El Paso History, Landmarks & Attractions

Spaniard Don Juan de Oñate was the first European explorer to arrive at the Rio Grande near El Paso in 1598. Since then this prominently Mexican-American community has grown into the sixth-largest city in Texas and the 21st-largest city in the U.S. This guide will help you uncover El Paso's long and remarkable history.

Ten Interesting Historical Facts
El Paso, Texas was first established in 1850, with San Elizario serving as the first county seat. The city has since flourished into a metropolitan area with a population of more than 700,000 people. A search through historical books and articles reveals countless fun and interesting facts about this colorful desert community. Here are a few of the more interesting facts in no particular order:

El Paso County Historical Society
The El Paso County Historical Society is a housed in the Richard F. Burges House. The society acquires and preserves El Paso and Southwestern history.

Institute of Oral History
The Institute of Oral History works to preserve the history of the region on both sides of the Rio Grande. The institute maintains the largest border-related oral history collection in the United States with more than 1,000 interviews.

El Paso County TXGenWeb Project
The El Paso County TXGenWeb Project is part of a the USGenWeb Project which provides free genealogy websites for genealogical research in every county. The online project also has information for Juárez.

Borderlands Collection
Borderlands is a collection of student written articles published annually by El Paso Community College. EPCC students write research and write articles on the history and culture of the border region to include Southwest Texas, New Mexico, and the Mexican state of Chihuahua.

Discuss in our forum