Living in Artesia

Artesia is a working town that takes care of itself. The streets are clean, the downtown is alive, and people here give generously to their schools, their library and their arts. It sits about 40 miles south of Roswell, halfway to Carlsbad.

It is also a football town. On Friday nights in the fall the Bulldog Bowl is where everybody is, and the high school’s long record of state championships is a point of real local pride.

When the railroad came through the lower Pecos Valley in 1894, this spot was just a siding called Miller, halfway between Roswell and what is now Carlsbad. By 1899 it had a post office and a new name, Stegman, after its first postmistress.

Then came the water. Wells drilled in the 1890s and early 1900s tapped an artesian aquifer that pushed water to the surface on its own. In 1903 promoters renamed the town Artesia to advertise it, and settlers followed. The town incorporated in 1905. When the wells began to slow in the 1920s, oil took over, and oil and gas have driven the economy ever since, alongside farming and ranching.

Public art. Life-size bronze sculptures stand along Main Street, telling the story of the cattle drives, the oil field and the people who built the town. Walking the bronzes is the first thing locals show a visitor.

The Ocotillo Performing Arts Center brings in concerts and theater year-round, the Artesia Historical Museum and Art Center keeps the town’s story, and the public library is worth a visit for its Peter Hurd mural alone. The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center is here too, which brings people from all over the country through town.

Established neighborhoods of brick homes close to the schools, a steady supply of newer construction, and country properties outside town.

Families relocating for work in energy or at the training center, and locals moving up. When demand is strong homes can move quickly, so it pays to be pre-approved before you start looking.

School data provided by Attom Data.