Mountainair

Mountainair is a town in Torrance County, in the Albuquerque metro area. The community was named for the breezes from the Manzano Mountains and is known locally by Spanish descendants as Montaño.

Sometime around 1900, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad _AT&SF_ was putting together a "cut-off" at Belen, New Mexico, for routing freight trains either east or west. A newspaper man from Winfield Kansas, John W. Corbett, learned that the easterly tracks would likely pass through Abo Pass in New Mexico. Therefore, he and a friend, Colonel E. C. Manning, decided to locate a townsite at the top of the Pass. The cool summer breezes off the Pass resulted in naming their new community, "Mountainair".

One way to get to Mountainair is to head south of Albuquerque along I-25 and then between Socorro and Moriarty along US Highway 60. A more scenic route is to head east of Albuquerque on I-40 and take US Highway 337 south to US Highway 55 south. Mountainair is at the junction of US Highways 55 & 60.

Points of Interest
Abo
Gran Quivira
Quarai
Salinas Pueblo Missions Natl. Monument

Map Of Mountainair