| Los Lunas, NM | Population: 21,636 |
| Settled: Over 100 years ago | Elevation: 4800 |
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| Los Lunas nestles on the banks of the Rio Grande River |
 For hundreds of years, Los Lunas has offered residents plenty of that most precious desert commodity: water. Nestled among the cottonwoods of the river "bosque", or woods, Los Lunas boasts excellent, irrigated farmland for crops or livestock. Much of the farm land around Los Lunas is zoned with minimum lot sizes of two to ten acres, to help residents preserve that valued rural lifestyle. Horses are an important part of the Los Lunas lifestyle for many residents, who enjoy riding along the cool, green ditchbanks or riverside, or competing in some of the many local horse shows and rodeos. |
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 This rapidly growning small town also offers many up-to-the minute new subdivisions of suburban-style homes, in easy commuting distance of Albuquerque, for those wanting all the modern residential amenities at a much more reasonable price than Albuquerque can offer. Los Lunas also offers modern schools, including many newly-built schools recently constructed to accomodate the burgeoning population, plus an excellent library, fine restaurants, abundant shopping, several motels and a large multi-screen theatre complex. Airplane aficionados can own homes in the desireable Airpark area & keep a private plane in their own hangar at home. Small town spirit is abundant, as evidenced by such activities as local parades on the 4th of July. |
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| Historic? Absolutely! Over 300 years ago, Domingo de Luna and don Pedro Otero came to what would become Los Lunas on a land grant from the King of Spain. As these families grew, acquiring fortunes & becoming prominent and politically powerful, intermarriages between the families in the late 1800's united these two families into what became known as the Luna-Otero Dynasty. In 1880 the Santa Fe Railroad agreed to build a new home to the family's specifications, in return for a right-of-way through the Luna property. This became the now famous "Luna Mansion," a charming and unique local restaurant. Growth as a town began after the railroad arrived. Faith has always been a major aspect of life in Los Lunas, as in New Mexico in general, as is evidenced by such things as the large number of churches, many of them historically significant, and the vast numbers of the faithful who make long pilgrimages on foot to climb Tome hill every Good Friday. |
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