Jacob Romero sits on the broken and overgrown platform seating area of the old Norman L. King Memorial Stadium, a New Deal-era public works project that has since fallen into disrepair in Las Vegas, earlier this year. Romero said he had not sat in the seats of the stone amphitheater and looked upon the stadium since he was in junior high school. Gabriela Campos/The New Mexican
A view of the stone seating of the stadium. A 1990 registration form with the National Register of Historic Places lists the diameter of the stadium as 270 feet. Typical of WPA projects, the registration form stated, the arena was constructed largely with local materials including native stone.
Jacob Romero looks back at the path that leads to the stairs of the Norman L. King Memorial Stadium in Las Vegas. King Stadium was completed in 1936 with Works Progress Administration labor and an approximately $47,000 grant. It was named for Norman King, a “beloved citizen of ·è¿ÍÖ±²¥ Fe for many years and a great and devoted soldier,†according to a ·è¿ÍÖ±²¥ Fe New Mexican story in 1935.
Jacob Romero walks out into the field, now empty and overgrown, where events and performances once took place at the old King Stadium in Las Vegas on Aug. 4, 2024.
LAS VEGAS, N.M. — Norman L. King Memorial Stadium was bigger than Jacob Romero remembered when he visited the historic stadium in early August for the first time since junior high.
As a kid, he said, he used to go there to watch mud bogging, a type of off-road motorsport where drivers race their vehicles through a mud pit or track.
The area hasn’t changed much, he said, except for the overgrown grasses. But the stone amphitheater remains, like a relic of the Roman Empire.
“The good thing is, it didn’t burn†in the 2022 Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon fire, Romero said, looking over the thick pine forest as the midmorning sun turned sunflower petals translucent.
Romero is a member of the Las Vegas Land Grant, which hopes to restore King Stadium to its former glory as part of an effort to revitalize the Northern New Mexico city. To that end, land grant members took state legislators on a tour of the stadium, a New Deal-era public works project, in early August to win support for a $100,000 state capital outlay request to design and plan the restoration project.
Las Vegas Land Grant President Edward Sena said the full project will likely cost around $2 million.
In the 1930s, the New Deal allowed for massive investments in public works. Now, federal programs like the Build Back Better plan could allow for other infrastructure improvements.
For Sena, it could be a full-circle moment for the stadium that “put Las Vegas on the map.â€
King Stadium was completed in 1936 with Works Progress Administration labor and an approximately $47,000 grant. It was named for Norman King, a “beloved citizen of ·è¿ÍÖ±²¥ Fe for many years and a great and devoted soldier,†according to a ·è¿ÍÖ±²¥ Fe New Mexican story in 1935.
A 1990 registration form with the National Register of Historic Places lists the diameter of the stadium as 270 feet. Typical of WPA projects, the registration form stated, the stadium was constructed largely with local materials including native stone.
The stadium, once completed, was used for community events — everything from a widely reported Passion Play in 1936 to horse shows to picnics.
“This is the place Las Vegas was founded on,†Sena said.
Just a few decades after its construction, however, there were already questions about its future.
By 1970, the Las Vegas Optic was reporting the stadium had “fallen into disrepair†after the cancellation of the annual horse show and a fire that destroyed several buildings in the Camp Luna area. The site was fully abandoned in 1988.
Las Vegas doesn’t have a lot of community gathering spaces of this size, Romero said as he explored the stadium.
“That’d be great for music, especially,†he said. “Maybe something for the community to just get together and celebrate something.â€
The restoration project would include improving the road and cleaning up a nearby dump. On the day of the tour, ATVs and trucks had to leave the road to avoid a fallen tree that blocked it.
Georgina Ortega Angel has been trying to get the stadium restored for about 15 years. First, she pushed for getting the site cleaned up after it was used as an illegal dumping ground for years, she said. Now she has a bigger goal.
“We are trying to rebuild King Stadium,†Ortega Angel said. “But we need resources.â€
As state lawmakers scaled the many steps — the stadium is 67 feet high — she warned them to look for snakes.
“They like to sunbathe here, too,†she joked.
Ortega Angel said the land grant needs help to get the work done.
King Stadium should be considered common lands, she added: It was “always intended for the use of the community.â€