Taylor-Mesilla Historic Property

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The Taylor-Mesilla Historic Property

Located on the west of historic Mesilla Plaza, the Taylor-Mesilla Historic Property is a rambling adobe structure which consists of two stores separated by a covered passage, or zaguan, that leads to a large home in the rear. Originally built as two small storefronts on adjoining lots with residential quarters and outbuildings to the rear, the oldest parts of the buildings were constructed in the late 1850s and are some of the oldest and most significant buildings in Mesilla.

In 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo established the international border between the U.S. and Mexico. The village of Mesilla, on the west side of the river and in Mexican territory, was founded by a group of people who wished to remain Mexican citizens. With the 1854 ratification of the Gadsden Purchase, Mesilla became part of the U.S. Territories. During this time it was the largest city between San Antonio and San Diego. In 1861, during the American Civil War, Colonel John Baylor took possession of Mesilla, and it became the capital of the Confederate Territory of Arizona. A year later, the Confederates retreated. After the railroad bypassed the community in 1881, the county seat was moved to Las Cruces and Mesilla’s population and importance n the region declined.

Over time the Taylor-Mesilla Historic Property was home to several different families. Beginning in the 1850s Mariano Yrissari, and later Anastacio Barela and his wife Rafaela, both prominent New Mexico traders, operated a mercantile out of one of the three buildings. Their son, Mariano Barela, later operated the business with his mother. The Barela family lived in the home behind their storefront, a common practice for 19th century New Mexico.

A notions and dry goods department of the Reynolds and Griggs Company operated out of the other commercial building. Reynolds’ son Charles did extensive work on the structures and rebuilt the store with a stamped metal facade and large plate glass windows around 1909. He completed the remodeling thanks in large part to a mortgage from Father Juan Grange, the parish priest of nearby San Albino Catholic Church. It was Charles Reynolds who combined the properties into what we now know as the Taylor-Mesilla Historic Property.

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