Initially founded in 1615, it was intermittently occupied until its formal establishment in 1795 by Nuevo México Governor Fernando Chacón to act as fortified plaza and trading outpost for the neighboring Native American Taos Pueblo (the town's namesake) and Hispano communities, including Ranchos de Taos, Cañon, Taos Canyon, Ranchitos, El Prado, and Arroyo Seco.

The pueblo, at some places five stories high, is a combination of many individual homes with common walls.

Initially, relations of the Spanish settlers with Taos Pueblo were amicable,[9] but resentment of meddling by missionaries, and demands by encomenderos for tribute, led to a revolt in 1640; Taos Indians killed their priest and a number of Spanish settlers and subsequently fled the pueblo, not returning until 1661.

Juan Bautista de Anza, governor of the Province of New Mexico, led a successful punitive expedition in 1779 against the Comanches.

[12] Mountain men who trapped beaver nearby made Taos their home in the early 1800s.

For historical reasons, the American flag is displayed continuously at Taos Plaza (both day and night).

This derives from the time of the American Civil War, when Confederate sympathizers in the area attempted to remove the flag.

The Union officer Kit Carson sought to discourage this activity by having guards surround the area and fly the flag 24 hours a day.

[citation needed] A number of Foundations host artist residencies in Taos including the prestigious Helene Wurlitzer Foundation which began hosting painters, writer, composers, sculptors, poets and filmmakers at Casa Encantado in 1954.

A commemorative mass and procession from Our Lady of Guadalupe Church officially opens the event on Friday evening, followed with the crowning of the Fiestas Queen.

Governor Bent was scalped and killed by Pueblo warriors during the Taos Revolt on January 19, 1847.

Abbie Conant, former principal trombonist of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and seasonal Taos resident, runs a studio three blocks from the plaza.

North of Taos is the Turley Mill and Distillery Site and the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge.

Just outside Taos in Ranchitos is the Martinez Hacienda, the home turned museum of the late Padre Antonio José Martínez.

[24][25][26] The Carson National Forest and Rio Grande del Norte National Monument provide many opportunities for recreation, such as hiking, skiing, fly fishing, horseback riding, golfing, hot air ballooning, llama trekking, rafting, and mountain biking.

Ojo Caliente offers locations where visitors can enjoy access to mineral springs as well as massages and other spa treatments.

[28] Among hot springs in the area is a historical site called Stage Coach, which used to double as a brothel during the times of the Old West.

The town is mostly located in the Outlet Rio Fernando del Taos Watershed, where its two waterbodies are rated as impaired.

Dirt roads and driveways in Taos can experience a particularly bad mud season when winter weather is followed by unseasonably warm temperatures.

This occurs because area soil is heavy with silt, which makes it vulnerable to frost heaving.

[47] Dallas-based Southern Methodist University operates a 295-acre (119 ha) campus at Fort Burgwin in Taos.

[58] The RTD Chile Line, operated by the North Central Regional Transit District (NCRTD), is Taos' only public transportation system.

The transit system also provides paratransit service for citizens with special needs and ensures that all route buses are American Disability Act (ADA) equipped.

[59] The RTD Taos Express promotes local tourism and provides weekend express service, for a nominal fee, from the Taos Plaza to the New Mexico Rail Runner, Santa Fe Municipal Airport, and Santa Fe transit.

The airport is located just a few miles north of the Town of Taos on U.S. Route 64 towards the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge.

[64] El Crepusculo de la Libertad was the first Taos newspaper, which began in 1834 with the first printing press west of the Mississippi.

[77] Country music artist Waylon Jennings sang a song titled "Taos, New Mexico" on his 1967 album Love of the Common People.

A different song, also called "Taos, New Mexico", was a chart hit for Canadian singer/songwriter R. Dean Taylor in 1972.

[78] A “businessman from Taos” is referenced in the 2022 Charley Crockett song “Tom Turkey.” On September 18, 1991, the PBS television series Reading Rainbow shot its 73rd episode "The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush" here.

An ongoing low-frequency noise, audible only to some, is thought to originate somewhere near this town and is consequently sometimes known as the Taos Hum.