page_title: Barelas
section_title: Decline
hierarchical_section_title: Barelas / History / Decline
caption_attribution_description: English: Old Magnolia Petroleum gasoline station on 4th Street along the original Route 66 in Barelas, Albuquerque, New Mexico
context_page_description: Barelas is an inner-city neighborhood of Albuquerque, New Mexico, located immediately south of Downtown. It consists of the triangular area bounded by Coal Avenue, the BNSF railroad tracks, and the Rio Grande. Originally a separate village, it was absorbed into Albuquerque during the railroad-fueled growth of the 1880s but still retains a distinct identity. The settlement was formally established in 1662, predating even Old Town as the oldest neighborhood in the city. Although it was long one of Albuquerque's most economically distressed areas, Barelas has seen significant development since the opening of the National Hispanic Cultural Center in 2000 and may be starting to experience gentrification.
  The neighborhood's main commercial area is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Barelas-South Fourth Street Historic District.
context_section_description: Barelas suffered a series of economic setbacks in the mid-20th century, the first of which was the realignment of Route 66 in 1937.  The new east-west route was 90 miles (140 km) shorter, but the rerouting of the highway from 4th Street to Central Avenue bypassed Barelas entirely. Traffic on 4th eroded further still when Interstate 25 supplanted U.S. 85 as Albuquerque's main north-south highway.
  To make matters worse, the railroad shops closed in 1970, eliminating 1,500 jobs from Barelas. Then in 1974 a downtown section of 4th Street was closed to build Civic Plaza, cutting off the neighborhood's main artery. Isolated from the rest of the city and with its economic base in ruins, Barelas descended into poverty and crime.
caption: Former filling station in Barelas
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