Casa Grande Trading Post
Los Cerrillos, New Mexico
About the Casa Grande Trading Post
Family owned & operated since 1979
Building the Trading Post
The trading post and home were built with 65,000 hand made adobe bricks! The entire Brown Family and many friends worked together to build this sprawling hacienda. The building started in the mid 1970's and the home grew larger as the family and business blossomed. Today there are 28 rooms, which include the 6 room Trading Post Gift Shop and Cerrillos Turquoise Mining Museum. A collection of mining relics and farm implements are in front of the Casa Grande building, several thousand aqua and clear glass insulators line the rooftop, giving the building a unique facade. We invite you to visit the living hacienda.
Our Mining History
Todd and Patricia Brown are the registered claim holders of the Little Chalchihuitl Turquoise mine in the nearby hills of Cerrillos, New Mexico. The Cerrillos HIlls mining district is home to some of the oldest and most substantial turquoise working in North America, utilized from at least 900AD and possibly earlier. By the 20th century most of the Cerrillos turquoise lodes were cleaned out. Today a few hardy souls wrest bits of the famous blue-green stone from private claims. You will find examples of the Cerrillos Turquoise found by the Brown's at the family owned Casa Grande Trading Post and Cerrillos Turquoise Mining Museum in the historic village of Cerrillos, New Mexico.
Todd & Patricia Brown
Casa Grande in the News
Turquoise has been mined in the Cerrillos Hills for a millennium
Albuquerque Journal | By Glen Rosales
More mining equipment, as well as many other odds and ends of local history, is on display in the Cerrillos Turquoise Mining Museum inside the Casa Grande Trading Post.
“We have a large museum with a large open collection,” said Pat Brown, owner of the trading post and museum with her husband, Todd. “We have examples of local turquoise and a nice display of the Tiffany Mine, gold dry washers (devices for panning gold without water) and lots of antique-type tools, some stuff from coal mines and quite a display of old bottles.”
Can you dig it?
Chucksville Website Story | by Charles Reuben
“What do you get when you throw a piano down a mine shaft?” William Baxter asked our group from the University of New Mexico’s Continuing Education. We took a moment to ponder his question at the base of a prehistoric turquoise pit outside of Cerrillos, New Mexico, under the blistering sun.
“I dunno,” someone said. “What do you get?”
“A flat minor,” Baxter replied.
Making Cerrillos a capital town again
Santa Fe New Mexican | by Bruce Krasnow
The old tunnel in the basement of a landmark building here is sealed off with dirt, but there was a day when it led under the street to a saloon that flourished during Prohibition.
It was one of a dozen saloons and hotels that remained from the precious mineral boom in the 1880s. Men came from across the Midwest and East to chase the gold, zinc, silver and turquoise in the Cerrillos Hills.
Mining New Mexico: A Turquoise Trilogy in Old Cerrillos Part 3, Casa Grande Trading Post!
FinderMaker Blog | by Paul Baxendale
Your turquoise fever is still burning and it seems likely that a prompt ice-bath may be the only cure!!! The very cure, in truth, is well-marked on your drive out of the park; simply follow the prominent signs indicating the way towards the Casa Grande Trading Post! The appearance of heavy antique mining equipment and majestic view of the Devil's Throne Cliff indicate your arrival at Todd and Patricia Brown's crown jewel of my Turquoise Trilogy, and the bona-fide treatment center for every known symptom of the turquoise fever...
Cerrillos Spit & Whittle Club
Motto: Take the time to reminisce
The Spit & Whittle Club grew from residents who met to reminisce about the old days. This is a free forum group and the posts are stories that have been told. Story telling benches can be found at Casa Grande Trading Post on Waldo Street, at the Cerrillos Bar on First Street and under the Simoni Portal on First Street.