This article is provided by the East Mountain Historical Society. Learn more at eastmountainhistory.org
By Rick Holben
Buford, New Mexico had its beginnings on 160 acres of land purchased in about 1937 by Hal Crossley, near what is now Old Route 66 and Eunice Road in Moriarty. In 1937, the alignment of Highway 66 was re-routed between Santa Rosa and Albuquerque, replacing the longer, less-direct route through Santa Fe. This new alignment ran about one mile north of the original town site of Moriarty.
Crossley bought land along the new road and opened two businesses: the Thunderbird Café and Buford Court Motel. The name Buford honored Hal’s younger brother Bufford Crossley, who had died in infancy. By August 1939, newspapers ads appeared in the Albuquerque Journal, presumably placed by Crossley, advertising that “The new town of Buford, N.M., on Will Rogers Highway 66, has a nice building for a restaurant, lights and restroom attached, for reasonable rent. Phone No. 2 Buford N.M.” It wasn’t long before others began building gas stations, cafes and other businesses nearby along Highway 66, creating the community of Buford, which was so noted on some road maps of the era. Buford was also included in 1946 in A Guide Book to Highway 66 by Jack D. Rittenhouse as “a small crossroads hamlet offering four cafes, six gas stations and two courts.” In 1953, when Moriarty incorporated, it absorbed the community and businesses of Buford, which now constitute Moriarty’s historic Old Route 66 corridor.
Hal Crossley, the founder of Buford, was born in 1893 in Colorado and spent his early years in South Dakota and Nebraska with a foster family. His father, John L. Crossley, and stepmother Ida moved to the Estancia Valley in 1904 and homesteaded 160 acres near what are now Martinez Road and Green Road. John Crossley worked for the Santa Fe Central Railway and was the first telegraph operator in the Estancia Valley. In 1921, Hal joined his father and stepmother in Moriarty. At his father’s suggestion, Hal opened a gas station near the post office and Moriarty Trading Co, which was located near the train depot. Hal borrowed $500 from the postmaster to get the business started, and it was the first Standard Oil Co station in the area. He ran this garage until his move to Buford in 1937. Hal spent the rest of his life in Moriarty, where he passed away in 1980.
Crossley donated land at Highway 41 and Old Route 66 for the park that is now named for him. Very little remains of Crossley’s original buildings. A small retail store on the corner of Eunice and Old Route 66 occupies a portion of what was the original Buford Court; the rest has been replaced by a modern hotel.