Chaves County Courthouse

Roswell () is a city in and the seat of Chaves County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 48,422 at the 2020 census, making it the fifth-most populous city in New Mexico. It is home of the New Mexico Military Institute (NMMI), founded in 1891. The city is also the location of an Eastern New Mexico University campus. Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge is located a few miles northeast of the city on the Pecos River. Bottomless Lakes State Park is located 12 miles (19 km) east of Roswell on US 380. Chaves County forms the entirety of the Roswell micropolitan area. The Roswell incident was named after the town, though the crash site of the alleged UFO was some 75 miles (121 km) from Roswell and closer to Corona. The investigation and debris recovery was handled by the local Roswell Army Air Field. On the 50th anniversary of the Roswell incident, an annual UFO Festival was started. In the 1930s, Roswell was a site for much of Robert H. Goddard's early rocketry work. The Roswell Museum and Art Center maintains an exhibit that includes a recreation of Goddard's rocket engine development workshop, and Goddard High School is named after him. Roswell's tourism industry is based on ufology museums and businesses, as well as alien-themed and spacecraft-themed iconography. The city also relies on New Mexico and Americana related tourism including the International UFO Museum and Research Center. Local American folk and New Mexico music performances occur near Pioneer Plaza and in parks around the city. It is a center for acequia-like irrigated farming, dairying, and ranching; it is also the location of several manufacturing, distribution, and petroleum related facilities. Roswell has a history of minor league baseball. This regional pride has resulted in Roswell receiving the All-America City Award multiple times, in 1978–79 and 2002.

The International UFO Museum and Research Center is located in Roswell, New Mexico, United States, in the downtown district, and is focused largely on the 1947 Roswell Crash and later supposed UFO incidents in the United States and elsewhere. It was founded in 1991 as a 501c3 nonprofit educational organization and is located in a former movie theater from the 1930s. The museum contains an extensive library and exhibits all focused on the history of UFO encounters. Additionally it has an extensive library collection of UFO material and meeting room. It functions as the centerpiece of the annual UFOfest held in Roswell each year. The catalyst for the museum was the 1947 Roswell UFO incident, in which a rancher, W. W. "Mack" Brazel, discovered metal debris outside of Roswell, near a giant trench that spanned hundreds of feet. The International UFO Museum and Research Center shares theories about the Roswell incident and other extraterrestrial life. The Museum was founded by Glenn Dennis and opened in September 1991. The museum also has a gift store with UFO-inspired souvenirs.

The Carnegie Library in Roswell, New Mexico, is located at the northeast corner of West Third Street and North Richardson Street. Three Carnegie libraries were built in New Mexico, in Las Vegas; Raton; and Roswell. The Raton library was demolished, the Roswell library is a vacant office building, and the Las Vegas library is still in use.

The Roswell Independent School District is a public school district based in Roswell, New Mexico, United States. In addition to Roswell, the district includes Midway.

The Downtown Roswell Historic District is a 145 acres (59 ha) historic district which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. Roughly bounded by 8th St., Richardson Ave., Albuquerque St. and Missouri Ave. in Roswell, the district included 298 contributing buildings. It covers about 38 city blocks and 433 properties, mostly residences besides commercial properties along West Second Street, including non-contributing ones. It covers the area of four residential subdivisions created during 1887 to 1899. The district includes the James Phelps White House, which is separately listed on the National Register.

The Louise Massey House, at 209 W. Alameda St. in Roswell, New Mexico, was a home of country singer Louise Massey (1902-1983) during 1918 to 1982. The house was built in 1928 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. It was in this house in 1928 that "Louise Massey and her husband, Milt Mabie, her two brothers, Curt and Alien, were interviewed for their first professional singing job as "The Westerners" by the Red Path Chatauqua. By 1930 they had a five year contract on CBS Radio in Kansas City. Later they joined WLS National Barn Dance. By 1938 Louise Massey was a star solo singer with the Westerners and with other shows on NBC Radio Programs in N.Y. City. Louise's 1934 recording of "When the White Azaleas are Blooming" sold three million copies and earned her a lifetime recording contract with Columbia Records. In 1940 Louise and Milt bought a ranch on the Hondo River, but retained her previous residence as a second home. Louise wrote her most famous song "In My Adobe Hacienda" which was her biggest hit single recording in this house. In 1945 she retired and lived with her husband on Hondo Ranch. After Milt's death in 1973 and due to failing health, Louise spent her last years in this home in Roswell and in various nursing homes. Louise died in June, 1983."

The Roswell Museum (formerly Roswell Museum and Art Center) was founded in 1936 and is located in Roswell, New Mexico, United States. The museum features exhibits about the art and history of the American Southwest, as well as the Robert H. Goddard laboratory. The museum operates the Patricia Lubben Bassett Art Education Center, opened in 1998, as a learning facility. The facility houses two classrooms, a ceramics studio, and research library, all of which supports a museum-school-community creative exchange that provides arts education opportunities for all ages. The Robert H. Goddard Planetarium was built through an initiative shared by the museum and the Roswell Independent School District in 1968. Once considered the largest planetarium in New Mexico, it is capable of reproducing the night sky as seen from any point on Earth. The Robert H. Goddard Planetarium is home to a state-of-the-art, full-dome digital theater system with Digistar 6 programming.

The James Phelps White House, at 200 N. Lea Ave. in Roswell, New Mexico, was built in 1910–12. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The listing included two contributing buildings. It is a two-and-a-half-story yellow brick house built for Roswell area rancher James Phelps White. It was built by his father-in-law, David Young Tomlinson, apparently following design of a house which White's wife liked in Fort Worth, Texas where Tomlinson and brothers were building contractors. It includes Western Stick architecture and Prairie style architecture.

The Saunders-Crosby House, at 200 E. Deming in Roswell, New Mexico, was built in 1905. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. It is unusual in its Queen Anne style because it has a two-story hexagonal cupola and a hexagonal porch and cupola. All eaves have Victorian gingerbread trim. It was purchased in 1907 as part of recruiting H.P. Saunders, a banker, to move from Dallas, Texas. Mrs. Ruby Saunders Crosby, a daughter who served in the Red Cross overseas during World War I, donated the house to the American National Red Cross in 1965. The Red Cross owned it in 1985.

Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art (AMoCA) is an American art museum founded in 1994 and located in Roswell, New Mexico. The museum was formed from the Roswell Artist-in-Residence (RAIR) program, and displays work from the former participants.

New Mexico Military Institute (NMMI) is a public military junior college and high school in Roswell, New Mexico. Founded in 1891, NMMI operates under the auspices of the State of New Mexico, under a dedicated Board of Regents that reports to the Governor of New Mexico. Located in downtown Roswell, NMMI enrolls nearly 1,000 cadets at the junior college and high school levels each year. NMMI is the only state-supported military college located in the western United States and has many notable alumni who have served at senior levels in the military and private sector. The school's two-year Army ROTC Early Commissioning Program (ECP) commissions approximately 30 cadets annually as U.S. Army second lieutenants, and almost 100 cadets each year go to one of the five United States Service academies. The Cadet Honor Code, which was unanimously voted into place by the Corps of Cadets in 1921, states, "A Cadet Will Not Lie, Cheat, or Steal, Nor Tolerate Those Who Do" and is administered by an honor board of cadets, advised by cadre and staff. The school's athletic teams are the Broncos (junior college) and the Colts (high school), and its colors are scarlet and black.

This is about the house and ranch in New Mexico. For the similarly named house in Virginia, please see Slaughter–Hill House The Slaughter–Hill Ranch, in Roswell, New Mexico, also known as Cunningham Homestead, Estancia Pavo Real, or the Canning Farm, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. It was the first homestead of Sam Cunningham, from Missouri, who built the hand-hewn log house. The building is the only surviving example of a hand-hewn log first homestead in the Roswell area. The ranch is significant also for association with C.C. Slaughter, a Texas cattleman who established a registered Hereford cattle herd here of national reputation. After C.C. Slaughter died in 1919, ownership of the property eventually went to George Slaughter's daughter Eloise and her husband Curtis Hill, a lawyer.