Santa Fe Sketch Book: History and Sketches of the City Different

by Lewis Edward Ewen

Santa Fe Sketch Book

HISTORY
AND SKETCHES
OF THE CITY DIFFERENT

Santa Fe Sketch Book

Published by Ewen Enterprises

Santa Fe Plaza

During the 1600’s, the Santa Fe Plaza extended to the approximate position of the present Cathedral.

All official, religious, and military functions of Santa Fe took place in the Plaza, around which were the government buildings, the jail, customs house and the residences of prominent citizens. The center of the Plaza was a market place and the scene of social meetings, fiestas, and cock fights and also the location of the public stock and flogging post.

In 1884 Governor Martinez de Lejanza erected a wooden bullring in the Plaza but it was torn down a few months later after it had served as an ambush for the Ute Indians who attempted an attack on the Palace and the Governor. It was in the Plaza that the Pueblo Indians revolted against the Spanish rule in 1680; it was here they capitulated to General Don Diego De Vargas in 1693. The Plaza was also the end of the Old Santa Fe Trail from Missouri and El Camino Real from Chihuahua.