The Land
Situated on the East Mesa corridor, the area of the International District has always been exposed to diverse inflows of water, soil, animals, and people passing through this corridor between Tijeras Pass and the Rio Grande. These high plains have always diffused the resources that came into them, spreading out the inflows coming down out of the pass, absorbing them, allowing them to slow down and settle, to create the fertile bank that supports the often hidden life of this place. The resourcefulness required by the harsh natural conditions of this place has always resulted in creativity. Many pioneering species have created deep, flexible root structures to store their water and energy under the ground until conditions are favorable to flower and fruit. Others remain migratory, following available resources and opportunities as they arise. Always they are building upon what came before to provide a richer, more sheltered environment for those who will come after.
The Dyers + Microsoft
Clarence “CM” Dyer lost his leg as a result of a fall from a tree when he was nine years old, but that didn’t stop him from becoming a businessman, land developer, banker, and rancher/cowboy. In the early 1930s, CM purchased land at the corner of San Pedro and Central, just west of what is now the New Mexico State Fairgrounds - he ran cattle through Tijeras Canyon, marketed livestock to the military, built saddle horse stables, and opened the NM Livestock Exchange (the auction building is still standing). Years later, after building a small business district (with barber shop, attorney’s offices, a post office, a bank), CM and a partner built the Cal-Linn building, research and development slots for Sandia Labs and Kirtland Air Force Base. In the early 1970s, Ed Roberts, retired from the weapons lab at Kirtland, rented one of these spaces for his company, Micro-Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS). Through MITS, Roberts realized a long-held vision of producing an affordable, stable personal computer sold as a build-at-home kit - the Altair 8800 was the first of its kind. A January 1975 Popular Electronics article about the Altair 8800 led Paul Allen, a young programmer for Honeywell in Boston, and his good friend Bill Gates, then a student at Harvard, to approach Ed Roberts with their version of BASIC software. Their pitch was successful, and both Allen and Gates eventually moved to Albuquerque. Allen chose the name Micro-Soft, and the company began in an adjacent storefront in the Cal-Linn Building.
The Outleys + The East End Addition
One early homesteader in the ID was Henry Outley, a member of the Fraternal Aid Society, an association of African-American men. The members of the Fraternal Aid Society were businessmen, they were land developers, and they were visionaries who could foresee the suburban lifestyle on the horizon, envisioning “superhighways”, and the shopping and medical services that would be provided all under one roof. Together, these men took on the task of ensuring access to that developing lifestyle to people of all races. In 1938, Henry Outley platted 144 acres of his parcel into a subdivision called the East End Addition, extending from Pennsylvania to Wyoming, and from Lomas to Constitution. But, this was 1938, and many of the deeds to Albuquerque houses, especially in the suburbs of the East Mesa, were “redlined”, meaning that it was written into their deeds that they could not be sold to blacks or Asians. It was impossible for an African-American developer, even as well-established as the members of the Fraternal Aid Society were, to get a bank loan.
So, in 1944, Outley deeded the East End Addition to his daughter, Virginia Ballou. In the later 1940s, black GIs were coming home from World War II, but were being prohibited from using their GI bills to purchase new housing. This spurred Ballou on to make the East End Addition a reality. She eventually connected with JS Jones, a black architect and builder in Phoenix. Jones constructed twenty-two homes in the East End Addition between 1950-55, seven more were built between 1961-72, and two in the 1980s, for a total of 31 homes; many fewer than Henry Outley had envisioned, but a solid contribution to the growing Albuquerque suburban landscape.
Southeast Asia
In 1975, 500 Southeast Asian refugees from the Vietnam War were relocated to Albuquerque. Most of them were settled in the ID. As the 1970s moved toward the 1980s, more and more refugees came. Cambodians, Laotians, Vietnamese, and ethnic Hmong populations were all relocated to Albuquerque. Many of the Cambodians and Hmong left quickly for California. They had been primarily rural farmers in their home countries, and quickly found that they could not grow the same food crops in New Mexico. Many of the Vietnamese and Laotian refugees, however, were from urban environments where they had worked with Americans and spoke at least some English. Many of them had held administrative or managerial positions in their home countries. They were not farmers, and they came with experience that helped them to set up the social infrastructure that has led to the community’s strength today.
Patterns
“When we speak of the identity of a place, we express a recognition of the patterns formed around us” – Mathieu Helie
Each of the stories that have been told– whether from the land or the people who have lived here– are windows into the unique character and identity of the International District. When viewed collectively, common themes or patterns begin to emerge about this place. In this, we begin to see how much the patterns of the land itself mirror in the patterns of the diverse peoples who have settled here over time.
Due to its openness, this area has always been a place that has allowed for diversity, thus why long before this area was designated as a center for relocating refugees, it was seen by Mr. Outley and his family and colleagues as a place that people from all walks and colors of life could feel welcome.
And like the resourceful plants that have made this place home, so has the International District always been a space for pioneering creativity. It is no accident that this area has been the birthplace of such diverse start-ups as Cliffs Amusement Park, Microsoft, Talin Market, East Central Ministries, Endorphin Power Company, Koenigs, Cervantes, Southwestern Minerals, and the Talking Drum, to name a few.
Though the International District is largely paved over in concrete today, it becomes clear through these stories that the living patterns, rhythms, and tempos of this high mesa corridor grasslands still beat in the lives of people who live and work here today.