THE ARCH (NEW MEXICO) STORY by F. Stanley [Father Stanley Francis Louis Crocchiola] - 1967

F. Stanley, 1967. Paperback. Very Good. 0x0x0. Privately Published, February, 1967. Booklet, 23 pp. Limited to 400 copies (unnumbered). Signed by F. Stanley on inside of front cover. In very good condition. Yellow paper covers with red lettering on front. Hint of fading/aging along spine. Binding tight (staple bound). Pages unmarked with a few light age spots near staples at center of booklet. NOT Ex-library. NO remainder marks. One of the few histories of the town of Arch, now a ghost town, located on Highway 88 southeast of Portales, New Mexico. The town was founded in 1880 by a group of ranchers and miners. The town's population peaked at around 200 people in the early 1900s, but it began to decline as the mines played out. The booklet includes some of the last known records of the inhabitants of Arch during the mid-1960's. Father Stanley Francis Louis Crocchiola (1908 - 1996) was a Franciscan friar and grass roots historian who wrote under the pen name F. Stanley. He was passionate about the Wild West and developed a keen interest in the often ignored people and communities in the southwestern parishes where he began serving soon after his ordination in 1938. Beginning in 1948, he wrote over 170 books and booklets that chronicled the history of many towns in the Texas Panhandle and New Mexico. Although penniless, he often financed his own printings. Never tiring in his passion, he spent his vacations in small western towns gathering research materials for his books. A big part of Father Stanley’s research was done by visiting the older residents of the communities he wrote about. His series of books on small towns in New Mexico which were often limited to a few hundred copies are now quite collectible and can be easily recognized by their bright yellow covers with red lettering.