The
Western consists of an old adobe house, built sometime after
1915, and a wing of quaint knotty pine rooms added in 1956.
In the late 1920's the original adobe house was bought by nurse
Marie Butterfield, known as "Butter" or "Grandma
Butter," who turned her home into the Butterfield Hospital,
a "laying in" hospital for ranchers' wives in the surrounding
area. Women would come from as far away as Reserve, NM,
to the west to give birth in Magdalena for a delivery fee
of twenty-five dollars. They would frequently do some of
the cooking and cleaning in exchange for room and board while
waiting to return to the ranch with their newborns. Otherwise,
Grandma Butter ran the place with no help, doing all the cooking,
cleaning and laundry herself, boiling sheets on the old wood
stove. She worked all three shifts and was never really
seen sleeping -- she took cat naps in her old rocker.
In the early days, Butter had a large room added on to the house
for an aunt who had TB and came out west for "the cure."
When the aunt passed away, Grandma Butter decided to bring a
doctor in, and the new room became the doctor's office.
The back porch was enclosed and became the doctor's quarters.
If you happen to visit Magdalena,you can still find Grandma Butter's
grave at the old cemetery, north of town.
In the late 1990's, this location was the home of Magdalena's
Mayor and First Lady, James & Linda Burson, who began its
restoration. |
Marie
Butterfield & Son |
