Playas, New Mexico

Playas was an isolated company town built in the 1970s, to house workers at a nearby and even more isolated copper smelter. Now gated and closed to the public, it had more than 270 houses, several apartment buildings, a bowling alley, company store, and other amenities to support a population of more than 1,000. After the smelter shut down in 1999, the residents left. In 2004, the town was turned into a security forces training facility, operated by New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, a state school in Socorro, and supported primarily by federal funds. Now called the Playas Training and Research Center, it is a busy site for training paramilitary forces.