Elder Homestead in Albuquerque, NM

Elder Homestead is a residential neighborhood in southeast Albuquerque, one of the communities that make up the city's International District along with Fair West, La Mesa, South San Pedro and Trumbull Village. The district runs from San Mateo Boulevard east to Wyoming Boulevard, between Lomas and Gibson. Before World War II this was open ground dotted with a few homesteads; the streets filled in during the postwar decades, when work at Kirtland Air Force Base and Sandia National Laboratories drew a wave of new residents to Albuquerque. Central Avenue, the old Route 66 alignment, carries the district's motels and storefronts, and Highland High School serves the area.

The Elder Homestead Neighborhood Association, incorporated in New Mexico in 2001, speaks for the area at City Hall. There is no homeowners association and no mandatory dues; joining the neighborhood group is voluntary.

Expo New Mexico occupies a large block just north, hosting the State Fair on grounds used for that purpose since 1938 and holding Tingley Coliseum. Chacon Park sits a few blocks northeast. ABQ Ride's Route 66 line and Albuquerque Rapid Transit run that corridor, putting Downtown and the University of New Mexico within a straight run west.

Emerson Elementary and Van Buren Middle School serve these blocks.