| What makes it historical? |
Seaman Field and his family rolled into Deming with the newly completed railroad between 1881 and 1886. He’d been a rancher, an insurance agent, a stockbroker, a Confederate veteran, and would go on to serve as the Eminent Commander of the Deming Knights Templar!
After the US bought the southern part of Arizona and New Mexico via the Gadsden Purchase, new custom houses started to pop up along the new border. Originally, Silver City was the port of entry, but Deming grew so fast with the railroad that the custom house soon moved there in 1882. Six years later, President Cleveland made Mr. Jack-of-all-trades Field into a customs collector for two terms. The first term he ran from his own home, and the second term he ran from a building one block to the north! Once those terms ran out, Mr. Field continued involvement as first mayor of Deming, served on the board of education, and was also a probate judge, a title that stuck! |
