The Legal Tender is a restaurant/bar located in the Lamy Railroad & History Museum, about a mile from my house. We go there frequently for the great food and atmosphere. In a small town like this it is the social place to come and see your friends. There are lots of historical pictures and information and is well worth a visit.
The building is Lamy’s oldest structure. Built in 1881 as a general merchandise store (Leon Pick General Merchandise Store) the bar was added in 1894. In 1953 it was converted into a restaurant/saloon called the “Pink Garter Saloon”. In 1970 it was remodeled and renamed “The Legal Tender”. In 1986 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Rumors of ghosts have been passed along for decades. A lady in a white gown floats up the steps to the Parlor Room balcony. And a little girl with a long dress sits alone on the stairs. Sometimes a man in black is seen helping himself to a drink.
Lamy is a railroad town 15 miles south east of Santa Fe, New Mexico, that was created in 1879 when the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad was built through New Mexico. Prior to that time it was a place that Indians traveled through and where Spanish Vaquero cowboys grazed cattle and sheep. Located in the foothills of the 12,000 foot Sangre de Cristo Mountains it became an “oasis in the desert” after the arrival of the railroad.
Lamy – originally called Galisteo Junction by the Spanish – was renamed for Archbishop Jean-Baptise Lamy, who arranged the donation of Church property for the town and railroad spur to Santa Fe. The name is pronounced “lame-ee” locally although the correct pronunciation of Bishop Lamy’s name is “lah-may”.
The township has never had a population greater than about 500 and today is a quiet place with a year 2010 census population of 218. When the railroad was first built in the area in 1880 the town became a center for freight and passenger trade and soon stores, restaurants and hotels opened to service the visitors. And it had a reputation as a rough town because of frequent robberies by gangs and rip off bunko artists. For the next 50 years Lamy continued to slowly grow and become more gentile. In the 1930s when the private automobile became common and new diesel trains could go longer distances without refueling, the town of Lamy became unneeded. Besides residences, all that remains are the train station and the Legal Tender Saloon.
Today Amtrak’s Southwest Chief has a passenger stop on their daily run between Los Angeles and Chicago and the train and train station essentially define the town. Santa Fe Southern (which bought part of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway) runs a popular tourist train, and occasionally freight, between Lamy and downtown Santa Fe.
You can get more information at the Legal Tender website by clicking HERE.