Best Web Design in Santa Fe, NM (2026)

Web Design for Santa Fe, New Mexico

Santa Fe is the oldest and highest state capital in the United States, sitting near 7,000 feet in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Founded by the Spanish in 1610, it fuses Native American, Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo cultures into a distinctive adobe cityscape and a world-class arts economy. Locals and the state tourism department call it 'The City Different,' and it was the first U.S. city admitted to the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.

AppWT works with Santa Fe, NM businesses from Livonia, Michigan, mostly online and travelling as needed.

About Santa Fe

Also known as. The City Different. The City of Holy Faith. The Ancient (historical). Coronado's Camp (historical).

History. Founded in 1610 by Spanish colonial governor Pedro de Peralta as the capital of Nuevo Mexico, making it the oldest state capital in the U.S. The 1680 Pueblo Revolt drove the Spanish out of the region; Diego de Vargas retook Santa Fe in 1692 in what is remembered as a largely bloodless reconquest. Became a Mexican provincial capital in 1821 after Mexican independence and the opening of the Santa Fe Trail. The United States claimed Santa Fe in 1846 during the Mexican-American War; the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ceded the territory. New Mexico achieved statehood in 1912 with Santa Fe as its capital. In 2005 Santa Fe became the first U.S. city inducted into the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (for design/crafts and folk art).

Local economy. Arts and culture account for roughly one-tenth of local employment; the city has more than 250 galleries and museums. Tourism is a leading industry, drawn by the historic Plaza, museums, and festivals. Government is a major employer as the state capital, at city, county, and state levels. Science and technology anchor the wider region: Los Alamos National Laboratory is about 45 minutes away, and the Santa Fe Institute (founded 1984) is a noted complex-systems research center. Canyon Road's dense concentration of art galleries is a signature economic and cultural corridor.

Culture and community. New Mexican cuisine centered on roasted green and red chile; the green chile cheeseburger is a defining regional dish, and 'red or green?' is the state's official question. The Burning of Zozobra ('Old Man Gloom'), a 50-foot marionette stuffed with written worries, has been torched each fall since 1924, a tradition created by artist Will Shuster. The Santa Fe Indian Market is the largest Native American arts market in the world, alongside the International Folk Art Market. The Santa Fe Opera and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival draw international audiences each summer. Meow Wolf's immersive 'House of Eternal Return,' opened in 2016, became a breakout art attraction. Writers including George R.R. Martin, Cormac McCarthy, and Tony Hillerman have called the Santa Fe area home.

What makes Santa Fe distinct. At about 7,000 feet, Santa Fe is the highest state capital in the U.S., and at 1610 it is also the oldest. The Zozobra effigy is publicly stuffed with 'glooms', handwritten notes of personal worries, before being burned to shed the year's bad luck. Roughly 23% of Santa Fe households identify as LGBT, among the highest shares of any U.S. city. During World War II a Japanese-American internment camp operated in Santa Fe from 1942 to 1946. The city enforces strict earth-tone building codes that give downtown its unified adobe 'Pueblo Revival' look.

Santa Fe Landmarks and Local Life

• Santa Fe Plaza - the historic one-block heart of the city dating to the Spanish colonial period
• Palace of the Governors - built c. 1610, the oldest continuously occupied public building in the U.S
• San Miguel Mission (c. 1610) - often called the oldest church in the United States
• Loretto Chapel - famed for its 'Miraculous Staircase' built with no visible central support
• Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi - associated with Archbishop Jean Baptiste Lamy
• The De Vargas Street House - marketed as 'the Oldest House,' with ceiling timbers dated to the mid-1700s