Holt, Herbert (Canadian city planner, active early 20th century)

Herbert Bartlett Holt (b. 1868) was born in Stafford Springs, Connecticut, and educated in Massachusetts.

He moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico, in 1891 and worked as a court stenographer. After reading the law with Judge Simon B. Newcomb, Holt joined the bar in 1898. Holt inherited Newcomb's law practice after his death in 1901. The same year, Joseph Bonham joined the practice as a partner, and the practice concentrated on mining law under the name Holt and Bonham. In 1910, Holt formed a partnership with William A. Sutherland. Holt's practice dealt with mining, ranching, and land interests as well as frontier justice. Holt sat on the board of regents for the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts from 1902 to 1907 and helped organize the Elephant Butte Water Users' Association in 1905, serving as its first president until 1911. For two years, 1905-1907, he was the District Attorney for the 8th District of New Mexico. In 1911, he won election to the first State Senate and in 1930 he ran for the United States Senate as a Republican but lost to the Democratic candidate, Sam G. Bratton. A businessman as well as lawyer, Holt sat on the boards of many companies, such as Las Cruces' First National Bank, Las Cruces Electric Light and Ice Company, and Mesilla Valley Land and Investment Company. Additionally, he served as the Grandmaster of the Grand Lodge of New Mexico in 1925.

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