Magdalena, New Mexico
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Magdalena is located 27 miles west of Socorro on U.S. 60 in Socorro County.  Being astride a U.S. highway, it is not at all ghostly, although there are plenty of reminders of its more lively past.

 

This photo of the Hotel Magdalena appears on page 90 of Varney's book (1981).
 

This is how the old hotel appeared on November 8, 2002, some 21 years later.  A sign on the main highway points to it as a historic structure.  It has been restored and converted into an apartment house.

 

Photo of the Magdalena Mercantile appearing on page 90 of Varney's book (1981).  I could find no trace of this building in November 2002.  Varney noted that there was a "condemned" notice above the door.  Perhaps the building has since been torn down.  (New information about the fate of this building is at the bottom of this page.)

 

Something in Magdalena that looks like it might have once been something else!

 

An interesting find in Magdalena.  The front portion of the building is in use (see below).  It is occupied by a cafe/soda fountain.  The rear four-fifths of the building, while not only not in use, is open to the sky and pretty much all gone except for the brick superstructure.  The whole thing was apparently a bank at one time.  (More information about this building is at the bottom of this page.)

I had occasion to pass through Magdalena in April 2004, and the rear portion of this building is undergoing some sort of reconstruction or restoration.  All of the openings were boarded up, and it looked like work was going on.

 
Here's a shot of the same building taken in April 2008.  It is pretty much unchanged in the four years between the two photos.

 

 

On April 20, 2007 I received an email from a fellow who works in the area and who saw this website.  He provided some useful information about the fate of some of the buildings above:

Stumbled across your website, specifically, your visit to Magdalena, NM.  You mention that you were unable to locate the Magdalena Mercantile store as shown in Varney's book. That building was located on the south side of main street (US 60).  I remember well the morning driving to work, passing through Magdalena, and seeing fire trucks from Magdalena and Socorro putting out the last of the fire of that old building. I think it was 1978 or 79. The burned out hulk of the building smoldered for several days and stood for awhile, being an extreme hazard, and was razed a few months later. There is just an empty dirt lot at the site today. It was winter time, and Navajos from the nearby Alamo Navajo reservation would often spend the night there. It was suspected that a small fire for heat got out of hand and quickly involved the old wood floor of the mercantile. The photo you have of the old brick front of the old Magdalena Bank, just north of Evett's Cafe, is the result of another relatively recent fire. That entire block, save Evett's, burned in the mid-1980s. If I recall correctly, the fire started late at night in the rear of the barber shop, which occupied a portion of the old bank.