As you drive into the New Mexico town of Madrid, you know you’ve arrived someplace special… and a little bit quirky. Buildings are painted in vibrant colors, the mailboxes lined up at the side of the road could double as an art installation, and time seems to slow to a mosey.

Despite the leisurely pace, there is plenty of life here. People spill out of galleries and restaurants, while the fleet of motorcycles parked outside the tavern tells you that there’s a crowd inside.

On the Fourth of July and also at Christmas, Madrid puts on a parade, which draws people from all around, until the town is filled with both visitors and locals.

When you visit Madrid, it’s obviously a small town. But you wouldn’t guess that it was once a ghost town.

In fact, in 1954 Madrid was flagging so badly that the entire place was listed for sale in the “Wall Street Journal.” The cost? $250,000. And, even at that price, no one wanted it.

So how did Madrid come to this point?

At the end of the 19th century, the town was prospering. A spur added to the Santa Fe Railroad connected Madrid and its coal supplies to the rest of the world. The population of roughly 3000 people exceeded that of nearby Albuquerque!

In 1906, the Albuquerque and Cerrillos Coal Company took over Madrid, making it a "company town." The mining operations here were unusual because the area’s geological makeup allowed for mines extending 2500 feet below ground!

Each year, miners churned out 250,000 tons of coal.

Some of this bounty was used to power an annual Christmas lighting display so spectacular that TWA diverted night flights so passengers could gaze out the windows at the 150,000 lights below.

Night lighting also put Madrid’s Oscar Huber Memorial Ballpark on the map, when it became the first illuminated field west of the Mississippi. The local baseball team was the Madrid Miners, and it served as a farm team for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The ballpark was named after Oscar Huber, a man who championed improvements to Madrid’s infrastructure. He helped to ensure that the town had a hospital, paved streets, schools, and a school. In 1947, he purchased the whole town.

However, during the 1950s, natural gas gained popularity at the expense of coal and the coal market experienced a severe depression.

Virtually all of Madrid’s inhabitants left. It became a ghost town.

Madrid could have been left to crumble into ruins. This was the fate of many New Mexico mining towns, like Lake Valley (pictured).

Thankfully, at the start of the 1970s, artists and craftspeople recognized the town’s potential. They moved in and began to revitalize Madrid.

Today, Madrid boasts more than 15 galleries.

Excellent restaurants like The Hollar and Mama Lisa’s Ghost Town Kitchen add to the town’s funky sensibility…

…And everyone eventually ends up at the Mineshaft Tavern for a drink – it has the longest stand up bar in New Mexico.

Nowadays, Madrid has only 204 residents, but this little town on the Turquoise Trail is definitely no longer a ghost town. Unless you’re talking about the spirits of a cowboy and Spanish lady that some claim to have spied along the town’s main drag!

Have you been Madrid? Here’s some info if you’re planning a visit.

New Mexico has many charming small towns and, sadly, a seemingly endless supply of ghost towns. Many of these abandoned places are old mining towns. But it’s worth exploring them for the insights they provide into our state’s past.