The Lands
The chronicle of the Netherwood Park First Filing begins with a Land Patent from the U.S. Government. Ada M. Cutler purchased 157.83 acres for $197.50 on January 14, 1896 in the U.S. General Land Office, Santa Fe, New Mexico Territory (Certificate No. 1747). The Land Patent was issued one year later on January 29, 1897, signed in the name of President Grover Cleveland.
At about the same time, Martha L. Taylor, and Harriet E. Jenness each purchased from the U.S. Government adjoining 160-acre tracts to the east of Ada Cutler’s land. These tracts and certain plats arising therefrom are described in Netherwood Park Third Filing and Netherwood Park Second Filing, respectively. The Cutler tract would now be described as being north of Indian School Rd., east of the North Diversion Channel, west of Girard Blvd., and south of Menaul Blvd.
The original Netherwood Park First Filing subdivision plat of 197.83 acres was filed in 1913 and contained the Cutler land patent of 157.83 acres, plus 40 acres of the Taylor land patent (the NE1/4 of the SW1/4 of Section 10). This 1913 plat was filed on May 20, 1913 in the Records of Bernalillo County; however, the location of this document is unknown. It is believed to be similar to the later 1926 plat showing 1,646 narrow lots, nominally 25 feet wide by 148 feet deep. It has been reported that Ada Netherwood (neé Cutler) and her husband Edwin intended to create a residential subdivision close to Albuquerque’s Downtown that ordinary workers could afford.
The subdivision was re-platted in 1926 as 189.59 acres, along a “grid” concept of narrow lots. This plat also shows 18.54 acres of land in the far southeastern corner that was previously platted in what is known as the Netherwood Park Third Filing (1919) that is on the east side of what is now Girard Blvd., north of Indian School Road. This Netherwood Park Third Filing is comprised of 8.24 acres out of the southeast corner of the Cutler land patent and 10.30 acres out of the southwest corner of the Taylor land patent. Interestingly, the 1926 plat shows a “dwelling, garage, water tower, tennis courts and club house” in the previously platted area of 1919.
It wasn’t until long after Ada and Edwin’s deaths (1937 and 1926, respectively), that the subdivision area begins to resemble its current form. Ada’s surviving nephew, Edward Schell, came to Albuquerque in 1950 from Illinois to manage the Netherwood’s land holdings, including an additional 160 acres between present-day Carlisle Blvd. and San Mateo Blvd. north of Indian School Road, known as Netherwood Park Second Filing (1914), which is the original Jenness Land Patent. The impetus for the move appears to be a notice of the City of Albuquerque’s intent to annex the land into the City’s jurisdiction, which occurred in 1950.
Edward and his wife Edna re-platted the nominal 190-acre tract in 1951 replacing the “grid” layout of narrow lots with larger lots and curvilinear roads that largely exist to this day within the residential area bounded by Indian School Road on the south, the North Diversion Channel on the west and north and Girard Blvd. on the east. The eastern portion of the First Filing subdivision retains several blocks of narrow lots from the 1926 plat. The Schells also executed a Restrictive Covenant in early 1951 prohibiting certain uses: “the sale of intoxicating liquor, or for the keeping and operating of any slaughterhouse, junk yard, night club, skating rink, pool hall, or Drive-in Theater” and later that same year: Protective Covenants and Building Restrictions on all lots of the 1951 re-plat, including an Architectural Control Committee.
Since 1951, there have been several re-configurations of the 190-acre tract. Most significantly, the removal of approximately 90 acres of land on the north for the North Diversion Channel (Albuquerque Metropolitan Arroyo Flood Control Authority) shown in the re-plat of 1957 and I-40 (Coronado Freeway) shown in the 1969 re-plat. The re-plat of 1957 also provides for the large storm water detention area at the north end of Princeton Drive, as well as changes the lot configuration of the western portion of the subdivision to provide additional assess to Indian School Road at Harvard and the Vista Larga subdivision to the south.
The 1969 re-plat reconfigured the commercial land south of Menaul and north of I-40.
The chronicle of the Netherwood Park Second Filing begins with a Land Patent from the U.S. Government. Harriet E. Jenness purchased 160 acres in the U.S. General Land Office, Santa Fe, New Mexico Territory (Certificate No. 1757, date unknown). The Land Patent was issued on March 18, 1897, signed in the name of President William McKinley (note: two years after her death in early 1895). The Jenness tract would now be described as being north of Indian School Rd., south of Cutler Ave., east of Carlisle Blvd., and west of San Mateo Blvd. On November 16, 1907, E. Pinney, Treasurer and Ex-officio Collector of the County of Bernalillo, Territory of New Mexico sold the entire Jenness tract to S. S. Kipp of Knoxville, Tennessee for unpaid property taxes from tax year 1906. Under a Certificate of Sale, Number 3676 dated July 12, 1910, Kipp paid $16.76 for the Tax Deed. The original Netherwood Park Second Filing subdivision plat of 160 acres was filed on December 26, 1914, signed by Ada M. Netherwood and Edwin Netherwood. The plat shows 30 Blocks of 48 narrow lots each, 1,440 in total. The layout is similar to the Netherwood Park First Filing subdivision plat that the Netherwoods would file in 1926. It is unclear when and how the Netherwoods came into possession of the 160-acre tract subsequent to the Kipp Tax Deed. Records indicate that Ada and Edwin Netherwood sold a number of subdivision lots in the 1914-1917 time period, but details of these and additional transactions have not been researched at this time. The City of Albuquerque annexed the tract on March 14, 1950. On December 24, 1957 Wilhelmina Coe (neé Neat) and her husband Ralph M. Coe donated 902 of the original 1,440 lots within the Second Filing tract to the Peace Foundation that was founded by Wilhelmina seven years earlier. On May 19, 1962, The Peace Foundation, Inc. by Wilhelmina N. Coe jointly with her husband Ralph M. Coe replated 22 Blocks of the original 30 Blocks extending from San Mateo Blvd. on the east past Washington St. to Morningside Drive on the west, north of Indian School Rd. and south of Cutler Ave. This replat of 106.78 acres shows the current YMCA and Church of Christ properties.
The chronicle of the Netherwood Park Third Filing begins with a Land Patent from the U.S. Government. Martha L. Taylor purchased 160 acres for $200.00 on January 14, 1896 in the U.S. General Land Office, Santa Fe, New Mexico Territory (Certificate No. 1746). The Land Patent was issued one year later on January 29, 1897 signed in the name of President Grover Cleveland. The Netherwood Park Third Filing is a small, 18.54-acre parcel comprised of 10.3 acres from the southwest corner of the Martha Taylor tract and 8.24 acres from the southeast corner of the Ada Cutler tract. The Third Filing plat was filed on September 22, 1919 in the Records of Bernalillo County. The Third Filing has an interesting transactional history involving Ada Cutler, Martha Taylor, and Alcinda Morrow, plus Edmund J. Alger, a local dentist in Albuquerque and Joseph Imhoff a noted American painter and local Albuquerque studio owner who was later associated with the Taos Art Colony. The ladies obviously knew each other, however the transactions involving the men is less clear. One could speculate that in the late 1890s and early 1900s women’s rights to vote and own property was just taking root and the involvement of the men, often in same day transactions, may have provided additional certainty of ownership. On May 21, 1896 both Ada Cutler and Martha Taylor transferred their ownership of the 8.24 acres and 10.3 acres, respectively to Alger. He in turn on the same day conveyed joint ownership to the three ladies: Cutler, Taylor, and Morrow. This joint ownership persisted until 1905. Thereafter, there were several transactions between the ladies (once again using an intermediary, namely Joseph Imhoff) with the result that on May 20, 1910 Ada Netherwood (neé Cutler) had total control of the 18.54-acre parcel, which she and her husband, Edwin, then platted in 1919. The plat shows 92 narrow lots, nominally 25-feet wide by 148 feet deep, in 6 Blocks. As early as 1912, Netherwoods had built a two-story cottage and adjoining garage on the property, and he dug a 164-foot water well that proved a sub-surface aquifer on the East Mesa. The parcel is currently described as being north of Indian School Rd., east of Girard Blvd. and west of Richmond Dr. and one-half block north of Cutler Ave. Much of this area retains the original narrow lot configuration, including the Tennis Club of Albuquerque, Faith Chapel, Sandia Shadows and townhomes.