New Mexico's Historic Fire Building Needs Your Vote To Win Cash In National Contest

LAS VEGAS, NM — The E. Romero Hose and Fire Building in Las Vegas, New Mexico is in a nationwide contest and is in the running for a much needed shot in the arm.

Main Street de Las Vegas wants to rehabilitate the building to serve as a firefighting and acequia system museum, the contest's website said. It would honor the stories of the town’s founders and their efforts to protect their community.

"The E. Romero Hose and Fire Building in historic Las Vegas, New Mexico was the home of the first volunteer fire department in the Southwest. Today, it needs your support," the website said.

The winners will receive grants up to $150,000 — a big chunk change for a project like the volunteer fire department. (For more information on the contest and other New Mexico stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

The competition, which kicked off Monday morning, lists 25 projects from cities across the nation that are vying for funding to preserve or improve theaters, parks, landmarks and other venues in downtowns, historic neighborhoods and cultural districts. The program, called Partners in Preservation: Main Streets, is supported by American Express, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Main Street America.

National Geographic is hosting the http://VoteYourMainStreet.org website, where the public may vote once a day for up to five projects through Oct. 31. Winners will be announced Nov. 2. The sites with the most votes will get grants of up to $150,000 each, with as many projects funded as possible from a pool of $1.5 million.

The 25 proposed projects are:

• Alabama Theatre marquee, Birmingham, Alabama
• Vintage Neon Sign Park, Casa Grande, Arizona
• Marquee, Market Street Mall, Richmond, California
• Stevens-Hartley Annex, San Diego
• Formosa Cafe, Route 66, West Hollywood, California
• Caboose, Creative District, Steamboat Springs, Colorado
• Manuel Artime Theater, Miami's Little Havana neighborhood
• Bryant Graves House, Sweet Auburn district, Atlanta
• 1893 cable car building, Hyde Park, Illinois
• Lyric Theater, West Des Moines, Iowa
• Old McCrory's Store, New Orleans
• Pierce Building and Streetcar Comfort Station, Boston's Dorchester Arts and Culture Innovation District
• The Treehouse, Detroit's northwest Livernois/6 Mile corridors
• Bandstand and park, Ivers Square, Cape Girardeau, Missouri
• E. Romero Hose and Fire Building, Las Vegas, New Mexico
• Restoration Plaza, Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, Brooklyn, New York
• Carolina Theatre, Greensboro, North Carolina
• Woodward Theater marquee, Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine neighborhood
• Yale Theatre, Oklahoma City
• Trower Building, Parker Hall and other African-American landmarks in Philadelphia's Germantown neighborhood
• Dr. McPhail Building, Franklin, Tennessee
• Collin County Courthouse exterior, McKinney, Texas
• Historic buildings, Granary District, Salt Lake City
• Fading signs on historic buildings in Seattle's Chinatown
• James Hughes Building, Washington, D.C.

Information for this story came from The Associated Press and Patch reporter Jeff Stacklin

Photo credit: Screenshot of Google Maps