History of El Paso, Texas
Encyclopedia
The history of El Paso, Texas
, in the United States
spans a period from the middle of the Spanish Imperial period
to modern day.
Founded as El Paso del Norte (at what is now Ciudad Juárez
, Mexico
) by Spanish franciscan
friar
s at an important mountain pass, the area became a small agricultural producer though most settlement was south of the river where modern Mexico lies. The city was considered part of New Mexico
under Spanish rule and was tied economically to Santa Fe, New Mexico
.
The Texas Revolution
when Texas gained its freedom from Mexico
, which itself had recently been freed from Spain, did not involve El Paso at all as the city was part of New Mexico
and hence from Mexico
itself. However after Texas' annexation by the United States
the boundary of the state was claimed to include this important trading center.
As railroads were built through the area it boomed as a commercial center. The World War
s and the Texas Oil Boom
helped develop the city further. As international trade has become increasingly important in the U.S., and Juárez has grown as a manufacturing center, El Paso's economic importance has continued to expand.
and Hueco Tanks
sites indicates thousands of years of human settlement within the El Paso region. A hueco is a Spanish term for a hollowed out cavity for holding water, or for pounding maize
. The inhabitants during this era were maize farmers. One of the two thousand images at Hueco Tanks is of a black and white figure of Tlaloc
, the goggle-eyed Mesoamerican rain god; most of the images are of abstractions, people and animals. The Manso
, Suma, and Jumano
Indians
were identified as present by the earliest Spanish
explorers. These people ultimately became assimilated into the local settler population, becoming part of the Mestizo
culture that is prevalent in Mexico
and is visible throughout the Southwest. Others integrated themselves with the different Mescalero Apache bands that for many years roamed the region.
near El Paso (near the current small town of San Elizario, which is about 30 miles (48.3 km) downstream of El Paso), where he ordered his expedition party to rest and where a Mass
in thanksgiving for reaching the water of the Rio Grande
was celebrated, on April 20, 1598.
El Paso del Norte (the present day Ciudad Juárez
), was founded on the south bank of the Río Bravo del Norte, (Rio Grande
) in 1659 by Fray García de San Francisco. Agriculture flourished thanks to the complex irrigation system built by the Spanish and Indians, including a massive earthen dam. Vineyards and fruits constituted the bulk of the regional production. The Spanish Crown and the local authorities of El Paso del Norte had made several land concessions to bring agricultural production to the northern bank of the river in present day El Paso, like the Bracito Grant. However, the Apaches dissuaded production and settlers to cross the river. The water provided a natural defense against them.
In 1680, after the successful Pueblo Revolt
that decimated the Spanish colonies in northern New Mexico, El Paso became the base for Spanish governance of the territory of New Mexico, although the largest civilian center was in the Real de San Lorenzo. From El Paso, the Spaniards led by Diego de Vargas
, grouped once again to recolonize the precious Spanish territory that was centered in Santa Fe
and stretched from Socorro (New Mexico) to the areas that included Taos
. The eighteenth century witnessed the area's rapid growth, giving the district a population of over 5,000. These included Spaniards, criollos, mestizos, indigenous, and African individuals, spread along the river from El Paso to San Lorenzo, Senecú, Ysleta, and El Rancho de los Tiburcios. The military post assigned to the settlement's defense was moved over the eighteenth century to various sites, including San José, San Elizario, and El Carrizal.
Historical records indicated that the first permanent agricultural enterprise north of the Río Grande located in present-day El Paso was the Ponce de León Ranch, on land granted in 1825. Earlier efforts had been discouraged through Indian raids and floods.
). It communicated with Santa Fe and Mexico City by the Royal Road. Few foreign travelers, outside of Spanish merchants and officials, ventured that far north. It took six months for a trading caravan to reach Mexico City. American spies, traders and fur trappers visited the area since 1804 (Spanish documents curiously described these interlopers as "españoles de Inglaterra" meaning "Spaniards from England") and some intermarried with the area's Hispanic elite. Among these were Kentucky native Hugh Stephenson, who married doña Juana María de Azcárate. Notable travelers included Zebulon Pike
. American settler families only arrived in significant numbers, after the Mexican-American War in 1849.
Although there was no combat in the region during the Mexican Independence, Paso del Norte experienced the negative effects it had on the trade of its wines and produce that kept the town alive. It also experienced a major avulsion
that left the towns of Ysleta, San Elizario and Socorro on the other side of the Rio Grande.
In the first Mexican constitution (1824), given the dominance that Chihuahuan merchants had on New Mexico, Paso del Norte went to the state of Chihuahua after being part of New Mexico for 200 years. The town elected its first local government in 1825 and opened the first official school in 1829.
The Texas revolution (1836) was not felt in the region. The area was never considered part of Texas until 1848. The Battle of El Brazito
near Las Cruces was fought by Missouri volunteers led by Col. Alexander William Doniphan
, for whom Doniphan Drive was named, in El Paso. Given the blurry reclamations of the Texas Republic that wanted a chunk of the Santa Fe trade, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo effectively made the settlements on the north bank of the river a formal American settlement, separate from Old El Paso de Norte on the Mexican side.
The present Texas-New Mexico boundary placing El Paso on the Texas side was drawn in the Compromise of 1850
.
A number of important developments during the 1850s shaped the character of the area north of the river. The Stephenson-Azcárate family acquired a 900 acres (3.6 km²) tract from the Ponce de León grant in the vicinity of today's I-10 "Spaghetti Bowl" interchange. It was called "El Rancho de la Concordia" or "Stephensonville" after Hugh Stephenson's childhood home in Concordia, Missouri. The Archbishop of Durango later gave permission for the blessing of a private chapel there, San José de la Concordia, whose ruins persisted until the 1930s; its camposanto or burial grounds were the origins of Concordia Cemetery. Further west, a settlement on Coons' Rancho called Franklin became the nucleus of El Paso, Texas. El Paso County was established in March 1850, with San Elizario as the first county seat. The United States Senate fixed a boundary between Texas and New Mexico at the thirty-second parallel, thus largely ignoring history and topography. A military post called The Post opposite El Paso (meaning opposite El Paso del Norte, across the Rio Grande) was established in 1854, and the Butterfield Overland Mail
arrived in 1858. A year later pioneer Anson Mills
completed his plat of the town, calling it El Paso, a name that resulted in endless confusion until the name of the town across the river, El Paso del Norte, was changed to Ciudad Juárez in 1888.
El Paso was incorporated in 1873 and encompassed the small area communities that had developed along the river (Magoffinsville, Concordia, Hart's Mill).
, Texas, along with most other Southern
states
, seceded from the Union to join the Confederate States of America
. The Confederate cause was met with great support from Franklin residents, like Col. Hugh Stephenson. Confederate forces occupied Fort Bliss in 1861 until the city's capture by the Union California Column
in 1862. It was then headquarters for the 5th Regiment California Volunteer Infantry
until December 1864. After the war was concluded, the town's population began to grow.
Indians had occupied at least 36 sq mi (93.2 km²) of land around Ysleta, land that King Charles V of Spain had deeded to them, since the 1680 pueblo revolt against the Spaniards in New Mexico. In 1874, the Texas Legislature passed "An Act to Repeal an Act to Incorporate the Town of Ysleta in El Paso County", with a six-month delay of effect that resulted in the conveyance of over 500 parcels of Tigua property to Americans. The Tiguas lost almost all of their land.
The El Paso county seat was moved to Ysleta that year, from San Elizario, and stayed until it was moved to El Paso in 1883. These were the years of the San Elizario Salt War
and other conflicts between the Mexicans, the Americans, the Tigua, and the Apaches.
, Texas and Pacific
and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroads in 1881, the population boomed to 10,000 by the 1890 census. With a tempting green valley and a nearly perfect climate year-around, the town attracted a constant stream of newcomers, including many merchants, entrepreneurs, and professionals to came to the region to benefit from the Mexican Free Trade zone. Others arrived seeking a cure for respiratory ailments in the warm, dry climate. Various sanatoriums were established catering to their needs. Small immigrant communities–Jewish, Italian, and Chinese–also arrived, adding to the diversity of the bustling town. The cosmopolitan community established many educational and cultural institutions, including a symphony orchestra which is the oldest in Texas. However—as with other frontier regions–undesirables also arrived: gamblers, gunfighters, thieves, murderers, and prostitutes.
After the arrival of the railroads, El Paso became a boomtown
. Some historians, like Leon Metz, have stressed in their narratives of the lawlessness of the town, with "scores of saloons, dance halls, gambling establishments, and houses of prostitution lin[ing] the main streets." El Paso hired a town marshal with rough reputation, Dallas Stoudenmire
, who was known to shoot first and ask questions later. The "Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight
" took place here on April 14, 1881. This was prior to the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
in Tombstone, Arizona
. Stoudenmire, the sixth marshal in eight months, was hired to "clean" and tame a remote, violent and wild town. Stoudenmire was an effective marshal due to his fierce reputation and dexterity with his pistols. He effectively intimidated a violence-hardened town and used fear to control the City Council. On May 28, 1882, the City Council announced they were firing the marshal. Stoudenmire learned of this discussion, he entered the Council Chambers; they were terrified and remained quiet. Stoudenmire strolled up and down the chamber as he scolded, cursed and threatened to shoot. Drawing out and twirling his pistols, he threatened, "I can straddle every God-damn aldermen on this council!" The coerced Council members quickly voted unanimously to retain Stoudenmire as town marshal. Stoudenmire glared at them for a few seconds before he calmed down and put away his pistols. Knowing Stoudenmire's fearsome reputation, the Mayor
defused a tense situation by calling for an abrupt adjournment. Stoudenmire exited the Chamber and a potentially fatal incident was averted.
In 1883 the county seat was moved from Ysleta, Texas
to El Paso. This was decided in a strongly disputed election in which counted votes were nearly three times the number of voters.
In 1887 a smelter was established by Robert Safford Towne of Kansas City Consolidated Smelting west of town for the purpose of processing lead and copper ore imported from Mexico. This smelting facility was subsequently purchased by ASARCO
in 1899.
Prostitution
and gambling
flourished until World War I
, when the Department of the Army pressured El Paso authorities to crack down on vice. Many of these activities continued in neighboring Ciudad Juárez, especially during the Prohibition
, which benefited bars and saloons on the Mexican side of the border.
(1910–1920) began in 1910, and Ciudad Juárez was the focus of intense fighting. Occasionally, stray shots killed civilian
s on the El Paso side. El Paso became a center of intrigue as various exiled leaders including Victoriano Huerta
and (for a time) Pancho Villa
were seen in the city. In January 1914, General John Joseph Pershing
was stationed at Fort Bliss
, where he was responsible for security along the border and mounted the ill fated Pancho Villa Expedition
against Pancho Villa after the infamous raid on Columbus, New Mexico
on March 9, 1916. During this time period many refugees from Mexico fled to El Paso to escape the violence and economic disruption of the Revolution.
A significant Mexican middle class population developed cultural, social, and educational institutions catering to their needs, including many located in central El Paso and in the Sunset Heights area. These included the Ateneo Porfirio Díaz, the Casino Mexicano (housed in the Toltec Building), Professor Servando Esquivel's Colegio Palmore, and the Colegio de las Hermanas de Jesús y María. The Jesuit Order, expelled from Mexico during the Revolution, played an important role in the development of community institutions and schools, building many parishes like Santo Angel, San Ignacio, and Sagrado Corazón in South El Paso and the Sagrada Familia, in Sunset Heights, as well as a chapel in Smeltertown. South El Paso street was the premier artistic and cultural center of Mexican El Paso, with over a dozen cinemas and theaters that featured the latest films, as well as vaudeville performers, tandas skits, carpas comics, nightclubs, and the occasional touring Spanish-language theatrical and opera company, such as that of the grande dame of the Mexican stage, Virginia Fábregas. Mexican cinemas in El Paso were important to the development of subtitles. At the turn of the century, bilingual interpreters called out in Spanish the English-language text of American movies, and this gradually gave way to on-screen translations. Azteca Films—a leading production company in mid 20th c. Mexico, was housed in El Paso in the 1930s-1950s, and brought to South El Paso street theaters premier screenings featuring stars like María Félix.
opened his first high-rise hotel in El Paso, the now Plaza Hotel
. The Plaza Theatre
opened on September 12, 1930.
In 1934, Walter Varney
and Louis Mueller established the passenger airline called Varney Speed Lines in El Paso and operated out of the old El Paso Municipal Airport (1934–36) and then the El Paso International Airport
. After the airline was taken over in 1937 by Robert Six
, he relocated its headquarters to Denver, Colorado
and renamed it with the more recognized name of Continental Airlines
, as it is known to this day. Although Continental Airlines would have its headquarters stationed in Denver, El Paso was still a major hub for the airline up until the late 1980s.
The college football Sun Bowl
has been held in El Paso since 1936 and is the second oldest bowl game in the nation. Second only to the Rose Bowl.
The Great Depression greatly affected the city, halting its boom years. Many moved away, seeking opportunity elsewhere in the West, particularly in Tucson and Phoenix, which boomed in the 1940s thanks to the defense industries established there. El Paso experienced an influx of Mexicans and Mexican Americans expelled from other parts of the country between 1931 and 1934, when some 400,000 were forcibly "repatriated." The Civilian Conservation Corps as well as the Work Projects Administration aided many of the unemployed, who were hired to do work on public buildings and building roads and infrastructure, such as Scenic Drive. Another important project of the period was the privately funded Cristo Rey shrine and road project.
, was another famous invention given a home in El Paso. It was first mixed in the El Paso-Juárez area at Tommy's Place Bar on July 4, 1945 by Francisco "Pancho" Morales. Morales originally left bartending in Mexico to become a US citizen. He is listed in the Texas Almanac's Sesquicentennial Edition (1857–2007, under M) Obituaries of famous Texans. His story is best captured in a October 1973 Texas Monthly article "The Man Who Invented the Margarita" by Brad Cooper, and later in his obituary in the Washington Post on January 2, 1997.
From the Second World War until the 1980s, El Paso grew rapidly into a sprawling city. The expansion of Fort Bliss from a frontier post to a major Cold War
military center brought in thousands of soldiers, dependents, and retirees. The industrial economy was dominated by copper
smelting, oil
refining, and the proliferation of low wage industries (particularly garment making), which drew thousands of Mexican immigrants. New housing subdivisions were built, expanding El Paso far to the west, northeast and east of its original core areas.
With the election of Raymond Telles
, the city's first Hispanic mayor in 1957, the demand for civil rights
amongst the Hispanic population began. Stretching into the tumultuous 1960s, and converging with America's anti-war and civil rights demonstrations, great strides were achieved that became evident in the 1970s. While African Americans were integrated into then Texas Western College in 1954, greater changes came in the 1960s and 1970s as the city's Mexican American population, largely under the leadership of LULAC and Veterans' Groups, moved to provide greater educational opportunities for Mexican American or Chicano youth.
In 1963, the U.S. agreed to cede Chamizal, a long-disputed part of El Paso, to Mexico due to changes in the course of the Rio Grande, which forms the international boundary between the two countries. The area boundaries were rationalized and the Rio Grande was re-channelled. A former island in the river was re-developed. The Chamizal National Memorial
, administered by the National Park Service
is now a major park in El Paso; El Chamizal is the corresponding park in Juárez.
Over the 1960s and 1970s, El Paso's economy boomed, benefiting from low wages, the international crossing, and regional transportation networks. Particularly successful were a number of clothing manufacturers (and the sweatshops that serviced them), providing a livelihood to thousands of Mexican Americans and Mexicans. The development of the maquiladora industry in Ciudad Juárez also aided in the development of the textile and clothing industry. Growth was not without conflict, as Mexican American and Mexican seamstresses sought to improve their working conditions, and organized labor unions that businessmen worked hard to defeat.
Since 1990, the local economy has been adversely affected by competition with low wage labor abroad, and the closure of the main copper smelter due to fluctuating metal prices, and excessive lead contamination found throughout many of the surrounding areas. The implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement
in 1994 affected the local economy, with transport
, retail
, and service firms expanding, and the accelerated loss of many industrial
jobs. El Paso is sensitive to changes in the Mexican economy and the regulation of cross border traffic; the Mexican peso
devaluation of late 1994 and increasingly stringent controls of cross border traffic after the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack were felt strongly in El Paso. In contrast to almost every other border city and popular belief, the commercial traffic at the ports of entry
went un-interrupted during the immediate aftermath of 9/11.
Since the 1849 establishment of Fort Bliss in the El Paso area, El Paso has seen many booms in population. More recently, the Base Realignment and Closure
(BRAC) commission has marked the base to receive more than 30,000 troops, which is estimated to add $547 million to the El Paso economy. The expected 100,000 people destined for El Paso (30,000 troops and 70,000 family members) will bring to El Paso a rise in population that has not been seen since the Mexican Exodus of the 1910s in which the town's population grew by at least 60,000 people that were trying to escape the carnage of the Mexican Revolution
.
Recent city-wide projects funded through the election of bonds have once again pushed the urban sprawl onward for El Paso. The most prominent of these projects was the complete refurbishment of the Plaza Theatre
in Downtown El Paso. The project was completed on March 17, 2006 at a cost of $38 million. With the completion of a new freeway on the city's eastern edge, the city should experience the usual urban sprawl that accompanies such construction. With the arrival of military personnel and expansion of Biggs Army Airfield
, the city is also constructing a new "Inner Loop" (Loop 375 to Fred Wilson Avenue) that will connect the eastern section of the city to the Army Airfield. Once completed, Biggs Army Airfield is expected to be larger than the current space at Fort Bliss. Beginning in mid 2008, El Paso decided to reinvest in their downtown, with a full redevelopment initiative.
Also of concern is how the large increases of population in Cd. Juárez will affect El Paso. Historically, these two towns have always been interconnected. Already evident is the air quality and traffic flowing inside the El Paso area, for these respective figures reflect the values of a metro area that is populated by at least two-million people. Many underestimate the area's infrastructure needs by allocating resource values for only the El Paso population and not the metropolitan population that is interconnected chiefly through the actions of commerce that stems from El Paso, Cd. Juárez, and the New Mexico cities of Las Cruces, Santa Teresa, Sunland Park and Alamogordo.
El Paso, Texas
El Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...
, in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
spans a period from the middle of the Spanish Imperial period
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....
to modern day.
Founded as El Paso del Norte (at what is now Ciudad Juárez
Ciudad Juárez
Ciudad Juárez , officially known today as Heroica Ciudad Juárez, but abbreviated Juárez and formerly known as El Paso del Norte, is a city and seat of the municipality of Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Juárez's estimated population is 1.5 million people. The city lies on the Rio Grande...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
) by Spanish franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
friar
Friar
A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders.-Friars and monks:...
s at an important mountain pass, the area became a small agricultural producer though most settlement was south of the river where modern Mexico lies. The city was considered part of New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
under Spanish rule and was tied economically to Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
.
The Texas Revolution
Texas Revolution
The Texas Revolution or Texas War of Independence was an armed conflict between Mexico and settlers in the Texas portion of the Mexican state Coahuila y Tejas. The war lasted from October 2, 1835 to April 21, 1836...
when Texas gained its freedom from Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, which itself had recently been freed from Spain, did not involve El Paso at all as the city was part of New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
and hence from Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
itself. However after Texas' annexation by the United States
Texas Annexation
In 1845, United States of America annexed the Republic of Texas and admitted it to the Union as the 28th state. The U.S. thus inherited Texas's border dispute with Mexico; this quickly led to the Mexican-American War, during which the U.S. captured additional territory , extending the nation's...
the boundary of the state was claimed to include this important trading center.
As railroads were built through the area it boomed as a commercial center. The World War
World war
A world war is a war affecting the majority of the world's most powerful and populous nations. World wars span multiple countries on multiple continents, with battles fought in multiple theaters....
s and the Texas Oil Boom
Texas Oil Boom
The Texas Oil Boom, sometimes called the Gusher Age, was a period of dramatic change and economic growth in U.S. state of Texas during the early 20th century that began with the discovery of a large petroleum reserve near Beaumont, Texas...
helped develop the city further. As international trade has become increasingly important in the U.S., and Juárez has grown as a manufacturing center, El Paso's economic importance has continued to expand.
Pre-Columbian era
Archeological evidence at the Keystone WetlandsKeystone Wetlands
Keystone Heritage Park is an archeological site, an archaic wetlands and a botanical garden. The park in El Paso’s Upper Valley is a City-owned park managed by a volunteer Board of Directors who are charged with preserving and developing the Park....
and Hueco Tanks
Hueco Tanks
Hueco Tanks is an area of low mountains in El Paso County, Texas, USA. It is located in a high-altitude desert basin between the Franklin Mountains to the west and the Hueco Mountains to the east. Hueco is a Spanish word meaning hollows and refers to the many water-holding depressions in the...
sites indicates thousands of years of human settlement within the El Paso region. A hueco is a Spanish term for a hollowed out cavity for holding water, or for pounding maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
. The inhabitants during this era were maize farmers. One of the two thousand images at Hueco Tanks is of a black and white figure of Tlaloc
Tlaloc
Tlaloc was an important deity in Aztec religion, a god of rain, fertility, and water. He was a beneficent god who gave life and sustenance, but he was also feared for his ability to send hail, thunder and lightning, and for being the lord of the powerful element of water. In Aztec iconography he...
, the goggle-eyed Mesoamerican rain god; most of the images are of abstractions, people and animals. The Manso
Manso Indians
The Manso Indians are a indigenous people who lived along the Rio Grande, near El Paso, Texas from the 16th to the 18th century. Their descendants remain in the area to this day....
, Suma, and Jumano
Suma-Jumano
The Suma and the Jumano were people in western Sonora and Trans-Pecos region of western Texas. The Suma was the western division and the Jumano were the eastern division.-History:...
Indians
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
were identified as present by the earliest Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
explorers. These people ultimately became assimilated into the local settler population, becoming part of the Mestizo
Mestizo
Mestizo is a term traditionally used in Latin America, Philippines and Spain for people of mixed European and Native American heritage or descent...
culture that is prevalent in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and is visible throughout the Southwest. Others integrated themselves with the different Mescalero Apache bands that for many years roamed the region.
Arrival of Spaniards
Spaniard Don Juan de Oñate was the first European explorer to arrive at the Rio GrandeRio Grande
The Rio Grande is a river that flows from southwestern Colorado in the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way it forms part of the Mexico – United States border. Its length varies as its course changes...
near El Paso (near the current small town of San Elizario, which is about 30 miles (48.3 km) downstream of El Paso), where he ordered his expedition party to rest and where a Mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
in thanksgiving for reaching the water of the Rio Grande
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande is a river that flows from southwestern Colorado in the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way it forms part of the Mexico – United States border. Its length varies as its course changes...
was celebrated, on April 20, 1598.
El Paso del Norte (the present day Ciudad Juárez
Ciudad Juárez
Ciudad Juárez , officially known today as Heroica Ciudad Juárez, but abbreviated Juárez and formerly known as El Paso del Norte, is a city and seat of the municipality of Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Juárez's estimated population is 1.5 million people. The city lies on the Rio Grande...
), was founded on the south bank of the Río Bravo del Norte, (Rio Grande
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande is a river that flows from southwestern Colorado in the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way it forms part of the Mexico – United States border. Its length varies as its course changes...
) in 1659 by Fray García de San Francisco. Agriculture flourished thanks to the complex irrigation system built by the Spanish and Indians, including a massive earthen dam. Vineyards and fruits constituted the bulk of the regional production. The Spanish Crown and the local authorities of El Paso del Norte had made several land concessions to bring agricultural production to the northern bank of the river in present day El Paso, like the Bracito Grant. However, the Apaches dissuaded production and settlers to cross the river. The water provided a natural defense against them.
In 1680, after the successful Pueblo Revolt
Pueblo Revolt
The Pueblo Revolt of 1680, or Popé's Rebellion, was an uprising of several pueblos of the Pueblo people against Spanish colonization of the Americas in the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México.-Background:...
that decimated the Spanish colonies in northern New Mexico, El Paso became the base for Spanish governance of the territory of New Mexico, although the largest civilian center was in the Real de San Lorenzo. From El Paso, the Spaniards led by Diego de Vargas
Diego de Vargas
Diego de Vargas Zapata y Luján Ponce de León y Contreras , commonly known as Don Diego de Vargas, was a Spanish Governor of the New Spain territory of Santa Fe de Nuevo México, today the U.S. states of New Mexico and Arizona, titular 1690 – 1692, effective 1692 – 1696 and 1703 – 1704...
, grouped once again to recolonize the precious Spanish territory that was centered in Santa Fe
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
and stretched from Socorro (New Mexico) to the areas that included Taos
Taos, New Mexico
Taos is a town in Taos County in the north-central region of New Mexico, incorporated in 1934. As of the 2000 census, its population was 4,700. Other nearby communities include Ranchos de Taos, Cañon, Taos Canyon, Ranchitos, and El Prado. The town is close to Taos Pueblo, the Native American...
. The eighteenth century witnessed the area's rapid growth, giving the district a population of over 5,000. These included Spaniards, criollos, mestizos, indigenous, and African individuals, spread along the river from El Paso to San Lorenzo, Senecú, Ysleta, and El Rancho de los Tiburcios. The military post assigned to the settlement's defense was moved over the eighteenth century to various sites, including San José, San Elizario, and El Carrizal.
Historical records indicated that the first permanent agricultural enterprise north of the Río Grande located in present-day El Paso was the Ponce de León Ranch, on land granted in 1825. Earlier efforts had been discouraged through Indian raids and floods.
Texas independence
El Paso was the southernmost locality of the Provincia de Nuevo Mexico (modern New MexicoNew Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
). It communicated with Santa Fe and Mexico City by the Royal Road. Few foreign travelers, outside of Spanish merchants and officials, ventured that far north. It took six months for a trading caravan to reach Mexico City. American spies, traders and fur trappers visited the area since 1804 (Spanish documents curiously described these interlopers as "españoles de Inglaterra" meaning "Spaniards from England") and some intermarried with the area's Hispanic elite. Among these were Kentucky native Hugh Stephenson, who married doña Juana María de Azcárate. Notable travelers included Zebulon Pike
Zebulon Pike
Zebulon Montgomery Pike Jr. was an American officer and explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado is named. As a United States Army captain in 1806-1807, he led the Pike Expedition to explore and document the southern portion of the Louisiana Purchase and to find the headwaters of the Red River,...
. American settler families only arrived in significant numbers, after the Mexican-American War in 1849.
Although there was no combat in the region during the Mexican Independence, Paso del Norte experienced the negative effects it had on the trade of its wines and produce that kept the town alive. It also experienced a major avulsion
Avulsion (river)
In sedimentary geology and fluvial geomorphology, avulsion is the rapid abandonment of a river channel and the formation of a new river channel. Avulsions occur as a result of channel slopes that are much lower than the slope that the river could travel if it took a new course.-Deltaic and...
that left the towns of Ysleta, San Elizario and Socorro on the other side of the Rio Grande.
In the first Mexican constitution (1824), given the dominance that Chihuahuan merchants had on New Mexico, Paso del Norte went to the state of Chihuahua after being part of New Mexico for 200 years. The town elected its first local government in 1825 and opened the first official school in 1829.
The Texas revolution (1836) was not felt in the region. The area was never considered part of Texas until 1848. The Battle of El Brazito
Battle of El Brazito
The Battle of El Brazito took place on December 25, 1846 between the United States Army and the Mexican Army during the Mexican-American War.-Battle:...
near Las Cruces was fought by Missouri volunteers led by Col. Alexander William Doniphan
Alexander William Doniphan
Alexander William Doniphan was a 19th-century American attorney, soldier and politician from Missouri who is best known today as the man who prevented the summary execution of Mormon founder Joseph Smith, Jr. at the close of the 1838 Mormon War in that state...
, for whom Doniphan Drive was named, in El Paso. Given the blurry reclamations of the Texas Republic that wanted a chunk of the Santa Fe trade, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo effectively made the settlements on the north bank of the river a formal American settlement, separate from Old El Paso de Norte on the Mexican side.
The present Texas-New Mexico boundary placing El Paso on the Texas side was drawn in the Compromise of 1850
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five bills, passed in September 1850, which defused a four-year confrontation between the slave states of the South and the free states of the North regarding the status of territories acquired during the Mexican-American War...
.
A number of important developments during the 1850s shaped the character of the area north of the river. The Stephenson-Azcárate family acquired a 900 acres (3.6 km²) tract from the Ponce de León grant in the vicinity of today's I-10 "Spaghetti Bowl" interchange. It was called "El Rancho de la Concordia" or "Stephensonville" after Hugh Stephenson's childhood home in Concordia, Missouri. The Archbishop of Durango later gave permission for the blessing of a private chapel there, San José de la Concordia, whose ruins persisted until the 1930s; its camposanto or burial grounds were the origins of Concordia Cemetery. Further west, a settlement on Coons' Rancho called Franklin became the nucleus of El Paso, Texas. El Paso County was established in March 1850, with San Elizario as the first county seat. The United States Senate fixed a boundary between Texas and New Mexico at the thirty-second parallel, thus largely ignoring history and topography. A military post called The Post opposite El Paso (meaning opposite El Paso del Norte, across the Rio Grande) was established in 1854, and the Butterfield Overland Mail
Butterfield Overland Mail
The Butterfield Overland Mail Trail was a stagecoach route in the United States, operating from 1857 to 1861. It was a conduit for the U.S. mail from two eastern termini, Memphis, Tennessee and St. Louis, Missouri, meeting Fort Smith, Arkansas, and continuing through Indian Territory, New Mexico,...
arrived in 1858. A year later pioneer Anson Mills
Anson Mills
Anson Mills was a United States Army officer, surveyor, inventor, and entrepreneur. Engaged in south Texas as a land surveyor and civil engineer, he both named and laid out the city of El Paso, Texas...
completed his plat of the town, calling it El Paso, a name that resulted in endless confusion until the name of the town across the river, El Paso del Norte, was changed to Ciudad Juárez in 1888.
El Paso was incorporated in 1873 and encompassed the small area communities that had developed along the river (Magoffinsville, Concordia, Hart's Mill).
The Confederate States of America
During the Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, Texas, along with most other Southern
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
states
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
, seceded from the Union to join the Confederate States of America
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
. The Confederate cause was met with great support from Franklin residents, like Col. Hugh Stephenson. Confederate forces occupied Fort Bliss in 1861 until the city's capture by the Union California Column
California Column
The California Column, a force of Union volunteers, marched from April to August 1862 over 900 miles from California, across the southern New Mexico Territory to the Rio Grande and then into western Texas during the American Civil War. At the time, this was the longest trek through desert terrain...
in 1862. It was then headquarters for the 5th Regiment California Volunteer Infantry
5th Regiment California Volunteer Infantry
The 5th Regiment California Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It spent its entire term of service in the western United States, attached to the Department of the Pacific and Department of New Mexico....
until December 1864. After the war was concluded, the town's population began to grow.
County seat at Tigua land in Ysleta
The TiguaTiwa people
The Tiwa are group of related Tanoan pueblo peoples in New Mexico and Texas. They traditionally spoke a Tiwa language , and are divided into the two Northern Tiwa groups, in Taos and Picuris, and the Southern Tiwa in Isleta and Sandia, around what is now Albuquerque, and near El Paso.-Name:Tiwa is...
Indians had occupied at least 36 sq mi (93.2 km²) of land around Ysleta, land that King Charles V of Spain had deeded to them, since the 1680 pueblo revolt against the Spaniards in New Mexico. In 1874, the Texas Legislature passed "An Act to Repeal an Act to Incorporate the Town of Ysleta in El Paso County", with a six-month delay of effect that resulted in the conveyance of over 500 parcels of Tigua property to Americans. The Tiguas lost almost all of their land.
The El Paso county seat was moved to Ysleta that year, from San Elizario, and stayed until it was moved to El Paso in 1883. These were the years of the San Elizario Salt War
San Elizario Salt War
The San Elizario Salt War, also known as the Salinero Revolt or the El Paso Salt War, was an extended and complex political, social and military conflict over ownership and control of immense salt lakes at the base of the Guadalupe Mountains of West Texas...
and other conflicts between the Mexicans, the Americans, the Tigua, and the Apaches.
Frontier Town
With the arrival of the Southern PacificSouthern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....
, Texas and Pacific
Texas and Pacific Railway
The Texas and Pacific Railway Company was created by federal charter in 1871 with the purpose of building a southern transcontinental railroad between Marshall, Texas, and San Diego, California....
and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroads in 1881, the population boomed to 10,000 by the 1890 census. With a tempting green valley and a nearly perfect climate year-around, the town attracted a constant stream of newcomers, including many merchants, entrepreneurs, and professionals to came to the region to benefit from the Mexican Free Trade zone. Others arrived seeking a cure for respiratory ailments in the warm, dry climate. Various sanatoriums were established catering to their needs. Small immigrant communities–Jewish, Italian, and Chinese–also arrived, adding to the diversity of the bustling town. The cosmopolitan community established many educational and cultural institutions, including a symphony orchestra which is the oldest in Texas. However—as with other frontier regions–undesirables also arrived: gamblers, gunfighters, thieves, murderers, and prostitutes.
After the arrival of the railroads, El Paso became a boomtown
Boomtown
A boomtown is a community that experiences sudden and rapid population and economic growth. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although the term can also be applied to communities growing very rapidly for different reasons,...
. Some historians, like Leon Metz, have stressed in their narratives of the lawlessness of the town, with "scores of saloons, dance halls, gambling establishments, and houses of prostitution lin[ing] the main streets." El Paso hired a town marshal with rough reputation, Dallas Stoudenmire
Dallas Stoudenmire
Dallas Stoudenmire was an American Old West gunman and lawman, who gained fame for a brief gunfight that was later dubbed the "Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight". Although lesser known than many others from the Old West called gunfighters, his name is becoming more prominent...
, who was known to shoot first and ask questions later. The "Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight
Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight
The Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight was a famous gun fight that occurred on April 14, 1881 on El Paso Street, El Paso, Texas. Witnesses generally agreed that the incident lasted no more than five seconds after the first gunshot, though a few would insist it was at least ten seconds...
" took place here on April 14, 1881. This was prior to the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was a roughly 30-second gunfight that took place at about 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, Cochise County, Arizona Territory, of the United States. Outlaw Cowboys Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne ran from the fight, unharmed, but Ike's brother...
in Tombstone, Arizona
Tombstone, Arizona
Tombstone is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, founded in 1879 by Ed Schieffelin in what was then Pima County, Arizona Territory. It was one of the last wide-open frontier boomtowns in the American Old West. From about 1877 to 1890, the town's mines produced USD $40 to $85 million...
. Stoudenmire, the sixth marshal in eight months, was hired to "clean" and tame a remote, violent and wild town. Stoudenmire was an effective marshal due to his fierce reputation and dexterity with his pistols. He effectively intimidated a violence-hardened town and used fear to control the City Council. On May 28, 1882, the City Council announced they were firing the marshal. Stoudenmire learned of this discussion, he entered the Council Chambers; they were terrified and remained quiet. Stoudenmire strolled up and down the chamber as he scolded, cursed and threatened to shoot. Drawing out and twirling his pistols, he threatened, "I can straddle every God-damn aldermen on this council!" The coerced Council members quickly voted unanimously to retain Stoudenmire as town marshal. Stoudenmire glared at them for a few seconds before he calmed down and put away his pistols. Knowing Stoudenmire's fearsome reputation, the Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
defused a tense situation by calling for an abrupt adjournment. Stoudenmire exited the Chamber and a potentially fatal incident was averted.
In 1883 the county seat was moved from Ysleta, Texas
Ysleta, Texas
Ysleta is a community in El Paso, Texas. Ysleta was settled between October 9 and October 12, 1680, when Spanish conquistadors, Franciscan clerics and Tigua Indians took refuge along the southern bank of the Rio Grande. This is the oldest European settlement in the area that is the present-day U.S....
to El Paso. This was decided in a strongly disputed election in which counted votes were nearly three times the number of voters.
In 1887 a smelter was established by Robert Safford Towne of Kansas City Consolidated Smelting west of town for the purpose of processing lead and copper ore imported from Mexico. This smelting facility was subsequently purchased by ASARCO
ASARCO
ASARCO LLC is a mining, smelting, and refining company based in Tucson, Arizona that mines and processes primarily copper. The company, a subsidiary of Grupo México, is currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy...
in 1899.
Prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
and gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
flourished until World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, when the Department of the Army pressured El Paso authorities to crack down on vice. Many of these activities continued in neighboring Ciudad Juárez, especially during the Prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
, which benefited bars and saloons on the Mexican side of the border.
The Mexican Revolution
The Mexican RevolutionMexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...
(1910–1920) began in 1910, and Ciudad Juárez was the focus of intense fighting. Occasionally, stray shots killed civilian
Civilian
A civilian under international humanitarian law is a person who is not a member of his or her country's armed forces or other militia. Civilians are distinct from combatants. They are afforded a degree of legal protection from the effects of war and military occupation...
s on the El Paso side. El Paso became a center of intrigue as various exiled leaders including Victoriano Huerta
Victoriano Huerta
José Victoriano Huerta Márquez was a Mexican military officer and president of Mexico. Huerta's supporters were known as Huertistas during the Mexican Revolution...
and (for a time) Pancho Villa
Pancho Villa
José Doroteo Arango Arámbula – better known by his pseudonym Francisco Villa or its hypocorism Pancho Villa – was one of the most prominent Mexican Revolutionary generals....
were seen in the city. In January 1914, General John Joseph Pershing
John J. Pershing
John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing, GCB , was a general officer in the United States Army who led the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I...
was stationed at Fort Bliss
Fort Bliss
Fort Bliss is a United States Army post in the U.S. states of New Mexico and Texas. With an area of about , it is the Army's second-largest installation behind the adjacent White Sands Missile Range. It is FORSCOM's largest installation, and has the Army's largest Maneuver Area behind the...
, where he was responsible for security along the border and mounted the ill fated Pancho Villa Expedition
Pancho Villa Expedition
The Pancho Villa Expedition—officially known in the United States as the Mexican Expedition and sometimes colloquially referred to as the Punitive Expedition—was a military operation conducted by the United States Army against the paramilitary forces of Mexican insurgent Francisco "Pancho" Villa...
against Pancho Villa after the infamous raid on Columbus, New Mexico
Columbus, New Mexico
Columbus is a village in Luna County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 1,765 at the 2000 census. The town is named after 15th century explorer Christopher Columbus.-History:...
on March 9, 1916. During this time period many refugees from Mexico fled to El Paso to escape the violence and economic disruption of the Revolution.
A significant Mexican middle class population developed cultural, social, and educational institutions catering to their needs, including many located in central El Paso and in the Sunset Heights area. These included the Ateneo Porfirio Díaz, the Casino Mexicano (housed in the Toltec Building), Professor Servando Esquivel's Colegio Palmore, and the Colegio de las Hermanas de Jesús y María. The Jesuit Order, expelled from Mexico during the Revolution, played an important role in the development of community institutions and schools, building many parishes like Santo Angel, San Ignacio, and Sagrado Corazón in South El Paso and the Sagrada Familia, in Sunset Heights, as well as a chapel in Smeltertown. South El Paso street was the premier artistic and cultural center of Mexican El Paso, with over a dozen cinemas and theaters that featured the latest films, as well as vaudeville performers, tandas skits, carpas comics, nightclubs, and the occasional touring Spanish-language theatrical and opera company, such as that of the grande dame of the Mexican stage, Virginia Fábregas. Mexican cinemas in El Paso were important to the development of subtitles. At the turn of the century, bilingual interpreters called out in Spanish the English-language text of American movies, and this gradually gave way to on-screen translations. Azteca Films—a leading production company in mid 20th c. Mexico, was housed in El Paso in the 1930s-1950s, and brought to South El Paso street theaters premier screenings featuring stars like María Félix.
The Roaring 20s, the Great Depression, the Repatriation, and the Second World War
Beginning in the 1920s and into the 1930s, El Paso became the birthplace of several locally and nationally well-known businesses and events. In 1930, Conrad HiltonConrad Hilton
Conrad Nicholson Hilton was an American businessman and investor. He is well known for being the founder of the Hilton Hotels chain.-Early life:Hilton was born in San Antonio, New Mexico...
opened his first high-rise hotel in El Paso, the now Plaza Hotel
Plaza Hotel (El Paso)
The Plaza Hotel, formerly the Hilton Hotel, is a landmark skyscraper located at 106 Mills Avenue in El Paso, Texas.-Sheldon Hotel site:The hotel was constructed on the site of the Sheldon Hotel, which burned in 1929...
. The Plaza Theatre
Plaza Theatre (El Paso)
The Plaza Theatre is a historic building in El Paso, Texas. The theater stands as one of the city's most well-known landmarks , and remains operational today, showing various Broadway productions, musical concerts, and individual performers.-History:...
opened on September 12, 1930.
In 1934, Walter Varney
Walter Varney
Walter Thomas Varney was an American aviation pioneer who founded forerunners of two major U.S. airlines United Airlines and Continental Airlines. Varney was also one of the most prominent airmail contractors of the early 20th Century.Varney served as a pilot in the Aviation Section, U.S...
and Louis Mueller established the passenger airline called Varney Speed Lines in El Paso and operated out of the old El Paso Municipal Airport (1934–36) and then the El Paso International Airport
El Paso International Airport
El Paso International Airport is a public airport located four miles northeast of the central business district of the City of El Paso, in El Paso County, Texas, USA....
. After the airline was taken over in 1937 by Robert Six
Robert Six
Robert Forman Six was the CEO of Continental Airlines from 1936 to 1981. Six's career began in the earliest days of U.S. commercial aviation. His determined, scrappy, risk-taking nature paid off for Continental Airlines, the company that would for forty-five years be forged in his image...
, he relocated its headquarters to Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
and renamed it with the more recognized name of Continental Airlines
Continental Airlines
Continental Airlines was a major American airline now merged with United Airlines. On May 3, 2010, Continental Airlines, Inc. and UAL, Inc. announced a merger via a stock swap, and on October 1, 2010, the merger closed and UAL changed its name to United Continental Holdings, Inc...
, as it is known to this day. Although Continental Airlines would have its headquarters stationed in Denver, El Paso was still a major hub for the airline up until the late 1980s.
The college football Sun Bowl
Sun Bowl
The Sun Bowl is an annual U.S. college football bowl game that is usually played at the end of December in El Paso, Texas. The Sun Bowl, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Orange Bowl are the second-oldest bowl games in the country, behind the Rose Bowl...
has been held in El Paso since 1936 and is the second oldest bowl game in the nation. Second only to the Rose Bowl.
The Great Depression greatly affected the city, halting its boom years. Many moved away, seeking opportunity elsewhere in the West, particularly in Tucson and Phoenix, which boomed in the 1940s thanks to the defense industries established there. El Paso experienced an influx of Mexicans and Mexican Americans expelled from other parts of the country between 1931 and 1934, when some 400,000 were forcibly "repatriated." The Civilian Conservation Corps as well as the Work Projects Administration aided many of the unemployed, who were hired to do work on public buildings and building roads and infrastructure, such as Scenic Drive. Another important project of the period was the privately funded Cristo Rey shrine and road project.
Post-war era
After the Second World War, Werner von Braun and other German rocket scientists were brought to Fort Bliss in El Paso, along with many of the V2 rockets and rocket parts, starting the American rocket program; they were later moved to Huntsville, Alabama. One V2 rocket is still on display at Fort Bliss. The popular drink, the MargaritaMargarita
The margarita is a cocktail consisting of tequila mixed with orange-flavoured liqueur and lime or lemon juice, often served with salt on the glass rim. It is the most common tequila-based cocktail in the United States...
, was another famous invention given a home in El Paso. It was first mixed in the El Paso-Juárez area at Tommy's Place Bar on July 4, 1945 by Francisco "Pancho" Morales. Morales originally left bartending in Mexico to become a US citizen. He is listed in the Texas Almanac's Sesquicentennial Edition (1857–2007, under M) Obituaries of famous Texans. His story is best captured in a October 1973 Texas Monthly article "The Man Who Invented the Margarita" by Brad Cooper, and later in his obituary in the Washington Post on January 2, 1997.
From the Second World War until the 1980s, El Paso grew rapidly into a sprawling city. The expansion of Fort Bliss from a frontier post to a major Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
military center brought in thousands of soldiers, dependents, and retirees. The industrial economy was dominated by copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
smelting, oil
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
refining, and the proliferation of low wage industries (particularly garment making), which drew thousands of Mexican immigrants. New housing subdivisions were built, expanding El Paso far to the west, northeast and east of its original core areas.
With the election of Raymond Telles
Raymond Telles
Raymond L. Telles, Jr. was the first Mexican-American Mayor of a major American city, El Paso, Texas.Born in El Paso and educated as an accountant, Telles worked at the United States Department of Justice for eight years. He was drafted into the Army in 1941. Telles then served in the U.S...
, the city's first Hispanic mayor in 1957, the demand for civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
amongst the Hispanic population began. Stretching into the tumultuous 1960s, and converging with America's anti-war and civil rights demonstrations, great strides were achieved that became evident in the 1970s. While African Americans were integrated into then Texas Western College in 1954, greater changes came in the 1960s and 1970s as the city's Mexican American population, largely under the leadership of LULAC and Veterans' Groups, moved to provide greater educational opportunities for Mexican American or Chicano youth.
In 1963, the U.S. agreed to cede Chamizal, a long-disputed part of El Paso, to Mexico due to changes in the course of the Rio Grande, which forms the international boundary between the two countries. The area boundaries were rationalized and the Rio Grande was re-channelled. A former island in the river was re-developed. The Chamizal National Memorial
Chamizal National Memorial
Chamizal National Memorial, located in El Paso, Texas, along the United States–Mexico international border, commemorates the peaceful settlement of the Chamizal boundary dispute....
, administered by the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
is now a major park in El Paso; El Chamizal is the corresponding park in Juárez.
Over the 1960s and 1970s, El Paso's economy boomed, benefiting from low wages, the international crossing, and regional transportation networks. Particularly successful were a number of clothing manufacturers (and the sweatshops that serviced them), providing a livelihood to thousands of Mexican Americans and Mexicans. The development of the maquiladora industry in Ciudad Juárez also aided in the development of the textile and clothing industry. Growth was not without conflict, as Mexican American and Mexican seamstresses sought to improve their working conditions, and organized labor unions that businessmen worked hard to defeat.
Since 1990, the local economy has been adversely affected by competition with low wage labor abroad, and the closure of the main copper smelter due to fluctuating metal prices, and excessive lead contamination found throughout many of the surrounding areas. The implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement
North American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement...
in 1994 affected the local economy, with transport
Transport
Transport or transportation is the movement of people, cattle, animals and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, rail, road, water, cable, pipeline, and space. The field can be divided into infrastructure, vehicles, and operations...
, retail
Retail
Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...
, and service firms expanding, and the accelerated loss of many industrial
Industry
Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...
jobs. El Paso is sensitive to changes in the Mexican economy and the regulation of cross border traffic; the Mexican peso
Mexican peso
The peso is the currency of Mexico. Modern peso and dollar currencies have a common origin in the 15th–19th century Spanish dollar, most continuing to use its sign, "$". The Mexican peso is the 12th most traded currency in the world, the third most traded in the Americas, and by far the most...
devaluation of late 1994 and increasingly stringent controls of cross border traffic after the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack were felt strongly in El Paso. In contrast to almost every other border city and popular belief, the commercial traffic at the ports of entry
Port of entry
In general, a port of entry is a place where one may lawfully enter a country. It typically has a staff of people who check passports and visas and inspect luggage to assure that contraband is not imported. International airports are usually ports of entry, as are road and rail crossings on a...
went un-interrupted during the immediate aftermath of 9/11.
Since the 1849 establishment of Fort Bliss in the El Paso area, El Paso has seen many booms in population. More recently, the Base Realignment and Closure
Base Realignment and Closure
Base Realignment and Closure is a process of the United States federal government directed at the administration and operation of the Armed Forces, used by the United States Department of Defense and Congress to close excess military installations and realign the total asset inventory to reduce...
(BRAC) commission has marked the base to receive more than 30,000 troops, which is estimated to add $547 million to the El Paso economy. The expected 100,000 people destined for El Paso (30,000 troops and 70,000 family members) will bring to El Paso a rise in population that has not been seen since the Mexican Exodus of the 1910s in which the town's population grew by at least 60,000 people that were trying to escape the carnage of the Mexican Revolution
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...
.
Recent city-wide projects funded through the election of bonds have once again pushed the urban sprawl onward for El Paso. The most prominent of these projects was the complete refurbishment of the Plaza Theatre
Plaza Theatre (El Paso)
The Plaza Theatre is a historic building in El Paso, Texas. The theater stands as one of the city's most well-known landmarks , and remains operational today, showing various Broadway productions, musical concerts, and individual performers.-History:...
in Downtown El Paso. The project was completed on March 17, 2006 at a cost of $38 million. With the completion of a new freeway on the city's eastern edge, the city should experience the usual urban sprawl that accompanies such construction. With the arrival of military personnel and expansion of Biggs Army Airfield
Biggs Army Airfield
Biggs Army Airfield or Biggs AAF is a military airport located at Fort Bliss near El Paso, El Paso County, Texas, in the United States. The airfield was previously Biggs Air Force Base, a Strategic Air Command installation, between 1947 and 1966. The U.S. Army began operations supporting Ft...
, the city is also constructing a new "Inner Loop" (Loop 375 to Fred Wilson Avenue) that will connect the eastern section of the city to the Army Airfield. Once completed, Biggs Army Airfield is expected to be larger than the current space at Fort Bliss. Beginning in mid 2008, El Paso decided to reinvest in their downtown, with a full redevelopment initiative.
Also of concern is how the large increases of population in Cd. Juárez will affect El Paso. Historically, these two towns have always been interconnected. Already evident is the air quality and traffic flowing inside the El Paso area, for these respective figures reflect the values of a metro area that is populated by at least two-million people. Many underestimate the area's infrastructure needs by allocating resource values for only the El Paso population and not the metropolitan population that is interconnected chiefly through the actions of commerce that stems from El Paso, Cd. Juárez, and the New Mexico cities of Las Cruces, Santa Teresa, Sunland Park and Alamogordo.