2004 Most Endangered

Most Endangered Places in New Mexico 2004

• Albuquerque Locomotive Shops, Bernalillo County
  
• Motel Blvd. / Old U.S. Highway 80
  
• Aztec Ruins National Monument
  
• Marked and Unmarked Cemeteries Throughout New Mexico
  
• Mesa Prieta
  
• The Hoyle House
  
• Traditional Village of Agua Fria
  
• Folsom Hotel
  
• Lake Valley Ghost Town
  
• Valle Vidal Unit
  
• St. John's Methodist Episcopal Church
  

St. John's Methodist Episcopal Church

Johnson Mesa, Colfax County. Nominated by Judy Young, Raton.

SIGNIFICANCE This old church, which is owned by a nonprofit corporation, is located on state road 72 about 16 miles east of Raton. It is on the National Register and the New Mexico Register of Historic Places. The church was built by homesteaders at a time when the Johnson Mesa community flourished. The men of the community gathered materials and furnished labor, and the women solicited building funds. A stonemason from the town of Blossburg built the church.

Work began in about 1896 and was completed in 1897. On the first anniversary of the 1898 dedication, and every year thereafter (except from about 1955 to 1969), there has been a picnic and reunion. On those occasions, families gather for a picnic dinner on the grounds and a service and program inside the church. Johnson Mesa Cemetery is across the road on land donated in 1909. Fifty-four people are known to be buried there.

THREAT Regular Sunday services were discontinued after 1943. After about 1955, the church fell into a state of disrepair and seemed at times doomed to fall apart. As a result of several campaigns to restore the building, it has survived, but it is in deteriorating condition, especially the outside walls. St. John?s still stands as a place of worship and as a tribute to the pioneer women and men who settled on Johnson Mesa, but it won?t last long without attention.