Socorro (New Mexico)
| Socorro | |
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 Socorro County Courthouse |
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| Location in New Mexico | |
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| Basic data | |
| Foundation : | 1598 |
| State : | United States |
| State : | New Mexico |
| County : | Socorro County |
| Coordinates : | 34 ° 4 ′ N , 106 ° 54 ′ W |
| Time zone : | Mountain ( UTC − 7 / −6 ) |
| Residents : | 9,650 (as of 2013) |
| Population density : | 258.7 inhabitants per km 2 |
| Area : | 37.4 km 2 (approx. 14 mi 2 ) of which 37.3 km 2 (approx. 14 mi 2 ) are land |
| Height : | 1403 m |
| Postal code : | 87801 |
| Area code : | +1 575, 505 |
| FIPS : | 35-73540 |
| GNIS ID : | 0938832 |
| Website : | www.socorronm.gov |
| Mayor : | Ravi Bhasker |
 Aerial view of Socorro |
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Socorro is a small town in the US state of New Mexico and the seat of the county seat of Socorro County . The city itself has 9,650 inhabitants (as of 2013) and is the seat of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NMIMT).
The city of Socorro is located on the Rio Grande at an altitude of about 1500 m, 127 km south of Albuquerque , the largest city in New Mexico with the nearest (international) airport (International Sunport) and 259 km north of El Paso , Texas .
The founding date of the city is given as 1598, but the Indian Pueblo of Pilabo already existed before this time.
The Spaniards came to this area around the middle of the 16th century. The founding date and name of the city (Socorro is Spanish for help) are traced back to the Spaniard Juan de Oñate , who in 1598 with his expedition to colonize the area in the already existing pueblo by the Indians after a difficult route through the southeastern desert area " Jornada del Muerto ”had received help in the form of food and shelter and then named the pueblo“ Socorro ”.
A Spanish mission was established by 1627 , including a newly renovated mission church that still serves as a Catholic church today.
In the 18th century, the Spaniards settled a number of Genízaros (Hispanic Indians ) in order to protect the border area from attacks by nomadic tribes.
However, the economic development did not begin until the middle of the 19th century with the mining of silver and lead in the Magdalena Mountains to the west . Socorro experienced a real boom and was one of the largest cities in New Mexico around 1890 with 4500 inhabitants.
The university was founded at this time (1893). Today the university (NMIMT, short "New Mexico Tech" or even shorter called "Tech") is the determining economic factor of the city. The NMIMT is primarily geared towards engineering (mining, oil production), materials science, physics, especially astrophysics and geology and is the largest, including the companies and other institutions linked to it, such as Aerojet and the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center, EMRTC or the NRAO Employers in Socorro.
Individual evidence
- ↑ historical tour through the city (PDF; 175 kB)
