Mora group looks to rebuild plaza destroyed in 1847

Mar. 28—Where others see an empty space devoid of activity, Anita Lovato LaRan sees community.

She envisions a plaza, with a communal center surrounded by small businesses.

Lovato LaRan, the executive director of the Mora-based nonprofit Collaborative Visions, said the organization is using federal funds to conduct a study on whether it's possible to build a "Plaza Nueva" somewhere in the town of Mora.

"I feel now with the fires, it could be a really good time to really think about centralizing a gathering place, a place for small businesses and community events and things like that," she said in a recent interview. "We don't have that in the community anymore."

Mora once had a plaza, likely built in the 1830s, that was destroyed by U.S. Army troops in the Second Battle of Mora on Feb. 1, 1847, a clash that was part of the Taos Revolt during the U.S.-Mexican War of 1846-1848.

During the Second Battle of Mora, about 200 U.S. soldiers attacked the town to exact revenge for losses sustained in the First Battle of Mora about a week earlier, State Historian Rob Martinez said.

The first battle broke out as Army troops heading to Taos to quell a rebellion in the area engaged in conflict with "Mexican patriots," Martinez said.

"The people of Mora, like anyone else who was being invaded, fought to protect their land, their families and their country," Martinez said.

In the first battle, those militia combatants killed U.S. Army Capt. Israel Hendley and the U.S. troops retreated. When they returned for the second battle, they brought howitzers and leveled the plaza area to ensure victory.

It's difficult to say where in Mora the original plaza stood, though some people — including LaRan and Martinez — think it may have been somewhere in the area where St. Gertrude the Great Catholic Church now stands in the town of Mora.

Scott Campbell, a contract project director for the initiative, said there is not a lot of historical knowledge about the plaza because the records of its construction were lost in the destructive battle.

Community activists and economic development proponents banded together in the wake of 2022's devastating Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire to come up with a long-range business development plan to help reunite the community and create jobs and economic opportunities.

One idea many supported was the development of a modern-day Plaza Nueva, and a plan to use U.S. Department of Health and Human Services funding to conduct a feasibility study for the project, Campbell said.

The roughly $149,000 planning grant the nonprofit received will allow community advocates to lay out preliminary designs, talk with people about where they would like such a plaza to be built and what it should look like, Campbell said.

He said more grant money will be necessary "to make it a reality. Depending on its size and where it is located, it will likely cost several million dollars" to build, he said.

One idea that has come out of discussions so far is to build a "community gathering place that includes options for retail or small businesses, a remote workspace center" and a workforce training center, he added.

Organizers want to build the plaza in the town of Mora, Campbell said, but if that is not possible, they would look for a site elsewhere in Mora County.

Two community focus group sessions are planned in May to garner input from Mora residents, government agencies and business people, Campbell said.

If the plaza initiative is successful, Mora County could look at finding ways to create satellite plazas in some of the smaller towns and villages, he added.

"Each of the towns at one time or another had an active plaza and over time they have fallen into disrepair or abandonment ... but that's a dream down the road," he said.

Martinez said plazas were erected in many New Mexico communities under Spanish rule centuries ago. Plazas around the world are "where people come together to celebrate life."

LaRan said having a central community gathering place can reconnect people who may feel "fragmented," particularly in the wake of the fire.

"[The plaza] was always a gathering place for people," she said. "That's where people gathered to eat together, to celebrate life, to celebrate death for someone who passed away or celebrate a child is born."

Now, she said, much of that activity happens in Mora's post office.

"Everybody goes to the post office and everyone stands around and talks," she said. "There's no other place like that for people to go to anymore."