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El Paso, Texas

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El Paso, Texas
Flag of El Paso, Texas
Flag
Official seal of El Paso, Texas
Seal
Nickname(s): 
Star of the Southwest" and "Land of the Sun
Location in the state of Texas
Location in the state of Texas
CountyEl Paso County
Government
 • MayorJohn Cook
Population
 (2004)
 • City592,099
 • Metro
713,126
Time zoneUTC-7 (MST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC-6 (MDT)
Websitewww.elpasotexas.gov

El Paso is the county seat of El Paso County in the U.S. state of Texas. According to the 2005 U.S. Census population estimates, the city had a population of 598,590, making it the 6th largest city in Texas and the 22nd largest city in the United States. 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 and a half million people, divided by the Rio Grande (Río Bravo del Norte), making it the largest binational metropolitan area on the US/Mexico border.

El Paso is home to The University of Texas at El Paso (founded 1914 as The Texas State School of Mines and Metallurgy, received university status 1967). Fort Bliss, a major United States Army installation, lies to the east and northeast of the city, extending north up to the White Sands Missile Range. The Franklin Mountains extend into El Paso from the north and nearly divide the city into two sections.

El Paso is served by El Paso International Airport, Amtrak via Union Depot, I-10, U.S. Route 54, U.S. Route 180, U.S. Route 85 and U.S. Route 62.

History

Archeological evidence at the Keystone Wetlands and Hueco Tanks sites indicates thousands of years of human settlement within the El Paso region. 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.

 
Downtown El Paso in 1908.

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. Being a green valley back then, agriculture flourished and vineyards and fruits comprised 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. However, the Apaches dissuaded production and settlers to cross the river. The water provided a natural defense against them.

The first successful agricultural enterprise that we have records on was Ponce de León Ranch. The land was granted in 1825. Although American traders and trappers had visited the area since 1823, American settlers began to stay for good after the Mexican Cession in 1848. During the Texas Republic period, the area belonged to the Mexican State of Chihuahua. El Paso was never officially a part of the Republic of Texas, and only became part of Texas after Texas was admitted into the Union.

A trading post called Franklin was established during this time some miles away from Ponce's Ranch. Other settlements were also scattered across the region and eventually became part of El Paso itself. Ciudad Juarez dropped the old name of El Paso del Norte and El Paso, Texas kept it.

El Paso was platted in 1859, but grew very slowly due to its remoteness. With the arrival of Southern Pacific railroads in 1881, the population boomed to 10,000 by 1890 census. With a tempting green valley and a nearly perfect climate year-around, the town attracted a constant stream of newcomers: gamblers, gunfighters, thieves, cattle and horse rustlers, murderers, priests, Chinese railroad laborers, prostitutes and followed of course, entrepreneurs.

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 Prior to the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona Territory, the most famous gunfight, at that time, was the "Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight" which took place during the evening of April 14, 1881. Three days prior, a new town Marshal Dallas Stoudenmire, the sixth marshal in eight months, was hired by El Paso. With Stoudenmire's imposing presence and fierce reputation, the violent-hardened town started to fear him. It was claimed that Stoudenmire approached and bluntly give an ultimatum, even to the most callous outlaws: gallop out of town before dawn or be shot on sight at sun-up. Under the influence of liquor, he was quick to temper who would shoot first and ask questions later. Stoudenmire's influence was so deep that he controlled the town with an iron fist. The council lacked the courage to discharge him so the local newspaper suggested his resignation, but Stoudenmire was not of a "suggestive nature". Finally, on May 27, 1882, the council met to ask for his resignation. Stoudenmire knew what the council wanted, but it didn't help to satisfy his thoughts. He unexpectedly entered the chambers and paced around the room several times. He demanded answers from the council. Twirling his pistols, Stoudenmire snarled, "I can straddle every God-damn aldermen on this council". Terrified council said nothing and slowly the tremoring Mayor decided that it was not time to discuss his dismissal; he coughed an adjournment. Stoudenmire walked out and remained a Marshal, but not for long.

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, where bars and saloons on the Mexican side flourished.

File:JohnJPershing PanchoVilla AlvaroObregon.jpg
Generals Alvaro Obregon, Pancho Villa and John J. Pershing in Ft. Bliss, El Paso, Texas, Aug. 27, 1914.

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.)

In 1934, Walter T. Varney and Louis Mueller established the passenger airline called Varney Speed Lines in El Paso and operated out of 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.

After World War II, 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.

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.

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. 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.

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 fluctuant metal prices, and excessive lead contamination found throughout many of the surrounding areas. 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.

Since the 1849 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.

Recent city-wide projects funded through the election of bonds have once again started the urban sprawl onward for El Paso. The most prominent of these projects was the complete refurbishment of the Plaza Theater in Downtown El Paso. The project was completed on March 17, 2006 at a cost of $38 Million.

Geography

File:FranklinMountains6k.jpg
The Franklin Mountains as seen from Kilbourne hole 50 kilometers west of El Paso

El Paso is located at 31°47′25″N 106°25′24″W / 31.79028°N 106.42333°W / 31.79028; -106.42333 (31.790208, -106.423242)Template:GR. The city's elevation is 3,800 feet (1140 m) above sea level. The rustic and reddish North Franklin Peak towers at 7,192 feet above sea level and is the highest peak in the city which can be seen from the distance of roughly 60 miles from all directions. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 648.9 km² (250.5 mi²).

The Franklin Mountains extend into El Paso from the north and neatly divide the city into several sections, along with Fort Bliss and the El Paso International Airport:

The Rio Grande Rift, which passes around the southern end of the Franklin Mountains, is where the Rio Grande River flows. The river defines the border between El Paso from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico to the south and west until it river passes north of the border with Mexico where it then separates El Paso from Doña Ana County, New Mexico. An extinct volcano, Mt. Cristo Rey rises within the Rio Grande Rift just to the west of El Paso on the New Mexico side of the Rio Grande River. Other volcanic features include Kilbourne hole and Hunt's hole, which are Maar volcanic craters 30 miles (50 km) west of the Franklin Mountains.

El Paso is surrounded by the Chihuahuan Desert, the easternmost section of the Basin and Range Region.

File:ElPaso-Juarez-EO.JPG
El Paso (top) and Ciudad Juárez (bottom) as seen from earth orbit; the Rio Grande River is the thin line separating the two cities through the middle of the photograph. A portion of the Franklin Mountains can be seen in the upper-left. Image courtesy of NASA.

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Climate

  • Temperatures average from an average high of 56 °F (13 °C) and an average low of 29 °F (−2 °C) in January to an average high of 96 °F (36 °C [more than 100 °F is possible]) and an average low of 68 °F (20 °C) in August.
  • The city's record high is 114 °F (45.5 °C), and its record low is −8 °F (−22 °C).
  • The sun shines 302 days per year on average in El Paso, 83 percent of daylight hours, according to the El Paso Weather Bureau. It is from this that the city is nicknamed, The Sun City.
  • Rainfall averages 8.74 inches (223 mm) per annum, most of which occurs during the summer monsoonal season that typically starts in July and usually ends in mid-September. During this period, winds originate more from the south to southeast direction and carry moisture from the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of California and the Gulf of Mexico into the region. As this moisture moves into the El Paso area (and many other areas in the southwest), a combination of orographic uplift from the mountains, and daytime heating from the sun, causes thunderstorms to develop across the region. This is what causes most of the rain in the El Paso area.
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Avg high °F (°C) 57 (13) 63 (17) 70 (21) 79 (26) 87 (30) 96 (35) 95 (35) 93 (33) 88 (31) 79 (26) 66 (18) 58 (14) 78 (25)
Avg low °F (°C) 31 (0) 35 (1) 41 (5) 49 (9) 58 (14) 66 (18) 70 (21) 68 (20) 62 (16) 50 (10) 38 (3) 32 (0) 50 (10)
Rainfall inches (millimeters) 0.4 (10.16) 0.4 (10.16) 0.3 (7.62) 0.2 (5.08) 0.3 (7.62) 0.7 (17.78) 1.6 (40.64) 1.5 (38.10) 1.4 (35.56) 0.7 (17.78) 0.3 (7.62) 0.6 (15.24) 8.6 (218.44)
Source: Weather.com[1]

Politics

El Paso votes overwhelmingly Democratic, unlike the rest of Texas. It is represented by Silvestre Reyes in the U.S. House; in the Texas State House, by Paul Moreno, Pat Haggerty, Chente Quintanilla, Norma Chavez, Joe Pickett; and in the State Senate, by Eliot Shapleigh. The mayor of El Paso is John Cook.

Demographics

File:Downtown El Paso.jpeg
El Paso's skyline at night

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 563,662 people, 182,063 households, and 141,098 families residing in the city. The population density was 873.7/km² (2,263.0/mi²). There were 193,663 housing units at an average density of 300.2/km² (777.5/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 73.28% White, 3.12% African American, 0.82% Native American, 1.12% Asian, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 18.15% from other races, and 3.40% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 76.62% of the population.

There are 182,063 households, out of which 42.4% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.6% were married couples living together, 18.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.5% were non-families. 19.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.07 and the average family size was 3.54.

In the city the population was spread out with 31.0% under the age of 18, 10.0% from 18 to 24, 29.1% from 25 to 44, 19.2% from 45 to 64, and 10.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 90.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.0 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $32,124, and the median income for a family was $35,432. Males had a median income of $28,989 versus $21,540 for females. The per capita income for the city was $14,388. About 19.0% of families and 22.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.8% of those under age 18 and 17.7% of those age 65 or over.

According to the 2004 United States Census Bureau population estimates, the El Paso metropolitan area had a population of 713,126.

Sports

Professional teams

Currently, El Paso is the second largest US city (behind Austin, TX) with no major professional sports team (NFL, NBA, NHL, or MLB). Most of the city's sports are played by the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) on their campus stadiums. El Paso hosts the annual NCAA Vitalis Sun Bowl, Boxing matches, and occasional NBA and NFL preseason games.

Independent teams

Other sports include independent league teams like:

Arenas

  • UTEP owns the two largest stadiums in El Paso:
    • Don Haskins Center has a capacity of 12,222 and is used for UTEP's basketball teams and special events such as concerts and boxing matches. It is also where the graduation ceremony takes place for UTEP students.
    • Sun Bowl Stadium has a capacity of 52,000 and is home to the UTEP Miners football team. It is also hame to the annual Vitalis Sun Bowl, soccer games, and special events such as concerts.
  • Future major arena venues proposed include:
    • Downtown Arena: (Conventions/Sports/Multi-purpose) Included in the controversial Paso Del Norte Group Downtown Rejuvination Proposal. The future arena is to be built on the corner of W. San Antonio Ave. and S. Santa Fe St. adjacent to the current Civic Center. Little has been made known of what accomadations the new arena will have, or when construction will begin.

Education

Public school districts

Private and parochial schools

Two-year colleges

Four-year colleges

Culture

 
Stone of the Sun, replica of the original in Chapultepec Park, México D.F. Presented to the City of El Paso by Pemex.
  • Tom Lea (1906-2001) was a well-known artist of national repute, and author of The King Ranch. He frequently collaborated with Carl Hertzog, a typographer. Quote from Laura Bush "Tom Lea's Rio Grande also hangs in the Oval Office and it reminds the President of our good friend. Tom Lea was a gifted El Pasoan artist and writer who died at age 97 shortly after my husband's inauguration. The President likes to quote Tom and he used his favorite lines in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. Tom once said, 'We live on the East side of the mountain. It is the sunrise side, not the sunset side. It is the side to see the day coming; not the side to see the day that is gone. The best day is the day coming with eyes wide open and the heart grateful.'"
  • Urbici Soler was born in Spain who later became a naturalized American citizen, came to reside permanently in El Paso, at the behest of Father Lourdes Costa, to carve the massive crucifix on top of Mt. Cristo Rey, which is still the site of annual pilgrimages in October.
  • Sarah Ioannides is the current Music Director and Conductor of the El Paso Symphony, which is in its 75th season, the oldest symphony in Texas.
  • A Thanksgiving Mass was first celebrated in this country by the Spanish conquistadors on April 2, 1598 (well before the first Thanksgiving in Massachusetts).
  • Viva El Paso! is the annual returning musical which celebrates El Paso´s rich cultural history through dance, dramatic scenes, narration and songs. The story begins with the early Indian settlement and takes through Spanish conquest, Mexican domination and the wild wild South-West. This two hour lasting outdoor musical is staged at the McKelligon Canyon Amphitheater. Performances in Summer.

Points of interest

Area museums

Sites within the city limits

Sites within the surrounding area

Transportation

Airports

Passenger rail

Major highways

Mass transit

  • Sun Metro Mass Transit system operates a system of medium to large capacity buses all around the city of El Paso. Amusingly, before 1987 Sun Metro was named Sun City Area Transit (SCAT).
  • El Paso County Transit makes trips with small capacity buses mainly in the Eastern El Paso area.

International border crossings

Media

Newspapers

El Paso had another daily newspaper, El Paso Herald-Post, but that newspaper ended publication in 1997.

Radio stations

  • FM

El Paso also shares radio stations with nearby cities Las Cruces, New Mexico and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua.

Television stations

See also

Trivia

  • El Paso is at the intersection of three states (Texas, New Mexico, and Chihuahua), and two countries (the USA and Mexico).
  • El Paso is the only major Texas city on Mountain Time.
  • When Ciudad Juárez was on Central Time and El Paso was on Mountain Time, it was possible to celebrate New Year's twice in the same evening. Both cities are now on Mountain Time.
  • The term "pachuco" came from the Mexican Spanish slang word for El Paso, probably originating early in the 20th century, then spreading westward throughout the Southwest, following the line of migration associated with Mexican railroad workers (traqueros).
  • The college football Sun Bowl has been held in El Paso since 1935.
  • Manos: The Hands of Fate, which is reputed to be one of the worst films ever made, was shot in and around El Paso. It premiered in 1966 at the downtown Capri Theater.
  • Courage Under Fire and Glory Road were also filmed in El Paso.
  • The 2004 movie The Day After Tomorrow, which was filmed on-location in El Paso, featured 2 former local news reporters covering the mass number of people crossing the border. Robert Holguin of KVIA-TV, and Suzanne Michaels for KDBC-TV.
  • The El Paso City Council voted to spend $112,000 to hire a private security firm to guard the city's police station.
  • The Jaime Reyes version of the DC Comics superhero Blue Beetle is a native of El Paso.
  • The late Eddie Guerrero, WWE star, was born and raised in El Paso
  • The 2004 movie Man on Fire, starring Denzel Washington and directed by Tony Scott, was based in the city of El Paso.
  • El Paso was the largest city in the United States without a PBS television station until 1978. In fact, the city had only three English-speaking channels, and cable subscribers in the 1970s and 1980s could receive four Los Angeles independent channels: KTLA-TV Channel 5, KCAL-TV Channel 9 (then KHJ-TV), KTTV-TV Channel 11 and KCOP-TV Channel 13. All but KTLA has been discontinued on cable.
  • In Kill Bill Vol.1 and 2, El Paso is where the Massacre at Two Pines took place (at the Two Pines Wedding Chapel).

Nearby cities

The following are cities within 350 miles of El Paso that have populations of at least 35,000 (or more):

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  1. ^ Weather.com
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