Franz Huning (October 1827 – November 6, 1905) was a German-American pioneer and merchant who was influential in the development of the city of Albuquerque.[1]
Huning was born near Osnabrück, then in the Kingdom of Hanover. He arrived in the United States in 1848 and came to New Mexico in 1849 working as a bullwhacker. He first set up as a merchant in the village of San Miguel, 40 miles southeast of Santa Fe, but in 1852 merchant Simon Rosenstein convinced him to move to Albuquerque and work as his clerk. In 1857 he opened his own store in partnership with his brother Charles Huning. Huning purchased wagons and brought goods to Albuquerque from Missouri. He purchased the hacienda La Glorieta, expanded it, and built a flour mill and a sawmill nearby.[2]
On September 9, 1867, Huning's wagons were attacked near Chase, Kansas by Cheyenne Dog Soldiers in an attack that led to the deaths of his young brother-in-law Fritz and his mother-in-law.[3]
When the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad was approaching the area in 1879–1880, the railroad was seeking cheap land for shops and yards. Huning and fellow Albuquerque merchants Elias S. Stover and William Hazeldine formed the New Mexico Town Company as a subsidiary of the railroad and quietly bought up 3.1 square miles of land about two miles from the existing town center.[4]
Other investments by Huning included a hotel and opera house,[5] a street railway,[6] the Albuquerque Gas Company, the Albuquerque Daily Journal, and the "Highland Addition", now the Huning Highland, Albuquerque's first subdivision. He was also one of the organizers of the Territorial Fair, forerunner of the New Mexico State Fair.
In 1883 the Hunings moved to a new house – "Castle Huning", a two-story dwelling built to resemble the castles of Huning's homeland.
Huning died on November 6, 1905, in Albuquerque.
Franz Huning Avenue in Albuquerque is named in his honor.