The Story of El Paso

El Paso is a very special city. After having spent some time here, I can truly say that there is no other city like it. It lies at the intersection between Texas, New Mexico, and the Mexican state of Chihuahua. While the influences of these regions are visible everywhere, El Paso's history has nonetheless tended to be different. 

Perhaps this has something to do with its location. Founded in 1581 as El Paso del Norte (the Pass of the North), the small Spanish town originally served those passing through the mountains on their journey west. After the Pueblo Indian Revolt of 1680, Spanish colonists and members of the Tigua tribe took refuge in the region. Several hundred years later, beginning with the advent of the railroad, El Paso, now a part of the United States, saw the arrival of people from all over the world. The addition of nearby Fort Bliss continues to bring in many people from different places.

From my short visits, I sensed that there was something different about this city, and that it had great history, but I never had the opportunity to better understand its character until I began to spend some time examining the documents and photographs at the El Paso County Historical Society. Each photograph and document held an important piece to the city's story. It never struck me until then how each piece in a collection, whether held in a historical society, museum, or other institution, can work with the others to form one narrative. The individual stories each piece tells, which are  fascinating in their own right, can be viewed together to give someone a fuller impression of what bigger story the collection has to tell; in this case, the story of El Paso. There are not many better ways to gain an understanding of a place, I think, than to have the opportunity to see the photographs of the people who have shaped it, next to the remaining artifacts and artwork they have left behind.