The imposing Queen Anne-style structure in a remote area of New Mexico began life as a fashionable hotel built by the Santa Fe Railway to induce travel by train. A changing society cut short the hotel's place in history, as the pool of wealthy entrepreneurs seeking long-term accommodations dwindled, automobile travel soared, and newer hotels offered other options. The lure of the area's natural hot springs notwithstanding, the hotel closed in 1903.
The building, which takes the name Montezuma from that of the hotel, has had a checkered history since then. It was given by the railroad to the YMCA; sold to the Baptist Church in the 1920s; and served as a Jesuit seminary from ...