In 1889, Socorro was a mining boom town, wild, raucous, and, at a population of about 4500, one of the largest towns in New Mexico. The Territorial Legislature, wanting to boost New Mexico's economy, decided to found a School of Mines to train young mining engineers, and Socorro was the ideal location. Silver and lead ores taken from the nearby Magdalena Mountains were processed at the smelter owned by German immigrant Gustav Billings, and the new School of Mines would allow young mining engineers to train near the eventual site of their work.
The New Mexico School of Mines (NMSM) proudly opened its doors on Sept. 5, 1893, with one building, two professors, and seven students. Courses offered included chemistry and metallurgy.
The college grew a bit, but remained small through the next couple of decades, with a curriculum that focused on mining, metallurgy, chemistry, and related fields. For a while, around the turn of the century, the School of Mines also served as Socorro's "prep school" or high school, for anyone who wanted more than the eight grades of education which the local school system then offered.
<span>In 1927, a new division was added to the NMSM, called the </span>New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources. (The name has since changed to "New Mexico Bureau of GEOLOGY and Mineral Resources.") Functioning as the state geologic survey, the Bureau's job was to explore and map the resources of the state and make the information available to mining businesses and the general public. The Bureau now functions as a state geologic survey, with their main job expanded to include the investigation of geologic hazards, such as landslide and earthquake hazards, and the analysis of water resources.
<span>During 1930s, NMSM enrollment increased as more people sought a college education during the Depression. Graduating classes now numbered in the dozens, rather than the handfuls. Petroleum engineering was added to the curriculum and quickly acquired more students than mining engineering. The college's president, Edgar Wells, was instrumental in obtaining funds from federal programs such as the WPA to increase the number of buildings on campus. Several of the campus' classic mission-style buildings with red tiled roofs date from this period.</span>
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