Dear Mr. Know-It-All:
Recently, as I was out and about driving in our community, I came to downtown Farmington And noticed something that I thought I would ask you about.
No it’s not the roundabouts at some downtown intersections, but the “thing” at Main and Orchard. What do we call that? An “oval-about?” And “oblong-rotary?” And why doesn’t South Orchard meet up nicely with North Orchard?
Signed,
Round N. Round
Dear Round,
Thank you for not beating around the bush with your question. The intersection in downtown Farmington at Orchard and Main is known as a roundabout, despite its, um, unique shape. Whatever you think about roundabouts, and believe me, Mr. Know-It-All has read all the social media comments, they are here to stay, including the less-than-round roundabout downtown at the intersection of Main Street and Orchard Avenue.
You’ll have to indulge Mr. Know-It-All in a short history lesson to answer your question. Mr. Know-It-All is a bit of a history buff who has been known to support our local museums and historical societies and even served on the board of the Farmington Museum for a few years (even spending a few years as board president).
Two of the first non-native people to come to live in this part of northwest New Mexico were Alison Fournier Miller and his wife, Julia. They brought with them their three children. Mr. Miller was known to all as simply: A.F. Good call.
In 1875, the Millers are noted in the book “Homesteads to Boomtown” by the late Marilu Waybourn, as opening the first store in the area that would eventually become Farmington. That store was located near the current intersection of Main Street and Court Avenue. The town of Farmington wouldn’t be established until 1901, 25 years later. Even then, the Miller’s property was not part of the original townsite of Farmington, which was only about 20 acres in size and included some streets laid out south and west of Main and Orchard. The Miller property was located east of the townsite and was the first parcel added after incorporation.
Now, we don’t know much about the relationship between A.F. Miller and Julia Miller. They certainly seemed supportive of each other early on, when almost any item to stock in their store needed to be imported from Pueblo, Colorad, or farther. Their store was the go-to place for anyone moving into the area back in those early days, and it also served as the first post office. The town of Farmington was established in 1901, and nine years later in 1910, the U.S. Census Bureau reported the population of Farmington was only 785 residents. A far cry from Farmington’s population of more than 46,237 people today.
But as Farmington grew, it seemed the animosity between the Millers also grew.
Eventually, the Millers divorced. Mr. Know-It-All doesn’t think this was one of those nice, civil sitcom divorces, either. What happened after the divorce of A.F. and Julia Miller is what motorists deal with to this day: the misalignment of some Farmington streets.
By the time their marriage was ending, Julia Miller was so mad at A.F. that as their property was divided between each of them, she vowed that the streets of the growing town on A.F.’s property would never (emphasis added) align up with streets on her property. Take a look at the streets: Orchard Avenue and Court Streets don’t align, and the others: Wall Street, Miller Avenue and Hill Street, all begin or end at Main Street and don’t align with anything else. Mrs. Miller’s statement is mentioned in the planning documents for the Farmington Historic Downtown Commercial District which was written in October 1990.
So there’s your answer, Round. And it’s a lesson to all of us that, unfortunately, our world is littered with failed relationships, and some cause more impact than others. Drive (and fall in love) carefully!
Mr. Know-It-All is Scott Michlin, the general manager of KSJE 90.9FM community-supported radio at San Juan College. If you have a question about something in San Juan County, drop him a line at SMichlin@tricityrecordnm.com. If he doesn’t know the answer, he knows someone who does and you’ll read about it here in the pages of the Tri-City Record!
