Valencia County

Located in central New Mexico along the Rio Grande, Valencia was one of the seven partidos established during Mexican rule. The division of counties in New Mexico can be traced back to this time. The first subdivison of the New Mexico Territory was made in 1837 when two partidos — districts — were created. In 1844, New Mexico was re-divided into three districts. Eventually these districts were further subdivided into areas that include similar boundaries to New Mexico’s first counties. It was named for the village of Valencia, its first county seat. Later, the county seat moved to Tome, and in 1876, through the influence of the powerful Luna family, it was moved to Los Lunas.

Valencia County was created in 1852 as one of the nine original counties. Los Lunas is the county seat.

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County description: Julyan, Robert.The Place Names of New Mexico, revised edition , University of New Mexico Press, 1998.

Land grants: Courtesy of the University of New Mexico School of Law and the New Mexico Supreme Court Law Library. Original copyright J. J. Bowden, 1969.