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Some history of Blackdom, New Mexico, now a ghost town
Blackdom in southeastern New Mexico was a settlement of
African-American homesteaders about 16 miles south of Roswell, New Mexico,
southwest United States. The "kingdom" was established around 1900 by
Francis Marion Boyer. He walked from Georgia to New Mexico pursuing
the dream of his father to establish a self-sustaining community.
But irrigation water in the Blackdom area was not sufficient and the
community withered until in 1920 Francis Boyer and his wife and
other residents resettled in new locations--some in Vado, New Mexico, a
community near the Texas border on the Rio Grande River.
What was once Blackdom is now farm and ranch land.
A County Detention Center has also been built near the former site of
Blackdom.