Albuquerque's Huning Castle Neighborhoods

As a 21-year-old German immigrant, Franz Huning could not have envisioned his future in New Mexico when, in 1849, he signed on as a bull whacker for a wagon train heading down the Santa Fe Trail. From his beginnings as a clerk in Albuquerque s Old Town, Huning s entrepreneurial talents flourished over the next half-century. He took on the roles of merchant, flour mill operator, and land speculator, helping to secure Albuquerque as a division point with a depot, offices, and major repair shops for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. Huning s 700-acre estate, home to the once-legendary but now-demolished Castle Huning, fronted Albuquerque s main thoroughfare midway between Old Town and the bustling new downtown one mile east. It was a front-row seat to the city s development after the flood-prone Rio Grande was stabilized. Huning s former estate is now home to fine, diverse homes near the Albuquerque Country Club, as well as historic Route 66, Tingley Beach, the zoo, the Little Theatre, and a Christmas Eve luminaria tradition."