September 23 – The 1950 census showed Albuquerque as a city of about 97,000, with the population living primarily in the northern and southern valleys, the University of New Mexico area, and the military bases.
At the time, Lincoln Junior High School, at 912 Locust SE, and Jefferson, at Lomas and Girard NE, were the only Albuquerque Public Schools high schools east of Broadway.
But as the city gradually expanded toward the Sandias, APS opened Monroe and Wilson high schools in the fall of 1953.
Monroe was located at 2120 Louisiana NE, on the southeast corner of Louisiana and Indian School. At that time, the stretch of Louisiana between Constitution and Menaul was almost bucolic—a safe, practical, and convenient location for a public school.
But then:
In the spring of 1961, the Winrock Shopping Center opened next door. Shelley Fabares, a star of the TV series “The Donna Reed Show,” was invited to the grand opening and spent an afternoon signing autographed photos for the Monroe student stars.
Across the street, less than a mile to the north, the even larger Coronado Center opened in 1964.
In relatively the same time frame – the exact date could not be determined – the I-40 on and off ramps opened at Louisiana, just north of Constitution.
In the blink of an eye, those once bucolic streets had become some of the busiest in Albuquerque.
Meanwhile, high schools in the Heights had sprung up like blades of grass. The eastward migration had become a stampede. McKinley, 1954; Jackson, 1957; Madison, 1959; Van Buren, 1960; Grant, 1961; Hayes, 1964.
It was therefore no surprise when APS announced in 1972 that it intended to close Monroe in the coming years.
APS cited declining enrollment — clearly a result of Jackson, Madison, Grant and Hayes opening nearby — and above-average per-student costs, as well as safety concerns due to high traffic volumes.
It was not explicitly stated that APS clearly considered the Monroe property to be a prime location.
“The advice is to sell the building,” said APS.
As the ax began to fall, Monroe students began to grieve. Monroe parents protested on behalf of their children — concerned not only about the closure, but also about where their younger children would end up.
APS was in the process of transitioning from an elementary-junior high-high school model (6-3-3) to a 5-3-4 middle school model. Monroe’s ninth graders of 1973-74, almost en masse, would be ticketed to Del Norte High School. But for seventh and eighth graders, the situation was fluid.
“Every student and every parent was extremely upset,” said Marita Eckert, Monroe Class of ’73, in a telephone interview. “We had great teachers and administration, we had intramural sports, we had an orchestra, we had a store and art, and we were just a little ‘Mayberry’ community.”
But APS held firm and the last day of school in Monroe, June 7, 1974, came and went.
Almost immediately, APS put the property at 2120 Louisiana NE up for sale.
Although it seemed like a prime location, it did not sell.
Developers who wanted to build hotels, supermarkets, office buildings etc. blamed APS when negotiations kept failing. APS blamed the developers.
In 1987, APS sold the Monroe property to a development company. The company went bankrupt and the property was returned to APS. Over the next 15 years, the property would be sold two more times with similar results.
The building had not remained completely unused.
In the fall of 1974, Monroe hosted students and teachers from Arroyo Del Oso Elementary School while construction of their own building was completed. From 1975-79, APS used the property as an office and storage facility.
From 1979 to 1988, the Monroe estate was home to the New Futures School, an APS-run school for unwed teenage mothers.
The building itself was eventually demolished in 1988.
In 2002, APS completed the sale of the Monroe property to Hunt Development of El Paso. But in the newspaper archives, the trail went dead. What happened to 2120 Louisiana NE?
Eventually, in 2013, Target, the budget department store giant, opened a megastore that Monroe’s faculty and students enjoyed for 22 years.
Come on, Mustangs.
