Menaul School Historic District
Roughly bounded by Broadway, Claremont, Edith, and Menaul Aves. and 301 Menaul Blvd., NE, Albuquerque, NMMenaul School has played a central role in the development of the Presbyterian Church's missionary presence within New Mexico. Between 1895 and the late 1950's the school was the apex of an educational and religious pyramid that had as its base the dozens of small, predominantly Hispano communities of northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado where the Presbyterian Church had established churches and grammar Schools. Using this organizational structure the School significantly contributed to the development of the state, serving as a Hispano leadership training ground for nearly 50 years. The school's alumni have played an important role in New Mexico civic and educational affairs with many graduates returning to become leaders in their home communities.
The Menaul School District is locally significant as one of Albuquerque's oldest educational campuses and, with the University of New Mexico, the only one that has remained in continuous use since the 19th century. It has influenced the physical growth of the city because the campus, along with St. Anthony's Orphanage and the recently closed BIA Albuquerque Indian School, formed Albuquerque's northern boundary between town and country at the turn of the century. Today it still asserts a definite institutional and park-like effect on a part of the city that has become essentially urbanized.
Architecturally, the district's importance comes from the fact that the school has managed to combine varying architectural styles into a coherent and well-integrated campus. Many of the buildings were constructed entirely by the school's staff and students, an attempt at hands-on building and economic self-sufficiency rare in this century. It should be noted that Menaul School's significance does not derive from its architecture but from its sense of community and its cultural contribution to the State of New Mexico.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.