Welcome to the Gadsden Museum located in Mesilla, New Mexico!
The Gadsden Museum in Mesilla, New Mexico was founded in 1931 by Albert Jennings Fountain, Jr. and Henry and Beatrice Fountain.
The museum is only 3 blocks east of the Old Mesilla Plaza. It is located in the Fountain family home, built in 1861. This private museum houses Native American relics, items from the Civil War and Old West artifacts including the original jail cell doors that held Billy the Kid in Mesilla NM. during his 1878 trial for the murder of Lincoln County Sheriff William Brady.
The museum also has a wonderful collection of santos which have been in the family.
A famous painting of the ratification of the Gadsden Purchase by Albert J. Fountain, Jr. is only one of many treasures from this collection. The painting collection also features other historic Old West portraits and landscapes including a series of U.S. Army forts in southern New Mexico.
The museum honors the Colonel Albert Jennings Fountain family and their intimate ties to the Mesilla valley.
Colonel Fountain (October 23, 1838 - disappeared February 1, 1896) was a lawyer, Indian fighter and politician in Texas and New Mexico. Among his more famous clients was Billy the Kid. In 1896, he, along with his eight year old son, Henry, disappeared near Chalk Hill, in what is now the White Sands Missile Range, never to be found again.
The museum is open by appointment only.