Artesia" is our town's third name. The first name was "Miller", which came from a railroad employee. For a brief time we were known as "Stegman" after the first postmistress, none other than Sallie Chisum Robert Stegman. Sallie dropped the "Stegman" from her name soon after her divorce, and with the discovery of artesian wells in the area the fledgling town was renamed "Artesia" in 1903 and officially incorporated in 1905.

Artesia became an agricultural oasis until the early 1920s when many of the area's artesian wells began to dwindle. Fortunately, in 1924 another kind of well was discovered when the Illinois #3 oil well came in, opening up the Artesia oil fields locally and the Permian Basin regionally.

Today, the oil & gas industry continues to flourish in the Artesia area along with farming, ranching, dairies, small businesses and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. With a population of 12,000, Artesia, nestled in the Pecos Valley, may be New Mexico's Best Kept Secret.