El Paso, Texas

El Paso is the county seat of El Paso County in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 563,662. El Paso — second only to San Diego, California, in size among all U.S. cities on the U.S.-Mexico border — lies opposite Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. The two cities form a bi-national metropolitan area of approximately two million people, divided by the Rio Grande (Río Bravo del Norte).

History

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Archeological evidence at the Keystone Wetlands and Hueco Tanks sites indicates thousands of years of human settlement within the El Paso region. The Manso and Suma Indians were identified as present by the earliest Spanish explorers. Nothing is known of these people's origin or ultimate fate.

Related Topics:
Keystone Wetlands - Hueco Tanks - Manso - Suma - Indians - Spanish

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After the settling of El Paso del Norte, on the south bank of the Rio Grande, the present-day city of El Paso was simply the Ponce de León Ranch, on the north side of the river. American settlers began drifting into El Paso, to stay for good after the founding of the Texas Republic and the Mexican Cession.

Related Topics:
Rio Grande - Texas Republic - Mexican Cession

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A trading post called Franklin was established during this time. El Paso was platted in 1859, but grew slowly when the railroads came in 1881. The population had grown to 10,000 by the 1890 census.

Related Topics:
1859 - 1881 - 1890

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During the late 1880s and 1890s, El Paso acquired a reputation as a lawless and violent "wild west" town. The most notorious local figure was John Wesley Hardin. Hardin was gunned down inside the Acme Saloon on a warm evening of August 19, 1895. Violence-hardened Constable John Selman killed Hardin and became famous virtually overnight as Hardin's killer. 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 to flourish in neighboring Ciudad Juárez, especially during the Prohibition, when bars and saloons on the Mexican side flourished.

Related Topics:
1880s - 1890s - John Wesley Hardin - August 19 - 1895 - Prostitution - Gambling - World War I - Department of the Army - Prohibition

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The Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) began in 1910, and Ciudad Juárez was the focus of intense fighting. Occasionally, stray shots killed civilians 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. General John Joseph Pershing was stationed at Fort Bliss, and mounted his ill fated expedition against Pancho Villa after the infamous raid on Columbus, New Mexico on March 9, 1916. The cavalry under Pershing were paid in gold, in competition with Pancho Villa, who offered $50 per machine gun. (When World War I began, Pershing's cavalry had to remain in the Army for the duration of the war, and were no longer paid in gold.)

Related Topics:
Mexican Revolution - 1910 - 1920 - Civilian - Victoriano Huerta - Pancho Villa - John Joseph Pershing - Columbus, New Mexico - March 9 - 1916 - Gold

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Perhaps the most enduring legacy of the revolution era was the arrival of thousands of Mexican refugees, whose descendants formed the nucleus of the Chicano community that emerged in later decades.

Related Topics:
Refugees - Chicano

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From World War II until the 1980s, El Paso boomed 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.

Related Topics:
1980s - Cold War - Copper - Oil

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In 1963, the U.S. agreed to cede 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.

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Since 1990, the local economy has been adversely affected by competition with low wage labor abroad, and the closure of the main copper smelter. The passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement has been a mixed blessing, with local transport, retail, and service firms expanding, but with the accelerated loss of many industrial jobs. El Paso is very sensitive to changes in the Mexican economy and the regulation of cross border traffic; the Mexican peso devaluation of late 1994 and the temporary closing of the ports of entry and subsequent stringent controls of cross border traffic after the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack were felt strongly in El Paso.

Related Topics:
North American Free Trade Agreement - Transport - Retail - Service - Industrial - 1994 - Ports of entry - September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack

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Since the establishment of Fort Bliss in the El Paso area, El Paso has seen a boom in population. More recently, the BRAC commission has marked the base to receive more the 18,000 troops, which is estimated to add 547 million dollars to the El Paso economy. El Paso is also home to the El Paso International Airport and a high school dedicated to Captain John L. Chapin.

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