Mesquite

Mesquite, Dona Ana County, is on NM 478 about 12 miles southeast of Las Cruces. It can also be reached by a short drive west off Exit 151 on the Interstate.

Mesquite was settled as a farming and dairy community in 1882. It was named by railway executives who noted many desert mesquite bushes surrounding their newly-laid tracks from Santa Fe to El Paso. The persistent desert shrub has long been a feature of acreage in New Mexico.

What is now Mesquite was along the El Camino Real, The Royal Road or The King's Highway, a historic trail used since 1598 running 1,500 miles from Mexico City to Santa Fe.