ABQ: Aerial 1940

ALBUQUERQUE

1940 Aerial Photo

This is Downtown looking towards the river. It would appear there is flooding in what is now West Old Town and the Near North Valley.

Link to 1940 Census maps.

In 1940 Albuquerque had a Class C minor baseball team the Albuquerque Cardinals, named after their major league affiliated team of the St. Louis Cardinals. They played in the Arizona-Texas league at the Tingley Field ballpark, located in present day Barelas at 10th, Stover and Atlantic. The team started as the Albuquerque Dons, then the Cardinals, then Dukes while working their way up to AA, and eventually becoming the Albuquerque Dodgers, affiliated with the Los Angeles team, in the 1960s.

In 1940 the population of the state had increased about 25% from the previous decade, despite a declining birth rate and new laws restricting immigration. The total state population was 531,818.

Thousands of people flocked to New Mexico from 1880 through 1940 to seek a cure for tuberculosis. While many states began to discourage and even stop them from arriving, New Mexico welcomed "Lungers." By the 1930s New Mexico had nearly 60 sanatoriums to treat tuberculosis. Many more people came to find a cure in the sunshine on their own without official treatment. An entire industry arose around the health seekers, including a variety of newsletters.

The Health City Sun newspaper was established in 1929 and remains in print today. They now specialize in running legal notices.