Ruidoso Downs

Ruidoso Downs is a city in Lincoln County, New Mexico, United States, located within the Lincoln National Forest. Originally incorporated as a village, it became a city in May 2002. Known locally as "the Downs", Ruidoso Downs is a suburb of adjacent Ruidoso and is a part of the Ruidoso Micropolitan Statistical Area. The city, located along U.S. Route 70, is named after the Ruidoso Downs Race Track, which is located in the city along with the Billy the Kid Casino and the Hubbard Museum of the American West.

According to a local Ruidoso Downs historian, early on Hispanos settlers called the area "San Juanito". The settlers began arriving in the early in the late 1840s, and introduced rodeo and horse racing to the area. Originally the area had scattered farms and ranches, with the Dowlin Mill constructed in 1868. A new wave of families arrived after the Lincoln County War. In 1946 the Ruidoso News was founded and the airport opened, and two years later radio arrived. Electric lights appeared in the area in 1947. The White Mountain Inn opened in the 1940s as a sanatorium and as a lodging establishment.

source: wikipedia.org