Maxwell House

USA / New Mexico / Fort Sumner /
 historical layer / disappeared object  Add category
The approximate location of the famed Maxwell House.

Lucien Maxwell owned the largest Spanish land grant in the Southwest, but grew tired of managing it, so in the 1860s he purchased Fort Sumner and the surrounding land from the government and turned the area into his private town. Maxwell turned the Officers quarters into this 20 room mansion. The last remnants of the house washed away in a flood in 1937.

Upon Lucien's death in 1875, control of the lands fell to his son, Pete. Among Pete's employees (at different times) were William Bonney (aka William McCarty, aka Billy the Kid) and Pat Garrett. Both men considered Maxwell a friend.

It was at the Maxwell house that Pat Garrett fired the shot that killed someone identified by him as Billy the Kid (there is some disputer about the real identification of this individual-some think McCarty once again alluded caapture and lived into his 90s under the name of Ollie "Bushy Bill" Roberts until he died in Hico, Texas in 1950).

www.newmexico.org/billythekid/billypages/tours_maps.php
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucien_Maxwell
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Sumner
www.clanmaxwellusa.com/billythe.htm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Sumner
web.mac.com/musicplay/Brushy/Story.html
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucien_Maxwell
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   34°24'14"N   104°12'0"W

Comments

  • How do I find what is left of the house?
This article was last modified 11 years ago