Las Cruces, city in southern New Mexico, seat of Dona Ana County, in the irrigated Mesilla Valley, near the Río Grande River. Manufactures include hosiery and processed agricultural commodities (cotton, pecans, onions). New Mexico State University (1888) is here, and White Sands Missile Range (an important military testing facility) and several picturesque mountain ranges are nearby. The city's name, Spanish for “the crosses,” refers to the graves of some 40 travelers massacred by Apache peoples here in 1830. Las Cruces was plotted in 1849. Neighboring Mesilla was briefly a Confederate territorial capital during the American Civil War (1861-1865). The city was incorporated in 1907. Population 45,086 (1980); 62,126 (1990); 76,102 (1998 estimate).
