Abandoned Towns
NM 14 through Madrid, May 2010

Coal mining town

Madrid

Madrid’s coal company town nearly emptied after the mines closed. Artists and residents brought its wooden houses back into use.

35°24′12″N 106°09′14″W · ≈6,100 ft

Photo: John Phelan, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

Living community

Visit businesses that are open to customers along NM 14. Homes, backyards, mine openings and waste piles are outside that invitation. The community visitor website lists a walking tour and current businesses; individual operators set their own opening hours.

Overview

Miners’ houses became shops on the Turquoise Trail

NM 14 through Madrid, May 2010
NM 14 through Madrid, May 2010 · Photo: John Phelan, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

Madrid occupies a narrow valley in the Ortiz Mountains, with NM 14 running along its main street. Coal had been worked in the area before the large company town developed. A railroad spur reached the workings in 1892, and prefabricated miners’ cabins arrived by rail from Kansas.

Falling demand for coal undermined the town after World War II. By 1954 the coal company had stopped operating, and the railroad spur was removed. In the 1970s, artists and craftspeople began renting the houses. Madrid now has a residential neighborhood, shops, galleries and food businesses. Its ghost-town history belongs to a place where people still live and work.

Video

Madrid in 30 seconds

Madrid turned a coal town into a living arts community. Historic photographs and maps are dated on screen; current access is summarized in the guide.

Images and historic maps: John Phelan (CC BY 3.0), BFS Man from Webster, TX, USA (CC BY 2.0), Someone who likes train writing (CC BY-SA 4.0), U.S. Geological Survey (Public domain). Cropped, animated and overlaid with text. Video adaptation: CC BY-SA 4.0. Original synthesized music; narration by Google Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS, Charon. English captions included.

History

How Madrid grew and changed

  1. A railroad spur connects the coal workings to the Santa Fe main line.
  2. Company housing and mine facilities create the town.
  3. Mining supports schools, a hospital and community celebrations.
  4. The coal company ceases operations.
  5. Artists and craftspeople begin occupying former miners’ houses.
  6. The census records 247 residents.

On the ground

What remains at Madrid

Former miners’ cabins and commercial buildings line the village. The Mine Shaft Tavern and the Old Boarding House are part of the surviving built landscape. Coal waste on the slopes is another remnant, and state reclamation work has addressed hazardous mine features and runoff.

Before you go

Access and current conditions

Visit businesses that are open to customers along NM 14. Homes, backyards, mine openings and waste piles are outside that invitation. The community visitor website lists a walking tour and current businesses; individual operators set their own opening hours.

Reading the maps

The town in its landscape

Later sheets label Madrid along the valley road, with mine symbols and waste areas on the surrounding slopes.

Historic maps

Madrid on USGS maps, 1892–1990

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Madrid, 1892
San Pedro sheet, 1892, 1:125,000 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

The routes below use OSRM on OpenStreetMap data. Follow the access notes above and confirm current conditions before traveling.

USGS topographic location map of Madrid

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

From Santa Fe29.2 miabout 48 min
  1. Start on East San Francisco Street0.1 mi
  2. Turn right onto Cathedral Place0.2 mi
  3. At the end of the road, turn right onto East Alameda Street0.1 mi
  4. Turn left onto Old Santa Fe Trail0.6 mi
  5. Continue straight onto Old Pecos Trail2.9 mi
  6. On ramp slight right onto the connecting road0.3 mi
  7. Merge slight left onto I 25 (I 25)7.8 mi
  8. Off ramp slight right onto the connecting road0.2 mi
  9. Fork slight left onto the connecting road0.1 mi
  10. Turn left onto Veterans Memorial Highway (NM 599)0.6 mi
  11. Turn right onto Turquoise Trail (NM 14)16.4 mi
  12. Turn left onto Firehouse Lane0.2 mi
  13. Arrive at the routed road endpoint0.0 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Directions go to Routed road endpoint near Madrid, where the drive ends, not to the townsite.

Road and safety notes

  • Visit businesses that are open to customers along NM 14. Homes, backyards, mine openings and waste piles are outside that invitation. The community visitor website lists a walking tour and current businesses; individual operators set their own opening hours.
  • The routed drive ends on the mapped road approximately 53 metres from the town point. It does not authorize driving off the road or entering private land.

Photos

Madrid in photos

Visitor reports

Been to Madrid?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Madrid

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our New Mexico index.

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. Madrid, New Mexico - Wikipedia: historical chronology, identity and location; read October 25, 2026.
  2. Madrid - New Mexico Ghost Town: historical fact sheet and town history; read October 25, 2026.
  3. Home | Visit Madrid, NM: history, surviving features and visitor information; read October 25, 2026.
  4. History | Visit Madrid, NM: history, surviving features and visitor information; read October 25, 2026.
  5. Madrid Stormwater & Erosion Control Project - Mining and Minerals: history, surviving features and visitor information; read October 25, 2026.
  6. Elevation at the mapped point: USGS 3D Elevation Program query, October 25, 2026. Historical topographic sheets: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain).
  7. Road routes and step distances: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), October 25, 2026. Route endpoints are shown separately where they do not reach the town point; estimates do not confirm current road access.
  8. Wikimedia Commons, NM 14 northbound entering Madrid NM.jpg: NM 14 through Madrid, May 2010; CC BY 3.0. File description and image checked October 25, 2026.
  9. Wikimedia Commons, Painted Ladies of Madrid (6596719817).jpg: Colorful houses on the hillside at Madrid, December 2011; CC BY 2.0. File description and image checked October 25, 2026.
  10. Wikimedia Commons, Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe 769 in Madrid, 2021.jpg: Santa Fe locomotive 769 on display at Madrid, June 2021; CC BY-SA 4.0. File description and image checked October 25, 2026.

Photo and map credits