Historical Markers in El Paso County
Texas·95 places·Page 1 of 4
History
1966 Texas Western Basketball National Champions
Texas Western College (now the University of Texas at El Paso) was the first institution of higher education in a southern state to integrate, with a dozen African American students enrolling in 1955. Charles Brown became the Miners' first Black basketball player in the 1956-57 season, followed by several others under head coaches George McCarty and Harold Davis.
History
Alderete-Candelaria House
Although the exact building date for this adobe masonry structure is unknown, it appears to have been constructed during the 1870s for Benigno Alderete (1845-1916). Born in Ysleta (now part of El Paso), Alderete served at various times as a Texas Ranger, county commissioner, and town mayor.
Transport
Bataan Memorial Trainway
With the arrival of the railroads to El Paso in 1881, the train tracks marked the northern boundary of the city. As El Paso grew, the tracks divided downtown and created a time-consuming barrier for pedestrians and motorists. In the early 20th century, a trainway was proposed to place the city's main railroad tracks below street level.
Military
Biggs Army Airfield
Military aviation in El Paso began circa 1913 at what had been the first location of the Texas School of Mines and Metallurgy on Fort Bliss. Used by the 1st Aero Squadron in support of the Punitive Expedition into Mexico, 1916-17, Fort Bliss Field became home to the Border Air Patrol, 1919-21. On January 5, 1925, the War Department renamed it for James B.
Architecture
Burges House
Prominent El Paso attorney Richard Fenner Burges (1873-1945) had this house built in 1912 by local contractor J. E. Morgan. It was altered in 1927 according to plans of architect Otto H. Thorman, resulting in its current appearance featuring classical design elements, including a portico with fluted columns.
History
Butterfield Overland Mail
The Butterfield Overland Mail was a mail and passenger stagecoach service that linked the Western and Eastern states. John Butterfield, president of the Overland Mail Company, won a federal government contact in 1857 to take and deliver mail twice weekly in both directions between St. Louis, Missouri and San Francisco, California.
Military
Captain James W. Magoffin, Major Simeon Hart
Capt. James W. Magoffin Born Kentucky. Trader in Mexico, special U.S. Army agent in Mexican War 1846 - 47. Established trading post at Magoffinsville about 1850. Named state agent with Simeon Hart to receive U.S. property surrendered at Ft. Bliss Mar. 1861 prior to outbreak Civil War.
Architecture
Casa Ortiz
Legend says this house was built before 1800. In 1840s, its owner was Jose Ortiz, whose cart train freighted salt from foot of Guadalupe Mountains to Durango; knives, sarapes, clothing to Santa Fe and Llano Estacado. There he traded with Comanches and other wild Indians for dried buffalo hides and meat. He was a "Comanchero, Salinero, Cibolero." Francisco Lujan, the wido of Epifanio Ortiz (1842?
History
Chihuahuita
Chihuahuita (Little Chihuahua) was settled by Ricardo Brusuelas, who received a land grant from Spanish authorIties in 1818 and developed a prosperous ranch. After 1848, when the Rio Grande became part of the U.S.-Mexico border, new settlers arrived to farm the land. With the coming of the Santa Fe railroad in 1881, Chihuahuita began to grow dramatically.
History
Concordia Cemetery
Known as Concordia during the 1840s, this area was the home of Chihuahua trader Hugh Stephenson. In 1856 his wife, Juana (Ascarate), was buried in what is now part of Concordia Cemetery. The graveyard gained widespread use in the 1880s when El Pasoans drove three miles to Concordia to bury their dead.
History
Corpus Christi de la Ysleta
First mission and pueblo in Texas. Established by Don Antonio de Otermin and Fray Francisco Ayeta O.F.M. in 1682. Maintained by Franciscan missionaries for the civilizing and Christianizing of the Tigua Indians, Pueblo revolt refugees. 1936
Military
Doniphan Expedition
During the U.S.-Mexico War (1846-48), U.S. Army Colonel Alexander William Doniphan led a military expedition into the west. Doniphan, born in Kentucky in 1808, served as a lawyer, legislator and militia commander in Missouri. In May 1846, he recruited volunteer troops, which organized at Ft. Leavenworth (Kansas) to become the 1st regiment of Missouri mounted volunteers.
History
Dr. Lawrence A. Nixon
(1883-1966) Dr. Lawrence Aaron Nixon was a pivotal figure in Texas civil rights. Born in Marshall, Harrison County, Texas, he attended Wiley College and Meharry Medical College and became a physician. He began his medical practice in Cameron, Milam County. In January 1910, after witnessing violent racial strife in the community, Dr. Nixon moved to El Paso.
History
Early El Paso Water Systems
El Pasoans initially obtained their domestic water from acequias, or open irrigation ditches, and later from the aguadores, water-carriers who delivered fresh water as depicted in the nearby mural. In 1882, Sylvester Watts built the first El Paso waterworks.
History
Early Site of Socorro Mission
Following 80 years of Spanish occupation, Pueblo Indians in northern New Mexico revolted in 1680, driving out the Spaniards for a twelve-year period. Spanish refugees, as well as some members of the New Mexico tribes, followed the Rio Grande southeast to the El Paso del Norte area, where they established missions and new settlements.
History
El Camino Real (The King's Highway)
The regal highway extending between his Catholic majesty's far-flung kingdoms of New Spain, from Mexico City to the Kingdom of New Mexico, passed here. From 1581 onward it was the route followed by conqueror, padre, merchant, adventurer and settler. Along its course passed ox-cart and mule-train and the traffic of the new realm. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
History
El Paso
Inhabited by various Indian tribes prior to the arrival of the Spaniards in the 16th century, El Paso has played an important role in the history of Mexico and the United States. Its four centuries of recorded history span periods of Spanish colonization, Mexican rule, and Anglo railroad building and industrialization.
History
El Paso
Largest U.S. city on the Mexican border. Named for the mountain pass. Historic gateway for Indians, priests, gold-seekers, traders, stages. Federal troops occupied this area longer than any other in Texas during the Civil War. Agricultural, industrial and military center. Texas Western College, Spanish missions. (1964)
History
El Paso and Southwestern Railroad Building
Begun in Arizona in 1888, the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad completed its track to El Paso in 1902. The city became headquarters for the company's operations throughout the southwest and railroad shops were built here. In 1906 this seven-story office building was constructed for the railroad.
Military
El Paso County, C.S.A.
Voted 871 to 2 for secession. At start of Civil War Minutemen were organized to provide frontier protection. The San Elizario Spy Company was mustered into Confederate service on July 11, 1861. El Paso was the springboard and supply point for 1861-2 Arizona - New Mexico campaign to give South a Pacific outlet.
History
El Paso del Rio del Norte
Through this old pass, the lowest snow-free feasible route from the Atlantic to the Pacific through the Rocky Mountains, extend today the great trunk lines of telegraph and railroad. The city of El Paso marks the place and perpetuates the name. 1936
Architecture
El Paso First Ward Chapel
The first ward, or congregation, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) in Texas was organized in 1918 in El Paso. The ward met in members' homes and later in the Odd Fellows Hall until this chapel was built in 1931. The Mission Revival style structure features a rose window, a Renaissance arcade along one facade, and a tower with arcade.
Architecture
El Paso High School
The oldest existing high school building in El Paso, this four-story structure was also the first separate facility in the city constructed for use as a high school. Begun in 1914, it was completed two years later. The prominent El Paso architectural firm of Trost and Trost designed the building, utilizing ideas from existing school facilities throughout the United States.
Transport
El Paso Union Passenger Station
This union station was built in 1904-05 as a center for El Paso's international railroad traffic. Constructed under the direction of Buchanan and Powers, general contractors, it was designed by the noted Chicago architectural firm of Daniel H. Burnham, who also designed the elaborate Union Station in Washington, D.C.
History
El Paso's Chinese Community
Chinese immigrants first arrived in El Paso shortly before the Southern Pacific Railroad completed its line here in 1881. The earliest immigrants opened a rooming house and a grocery store. Soon afterwards, the U.S. government passed the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) which restricted Chinese immigration. However, enough Chinese remained to create a vibrant community throughout downtown El Paso.
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