Santa Fe’s Don Gaspar Bridge (1934)

 Other Name: El Puente de los Conquistadores 

Address: Don Gaspar Ave., between Alameda St. and W. De Vargas St., Santa Fe, NM  

Access:  Public road

By Audra Bellmore – January 14, 2024

For centuries, public life in Santa Fe flourished within blocks of its central plaza. As the region’s population expanded, the need for additional residential and civic spaces also grew.   The Don Gaspar Bridge, constructed in 1934 across the Santa Fe River, between Alameda St. and W. De Vargas St., connected the old town to developing agricultural land on the southside, facilitating a new state capital complex. The bridge, named for Don Gaspar Domingo Mendoza, governor and Capitan General of New Mexico from 1739 to 1743, stands as an excellent example of the regional Spanish Pueblo Revival style applied to utilitarian, transportation infrastructure.

Prior to the construction of the Territorial Capital in 1886, Don Gaspar Avenue ended north of the Santa Fe River. Plans to extend the road over the river were delayed for many years due to complications procuring the right-of-way. Eventually $37,000 in New Deal funding subsidized construction of a bridge through the National Recovery Municipal Program, intended to repair and advance U.S. roadways. The Don Gaspar Bridge was one of several bridges in the area supported by the New Deal and became a model for similar spans across the Santa Fe River.

Also known as El Puente de los Conquistadores (The Bridge of the Conquistadors), the Don Gaspar Bridge is a sturdy, modern construction. It survives with little alteration to its original Spanish Pueblo Revival design, revealed in its curved handrails and heavy rounded corners.  The non-truss bridge is 57’ long with a 50’ elongated arch, comprised of reinforced concrete poured as a solid unit. The bridge carries two lanes of automobile traffic and two pedestrian sidewalks. Designer W.E. Strohm, of the New Mexico state bridge department, was praised for its rigid frame construction, highly innovative for its time.

The Don Gaspar Bridge continues to guide traffic across the river of the bustling tourist center, from the old town and plaza to the Capital Complex. The National Park Service placed the bridge on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002 for its relation to the social history of the New Deal and for its architectural significance.

Competed: 1934
Architect/Builder: Van de Greyn, E.B. et.al.
Structural Engineer: W.E. Strohm
Contractors:  Seeking Information

National Register of Historic Places:  (2002) #02001163

Learn More:

Murphey, John. W. Don Gaspar Bridge. National Register of Historic Places registration report, 2002.

“$37,000 Bridge One of the Finest, Most Durable.” Santa Fe New Mexican. 25 June 1934: 3.

Woodman, Pierre. “Santa Fe Dedicates ‘El Puente de Los Conquistadores.’” Santa Fe New Mexican. July 1934: 13.

7/17/2025