Moriarty, New Mexico

Moriarty is located along Interstate 40, about 45 minutes east of Albuquerque where State Route 41 crosses the highway north-south (SR 41 goes north to Galisteo and the Eldorado area east of Santa Fe, and goes south through Estancia to US 60 near Willard). This is big dry bean (pinto), corn and pumpkin farming and cattle ranching country on the high plains.

Moriarty grew up on Route 66 (the Mother Road, now Historic Route 66) and now, on reaching "adulthood," the Downs at Albuquerque is relocating to Moriarty, bringing one of New Mexico's new "racinos" to town.

The first settlers in this area were Michael Timothy Moriarty, his wife and their 3 children, in 1887. There wasn't much here in those days, just lots of cattle ranching land available for homesteaders. 16 years later, the post office was established with Michael Moriarty as the first postmaster. The mail arrived on horseback at first but the Santa Fe Central Railroad arrived later that same year. With the coming of the railroad came a flood of new homesteaders from Iowa, Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas. Businesses sprang up and Moriarty boomed until a fire in the mid-1920's destroyed most of the wooden structures in town.

1926 saw the establishment of Route 66 but that first version turned north just west of Santa Rosa and headed for Santa Fe. The 1937 re-alignment of Route 66 brought the highway through Moriarty but by that time, the area had been somewhat decimated by the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. In the 1960's Interstate 40 was built and by the early 1970's, there were 2 interchanges for Moriarty. About the same time, the railroad tracks were pulled up and hauled away for scrap.

These days, Moriarty still serves the needs of the farmers and ranchers for miles around but also serves visitors brought in by the highways.