Folsom Museum

09/06/2026

These Boy Scouts are among the first to experience the beauty of Waite Phillips's Philmont Ranch. They are riding a trail at what was then called Philturn Rockymountain Scoutcamp in 1939. Each expedition or trek included 8 to 10 days of hiking, horseback riding, and camping in the Philmont backcountry, a true wilderness experience. (Philmont Scout Ranch.)

09/04/2026

Tony Cornay and Albert Doherty dressed in their Sunday clothes posing for a photo on their horses outside the Folsom Hotel and then again in the same place only this time they are dressed in clown costumes and are riding burros. Circa 1910s

09/03/2026

Electric trolley car parked on a turntable in Trinidad. Photographer unknown. Between 1904 and 1918.

09/02/2026

After eighteen years, May 15, 1926, Sally Rooke was commemorated for her heroic act of staying at her telephone switchboard, warning and pleading with others to take heed and save themselves, at the unveiling of a monument erected in her honor at Folsom, New Mexico.
Sally Rooke came to Folsom from Preston, a small town in Jackson County, lowa, three years before her tragic death. She came to visit a friend (Virginia Morgan), but became so enamored of the country and its climate that she decided to remain permanently. Sally took up a homestead, a difficult task for a person sixty-five years of age with curvature of the spine. Soon the Des Moines Telephone Company offered her the position of telephone operator at the little Folsom exchange.
A story of Sally Rooke's heroic death and her unmarked grave was printed in THE MONITER in July, 1925, suggesting that her co-workers throughout the Mountain States Company might like to contribute a dime apiece to erect a granite monument. (This is interesting because Sally did not work for the Mountain States Company.)
One exchange after another contributed. Operators occupying similar positions in small towns asked to be permitted to do their bit. From New York came offerings.
Everyone was eager to have a part in purchasing the huge round mound of granite bearing a bronze tablet.
Friends and neighbors in the little town of Folsom set about their tasks a bit earlier on the morning of Saturday, May 15, 1926, so that they might be ready to join in the ceremonies that afternoon. A committee composed of her old friends, Dr.I.J. Morgan, and ex-mayor Mrs. Jennie Milliken, met the morning train and welcomed a group of her fellow workers from the Mountain States Telephone Company. They had come down from Denver for the unveiling of the monument, bearing a tribute from the 4,334 coworkers who had subscribed to it.
Small groups of townspeople and those who had driven in from the country gathered together in earnest conversation in front of the hotel. Others milled in and out, shaking hands and reminiscing, each anxious to tell his or her story of how Sally Rooke had saved them or some member of their family; and, of how many of the seventeen lost lives might have been saved had they but heeded her warning.

08/31/2026

Son of the “T.O. Ranch’s” founder, Anthony J. Meloche Jr. is shown here with five of his top purebred Hereford bulls. A 1907 history of New Mexico includes the following about him: "Since coming into possession of his ranch, Mr. Meloche has continuously carried on general farming and stock raising, developing a business of considerable importance and becoming one of the well-known ranch men of the territory." (Raton Museum Collection.)

08/26/2026

The Dry Cimarron History Tour is a week away, so be sure to reserve your spot at https://folsommuseum.org/
And join us on Saturday, August 29, 2026

08/24/2026

The Dry Cimarron History Tour is a week away, so be sure to reserve your spot at https://folsommuseum.org/dry-cimarron-tour/
And join us on Saturday, August 29, 2026

08/19/2026

Following his 1904 presidential reelection and March 1905 inauguration, President Theodore Roosevelt traveled by train through the Western territories. His route took him through Union County, New Mexico where he made stops at Emery Gap, Folsom and Clayton where he delivered a brief speech on April 14, 1905.
Before giving his speech at the county sear, the President happily greeted the gathered crowds and acknowledged the local families and children who came out to see him.lll
He spoke fondly of the local men from the region who had served under him in the Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War.
Roosevelt noted that about fifteen local citizens from the Clayton area joined his regiment, and several were wounded in action. He expressed a deep personal bond with these men.
He voiced his ongoing affection for the Western landscape and his history of ranching in the region.
“It is a great pleasure to me to be back in New Mexico and to pass through Clayton. Right from this neighborhood, some fifteen of your citizens came into my regiment. Several of them were wounded. I have the feeling for them that one naturally has for the men with whom he has been thrown into the intimate relations of life. I am particularly pleased to see you all here. I am glad to see a first-class exhibit of New Mexico's children. You do not know what a pleasure it is to me to get out into this Western country, that I have known so well, where I have ranched in the other days, and from which I drew the men with whom I went to Santiago when the war with Spain broke out. I follow your career with the greatest possible interest. When I get out here and see the big plains, it makes me feel as if I were at home again.”
During this broader era of presidential visits to New Mexico, Roosevelt faced intense local interest regarding his support for New Mexico statehood, which would finally be granted a few years later in 1912.

08/19/2026

The town of Roy, New Mexico, pictured here around 1910, was named for Frank Roy (1864-1938), who settled in the area in 1901. Roy is located about midway between Wagon Mound, in Mora County, and Clayton, in Union County.
This photograph of Roy, N. M. was published by M. D. Gibbs, Roy, N. M. (New Mexico State University Library, Archives)

08/18/2026