Roswell Municipal Court

The first non-Native Americans to settle the area around Roswell were pioneers from Missouri who actually started a settlement 15 miles Southwest of present day Roswell around 1865. Finding little water in their area the settlers soon abandoned the settlement. However, around 1869, a businessman from Omaha, Nebraska and his partner erected two adobe buildings starting Roswell. The Roswell Museum and Arts Center celebrates rocket scientist Robert Goddard. There is a statue of Goddard outside the museum pointing a telescope in the direction of one of his rockets standing inside its original launch tower. The New Mexico Military Institute, located here, is a 4-year high school plus a 2-year junior college. Great golf courses and anbike trails plus Butler Lakes National Wildlife Refuge and Bottomless Lakes State Park.