Mural celebrates founding of Las Cruces, El Camino Real

A mural is taking shape on the corner of Las Cruces Avenue and Mesquite Street.

This is the first of what could turn into 30 (maybe even 60 or more) murals on Mesquite Street, all the way to the village of Doña Ana. Mesquite Street is part of El Camino Real.

The driving force behind this is Carlos Melendrez, the great-great grandson of Pablo Melendrez.

Pablo, from the Village of Doña Ana, hired an Army guy, Lt. Delos Bennett Sackett (1822-85), to plat Las Cruces in 1849.

Carlos would like to establish a founders day celebrating some of the early inhabitants and the very old trail those people used (El Camino Real and earlier incarnations). These murals are the first step on this journey.

The painter is Lorenzo Braulio Zepeda, a native of Los Angeles who grew up in Anthony, Texas and has lived in Las Cruces for 20 years. He has a fine arts degree from New Mexico State University with a painting/drawing emphasis. He began painting murals in 2014 while teaching on a project with the city Juvenile Citation Program and Parks and Recreation Department.

Zepeda began work on the murals in mid-September. His first two subjects are famous Indian warriors.

The old man went by the name Nana (grandma or lullaby). He married Geronimo’s sister and rode with Geronimo. He had the longest fighting career of any Apache warrior.

“Carlos Melendrez reached out to me in early August this year,” Zepeda said. “He shared his vision. I then shared my own mission to highlight the stories of people from this land, specifically, the magnitude of the Camino Real in the Mesilla Valley, beyond its connection to the Conquest and ‘La Entrada.‘”

The young female is Lozen, sister of Victorio, an Apache chief, and was, herself, a well-known warrior. (Victorio will have his own mural.) She was known for her bravery and military prowess. After Victorio died, she joined Geronimo. Lozen was known as the “Apache Joan of Arc.”

On the east side of this building will be portraits of Geronimo and Victorio.

Carlos already has 15 property owners interested in having murals and would like to sign-up at least a few dozen more.

At 11 a.m., Monday, Oct. 10, there will be a dedication event on the corner of Mesquite and Las Cruces – or it may be moved to Klein Park if too big a crowd shows up.

Mel Stone was born in farmhouse outside Solway, Minnesota. He came to Las Cruces in 2010 and opened Mesquite Art Gallery in a remodeled 1898 adobe on Mesquite Street in the Mesquite Historic District.

Stone has a BA in chemistry from St. Olaf College, an MA in economics and mathematics from the University of North Dakota and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Visit www.mesquiteartgallery.com.