Luna

Formed March 26, 1901 (21^st county)

Luna County (25,422), Deming (14,766)

The pleasant red brick Romanesque Revival facility is on Silver Avenue at Ash Street.  New Mexico State Highway 11 is one block west and Interstate Highway 10 is eight blocks north of the site.   The only courthouse for this county was built in 1910 and enlarged in 1963.  W. B. Corwin is the architect.  It features a tower with a working clock.  Veteran memorials and a gazebo are on the grounds.  Luna County was created from Grant County on March 26, 1901 as the 21^st county with Deming as the only county seat.  A local railroad investor’s wife, Mary Deming, is the source for county seat’s name.  Solomon Luna, local rancher, is the source for the county’s name. 

Luna County government consists of a manager, a sheriff, a treasurer, an attorney, an assessor, and a clerk (executive).  It has 3 Commissioners (legislative.)  Three District Court Judges serve Luna, Grant, and Hidalgo counties (judicial.)  The county is in the southwest part of the state on the border with Mexico.  Las Cruces, New Mexico is just to the east and El Paso, Texas is southeast of the county.  The county center is in Deming .7 miles Northwest of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Sierra and Dona Ana counties and Mexico and Hidalgo and Grant counties. 

The area of the county is 2965 square miles.  It is 22 out of 33 in the state.  It ranks 18 out of 33 in population in the state.  It has a density of 8.6 persons per square mile making it 15 out of 33 in the state.  Luna County has 63.7% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 10 crosses east to west from Dona Ana County to Grant County.  United States Highway 70 is joined with Interstate Highway 10 from Dona Ana to Grant counties.  United States Highway 180 comes in with Interstate Highway 10 from Dona Ana County, splits at Deming, and continues to the northwest into Grant County.  The county is basically square with Deming near the geographical center.  Deming is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 58.1% of the county population.  The county is pronounced LUE-NA.  The county seat is pronounced DEM-ING.  This county is in the Deming Micropolitan Statistical Area.