In 1880, the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway reached Belen during the construction of a rail line to El Paso. In 1884, the General Land Office, through the authority of President Ulysses S. Grant, established the Town of Belen. By the turn of the century, local merchant John Becker had designed a commercial and residential plan for the town. Becker's plan laid out Belen on a grid, extending from a commercial center with two grand avenues — Becker Avenue and Dalies Avenue. Originally, all of the town's streets were to be named after Spanish explorers, such as Coronado, but were quickly changed to the last names of the town's founders, such as Becker, Paul Dalies and Charles Reinken.