Category: Albuquerque

BOOK REVIEW: FATHER STANLEY

BOOK REVIEW: FATHER STANLEY

Instead of doing a typical book review this time, I’ve chosen to write about one of my favorite New Mexico authors, the man who wrote under the pseudonym Fr. Stanley. Born in New York in 1908, Stanley Louis Crocchiola was ordained at age 30 in the Franciscan Order of Atonement. He had contracted tuberculosis by this time, so his superiors sent him to Hereford, Texas where they assumed the arid climate would help him heal. Ironically, he arrived there in February 1939 during a black dust storm. He survived that, though, and in 1940 was transferred to Santa Fe, New Mexico. The dry climate does seem to have suited him. He lived to be 87.


He used that time to learn about the history of the various communities he served in New Mexico and, in 1948, began chronicling their history. The resulting books, published under the pseudonym Fr. Stanley, are a charming mixture of stories told by old-timers, newspaper clippings, and on-the-ground observations. Many of them are printed on folded-over 8.5 x 11 paper stapled in the cross-section, or saddle-stitched, a kind of historical chapbook.


Fr. Stanley’s books often have the same simple cover design–a bright yellow background containing a red zia symbol and typeface. At least for the New Mexico books, the titles are also often nearly identical. The four I own are The Stanley (New Mexico) Story, The Elizabethtown (New Mexico) Story, The San Miguel del Bado (New Mexico) Story, and The Miami (New Mexico) Story.


Father Stanley wrote and published over 170 books, the majority in this simple format, though some, like The Duke City: The Story of Albuquerque, New Mexico and The Civil War in New Mexico were published in hardback. They are all a great resource for discovering the details of New Mexican life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries–everything from the types of apples grown in Miami to the names of the men on the Elizabethtown baseball team.

This interest in the minutiae of life is the defining characteristic of Father Stanley’s books and makes them well worth reading because they give us an almost newspaper-like glimpse into a bygone world. The only trouble is, they’re no longer currently being published. If you want a copy of The Bethel (New Mexico) Story, The Texico (New Mexico) Story, The Causey (New Mexico) Story, The Grant That Maxwell Bought, The Magdalena (New Mexico) Story, The Abo (New Mexico) Story, The Golden (New Mexico) Story, or any of the others, you’re going to have to find a secondhand bookseller.


I encourage you to do so, even at the risk of driving up prices on the many Stanley books that I still don’t have in my collection. For sheer joy in New Mexico history, in all its details, I recommend Father Stanley’s work!

Teddy Roosevelt Visits Albuquerque!

Teddy Roosevelt Visits Albuquerque!

On Tuesday, May 5, 1903, a crowd of 15,000 people met President Theodore Roosevelt in Albuquerque during his stop there as part of a 66-day train tour of the American West.

It wasn’t the President’s first visit to New Mexico Territory. He’d been in Las Vegas four years earlier, attending the first annual reunion of his Rough Riders. This was an important moment for Roosevelt and for the Territory. He announced his candidacy for U.S. President and also promised to work for New Mexico statehood.

At the May 1903 event, New Mexicans took the opportunity to remind Roosevelt of his promise. When his mid-afternoon train arrived at the Albuquerque Depot and recently opened Alvarado Hotel, New Mexico’s Territorial Delegate began the festivities with a speech that emphasized the Territory’s eagerness for statehood.

Source: https://www.albuqhistsoc.org/source-documents/greeting-president-roosevelt-albuquerque/  Accessed 1/21/22

To further enhance his point, the dignitaries’’ platform faced a tableau of 45 young girls carrying banners that represented each of the current states and another child with her hands extended, appealing for admission to the Union. But Roosevelt didn’t let himself be tempted into making promises. His speech and ensuing remarks at a private reception in Albuquerque’s Commercial Club contained only platitudes and generalities.

However, in the end, the President did come through for New Mexico. As best he could, anyway. His December 1905 message to Congress included an endorsement of New Mexico statehood. Unfortunately, he recommended merging it and Arizona into a single unit, a proposal that Arizona shot down at the November 1906 polls, although New Mexico voted for it.

Roosevelt made further attempts to fulfill his promise, but none of them resulted in New Mexico statehood. It would be another seven years before the Territory would become a full member of the Union, in a deal crafted by Roosevelt’s successor, President William Howard Taft.

Despite Roosevelt’s inability to accomplish statehood, May 1903 wasn’t the last time New Mexico would get a glimpse of him. He returned to Albuquerque in Fall 1916, campaigning for Republican presidential nominee Charles Evans Hughes. A short film of his appearance can be found at www.loc.gov/item/mp76000168.

Sources: Albuquerque Historical Society, http://www.albuqhistsoc.org; Howard Bryan, Wildest of the Wild West, Santa Fe: Clear Light Publishing, 1988; David V. Holtby, Forty-Seventh Star, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2012.