [Gavin Strathdee] and his wife, Eleanor, moved to Madrid in 1973, a few months after the Johnsons. Gavin Strathdee has long been involved in drinking-water issues, serving both the Madrid Water Cooperative and the Jemez y Sangre Regional Water-Planning Council.