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Bernalillo, Catron, Chaves, Cibola, Colfax, Curry, De Baca, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Guadalupe, Harding, Hidalgo, Lea, Lincoln, Los Alamos, Luna, McKinley, Mora, Otero, Quay, Rio Arriba, Roosevelt, San Juan, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Taos, Torrance, Union, Valencia

New Mexico Counties

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New Mexico Counties

There is thirty-three counties in the state of New Mexico. There were originally nine counties formed in 1852. Santa Ana County, New Mexico Territory, one of the nine original counties, was annexed in 1876 to Bernalillo County, New Mexico.

Chaves County, New Mexico

Chaves County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Roswell
Year Organized: 1889
Square Miles: 6,071

Court House:

PO Box 1817
County Courthouse
Roswell, NM 88202-1817

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Namedfor Col. Jose Francisco Chaves, a native of Bernalillo and delegate to Congress

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Chaves County was created 25 February 1889. It was named for Colonel Jose Francisco Chaves, a military leader in New Mexico during the Civil War and later in Navajo campaigns. The county seat is Roswell, home of NM Military Institute. Chaves County is rich in fresh water, oil, farming, commerce, clean air, and tourism. After growing up in this area, it is easy to image flying saucers after seeing hundreds of shooting stars in the clear night sky.

Neighboring Counties:

Insert Counties Here

Cities and Towns:

- Dexter	town	Incorporated Area
- Hagerman	town	Incorporated Area
- Lake Arthur	town	Incorporated Area
- Roswell (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."