The Streets of Carlsbad - Stevens Street

Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders 1889

      One of the most interesting of the early investors in the Pecos Valley was Joseph Sampson Stevens. Stevens was born in 1866, the son of a prominent, high society, New York banking family. His father, Fredrick William Stevens, served on the board of directors of five of the nation’s leading banks. His mother was Adele Livingston Sampson, the daughter of the founder of the Chemical National Bank. Fredrick Stevens served on the board of directors of the Chemical National Bank for 57 years.

            After being diagnosed with tuberculosis, Joseph Stevens came west, to Colorado Springs, which at the time was a sort of playground for the wealthy. He had played polo at Harvard College and was considered to be the best polo player in the country. In Colorado Springs, as a member of the Broadmoor Country Club, he met and became good friends with Charles and John Eddy, who also had family connections with the Chemical National Bank in New York City. As early as 1887, the Eddy brothers had recruited Stevens to invest in their grand scheme to irrigate the desert of New Mexico. He traveled from Colorado to the Eddy’s Halagueno Ranch before his twenty-first birthday. After his visit, he was convinced that southeast New Mexico was a good place to invest his inheritance. He immediately recruited his father, Fredrick and his nephew, Francis Tracy to come west and invest in the irrigation venture. Steven’s father and Mr. Tracy returned to New York; however, Mr. Tracy was so impressed with his visit, that he sold his holdings on Long Island and returned to New Mexico. He remained in Carlsbad to manage Mr. Steven’s and his own investments.

            Joseph Sampson Stevens went on to join Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders. In May of 1889, he traveled to Cuba and fought in the Spanish-American War. He returned from the war with what was, at the time, termed “Cuban Fever” (malaria). On his return, he spent time re-cooperating living with his mother (now the Duchesse de Dino) on the French Rivera.  In 1899, he married Clara Sherwood Rollins. In 1904, at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, he played polo with President Teddy Roosevelt at a Rough Rider Reunion. He served on the board of directors of the Chemical National Bank in New York City and built “Kirby Hill”, a manor estate still in existence in Newport, Rhode Island.  Joseph S. Stevens passed away March 23, 1935 at the age of 69, in Charlotte, South Carolina.