EARLY HISTORY OF EL PASO

"The earliest confirmed evidence indicates that humans were in Texas between 10,000 and 13,000 years ago... Texas' climate changed at the end of the Ice Age about 7,000 years ago, inhabitants adapted.

Apparently the state experienced an extended period of warming and drying, and the population increased.

Following the Río Conchos in Mexico to its confluence with the Rio Grande near present-day Presidio and then turning northwestward up the great river's valley...explorers passed through the El Paso area in 1581.

Juan de Oñate was granted the right to develop this area populated by Pueblo Indians in 1598. He blazed a trail across the desert from Santa Barbara, Chihuahua, to intersect the Rio Grande at the Pass of the North. For the next 200 years, this was the supply route from the interior of Mexico that served the northern colonies.

The first permanent settlement in Texas was established in 1681-82 after New Mexico's Indians rebelled and drove Spanish settlers southward. The colonists retreated to the El Paso area, where the missions of Corpus Christi de la Isleta and Nuestra Señora del Socorro. each named for a community in New Mexico were established.

Ysleta pueblo originally was located on the south side of the Rio Grande, but as the river changed course, it ended up on the north bank. Now part of El Paso, the community is considered the oldest European settlement in Texas.

From Border Studies

For Geologic History of El Paso

For History of El Paso County

Click here For a PDF of
CHANGE OVER TIME; EL PASO, TEXAS
THROUGH THE WINDOW OF SANBORN MAPS AND CITY DIRECTORIES 1883-1920
by Temi Rose, MA