F251. Which two famous gunfighters once caroused together at the saloons in Old Town?
Elfego Baca said he became friends with Billy the Kid in 1881 during a roundup. One of Baca’s stories is that they traveled to Albuquerque for a night out. Billy carried a small pistol, a Bulldog repeater, that he fired intermittently, infuriating the deputy who couldn’t find the weapon hidden in Billy’s hat. 

F252. When was the town of Bernalillo in Bernalillo County?
In 1850, when the county was created, the Bernalillo County seat was in the town of Bernalillo. 

F253. How many times has the Bernalillo County seat changed locations?
Four. In 1852 the county seat moved from Bernalillo to Los Ranchos. In 1854 it moved to Albuquerque. In 1878 it returned to Bernalillo until 1883 when it moved back to Albuquerque, this time for good. 

F254. What did Albuquerque business legends George Maloof and Dale Bellamah have in common?
The two are descendents of Lebanese immigrants who came to New Mexico in a wave during the early 1900s and settled all over the state. Bellamah made his fortune in homebuilding, becoming the sixth largest home builder in the world. Maloof made his mark in hotels, liquor distributing, banking and as an owner of professional sports teams. 

F255. What respected Albuquerque elected official was first a newspaper reporter?
Sen. Clinton Anderson, who served the state ably in Washington, was a reporter for the Albuquerque Journal in 1921. A year later his reporting of shady dealings between oilman Harry Sinclair and Interior Secretary Albert Fall exploded into the Teapot Dome Scandal. Elected in 1949 to the U.S. Senate, he served four terms. 

F256. Why are so many places in Albuquerque named Tingley?
Clyde Tingley was the flamboyant mayor of Albuquerque and twice governor during the 1920s and 1930s. A tireless booster, he cultivated the friendship of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and delivered federal dollars to the city for multiple city projects. Tingley Beach, Tingley Coliseum and Tingley Field (the former baseball stadium) are named for him. His equally flamboyant wife was known for her personal generosity and attention to the sick, the dying and to children. Carrie Tingley Hospital is named for her. 

F257. What eyesore became a city attraction?
In the 1920s the city had a dump adjacent to the Rio Grande Park. Mayor Clyde Tingley arranged for the conservancy district to divert water for a small lake that became known as Tingley Beach. 

F258. What Albuquerque neighborhood is featured in the “Science In Life” exhibit at the Smithsonian Institute?
When Princess Jeanne Park opened in 1954, it was a Northeast Heights community of affordable housing in a quality environment as envisioned by Dale and Jeanne Bellamah. The “wife-planned” homes featured fireplaces, spacious patios and such new products as linoleum, Formica and Pulverator disposals. The exhibit opened in 1994 with a kitchen, living room, “lawn” with patio recreation, and television with period programming.  

F259. How did Taylor Ranch begin?
In 1973, Joel and Nina Taylor sold 300 acres to Bellamah Corp., a land developer, for $1,750 an acre. Bellamah created Taylor Ranch. 

F260. Who were the big names in the building boom of the 1950s and 1960s?
Those responsible for developing much of the Northeast Heights include Dale Bellamah, Sam Hoffman, Fred Mossman and Ed Snow.  Their major developments include Hoffmantown, Snow Heights, Mesa Village, Princess Jeanne, Bellehaven, the Kirtland Addition and earlier subdivisions east of Carlisle. 

F261. What neighborhood wanted to incorporate as a separate village?
Harvey Golightly, better known as Col. Golightly, built the Bel-Air subdivision, bounded by Carlisle, San Mateo, Menaul and Candelaria, before FHA requirements. The houses sold quickly and the community was unique in having its own water tank.  It was annexed into the city in 1951. 

F262. When was abstinence a financial liability?
The San Felipe Hotel, built in 1884 at Fifth and Gold, offered a reading room instead of a bar. One of the promoters disapproved of the heavy drinking then common in Albuquerque. But without liquor, the hotel failed. The San Felipe was vacant when it burned in 1899. 

F263. Who is New Mexico’s longest serving U.S. senator?
Sen. Pete V. Domenici, who grew up in Albuquerque, is in his 33rd consecutive year of service to the state. He started his political career on the Albuquerque City Commission in 1966 and served with Harry Kinney, Louis Saavedra, Word H. Payne and Charles E. Barnhart. 

F264. Who is the only female veteran serving in Congress?
Rep. Heather Wilson is the only female veteran in Congress and also the first female Air Force Academy graduate to serve. She was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. 

F265. What are Albuquerque’s sister cities?
The sister cities are Alburquerque, Spain; Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan; Ciudad Chihuahua and Guadalajara in Mexico; Helmstedt, Germany; Hualien (Hualian), Taiwan; Lanzhou, China and Sasebo, Japan. 

F266. Where did the personal computer originate?
In 1974, long before Apple or the IBM PC, H. Edward Roberts, a former Air Force engineer, made the first practical, affordable home computer – the Altair. His Albuquerque company, MITS Inc., dominated the new industry in the mid-1970s. In 1975 he hired two young men to write software: Paul Allen and Bill Gates. Roberts sold the company in 1977. 

F267. What world famous company started in Albuquerque in 1975?
Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft in Albuquerque in 1975, and their first official address was the One Park Central Tower at San Mateo and Central, in shared office space. They moved the business to Belleville, Washington in 1978.  

F268. What local cultural center was originally a part of the Elena Gallegos land grant?
Los Poblanos was first mentioned in the 1790 census.  The current site includes La Quinta, a house designed by John Gaw Meem, and Los Poblanos, a preserved and renovated hacienda. The owners for years were Ruth and Albert G. Simms and then Albert and Barbara Simms. Current owners Armin and Penny Rembe have returned the buildings and grounds to their original uses. 

F269. What was Randy Lovelace’s role in preparing the first astronauts?
Randy Lovelace was a leader in aviation medicine in the 1950s. His Albuquerque clinic worked with Air Force test pilots and aircraft manufacturers and then made sure that prospective astronauts were healthy physical specimens. In 1964 Lovelace became NASA’s director of space medicine.  

F270. What astronomical facility monitors space junk?
The Starfire Optical Range at Kirtland Air Force Base tracks 1,000 active payloads and 20,000 other objects, including dead satellites. Located in the Manzano foothills, the facility has a 3.5-meter telescope, which is one of the largest in the world capable of tracking satellites.  

F271. What organization is a pioneer in the study of space materials?
UNM’s Institute of Meteoritics, founded in 1944, is one of the oldest institutions of its kind in the world and continues to be a leader in research of planetary materials and processes. 

F272. What Albuquerque-area manufacturing plant is the largest of its kind in the world?
Intel, which began operations here with 50 employees in 1980, now has 5,000 employees, and the operation is the largest of its kind in the world.  

F273. What was the first electric utility in Albuquerque?
In 1882 businessman Perfecto Armijo, Angus Grant and partners organized the Albuquerque Electric Light Co. In 1902 the gas and electric utilities were combined to form Albuquerque Gas, Electric Light, and Power Co. In 1904 Albuquerque Electric Power Co. organized to provide power to Albuquerque Gas, Electric Light, and Power Co. The first company acquired a majority of the stock of the second. They had 610 customers. In 1911 Federal Light and Traction Co. of New York acquired the Albuquerque utility, along with others in New Mexico. In 1917 the two Albuquerque electric companies were merged as Albuquerque Gas and Electric Co.   

F274. What prominent Albuquerque company is also celebrating an anniversary in 2006?
In 1911 Federal Light and Traction Co. of New York acquired the Albuquerque utility, along with others in New Mexico. In 1946 utilities in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Vegas and Deming merged to form Public Service Company of New Mexico. The architect of the merger and PNM’s first president was Arthur Prager. The company severed its ties to the New York company. The company then had 58,679 customers and 914 miles of electric line. 

F275. What was the first electric transmission line in New Mexico?
In the late 1920s the first transmission line connected Albuquerque and Santa Fe.  

F276. What alternative fuel supplied an early Albuquerque power plant?
In 1905 the Albuquerque Gas, Electric Light and Power Co. completed its first generator near two sawmills that provided its fuel – wood chips. It would later become Prager Generating Station. 

F277. What Albuquerque street had two historical designations?
Fourth Street was once a part of the Camino Real from Mexico to Santa Fe. And from 1926 to 1937 it was a segment of Route 66. 

F278. Why did Route 66 follow two different streets in Albuquerque?
When Route 66 began in 1926, it passed through Albuquerque on Fourth Street. In 1937 Route 66 through New Mexico was realigned to eliminate the S-curve through Santa Fe. The new alignment was east to west along Central Avenue. 

F279. When did Albuquerque get its first automobile tourist services?
In 1935 there were 16 tourist camps on Fourth Street and three on Central. Additional clusters of motels and curio shops grew up around the State Fairgrounds after 1938. 

F280. What’s the best preserved remaining Route 66 motel?
El Vado, an adobe motor court in Pueblo Revival style, is generally considered the best-preserved remaining motel by Route 66 buffs. It was built in 1937 by Dan Murphy, former manager of Albuquerque’s Franciscan Hotel. Its current owner, Ali Hakam, has faithfully preserved the old motel. 

F281. What are the oldest Route 66 motels?
The Aztec Motel at 3821 Central NE opened in 1932 and the Town Lodge at 4101 Central NE in 1935. The El Vado opened west of Old Town in 1937. The De Anza Motor Lodge opened in 1939. One resident at the Aztec, a retired professor, is responsible for its eclectic décor. 

F282. What was the first distance car race in New Mexico?
In 1916 the Albuquerque Automobile Racing Association and Gallup boosters staged a race from Albuquerque to Gallup over a segment of the National Old Trails system, the forerunner of Route 66. It then took 13 hours to drive from Albuquerque to Gallup. Lloyd Cunningham, driving a Maxwell, won in six hours, 53 minutes. 

F283. How did Albuquerque’s famous racing family, the Unsers, get started?
In the 1940s the Unsers operated a wrecking service at Unser Garage on 7700 Central SW. The family has raced in every Indianapolis 500 except one since 1964 and won nine times. 

F284. How much was UNM tuition in the early 1900s?
Tuition was free but the university assessed a $3 matriculation fee to support the library. 

F285. Who is UNM’s Johnson Gymnasium named for?
Johnson Gym, completed in 1957, was named for Roy Johnson, who coached every sport at UNM from 1920 to 1959, when he retired. 

F286. How did Albuquerque participate in the first coast-to-coast air travel?
Albuquerque was a stop on the first coast-to-coast route in 1929. Airplanes then didn’t fly at night, so Transcontinental Air Transport service paired with railroads. For the two-day trip from New York to Los Angeles, passengers flew during the day and traveled by train at night. TAT became TWA. 

F287. How did the YMCA begin?
The Y.M.C.A. started in Albuquerque in 1884. In 1915 the Santa Fe Railway donated land for a building across Central Ave. from the Alvarado Hotel. The Y had 48 rooms for men and boys, plus a swimming pool, game rooms and a gymnasium. 

F288. What was an early women’s group?
The Woman’s Club of Albuquerque, founded in 1904, had a building downtown at 618 Gold SW. Members paid for a horse trough downtown, supported the public library, and organized the first pauper’s cemetery and Travelers Aid program. The building was razed in 1976. 

F289. What was the nation’s first solar high-rise building?
The 13-story Simms Building at Fourth and Gold, completed in 1954, was the first solar high-rise building in the U.S. and also Albuquerque’s first in the modern International style of architecture. The architect was Max Flatow. 

F290. How did Albuquerque police communicate before they had radios?
In 1881, the White Elephant saloon was one of the first telephone customers. The police chief could phone the saloon and a barkeep would bang on a lamp post with a cleaver to summon beat officers, who then took the call at the saloon.  

F291. What prominent Albuquerque building featured a dome made by pouring concrete over a sand hill?
Architect George Pearl came up with the idea for the Civic Auditorium, which was completed in 1957. Pearl’s innovative technique drew praise from Frank Lloyd Wright. The building was demolished in the early 1990s. 

F292. How did UNM get its colors?
In the 1890s a drama teacher suggested a change from the black and gold then used to the crimson of the Sandias and the silver of the Rio Grande. The colors became official in 1897. 

F293. What public building is considered the finest example of Spanish Pueblo-Revival architecture designed by famed New Mexico architect John Gaw Meem?
Zimmerman Library, which opened in 1938, is one of John Gaw Meem’s best works.  The chandelier in the study room is said to be the largest of its type ever made by hand. 

F294. What two members of Congress married and moved to Albuquerque?
Albert Simms and Ruth Hanna McCormick met while both were serving in the U.S. Congress.  When they moved to New Mexico in 1934, they hired John Gaw Meem, the "Father of Santa Fe Style," to design La Quinta Cultural Center and their Los Poblanos home.  

F295. What orphanage operated in Albuquerque until modern times?
Founded in 1913, St. Anthony’s Orphanage, at 1500 Indian School Road NW, was home to orphaned and neglected boys from 1914 to 1972. On the site now is the Albuquerque Job Corps. 

F296. Where did Elvis perform in Albuquerque?
In the early 1950s, before he was a superstar, Elvis Presley performed at the National Guard Armory Building at Fifth and Silver.  

F297. What did early settlers eat?
The farmers who moved to the newly created villa of Alburquerque ate meat and vegetables, potatoes and fruit. The food we consider New Mexican cuisine didn’t come along until World War II. 

F298. What hero of the Civil War was born and raised in Atrisco?
Manuel Chavez, leading the New Mexico Militia, played a critical role in stopping Confederate forces in Apache Canyon in 1862. 

F299. How did Paradise Hills begin?
In 1960 Horizon Land Corp. purchased part of the Black Ranch on the West Side and created Paradise Hills.  

F300. How did Coors Boulevard get its name?
Coors was named in 1946 for Henry G. Coors III, a district judge and state Supreme Court justice.