With a population of just over 650 people, the New Mexico village of Magdalena is small, but what it lacks in size, it makes up for in charm, beautiful vistas and rich history.
“We’re a small rural community,” said Richard Rumpf, mayor of Magdalena. “It's a historic village dating back to 1885. We still have the original train station, which is our library. It has 17,000 volumes. We have high-speed fiber-optic internet. We have artists and people from all walks of life, a very eclectic group. People are painting and fixing up buildings. We’re actually short of homes for sale because people are moving here from all over the country looking for a quiet, rural lifestyle.”
Originally from northern Wisconsin, Rumpf told the New Mexico Sun that there has been an influx of retirees from Midwestern states such as Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan.
“We have the Magdalena mountains, and we’re in a central location in the state,” he said. “We have a lot of historic monuments and the prevalent culture is cowboys. If you like the West, this is a good place to be.”
In the six years that Rumpf has been mayor, he has added a fourth water well and received funds to purchase a new marshall’s vehicle, a new ambulance and a new trash truck.
“Our next project is to replace an abandoned water storage tank and put in a new one to increase our water storage,” he said in an interview. “As mayor you don't really have to do anything, but I choose to be very proactive in attending all the state meetings.”
At $40,000 per year, household incomes in Magdalena are generally less than New Mexico as a whole, but salaries have been on the rise since 2016, according to Data USA. Although the greatest number of people are employed in the accommodation, education, and transportation industries, Magdalena also maintains an agricultural focus.
“We're surrounded by huge ranches of beef cattle that measure their holdings by the square mile,” Rumpf said. “Some of them are 110 square miles.”
His vision for the future includes ensuring the town has water resources and the tools to make the village a better place to live.
“We live in an arid desert, so water is always an issue,” Rumpf added. “I’m most proud of bringing funding in to increase water availability, and I’m trying to maximize funding to get these projects done.”