Leyendas
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Michelle M. Gutierrez
Burch Street in the fall.
Photogenic street
Alvin Burch’s cottonwood trees continue to enchant Taos
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By Yvonne Pesquera
lvin Burch and his wife Sarah came to Taos in 1912 and gave it a gift that continues to keep on giving. One hundred years ago, Burch planted the Río Grande cottonwood trees along his namesake street. Today, the towering majestic cottonwoods make Burch Street the prettiest street in the Town of Taos.
The area from Burch to Montoya streets was once an alfalfa field. Burch surveyed the land into lots for his seven children. Over time, the extended family lived along the dirt road of Burch Street –– as well as other families, too. Burch was an entrepreneur. He began a mercantile on Taos Plaza in a building that still bears his name on the exterior facade. Today, the Burch Building is home to Taos Mountain Outfitters on North Plaza. He started with that one store, but
eventually had stores in Arroyo Seco, Arroyo Hondo, Ranchos de Taos and Peñasco. “Remember, in that era people didn’t have a whole lot of mechanical transportation. So they would use wagons. And if they had a store close by, they would go to that store to get their merchandise. His stores were run by the family, like my mother Pearl, who could speak Tiwa and Spanish,” says Benton Bond, Burch’s grandson and former owner of Dow Bond Plumbing.