Montgomery Building (El Paso, Texas) facts for kids
The Montgomery Building is a very old and special building in El Paso, Texas. It's the last building left in the city that has a unique "false front" style. It's also the oldest business building still standing in El Paso!
Contents
A New City Takes Shape
The Montgomery Building was built when El Paso was changing a lot. Before, it was a small, dusty village. But then, the Southern Pacific Railroad arrived on May 13, 1881. This was a huge deal! Two other railroads were also coming close to the area.
Because of the railroads, El Paso quickly grew into a busy city. Many new buildings made of lumber and brick started to replace the older adobe ones. Some of these new buildings were even two stories tall! El Paso Street became a very busy place for shops and businesses. It stretched from San Jacinto Plaza all the way to the Rio Grande river.
In 1882, just a few months after a famous gunfight, a man named William J. Montgomery built this structure. He used an empty space between two existing buildings. Montgomery used the walls of those buildings and only added a roof, floor, and front and back walls. He also built a new wall down the middle. This created two separate business spaces, known as 216 and 218 El Paso Street.
What a False Front Is
The Montgomery Building looked like many other buildings in western towns during the late 1800s. It had a "false front." This was a tall, flat front wall that went higher than the actual roof. It made the building look taller and more important, like the big commercial buildings in cities back East.
When it was first built, the Montgomery Building had a drug store and a book store inside.
Building Style and Design
Why False Fronts Were Popular
The outside of the Montgomery Building was very common for western towns during the railroad boom. Builders wanted these new towns to look like the more established towns in the eastern United States. So, they started using stone and lumber instead of adobe or logs.
Lumber was hard to find in El Paso. But the railroad brought in cut lumber, often from places like Cloudcroft, New Mexico. The railroads also brought other materials like pressed tin, cast iron, and glass. These materials helped builders create styles that were popular in the East.
Key Features of the Building
The Montgomery Building is a simple, one-story commercial building. It has a decorated wooden front and a special top part called a cornice. This style, with small buildings and false fronts, helped create the main business areas in new western towns.
The false front on the Montgomery Building made it seem taller than it really was. On top of the false front was a fancy cornice with brackets. This was a popular design feature from the Italianate style. It made the building look bigger and like it could hold more businesses and people. This was similar to the main streets in eastern American towns.
Originally, there was a wooden sidewalk in front of the building. It had a wooden roof over it and posts for horses to be tied to. We know exactly what the building looked like in 1882. A photographer named F. Parker took pictures of many changes happening in El Paso back then.
The Building Today
Over the years, the two spaces at 216 and 218 El Paso Street have changed a lot inside and out. They have been home to many different businesses. These include drugstores, restaurants, shoemakers, and clothing stores. Today, part of the building is home to Dave’s Pawn Shop, and another part is a clothing store.
When cars became popular and streets were paved, the old wooden sidewalks, posts, and roofs were removed. Regular sidewalks were built instead. Today, the wooden front of the building is hidden behind a modern sign. But you can still clearly see the original fancy cornice at the top.
The Montgomery Building is a great example of western architecture from the 1880s. It sits on what used to be one of the city's main business streets. It helps us remember the rich history of El Paso's frontier past. It is one of the few buildings left from the original business area of the Old West town of El Paso.
The addresses 216 and 218 S. El Paso St. have been used continuously for over 120 years. This makes the Montgomery Building the oldest business building still standing in the City of El Paso.
