Playas is a small town in Hidalgo County, New Mexico, the "bootheel" of southwestern New Mexico.

It is a former company town, named after a nearby former settlement along the Southern Pacific Railroad. It was developed by the Phelps Dodge Corporation in the 1970s for several hundred employees of its then-new Playas Copper Smelter, located ten miles south of the development. Over 250 rental homes, six apartment buildings, a bowling alley, a bar (the "Feelgood Lounge"), a rodeo ring, a helicopter pad, a fitness center, a shooting range and a swimming pool were built for the community, which even had its own zip code (88009) at the time. At its peak, the town had about 1000 residents.

Declining copper prices led to the smelter's closure in 1999; all of its residents were evicted within a year, though a skeleton crew of about a dozen employees remains in the area. The smelter, about 40 miles (60 km) north of the border with Mexico, has been nicknamed La Estrella del Norte by migrants using its lights as a beacon for crossing into the country.

Four years later, New Mexico Tech agreed to purchase the town and the surrounding 1200 acres (4.9 km²) for $5 million, using Department of Homeland Security funds secured by Pete Domenici. The town will be converted into a training and research facility for the university’s first responders and anti-terrorism programs, supported by tens of millions of dollars in federal funds.

External links

• Animas, Cotton City, and Playas
• Isolated desert town is ready to become a target from the International Herald Tribune
• Playas Purchase Boosts Homeland Security
• New Mexico Tech Board of Regents Approves Purchase of Playas

Pete Domenici press releases

• N.M. Tech Focus on Security Research Creates Educational, Economic Opportunities
• Domenici secures $80 million in additional funds to support national security work carried out in New Mexico