Casa Colorada is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) in Valencia County,

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, United States. The population was 272 at the 2010 census. It is part of the

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the CDP has a total area of , all land.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 56 people, 20 households, and 16 families residing in the CDP. The population density was . There were 21 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the CDP was 60.71%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 1.79% Native American, 25.00% from other races, and 12.50% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 73.21% of the population. There were 20 households, out of which 40.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 80.0% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, and 20.0% were non-families. 20.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.80 and the average family size was 3.25. In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 25.0% under the age of 18, 10.7% from 18 to 24, 21.4% from 25 to 44, 30.4% from 45 to 64, and 12.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 115.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 110.0 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $16,750, and the median income for a family was $40,208. Males had a median income of $21,250 versus $21,250 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the CDP was $7,059. There were 45.5% of families and 41.2% of the population living below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 55.0% of under eighteens and none of those over 64.

History

Although Casa Colorado may have been a seventeenth-century landmark, it did not begin its existence as a community until early in the nineteenth century. On May 19, 1760, after coming to Sevilleta, Bishop Tamarón passed the ruins of “the house they called Colorada,” and from that point on they began to see pens of ewes, corrals, and small houses (Adams 1953:201). Casa Colorada is also mentioned in the Kendall Journal. Whereas it may have been in ruins in 1760, by 1841 it was a small community. The area is a well known Land Grant. The modern settlement for the town of Casa Colorada was born of a petition for a community grant in 1823. The grant may not have been confirmed at that time but the town continued in existence (Bowden 1969:II, 205). Testimony in the adjudication of the grant before the Surveyor General confirmed that the town was built in 1822 or 1823 in the place already known by the name Casa Colorado (Town of Casa Colorado Grant:12). It was included in lists of New Mexico towns in 1833 and 1840 (Bloom 1913:14; Carroll and Haggard 1942:93). Wislizenus only referred to the nearby sand hills and the location of “Casas Coloradas,” six miles south of Tomé, when he camped there on 22 July 1846 (Wislizenus 1848:35). Later in the same year Abert commented on some large ponds north of town which were filled with water birds. His party had reached the Río Grande near there after descending from Abó Pass (Abert 1962:117-118). In 1855, W.W.H. Davis observed that at Casa Colorada his party “struck a young desert, an excellent pocket edition of the great African Zahara, over which we journeyed for about four miles.” Through the area north of “La Hoya” the sand made travel difficult and the land barren with the exception of “occasional small patches in some of the valleys close to the river” (Davis 1938:200). In the 1920s the local Post Office was given the name “Turn” because there was a turn in the road at Casa Colorado and that name has since appeared on many maps but the original name is still in general use (Julyan 1996:67).

Education

Its school district is Belén Consolidated Schools. Belén High School is the district's comprehensive high school.

Gallery

File:Casa Colorada scenic marker.jpg, Official Scenic Historic Marker for Casa Colorada, NM

References

{{authority control Census-designated places in New Mexico Census-designated places in Valencia County, New Mexico Albuquerque metropolitan area