Two decades of work to revitalize and preserve Raton’s historic downtown in northern New Mexico is receiving a national 2025 Great American Main Street Award from Main Street America. That's a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Raton’s economy was hit hard as nearby coal mines and a horse track closed over the years.
Brenda Ferri is the executive director for Raton MainStreet and Arts and Culture District, which, although there is no street named Main in Raton, is dedicated to firing the downtown back up again. One goal is to get new businesses started and give folks a reason to visit, she said.
“Right now, a lot of people don't even know our cute little downtown exists because they stay on I-25 and just pass by,” she said.
She said they’re finding ways to help fix up storefronts and mentor aspiring entrepreneurs.
“Sometimes a lot of work has to go into them (the buildings) for these little businesses,” she said. “But if we can partner a great property owner with a great business, and they can work together, everybody could be successful.”
Ferri said nine people with new business ideas recently graduated from an entrepreneur bootcamp program that Raton MainStreet runs in partnership with Rocky Mountain Microfinance Institute and Bayside Fund.
“The plan now is to find spaces in our downtown to place these businesses,” she said, “so that we can fill up some of our vacant buildings.”
A yoga studio and massage therapist may be among the first to open, according to Ferri. There’s also a guitar manufacturer who already has a location. Her group is also working with a potential bakery, soap maker, and local postcard maker, as well as a restaurateur who wants to start with a food truck, which Ferri said is needed to serve Raton’s events.
The recent national award doesn’t include funding. But since 2005, the city has received $6.8 million in other public and private investments that have helped make upgrades, including rehabilitating 82 buildings and creating 76 new businesses, according to a press release.
“Raton MainStreet’s efforts in our downtown, from business technical assistance to event planning, have completely rearranged the narrative that Raton is dying; in fact, it is thriving,” said Patricia Duran in the press release. She’s the executive director at Raton’s Center for Community Innovation, which works to strengthen and build resilience in the city and region.
One of the recent major public improvement projects includes a $2.2 million upgrade of infrastructure and streetscapes in 2015, revitalizing three blocks in the downtown district.
Several historic buildings have also been rehabilitated, including the 1930s El Raton Theatre and the 1913 Shuler Theater. More work is currently in progress at the five-story 1929 Yucca Hotel.
The theaters currently offer live performances and show films.
There’s also a long-time family-run Western wear store, bank, coffee shop and other businesses, despite about a 22 percent vacancy rate in downtown storefronts.
More funds will be put toward restoration at the city’s historic railroad station later this year, which will serve passengers on Amtrak’s long-distance Southwest Chief line that runs between Los Angeles and Chicago. The route also has stops in Lamar, La Junta, and Trinidad, Colorado.
“Raton’s extraordinary efforts have resulted in a renewed and economically resilient community that supports growth and opportunity, while still honoring the main street’s historical and cultural heritage,” according to the press release, which lauded the city’s efforts to reflect its rich history and international cultural make up stemming partly from the many people who immigrated there to work in the coal mines 100 years ago.
Ferri, who is a native of Raton, said the city of about 6,000 puts on a number of events, including its annual Gate City Music Festival at the end of August and a July 4th celebration that she said locals who have moved away return for every year because it is so much fun.
