If it Moves, If it Spins, You'll Find it Here

This truly was the "engine" for Albuquerque.

- JANA BOMMERSBACH

The first thing Rabbi Isador Freed did in 1920, as he de-parted the train in a dusty New Mexico town, was drop to his knees and declare, "Albuquerque is a special paradise on earth, and we will never leave this place."

It had been a long journey, as the Rabbi and his family were escaping the antisemitism of Russia. But he was right they never left, becoming a mainstay family as Albuquerque grew from 15,000 to a half-million today.

His granddaughter, Leba Freed, has honored the family by devoting 26 years to saving that railroad station. (Her father, who was eight when they arrived, grew up to become a major merchant-and a devoted friend to this magazine, advertising for decades.)

"I wanted to give back to Albuquerque, Leba says.