Hindi Store and Duran, New Mexico

Constructed in 1908 and home to the Duran Mercantile Company followed by another general store operated by William Hindi, the ruins of the building serve as a reminder of the vital role played by Duran and other small towns for travelers along Route 54. Duran remains a minor tourist destination because of its ruins, but the town itself has only a few dozen people living in the area. Although it often appears on lists of "ghost towns" a handful of families still live in the area even if most commercial buildings are empty.

Before Duran became a town, the only thing there was a well owned by brothers Blas and Espiridon Duran. When the El Paso & Northeastern Railroad built the "Arrow Route" through the area in 1902, the Durans saw an opportunity to sell water to railroad crews passing through. The rail company built shops around them, and the settlement grew to a full railroad depot "virtually overnight." Later the depot became an entire town, calling itself Duran and peaking at a population of about 300 people. They had a general store, a hotel, and other shops, the shells of which can be seen today. The Hindi Store is one of the only ones with its name still visible. It was run by Wiliam Hindi, a Lebanese immigrant.

In a darker turn in the town's history, the last legal hanging in New Mexico occurred in 1922. The year before, Duran's general store was robbed by five men, one of whom shot and killed the store's owner, Anton Coury. The son, Fred Coury, drove the robbers off by pelting them with canned products, and the town began a manhunt for the culprits. Four were caught, and the fifth is believed to have escaped to Mexico. For their involvement in the crime, three of them were hung on July 28, 1922, in the last hanging execution in the state. The final man unsuccessfully appealed his conviction, and by the time he was executed, hanging had been abolished, being replaced by the electric chair.

In the 1920s, the railroad moved its depot to Carrizozo, almost 70 miles south, causing business in Duran to drop. The town still held importance to ranchers, though, so it was able to keep itself afloat. In the 1930s, US Highway 54 was built through the center of town, making Duran a popular stop for travelers. This boost in business lasted thirty years, but they found themselves in trouble again in the 1960s. In a final turn of unfortunate events, when the I-25 was built about 60 miles away, creating better routes for interstate travelers but gutting traffic through Duran.

The town declined over the following decades and today it is mostly empty. Although Duran appears on lists of "ghost towns," it isn't truly abandoned, with a population of 44 as of 2020. The post office closed in 1995, and the people who live here don't have their own schools anymore, with children attending in nearby Vaughn. Some travelers take detours through Duran today to see the empty historic buildings.

The Last Hanging Crime: Duran, New Mexico, City of Dust. August 28th, 2013. Accessed November 27th, 2022. https://cityofdust.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-last-hanging-crime-duran-new-mexico.html.

Duran, Ghost Towns. Accessed November 27th, 2022. https://www.ghosttowns.com/states/nm/duran.html.

Torrez, Robert J. The Myth of the Hanging Tree: Stories of Crime and Punishment in Territorial New Mexico. 2018.