Welcome to Shakespeare ...

So far, we found very little information about Shakespeare. The little that we've found leads us believe that the community is historic.<1>

We've added Shakespeare to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Shakespeare, please Contact Us.

Shakespeare was located in southwest New Mexico.

Shakespeare would have been located within present day Hidalgo County<2>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Shakespeare, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1879.

While the community is gone, the present day location for Shakespeare is 4,460 feet [1,359 m] above sea level.<3> In other words, the altitude of Shakespeare is about ¾ mile [or ~1¼ km] above sea level.

Time Zone: The area where Shakespeare was located is in the Mountain Time Zone (MST/MDT) and observes daylight saving time

Note: If you leave Shakespeare and travel west, you will leave Mountain Time and cross into the Mountain Standard Time Zone (MST). In addition, you will be moving from an area that observes daylight saving time to one that does not.

The Area Code where Shakespeare was located: 575

The community of Shakespeare was previously named Ralston City. Going back to its beginning, Shakespeare was originally named Mexican Springs. For more information about the names of Shakespeare, see The Names of Shakespeare on our Genealogy Page.

Communities Also Named Shakespeare ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found another community named Shakespeare - it's located in Ontario.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Shakespeare.

Communities near Shakespeare ...

We have created a list of 9 communities that are near Shakespeare.

• Steins ‑ Historic
  (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Steins
  • Steins is located in Hidalgo County
  • Former name for Steins:
  • Stein's Pass
  • Google driving directions:
  • From your current location to Steins
  • From Shakespeare to Steins
• Cotton City
  (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cotton City have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cotton City
  • Cotton City is located in Hidalgo County
• Separ
  (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Separ
  • Separ is located in Grant County
  • Google driving directions:
  • From your current location to Separ
  • From Shakespeare to Separ
• Redrock
  (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redrock
  • Redrock is located in Grant County
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Redrock <5>
  • Google driving directions:
  • From your current location to Redrock
  • From Shakespeare to Redrock
• Windmill
  (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Windmill
  • Windmill is located in Hidalgo County
  • Google driving directions:
  • From your current location to Windmill
  • From Shakespeare to Windmill
• Animas
  (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Animas
  • Animas is located in Hidalgo County
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Animas <5>
  • Google driving directions:
  • From your current location to Animas
  • From Shakespeare to Animas
• San Simon
  (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Simon
  • San Simon is located in Cochise County (AZ)
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for San Simon <5>
  • Google driving directions:
  • From your current location to San Simon
  • From Shakespeare to San Simon
• Virden
  (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Virden have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virden
  • Virden is located in Hidalgo County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 125 people
• Wilna
  (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wilna have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilna
  • Wilna is located in Grant County

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Shakespeare. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Shakespeare.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Shakespeare. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Shakespeare.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Shakespeare. See our Newspapers Page for Shakespeare.

Adding Shakespeare to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Shakespeare in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Shakespeare was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<6>

X2X - From that list, the Shakespeare post office opened in 1879.

For more details, see References and Mentions for Shakespeare.

Off-the-Road Links ...

The official website for State of New Mexico: https://www.nm.gov/