Timeline of El Paso, Texas facts for kids

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of El Paso, Texas.

Prior to 20th century

• 1598 The first Thanksgiving in North America celebrated by Spanish explorer Juan de Oñate and his expedition on April 30, 1598.
• 1682 – Ysleta Mission established.
• 1827 - Juan María Ponce de León is given a land grant for what is now downtown El Paso.
• 1849 – U.S. military Fort Bliss established.
• 1850 – El Paso County created, which originally extended north to what is now Garfield, New Mexico, and extending all the way to the Pecos River
• 1859 - Anson Mills surveys and lays out a town on Ponce's Rancho and names it El Paso, the layout of Downtown El Paso still follows this original plan
• 1873 – El Paso incorporated.
• 1876 – Lone Star newspaper begins publication.
• 1881
  • Southern Pacific Railroad begins operating.
  • El Paso Times and El Paso Herald newspapers begin publication.
• 1882 – Avenida Lerdo–Stanton Street Bridge and Montgomery Building constructed.
• 1883 – First National Bank built.
• 1884
  • El Paso County seat relocated to El Paso from Ysleta.
  • El Paso Browns baseball team formed.
• 1888 - El Paso del Norte renamed "Juárez" in honor of Benito Juárez. leaving El Paso, Texas the sole El Paso.
• 1889 – McGinty Club active.
• 1890 – Population: 10,338.
• 1892 – Santa Fe Street bridge built.
• 1895 – El Paso Public Library founded.
• 1898 - Zion Lutheran Church is established. It is the first Lutheran Church in El Paso.
• 1899 – American Smelting and Refining Company plant in operation.
• 1900 – White House Department Store in business.

20th century

1900s–1940s

• 1901 – El Paso Electric Company formed.
• 1902
  • Electric streetcar begins operating.
  • Popular Dry Goods Department Store in business.
• 1904 - Carnegie Library opens.
• 1906 – Union Depot opens.
• 1910 – Population: 39,279.
• 1911 – Anson Mills Building constructed.
• 1912 – Hotel Paso del Norte in business.
• 1913 – Several hundred workers at the American Smelting and Refining Company's plant go on strike.
• 1914
  • Roman Catholic Diocese of El Paso established.
  • Texas State School of Mines and Metallurgy opens.
• 1916 - El Paso High School opens
• 1917
  • Bath Riots occurred to protest new U.S. immigration/entry requirements for Mexican's crossing the border.
  • Cathedral Parish of Saint Patrick dedicated.
• 1919 – June 15–16: Battle of Ciudad Juárez occurs near El Paso.
• 1920 – Population: 77,560.
• 1921 – Ku Klux Klan active.
• 1922 – El Paso Post newspaper begins publication.
• 1924 – United States Border Patrol begins operating.
• 1925 – Cathedral High School established.
• 1926 – Orndorff Hotel built.
• 1928 – El Paso Municipal Airport built.
• 1929 - KTSM and WDAH radio begin broadcasting.
• 1930
  • Bassett Tower built.
  • Plaza Theatre and El Paso Zoo open.
  • Austin High School opens.
  • Hilton Hotel in business.
  • Population: 102,421.
• 1933 – Junior League of El Paso founded.[1]
• 1935
  • Sun Bowl football contest begins.
  • First neon sign installed in El Paso, atop the steeple of Zion Lutheran Church, in December in time for Christmas
• 1936 – United States Court House built.
• 1937
  • El Paso Mothers' Health Center opens.
  • Kress Building constructed.
• 1938 – El Paso Ysleta Port of Entry established.
• 1939 – Fort Bliss National Cemetery established near city.
• 1940
  • El Paso Star built.
  • Population: 96,810 city; 131,067 county.
• 1942
  • Biggs Air Force Base begins operating near Fort Bliss.
  • Ysleta–Zaragoza Bridge rebuilt.
  • El Paso County Coliseum opens.
• 1945 - Household Furniture Opens
• 1946 – El Paso Drive-in cinema opens.
• 1948 – First city flag adopted.
• 1949 – Texas State School of Mines and Metallurgy becomes Texas Western College

1950s–1990s

• 1950
  • Bronco Drive-In cinema opens.
  • Population: 130,485.
• 1952
  • KROD-TV (television) begins broadcasting.
  • Town of Anthony incorporated near El Paso.
• 1953 - KTSM-TV (television) begins broadcasting.
• 1954 – El Paso County Historical Society founded.
• 1957- First Hispanic Mayor (Raymond Telles) is elected
• 1959
  • El Paso Museum of Art founded.
  • Sunland Park Racetrack opens in nearby Sunland Park, New Mexico.
• 1960
  • El Paso Aerial Tramway begins operating.
  • Northgate Mall opens with "acres of parking"
  • Population: 276,687.
• 1961 – Village of Vinton incorporated near El Paso.
• 1962
  • Bassett Place shopping mall in business.
  • Chase Tower built.
  • New city flag adopted.
• 1963 – Sun Bowl stadium opens.
• 1965
  • U.S. Supreme Court decides El Paso v. Simmons contract-related lawsuit.
  • Fox Theatre (cinema) opens.
• 1967
  • Cordova Bridge built.
  • Texas Western College becomes University of Texas at El Paso.
  • El Paso BOTA Port of Entry built per Chamizal treaty.
• 1969 – San Jacinto Plaza remodelled.
• 1970 – Population: 322,261.
• 1971
  • El Paso Genealogical Society founded.
  • Wells Fargo Plaza hi-rise built.
• 1972
  • September: Raza Unida Party convention held in El Paso.
  • El Paso Community College established.
• 1973 – Biggs Air Force Base becomes Biggs Army Airfield at Fort Bliss.
• 1974
  • Civic Center opens.
  • Cielo Vista Mall, first enclosed air-conditioned shopping center, opens.
  • Chamizal National Memorial established.
• 1977 – El Paso Museum of Archaeology established.
• 1980
  • Mujer Obrera (labor group) established.
  • Population: 425,259 city; 479,899 county.
• 1981
  • Foreign trade zone established.
  • "Sandra Day O'Connor, a native of El Paso, becomes the first woman U.S. Supreme Court Justice."
• 1982 - Ysleta Lutheran Mission Human Care begins operations, originally named "Centro Cristiano de Ysleta"
• 1983 – Kayser Building constructed.
• 1987
  • Franklin Mountains State Park opens.
  • Sun Metro Mass Transit System active.
• 1988
  • Sunland Park Mall in business.
  • Horizon City incorporated near El Paso.
• 1989 – El Paso Patriots soccer team formed.
• 1990 – Population: 515,342 city; 591,610 county.
• 1997 – Silvestre Reyes becomes U.S. representative for Texas's 16th congressional district.
• 1998 – City website online (approximate date).
• 1999 – Chihuahuan Desert Gardens established.
• 2000 – Population: 563,662 city; 679,622 county.

21st century

• 2003
  • Carolina Park skatepark opens.
  • Cinemark West cinema in business.
• 2004 – International news media reports on ongoing female homicides in Juarez City area.
• 2005
  • El Diario de El Paso Spanish-language newspaper begins publication.
• 2006
  • Railroad and Transportation Museum of El Paso established.
  • Major flooding from up to 10 inches of rain in one week.
• 2007
  • El Paso Marathon begins.
  • El Paso Skatepark Association formed.
  • El Paso Star remodeled.
• 2008 – Borderzine website launched.
• 2010
  • December 17: Mexican drone crashes down in El Paso.
  • Population: 649,121 city; 800,647 county.
• 2011 – Worst drought in a decade.
• 2013
  • ASARCO smokestacks demolished.
  • City Hall demolished to make room for Southwest University Park baseball stadium.
• 2019
  • A terrorist mass shooting at a Walmart kills 23 people and injures 22 others.