Take a Walk into Tucumcari’s History…
Photo: Tucumcari’s 2nd Street and Main looking east (early 1900s), Tucumcari and Quay County Then and Now Photos and Memories Facebook Group.
Sheriff Alex Street in Tucumcari’s first jail and courthouse.
(Photo: Tucumcari Historical Research Institute)
2023 Tour Sponsored By
History Alive Walks
History Alive Walks provide a step back in time into Tucumcari’s amazing, often “rowdy” Wild West past. Listen to the stories, see the images and experience the rich history Tucumcari has to offer.
Our most recent walk noted Tucumcari’s connection to the bestseller and movie, “Killers of the Flower Moon.”
Former sheriff, mayor and a founder of Tucumcari, Alex Street made a name for himself as one of the “Nerviest of Investigators” of his time. From outlaw stakeouts on the old frontier territorial cattle trails, to an undercover federal agent in the legendary Oklahoma Osage murders and senior investigator in the brutal slaying of student Henrietta Schmerler on the White Mountain Apache Reservation in Arizona, among many others, Street made his mark as an unconventional lawman of the West, comparable to the likes of Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp.
The little eastern New Mexico settlement Street helped found, known in the early days as “Six Shooter Siding” and later called Tucumcari, was described as getting its wild beginnings on the prairie in the early 1900s fully outfitted with “slab shacks, tent saloons, clanking locomotives, howling men and painted ladies.”
Listen to Bunny Terry’s “I Love New Mexico” podcast about the History Alive Walks, Alex Street, and more on Tucumcari!
