Tularosa, New Mexico

Tularosa, in Otero County, is about 13 miles north of Alamogordo at the junction of US 54 and US 70. The community was founded in 1862 by Hispanic settlers who chose the marshy land where Tularosa Creek fans out and loses itself among reeds and marsh grass a mile from the mouth of Tularosa Canyon. For sometime there were two communities here--Tularosa and West Tularosa, though now the two are merged into one.

In 1863, during the Indian Wars, several sheepherders were killed on Tularosa Peak, about six miles southwest of Tularosa and overlooking the Tularosa Valley. For a time, this Peak was called Dead Mans Hill. Again, in another battle in 1868, a Sergeant Glass defeated a group of Apaches here. The Peak is called Round Mountain on some maps, but Tularosa Peak is now the accepted name.