Photograph of Colfax County Courthouse — Photograph by Billy Hathorn at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Colfax County Courthouse in Springer

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.

From the record

“The Colfax County Courthouse in Springer, New Mexico, is a building on the National Register of Historic Places that was used as a seat of county government for Colfax County, New Mexico from 1881 until 1897. The building is located at 614 Maxwell Avenue, Springer, NM 87747, and today it houses a museum devoted to the Santa Fe Trail.”
Wikipedia article Colfax County Courthouse (Springer, New Mexico), CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 30 National Register listings published here for Colfax County · listed in 1987 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service · the Wikipedia article

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Address. 614 Maxwell Ave., Springer, 87747
When was it listed? December 1987
Category. building
Also known as. County Courthouses of New Mexico TR
Census division. Springer
Architectural style. Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada
National Register reference number. 87000883 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

21 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 21 fires within 5 miles of Colfax County Courthouse in Springer between 1995 and 2020, burning about 1,104 acres in total. 3 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Equipment and vehicle use	7
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	5
Smoking	4
Natural	3
Debris and open burning	1
Power generation/transmission/distribution	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
29 September 2015	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	New Mexico State Forestry Division	MM 425
25 September 2019	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Cimarron District	20-20520260X
7 July 2014	Natural	under an acre	New Mexico State Forestry Division	HELLS CANYON
13 July 2020	Natural	385 acres	Cimarron District	CIMARRON SOLAR
12 July 2020	Natural	199 acres	Cimarron District	DRY ARROYO
26 June 2013	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	New Mexico State Forestry Division	I-25
22 May 2020	Smoking	under an acre	Cimarron District	CROSSOVER
1 May 2012	Smoking	1.0 acres	New Mexico State Forestry Division	STATE RD 505

Every fire recorded in Colfax County

Mines and quarries near this property

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Colfax County Courthouse in Springer: 3 unknowns. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status
Materals Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Materials Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Materials Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown

Every working recorded in Colfax County

Storms near this property

54 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Springer, the town this property stands in, in 54 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 46 hail, 4 funnel cloud, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
August 1993	Hail	Springer	$5,000,000	Thunderstorms produced quarter-size hail in Raton at 1415 MST and dime-size hail in Maxwell at 1450 MST. Thunderstorms redeveloped in Colfax County later, producing a hail storm that lasted about 40 minutes in the Springer area. Baseball-size hail damaged about 55 state vehicles at the New Mexico Boys School just northwest of Springer. Eleven building sustained roofing, window or ventilation damage, including the Trades center, in which all 22 overhead skylights were broken. The storm caused many branches and limbs to break away from trees, littering the campus. School officials estimate the total damage to exceed $500,000.
July 2022	Flash Flood	Springer	$50,000	Heavy rain near Springer flooded U.S. Highway 56, making it impassable. A barn along the highway had 4 inches of standing water while a house and its backyard had 2 to 3 inches of standing water. Damages are estimated.
October 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Springer	$20,000	Utility lines and power poles were downed by thunderstorm winds.
July 2023	Hail	Springer	$2,000	Long lasting hail with strong winds and numerous tree branches downed. A report on twitter also indicated large hail broke a plate glass window in a shop in Springer. Power went out and did not come back on until 3pm local time on July 14th. Damage is an estimate.
August 2025	Hail	Springer	-	The public and a trained spotter reported nickel to quarter size hail from a severe thunderstorm passing over Springer, NM.
October 2024	Hail	Springer	-	A strong storm dropped penny size hail with accumulations of 2 to 3 inches.
June 2023	Hail	Springer	-	Supercell moving east dropped golf ball sized hail southeast of Springer.
July 2023	Hail	Springer	-	A supercell moving southeast produced quarter to golf ball sized hail in Springer.
June 2023	Hail	Springer	-	Supercell moving east produced ping pong to hen egg size hail in Springer.
July 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Springer	-	Small tree limbs broken from 60 mph winds near Springer.
September 2017	Hail	Springer	-	Hail up to the size of half dollars reported in Springer.
June 2017	Hail	Springer	-	Hail up to the size of golf balls along with high winds. A three inch tree limb was downed.
June 2015	Hail	Springer	-	Trained spotter reported quarter to half dollar size hail near Springer.
June 2014	Tornado (EF0)	Springer	-	Southern edge of multi-cellular thunderstorm complex produced a brief landspout tornado with a brown dust swirl. No damage reported.
May 2012	Hail	Springer	-	Ping pong ball size hail reported 8 miles south southwest of Springer.
June 2012	Hail	Springer	-	Quarter size hail 1 mile north of Springer.
May 2010	Hail	Springer	-	Golf ball sized hail started at 510 pm MST along Interstate 25. Sized was reduced to dimes by 515 pm.
May 2010	Hail	Springer	-	Hail last 10 minutes along Interstate 25.
July 2007	Hail	Springer	-	Many vehicles were damaged by the hail.
June 2002	Hail	Springer	-	Golfball hail reported 6 inches deep on Interstate 25 north of Springer.
July 2001	Funnel Cloud	Springer	-	A brief funnel cloud was reported by State Police.
August 2001	Funnel Cloud	Springer	-	Guards from the Springer Boys Ranch facility reported sighting a brief funnel cloud.
June 1998	Hail	Springer	-	A storm near Springer produced about 15 minutes of marble hail with a stones to golfball size.
May 1997	Hail	Springer	-	State Police reported marble hail covering Interstate 25 to three inches deep south of Springer.
October 1997	Funnel Cloud	Springer	-	At least two funnel clouds were sighted south of Springer.
August 1993	Hail	Springer	-	Thunderstorms produced quarter-size hail in Raton at 1415 MST and dime-size hail in Maxwell at 1450 MST. Thunderstorms redeveloped in Colfax County later, producing a hail storm that lasted about 40 minutes in the Springer area. Baseball-size hail damaged about 55 state vehicles at the New Mexico Boys School just northwest of Springer. Eleven building sustained roofing, window or ventilation damage, including the Trades center, in which all 22 overhead skylights were broken. The storm caused many branches and limbs to break away from trees, littering the campus. School officials estimate the total damage to exceed $500,000.
June 2011	Hail	Springer	-	no account filed
June 2011	Hail	Springer	-	no account filed
August 2011	Hail	Springer	-	no account filed
June 2007	Hail	Springer	-	no account filed
June 2007	Hail	Springer	-	no account filed
June 2007	Hail	Springer	-	no account filed
June 2007	Hail	Springer	-	no account filed
June 2004	Hail	Springer	-	no account filed
June 2004	Hail	Springer	-	no account filed
June 2004	Hail	Springer	-	no account filed
June 2004	Hail	Springer	-	no account filed
June 2004	Hail	Springer	-	no account filed
August 2004	Hail	Springer	-	no account filed
June 2003	Hail	Springer	-	no account filed
June 2003	Hail	Springer	-	no account filed
September 2003	Hail	Springer	-	no account filed
September 2003	Hail	Springer	-	no account filed
June 2002	Hail	Springer	-	no account filed
June 2002	Hail	Springer	-	no account filed
August 2002	Hail	Springer	-	no account filed
May 2001	Hail	Springer	-	no account filed
August 2001	Funnel Cloud	Springer	-	no account filed
August 2001	Hail	Springer	-	no account filed
April 2000	Hail	Springer	-	no account filed
June 1999	Hail	Springer	-	no account filed
June 1999	Hail	Springer	-	no account filed
June 1999	Hail	Springer	-	no account filed
September 1996	Hail	Springer	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Colfax County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 87000883 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Colfax County	All 30 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.