BlockFrom the record
One of 5 National Register listings published here for Lea County · listed in 1995 · category: Building.
Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service · the Wikipedia article
Pyburn House
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.
The listing
- What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
- Address. 203 Fourth St., Lovington, 88260
- When was it listed? December 1995
- Category. building
- Census division. Lovington
- National Register reference number. 95001429 - 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
169 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 169 fires within 5 miles of Pyburn House between 1993 and 2018, burning about 5,086 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 7 were 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 123 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 19 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 7 |
| Debris and open burning | 5 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 4 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3 |
| Fireworks | 3 |
| Natural | 3 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 September 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.5 acres | New Mexico State Forestry Division | WYLLS |
| 11 September 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | ARKANSAS |
| 8 August 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | New Mexico State Forestry Division | A1 |
| 4 August 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4.0 acres | New Mexico State Forestry Division | STAR ELECTRI |
| 31 August 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4.0 acres | New Mexico State Forestry Division | JOHAN |
| 26 August 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | New Mexico State Forestry Division | KEITH |
| 20 August 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | not named |
| 2 August 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | EGGFARM |
Mines and quarries near this property
10 of 15 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 15 workings within 5 miles of Pyburn House: 15 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.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Collier Open Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| State Hwy Pit No. 66-36-S | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| State Hwy Pit No. 66-38-S | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| State Hwy Pit No. 66-41-F | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Un. Grav. Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Un. Grav. Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Un. Grav. Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Un. Grav. Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Un. Grav. Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Un. Grav. Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown |
Storms near this property
60 of 89 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Lovington, the town this property stands in, in 89 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 52 hail, 26 thunderstorm wind, 9 flash flood, 1 lightning. The reports record 2 deaths. 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 1996 | Lightning | Lovington | 2 killed | no account filed |
| May 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lovington | $500,000 | A thunderstorm moved over Lea County and power lines were knocked down from Lovington to Hobbs along State Highway 18. Wind gusts were estimated to be 60 mph. The cost of damage is a very rough estimate. |
| June 2005 | Hail | Lovington | $250,000 | The Lovington Police Department reported giant hail just north of Lovington. Softball size hail combined with severe wind gusts to damage structures and vehicles. The largest hail and the most intense winds occurred over less populated areas just outside of the city's limits. |
| June 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lovington | $200,000 | A large warehouse suffered heavy damage from microburst winds. The event was very localized as the manager of the warehouse was in an adjacent building and did not notice any extreme winds. No one was in the warehouse when it was hit by the winds. The manager was alerted to a problem when the alarm for the sprinkler system for the warehouse was activated. The winds blew out parts of the west and east walls as well as damaged much of the roof. This storm moved rapidly to the ENE and joined in the line that formed in West Texas. |
| August 2005 | Flash Flood | Lovington | $60,000 | The Lovington Police Department reported that water was over a cruiser's hood when driving through many streets in Lovington. They called in all off-duty personnel to assist with widespread high water rescues due to the ongoing county fair. Flooded streets included: Main, Washington, Love, Commercial and Avenue D. Many businesses also were flooded. |
| April 2025 | Hail | Lovington | $50,000 | There are multiple public reports with pictures and videos of shattered windows caused by wind-driven hail approximately the size of a golf balls. The time is estimated from radar. The property damage cost is an estimation. |
| May 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lovington | $50,000 | A storm survey team found a manufactured building with destruction to the roof and walls. The estimated wind speeds were 110 mph. Property damage cost is an estimation. |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lovington | $50,000 | Law enforcement officials reported that the giant hail north of Lovington was accompanied by 60 to 70 MPH winds. These winds blew the giant hailstones horizontally and enhanced damage. |
| October 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lovington | $40,000 | Single wide trailer fully collapsed with no injuries reported. Time estimated from radar. Wind speeds are estimated to be 100 mph. Property damage cost is an estimation. |
| June 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lovington | $40,000 | Trained spotters measured wind gusts up to 73 mph in Lovington. Power outages occurred throughout Hobbs and Lovington as a result of these high winds. |
| May 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lovington | $20,000 | Significant roof damage was reported to a single-family home. The estimated wind speeds were 100 MPH. Property damage is an estimation. |
| June 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lovington | $15,000 | no account filed |
| May 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lovington | $10,000 | A metal stairwell and catwalk were bent and detached from oil equipment. The estimated wind speeds were 100 mph. Property damage cost is an estimation. |
| May 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lovington | $10,000 | A roof and carport were partially destroyed. The estimated wind speed is 100 mph. Property damage cost is an estimation. |
| May 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lovington | $10,000 | A total of 6 power poles were broken along East Stiles Road. The estimated wind speeds were 110 MPH. The property damage cost is an estimation. |
| May 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lovington | $10,000 | The local Emergency Manager reported a piece of farm equipment was blown into a vehicle along State Highway 83, damaging a vehicle. Wind speeds were estimated to be approximately 100 MPH. Property damage cost is an estimation. |
| June 2012 | Hail | Lovington | $10,000 | A thunderstorm moved over Lea County and produced golfball sized hail in Lovington. Broken windshields were reported with this storm. The cost of the damage is a rough estimate. |
| June 2012 | Hail | Lovington | $10,000 | A thunderstorm moved over Lea County and produced two inch hail in Lovington. There were broken windshields reported with this storm. The cost of the damage is a rough estimate. |
| June 2012 | Hail | Lovington | $10,000 | A thunderstorm moved over Lea County and produced golfball sized hail in Lovington. There were broken windshields reported with this storm. The cost of the damage is a rough estimate. |
| May 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lovington | $10,000 | A 58 MPH thunderstorm wind gust was measured at the Lovington Airport. These winds severely damaged an aircraft hanger. |
| May 2004 | Flash Flood | Lovington | $10,000 | Extensive flash flooding was reported in the vicinity of Lovington. Numerous roadways and highways were reported to be under water. Over one foot of water flowed over State Highway 133 southeast of Lovington near the community of Knowles. U.S. Highway 82 was closed between mile markers 181 and 184 northeast of Lovington. High water flowing in some city streets resulted in at least one stranded vehicle, and required the Lovington Fire Department to conduct a high water rescue. No injuries were reported. |
| October 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lovington | $10,000 | The storm that produced the damage near Lovington also knocked down utility poles along State Highway 18 between Lovington and Hobbs. |
| March 1993 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lovington | $5,000 | At least two severe thunderstorms moved through Lovington. During the first, the Lovington Fire Department reported dime- size hail for about 20 minutes. The second storm produced winds which blew over a 24- x 30-foot garage and knocked down a chain link fence. |
| June 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lovington | $4,000 | A carport and small outbuilding were destroyed by thunderstorm wind gusts. |
| October 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lovington | $3,000 | Downbursting winds from this fast-moving storm uprooted a 10x15 foot metal barn from its concrete foundation. At the adjacent residence windows were broken by the wind and debris. |
| May 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lovington | $2,000 | A small outdoor metal shed collapsed. The estimated wind speeds were 100 MPH. Property damage cost is an estimation. |
| May 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lovington | $2,000 | A severe thunderstorm moved east out of Eddy County crossing southwestern Lea County and then moving southeast into Texas. Strong winds struck a ranch three miles north of the Texas border that destroyed a shed and carried a trampoline one-quarter mile. Golf ball- to tennis ball-size hail was reported farther north along State Highway 128 by a trucking company that suspended transportation along the highway until the storm turned south. High winds ripped a carport from a home in Lovington. |
| June 2019 | Hail | Lovington | - | A thunderstorm moved across Lea County and produced one inch hail and minor street flooding in Lovington. |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lovington | - | A thunderstorm moved across Lea County and produced a 70 mph wind gust one mile southeast of Lovington. |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lovington | - | A thunderstorm moved across Lea County and produced a 65 mph wind gust in Lovington. There was no damage reported. |
| May 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lovington | - | A thunderstorm moved over Lea County and produced a 60 mph wind gust in Lovington. |
| October 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lovington | - | A thunderstorm moved across Lea County and produced an estimated 60 mph wind gust ten miles north of Lovington. The cost of damage is estimated to be zero since there was no damage reported. |
| May 2011 | Hail | Lovington | - | The hail covered the ground. |
| April 2009 | Hail | Lovington | - | The duration of the hail was estimated for this event. |
| April 2009 | Hail | Lovington | - | The duration of the hail was estimated for this event. |
| March 2007 | Flash Flood | Lovington | - | Multiple thunderstorms trained across Lea County for much of the night and produced flash flooding that was evident to NWS Damage Survey team members the following day. Several miles west of Tatum, team members discovered a three to four foot deep lake that is normally open field. In and around Lovington, there were locations that had running water alongside the road 18 hours after the last storm had moved through. |
| March 2007 | Hail | Lovington | - | Pea to half-dollar size hail fell in a swath from Lovington to just northeast of Lovington. |
| March 2007 | Tornado (EF0) | Lovington | - | At 4:32 pm MDT, a trained Skywarn spotter, reported a tornado touchdown with a small debris cloud approximately 12 miles WSW of Lovington. At 4:36 pm MDT, trained spotters viewed the same tornado from N.M. Highway 457 looking southward. Damage survey interviews with officials and residents revealed that the brief tornado remained over open pasture lands. An EF0 rating was assigned to this tornado. |
| May 2007 | Flash Flood | Lovington | - | Six to eight inches of water flowed over New Mexico Highway 18 and County Road 78. |
| August 2006 | Flash Flood | Lovington | - | The Lea County Sheriff's Office reported six to eight inches of water running over roads in Lovington. |
| May 2005 | Flash Flood | Lovington | - | A Lovington police detective reported flash flooding along several city streets. A few streets were impassable due to flowing flood waters. |
| May 2004 | Hail | Lovington | - | A second severe thunderstorm intensified over the city of Lovington and resulted in another round of golfball size hail. |
| May 2004 | Hail | Lovington | - | A severe thunderstorm affected the city of Lovington and produced large hail that ranged from dime to golfball size. Although numerous reports of large hail were received, no damage was reported. |
| April 2004 | Hail | Lovington | - | Penny to nickel size hail was reported northeast of the Lovington. |
| June 2004 | Hail | Lovington | - | Penny to quarter size hail covered the ground in Lovington. |
| October 2004 | Hail | Lovington | - | An isolated severe storm produced quarter size hail at the Lovington Airport on the evening of the 4th. |
| October 2004 | Hail | Lovington | - | The New Mexico State Police reported dime to nickel size hail at mile marker 66 on State Highway 18. |
| September 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lovington | - | A line of strong to severe thunderstorms moved across the plains of southeastern New Mexico during the evening of the 22nd. An anemometer at the Lovington Airport measured a 58 MPH thunderstorm wind gust as the storms passed. Half inch diameter hail also was reported by the airport staff. |
| June 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lovington | - | A severe thunderstorm wind gust of 75 MPH was recorded at the Lovington Airport. No significant damage was reported. |
| August 2002 | Flash Flood | Lovington | - | Law officials reported flash flooding of low lying areas in the city of Lovington. |
| April 2000 | Hail | Lovington | - | Hail covered State Highway 206. This cell was the south end of a small multicell cluster that crossed into Texas and became a low-topped supercell storm. |
| June 1999 | Hail | Lovington | - | As the storms approached Lovington they formed into a multicell line. |
| August 1997 | Flash Flood | Lovington | - | Heavy rains in and around the Lovington area caused localized flash flooding in the late afternoon and evening. |
| May 1995 | Hail | Lovington | - | Sheriff's office report. |
| May 1995 | Hail | Lovington | - | Sheriff's office report. |
| September 1995 | Hail | Lovington | - | A thunderstorm that formed in Chaves County moved into west-central Lea County moving to the southeast. This storm had several reports of large hail and damaging winds during its life in Southeast New Mexico and the Permian Basin in Texas. While in Lea County penny-size hail was reported 15 miles west of Lovington and later at Monument. 70 mph winds were reported west of Lovington as well. This storm was a classic supercell for much of its life. The storm continued on southeast track across the stateline heading toward Midland. |
| September 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lovington | - | A thunderstorm that formed in Chaves County moved into west-central Lea County moving to the southeast. This storm had several reports of large hail and damaging winds during its life in Southeast New Mexico and the Permian Basin in Texas. While in Lea County penny-size hail was reported 15 miles west of Lovington and later at Monument. 70 mph winds were reported west of Lovington as well. This storm was a classic supercell for much of its life. The storm continued on southeast track across the stateline heading toward Midland. |
| September 1994 | Hail | Lovington | - | The Lovington Fire Department reported golfball-size hail. |
| March 1993 | Hail | Lovington | - | At least two severe thunderstorms moved through Lovington. During the first, the Lovington Fire Department reported dime- size hail for about 20 minutes. The second storm produced winds which blew over a 24- x 30-foot garage and knocked down a chain link fence. |
| March 1993 | Hail | Lovington | - | At least two severe thunderstorms moved through Lovington. During the first, the Lovington Fire Department reported dime- size hail for about 20 minutes. The second storm produced winds which blew over a 24- x 30-foot garage and knocked down a chain link fence. |
Newspapers printed here
1,258 digitised pages1 paper published in this town, digitised by the Library of Congress and free to read: 284 issues, 1,258 pages. Every page is searchable, so a name or a street can be looked for directly in what the town printed about itself at the time.
| Newspaper | Published |
|---|---|
| The Lovington Leader | 1910 to 1956 |
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.
Listed places nearby
4 within 8 milesOther National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Lea Theater | 0.3 miles | 2007 |
| Mathew Elmore Sewalt House | 0.4 miles | 2006 | |
| Lovington Fire Department Building | 0.4 miles | 2008 | |
 | Lea County Courthouse | 0.4 miles | 1987 |
Sources for this property
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 95001429 in Record Group 79. |
| Wikipedia article | Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA. |
| Lea County | All 5 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.