It all started when…

After purchasing our home in Four Hills Village, Albuquerque, one of the first things we did was dive into the local newspaper archives searching for our address. We were lucky enough to find several of our home’s original sales ads in the late 1968/early 1969 classifieds. These ads contained the house’s usual description and details but down at the bottom in big, bold letters was the phrase “Built and Shown by WILLIS SMITH CONST CO.” To date, we have little information on the Willis Smith Construction Company (still searching) but we were able to find a lot more about the man himself.

Willis A. Smith has always been a New Mexican. He was born and raised in Gallup, NM, in 1923 where he was active in many clubs and associations throughout his childhood. One of those was the Boy Scouts of America, and he was in attendance at the first-ever National Boy Scout Jamboree in Washington, DC in 1937. He moved to Albuquerque in 1941 to attend UNM. After graduation, he served as an officer in the US Navy for the remainder of WWII before returning to Albuquerque to begin his career in real estate and development.

From 1960-1964 he served in the New Mexico State Legislature representing Bernalillo County as a Democrat. One of his more notable achievements during this time was a bill he carried that created the Central New Mexico Community College (CNM), originally known as the Technical Vocational Institute, here in Albuquerque. One of the main buildings on the campus, Smith Brasher Hall, was named after him and his fellow Bernalillo County representative for their efforts. Later in his life, he would receive a Special Recognition Award for his work as a legislator. Every time I drive by CNM I think about the interesting relationship shared between this college and my house, being created by the same man.

From 1970-1974 he served as chairman for the Bernalillo County Commission. While working in public service he was still growing his realty and development business. Smith served on the board of directors for the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority, which provides housing opportunities for low-income families. In 1971 Willis was chosen as Realtor of the Year. This award would have come shortly after the height of his development in Four Hills Village.

In 1968, his construction company bought and zoned the Western stretch of Wagon Train Dr. between Via Posada and Sagebrush Trail. He spent the rest of 1968 and 1969 developing and selling these lots, known as the Four Hills Manor division officially. Whether his Four Hills developments contributed to this award or not is unknown. Not much else has been found about Willis A Smith after these years until his death in 2009. He is buried at Fairview Memorial Park, right next to the CNM campus, here in Albuquerque. We will continue searching the archives for any more detail on the man and the company. 

Here are the Four Hills Village, Albuquerque addresses that have been confirmed as built by Willis Constructions Co. so far;

• 527 Wagon Train

• 601 Wagon Train

• 605 Wagon Train

• 609 Wagon Train

• 613 Wagon Train

• 701 Wagon Train

• 709 Wagon Train

• 717 Wagon Train

• 721 Wagon Train

• 801 Wagon Train

• 805 Wagon Train

• 809 Wagon Train

• 813 Wagon Train

• 1105 Wagon Train