For a thousand years men and women have settled along the Animas River, building structures to meet the community's needs for food, trade, transportation, entertainment, and spiritual observances.

Starting with Aztec Ruins National Monument, the booklet takes you to the heart of Aztec’s Historic Downtown, then to homes, churches and irrigation ditches built by early settlers. Much of the booklet focuses on historic structures built in the early 1900s. It was an exciting time as New Mexico gained statehood on January 6, 1912 to become the 47th state. A century later, as we stroll past the works of these early men and women, we experience the one constant that remains: we are still engaged in community building.

The points of interest included in the booklet are a sampling of the architecture, influential citizens and natural features that give Aztec its distinct character. Aztec contains four historic districts encompassing multiple properties and 17 individual properties listed on the New Mexico and/or National Register of Historic Places.

The free Historic Aztec Self-Guided Walking & Biking Tours booklet is available at the Aztec Museum and at the Aztec Ruins National Monument Gift Store. A downloadable PDF version is available by clicking here or you may download an iPad version at the Apple iBooks Store.