National Register Listing

San Jose de Gracia Church

a.k.a. Church of Santo Tomas Del Rio de Las Trampas;See Also:Las Tr

N side of the Plaza, Las Trampas, NM

The church of San Jose de Gracia, erected between 1760 and 1776, is probably the best preserved and least altered of the Spanish Colonial Pueblo churches built in New Mexico.

History

First settled In 1751 by 12 Spanish families from Santa Fe, the walled village flourished until 63 families were numbering 278 people in 1776. Construction on the existing church began sometime after 1760 and was completed by 1776. Tree ring datings for two roof beams or vigas give the date 1791 and 1812; this suggests that a new roof was placed on the church early in the 19th century. In Spanish Colonial times, the parish as well as mission churches were staffed by Franciscan missionaries. When the New Mexico missions were secularized by the Mexican government and the friars forbade to minister as secular clergy in 183^, the shortage of clergy in New Mexico became acute. As no secular clergy arrived from Mexico to replace the regular clergy, the spiritual leadership developed on lay leaders. 'This situation continued until the 1850s when the Catholic Church in New Mexico was reorganized under Bishop Lamy. Until the 1920's the Trampas area remained so isolated and its economy so retarded that it was unaffected by American fashions of the late 19th century. It is to this cultural and economic isolation that the remarkable unaltered state of the San Jose de Gracia church is due.

Local significance of the building:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1970.