Description
Like many cities that grew rapidly with the arrival of the railroad in the 1880s, Albuquerque experienced much social upheaval. A red-light district called Hell’s Half-Acre was well established in New Town by the turn of the century. The mayoral election of 1914 forced these activities underground. The history of this one block mirrors the changes in our city over the past 140 years. In fact, excavations for the Hyatt hotel uncovered materials and related documents from that age shedding light on the cultures that thrived in this area.
Matt Schmader has more than 45 years of field experience in southwestern archaeology. He has worked on sites from virtually every cultural time period, ranging from Paleo-Indian to Archaic campsites, from Spanish contact/colonial sites to the historic red-light district in downtown Albuquerque. He is an adjunct professor in UNM’s Anthropology Department. He earned his MA and PhD from UNM, was past superintendent of Albuquerque’s Open Space Division, and was the city’s only archaeologist between 2007 and 2016.