Without ever learning English, the Sonora, Mexico, native amassed a fortune as the proprietress of a popular gambling salon on the southeast corner of Palace Avenue and Burro Alley, near where the Santa Fe County Courthouse sits today.
Madam and courtesan, monte dealer and mule trader, Doña Tules was a shrewd businesswoman and exceptionally skilled at separating men from their money. How did a young, married Hispanic woman rise from poverty and obscurity to become the most famous (if not notorious) woman in Santa Fe history? As visitors to the New Mexico History Museum at 113 Lincoln Ave., will discover, the woman known as “Doña Tules” or simply “La Tules” had timing, skills, savvy – and plenty of attitude. But in the rowdy, rough-and-tumble gambling center that was Santa Fe in the mid-1800s, the legendary Doña Maria Gertrudis Barceló was an influential and respected member of the social elite. – In another place and time, she might have been prosecuted or even condemned to death for her chosen profession.
