Aztec Museum is in need of volunteers for the summer. If you would like to help, please call the museum at 505-334-9829 and leave your contact information. We will get back to you shortly. Thank you!
We are officially closed for the season. We are open by appointment and for special events.
NOVEMBER 29 - BLACK FRIDAY. 10am to 3pm. Special $5 Family Admission.
DECEMBER 14 - AZTEC SPARKLES. 2pm - 5pm. Museum Open House with cookies, hot cocoa and a craft with activities all day in Historic Aztec, including the annual holiday parade. FREE!
The Aztec Museum Association is celebrating its 60th Anniversary in 2024 with a variety of special events, concerts, programs and more! This is a great year to become a member, sponsor, donor, volunteer at the museum as we continue our mission to collect, preserve and share the rich history of the communities we serve!
Become a Sponsor and you will receive public recognition throughout the year.
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.
Be the historian and explore 900 years of history in Aztec, New Mexico! This all day field trip will give students insight into the vast cultural histories that make the Four Corners so unique.
Is there an extraordinary person who has made a difference in your life? Recognize those who have given so much by giving a gift to the Aztec Museum & Pioneer Village in their name.
Aztec Museum and Pioneer Village lets visitors experience pioneer life in the American West. Aztec’s history of human habitation goes back a thousand years, when Native Americans settled along the Animas River. The remains of buildings they constructed have become Aztec Ruins National Monument.
The City of Aztec was founded in September of 1887, to provide commercial services for the new Hispanic and Anglo settlers. As one story goes, the earliest Hispanic and Anglo settlers thought the buildings left behind by the Puebloan people could have been part of the Aztec civilization of Mexico, so the city was named Aztec.
Pioneer Village gives visitors the opportunity to revisit a community of the early American West. Children will enjoy climbing aboard the caboose or going in a one-room schoolhouse, just two of the many Pioneer Village buildings and exhibits at the museum.
Visit Aztec Museum and Pioneer Village to learn about modern Aztec’s early days. Take a trip to Aztec Ruins National Monument to learn about Aztec's original settlers. Visit the Aztec Cemetery to find where the city’s founding families are buried.
Accounting Services R. Shane Chance, 1000 W. Aztec Blvd, Aztec NM 87410.
Buffalo Mural - Public Art Project
Imagine Aztec in July 1926. Some of the last pieces of cotton from the giant cottonwood trees glide through the air, coming to rest on the soft, dark dirt of Main Street. Shiny black cars, mostly Model T’s, are parked in the shade at an angle. Residents walk along the boardwalk or across the street, intent on their daily business. A few children run into the Uptegrove Café to buy an ice cream. The air is dry on this hot summer day and the scene is peaceful.
Then something unexpected comes along: Buffalo are walking on Main Street. Their large, hulking bodies pass by the buildings and their reflections mirror their movements in the imperfect glass of the windows. Like black, wooly, sauntering ghosts, they pad along almost unnoticed at first by the people who now stop, point and stare, murmuring among themselves.
According to the caption from a special edition of the Farmington Daily Times, July 4th, 1976, "Residents who recall the scene say Aztec’s tranquility was not in the least disturbed one summer day in 1926 when a small herd of buffalo appeared on Main Street."
That scene has been brought back to life in a mural painted on the north side of 111 N. Main Avenue by John Cogan, the award winning southwest artist known for his richly detailed paintings of landscapes and the Grand Canyon. The mural is 15-by-40 feet and the buffalo look as if they are coming right out of the wall.
Steven Nash, an Aztec filmmaker, donated his time, equipment and creativity to document this first Aztec Museum Association Public Art Project. The mural was funded by a generous donation from Dr. Craig Edgerton and his wife Dorrie.
Historic Walking Tour
School Field Trips
Memorial Giving
Become a Member