Crownpoint, New Mexico

A small community on the Navajo Nation Reservation in central New Mexico, located about 30 miles northeast of Thoreau (pronounced "through"). In Navajo, the place is called Tʼiistsʼóóz Ńdeeshgizh, meaning "Slender Cottonwood Gap." The town was founded in 1909 as a government settlement around the Pueblo Bonito Indian School. In 1935, the Navajo Central Agency at Window Rock assumed jurisdiction over the community and in the late 1950s it became known as the Crownpoint Agency. The Navajo Institute of Technology, an Indian health service medical center, a Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school, a Navajo police substation, and the monthly Navajo weavers’ rug auction are all located in the town.