Pan American Center – Historical Attractions

As the second largest city in New Mexico, there are lots of noteworthy places located in Las Cruces. One such place is New Mexico State University. Founded in 1888, New Mexico State University is the oldest college in the state and is home to a student body of more than 20,000.

New Mexico State University is also home to the Pan American Center. This multipurpose arena serves as the home of the New Mexico State Aggies Men’s and Women’s Basketball and Women’s Volleyball teams. It opened in 1968 and currently seats just over 12,500.

In the early ‘90s, during a streak of Aggie victories, the Pan American Center was nicknamed the “Pandemonium Center” by famed sportscaster Dick Vitale. That nickname has stuck to this day, and “Panamaniacs,” the term Vitale coined for NMSU’s notoriously raucous fans, is still worn by students as a badge of honor.

As you can tell, a lot of history has taken place at the Pan American Center over the past half-century. It’s far from being the only historically significant site in the area, though. So if you’re someone with a penchant for the past and want to take a step back in time while in town visiting the Pan American Center and NMSU, take a look below at our list of historical attractions in and around Las Cruces.

Zuhl Museum

You won’t have to venture far from the Pan American Center and NMSU to get to the first historical attraction on our list, the Zuhl Museum. In fact, you won’t even have to leave campus! That’s because the Zuhl Museum is one of five museums located at, and operated by, the university. To get there from the Pan American Center, walk a little over one mile west towards College Drive.

The Zuhl Museum is home to aptly named Zuhl Collection, which features more than 1,800 specimens of petrified wood, fossils, and minerals. Some highlights of the collection include a fossilized baby wooly mammoth skeleton, a meteorite, and a petrified sequoia log that weighs in at approximately 30,000 pounds and is thought to be around 50 million years old.

Admission to the Zuhl Museum is free, and if you’d like to see even more of the Zuhl Collection, there are two other places on the NMSU campus that you can visit. The first is the Zuhl Library, located four blocks east of the museum near the heart of campus. The other one is Gardiner Hall, home to the university’s Department of Geological Sciences. It’s also just a short walk east from the Zuhl Museum.

New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum

Agriculture has long been a part of the cultural framework of New Mexico. And when we say “long,” we mean more than 1,000 years long. The New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum brings the state’s storied agricultural history to life through its interactive indoor and outdoor exhibits, demonstrations, tours, and more. If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to milk a cow or forge metal into tools and other objects, this is the place to be.

The New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum is located less than a 10-minute drive from the Pan American Center, and you don’t need to worry about leaving come lunchtime since the museum’s Heart of the Desert Gift Shop features a snack bar. There you can fill up on food like hot dogs and sandwiches, and treat yourself to some ice cream if you need to cool off. Don’t forget to browse the gift shop before you go too!

Old Mesilla

A visit to the town of Old Mesilla is like taking a trip back in time. We say that because not much has changed in Old Mesilla’s almost 200-year-old history. Because of this, visitors can see what a border town looked like back in the 1800s.

Old Mesilla wasn’t just any old border town either. It served as the backdrop to many notable moments throughout history, including the Civil War and the trail of the infamous outlaw Billy the Kid… but more on that later. Because such great care has been taken in preserving many of the historic buildings in Old Mesilla, it feels as if events like these could’ve taken place just yesterday.

Although Old Mesilla can, at times, feel a world away from a place like the campus of New Mexico State University, it’s actually less than a 15-minute drive from the Pan American Center. While there, make a point to stop by landmarks like Mesilla Plaza and the Basilica of San Albino, as well as the Billy the Kid Gift Shop, which we’ll go into more detail about below.

Billy the Kid Gift Shop

If you’re a fan of all things kitschy and quirky, the Billy the Kid Gift Shop is right up your alley. Well, technically it’s located on a street corner, but that’s beside the point. Like the rest of Old Mesilla, the Billy the Kid Gift Shop is located less than 15 minutes from the Pan American Center by car.

This unique gift shop’s association with Billy the Kid isn’t in name only, but you probably figured that anyway being that it’s located in such a historic town. The connection comes from the building that the gift shop occupies, as it was once the courthouse and jail where Billy the Kid was tried and sentenced to hang on April 13, 1881. Now it’s a place where you can buy touristy trinkets and recharge your batteries with a cup of coffee. On your way out, take some selfies in front of the unique signage on the building’s exterior.

Spaceport America

Obviously the past is alive and well in and around Las Cruces, but so is the future. That’s because Sierra County, located a little over an hour’s drive from the Pan American Center, is home to the state-of-the-art Spaceport America.

Spaceport America is the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport. It spans 27 square miles of desolate desert landscape and has been the site of more than 200 launches, including ones conducted by SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, two of the most notable names in spaceflight today. At the heart of Spaceport America is the Gateway to Space, an elegantly designed building that serves as the spaceport’s nerve center.

Unlike other futuristic facilities that sound as if they’ve been plucked from the pages of a sci-fi novel, such as Area 51, Spaceport America isn’t shrouded in secrecy. It’s quite the opposite, actually! Tours of the spaceport are offered on weekend mornings and afternoons. They depart from the Spaceport America Visitor Center in Truth or Consequences and take about four hours. Reservations must be made at least 24 hours in advance, by the way!