About Guadalupe County

Guadalupe County was founded in 1891 and named after our Lady of Guadalupe, the

Patroness of the Americas. The legislature of the Territory of New Mexico carved out

Guadalupe County from the southern portion of San Miguel County.

The name of our county, Guadalupe, has religious significance and importance as does the

name of our city, Santa Rosa. With those two names the founding fathers of Guadalupe County and the city of Santa Rosa made a very important statement about the importance of the Catholic religion and our Hispanic culture. Only four of New Mexico's thirty-three counties have religious names--San Miguel, San Juan, Santa Fe, and of course Guadalupe. Only a few communities have names that are associated with Catholicism and those are either in northern New Mexico or are Indian pueblos.

It is especially significant that the names of the two most important saints of the New World were chosen for our county and our community. Santa Rosa de Lima is the "Patroness of the Americas" and Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe is Mexico's most popular religious and cultural icon. The founding fathers certainly believed that their religion should be reflected in the names of their county and community, especially by selecting the two most important religious Catholic icons in the Western Hemisphere.   Daniel B. Flores- Historian