Located in the heart of Las Cruces is the Historic Alameda and Downtown Area

Thriving with local businesses and government offices this areas offers charming homes with an updated, yet classic feel.

The historic downtown district of the city is the area around Main Street, a six-block stretch of which was closed off in 1973 to form the "Downtown Mall", a pedestrianized shopping area.

The downtown mall has a farmers market each Wednesday and Saturday morning, where a variety of foods and cultural items can be purchased from a few small stands that are set up by local farmers, artists, and craftspeople. It also contains some businesses, churches, art galleries and theaters, which add a great deal to the changing character of Las Cruces by continuing to exist in the historic downtown.

Plans to re-open the whole mall to vehicular traffic besides a completed one-block example have drawn criticism from people who feel the multi-million dollar project is too costly and from others who enjoy the aesthetics, usually quiet, and the ever inportant shade of the fully-covered area of the pedestrian mall.

Nevertheless, the mall's north and south entrances have been torn down. Furthermore, in August 2005, a master plan was adopted, the centerpiece of which is the restoration of narrow lanes of two-way traffic on this model portion of Main Street.