San Jose CDP (San Miguel County), NM

San Jose is a small census-designated place in San Miguel County's Pecos River country, high in the New Mexico mountains at about 6,135 feet. Interstate 25's Exit 319 is the practical turnoff, and the community has its own post office, ZIP 87565. With less than a half-square-mile of land, San Jose is the kind of place where the road connection and the old settlement story matter as much as the label on the map.

The settlement dates to 1803, when the Spanish government granted land to 45 men and two women to help defend the eastern side of New Mexico's settlements. Many early residents were genizaros, and later San Jose became associated with comancheros and ciboleros who traded and hunted across the plains. Today it falls within West Las Vegas Schools, with West Las Vegas High School serving as the area high school. The local scoop is that San Jose is a tiny Pecos Valley outpost with a surprisingly deep frontier story, still tied to I-25, its post office, and the Las Vegas school system.