Neighborhood Deja Vu

A Continuing History

Imagine Montgomery Boulevard as a two-lane road. Picture Eubank and Wyoming extending only a couple of blocks north of Montgomery. See Osuna Road as an indistinguishable part of the desert landscape. Visualize a view of the airport from your backyard. There is no K-Mart, Target, or any commercial enterprise in the area. Most of all, there is no traffic!

If any of these images sound familiar to you, then you remember how our neighborhood looked around 1963 when the first homes were being occupied. As late as the early 1950s, this area was used for sheep pasture. The first streets, of course, were dirt, and several residents have said they remember when the paving was finally done.

The area comprising the Osuna Park Neighborhood Association did not appear on city maps until 1959 when a few initial streets were listed. According to city directories printed in the 1960s, this neighborhood (the Ofimiano Gutierrez Addition) developed near Montgomery and Wyoming and spread east. By 1963 families were moving into homes on Lagrima de Oro, Las Calabazillas, Gutierrez, Las Camas, La Barranca, and Avenales. These homes were interspersed with vacant lots and houses under construction. Dona Marguerita first appeared erroneously in the 1963 city directory as Donna Marguerite, but no homes were listed on this street nor on Dona Rowena until after 1965.

The backyards of the homes on Avenales were the northern boundary of the Albuquerque city limits, and remained so until 1972 when development of the northern portion of our neighborhood (Northridge Addition) began. Homes were being built and occupied on Evangeline, General Hodges, General Bradley, and Osuna Road, and Northridge was under construction in 1972. Piedra Rosa appears in the city directory the following year, and Pristina in 1975. By the mid-1970s, this section was building up rapidly and beginning to resemble what we see today.

Street Names

Neighbor Mandy Pino and her husband Joe were some of the first residents, and Joe designed the layout of the streets in what used to be the Emiliano Gutierrez Tract. This area was part of the original Elena Gallegos Land Grant. Senor Gutierrez reluctantly sold his land between Bear Canyon and Montgomery to a developer named Robinson. Around 1959 into the early 60s, Joe Pino drew up plans for a network of streets and residential lots. The reason our Neighborhood streets are laid out in curves and not in straight lines is that Joe used the drainage contours of existing feeder arroyos. This way the area when paved would have natural run-off down the streets instead of cutting through yards. He also wanted to avoid widespread use of high retaining walls.

Joe allowed Emiliano Gutierrez to name the streets. Dona Marguerita is named for Emiliano’s wife. (Mandy is not sure who Dona Rowena was.) Gutierrez, of course, is the family name. Las Camas (“The Beds”) was the first street to have homes built on it. One of the first houses is on Las Camas between Piedra Negra (“Black Rock”) and Piedra Liza (Caliza = “Limestone”). We have “Pink Rock”, “Red Rock”, and “White Rock” streets, and, of course, “The Gully” (La Barranca) and “Teardrop of Gold.” (If anyone knows why Lagrima De Oro was called that, please enlighten us!)

Joe Pino did not draw up his design with Moon going through from Osuna Road to Montgomery because, even though there was no Neighborhood school at the time, there were long-range plans for our Osuna Elementary. Joe thought that with the batch plant just off Eubank at Osuna (where now the Enclave Apartments stand), there would be dangerous cement truck traffic past the future school, so he left Moon as a short segment for the safety of the children.

If you have any more memories of our neighborhood that you care to share, or if you know of a former resident who has information to share, please contact Penny Hoe at 296-3654 or via e-mail through this link.

Osuna, Spain

Osuna What?

Osuna Park Neighborhood Association was indirectly named for an ancient Spanish family, and the city of Osuna. The origins of Osuna stretch back to the year 1000 BC, as can be seen by the great number of remains from each historical period.

Osuna got its name from the Turdetans, and several objects remain from this pre-Roman period, such as the "Bull of Osuna" and the "Reliefs of Osuna".

Pompey made his last unsuccessful stand against Caesar in Osuna. The city fell into Caesar’s hands, who subsequently gave Osuna the status of a colony; the importance of which is suggested by the laws found in the "Osuna Bronzes".

In 1562 the 5th Count of Ureña was made 1st Duke of Osuna, and from then on Osuna became the Andalusian capital of the domains of the Tellez Giron family, who were the founders of the Collegiate Church and the University in the 16th century.

The Giron family did much to make the urban landscape of Osuna what it is today, building and supporting its mixture of convents and churches, lordly palaces and manors.