Hometown USA

Our pages are populated with submissions from residents of the hometowns we serve, so please take a moment and visit the survey link below and answer as many or as few of the questions that you'd like to. The answers to these questions will be tallied and posted here periodically.

Hometown Survey Form

How did El Paso, Texas get its name?

From the pass through the Rockies, east of the city. - Robert Johnson A number of important developments during the 1850s shaped the character of the area north of the river. The Stephenson-Azcate family acquired a 900-acre tract from the Ponce de Le=n grant in the vicinity of today's I-10 "Spaghetti Bowl" interchange. It was called "El Rancho de la Concordia" or "Stephensonville" after Hugh Stephenson's childhood home in Concordia, Missouri. The Archbishop of Durango later gave permission for the blessing of a private chapel there, San JosT de la Concordia, whose ruins persisted until the 1930s; its camposanto or burial grounds were the origins of Concordia Cemetery. Further west, a settlement on Coons' Rancho called Franklin became the nucleus of El Paso, Texas. El Paso County was established in March 1850, with San Elizario as the first county seat. The United States Senate fixed a boundary between Texas and New Mexico at the thirty-second parallel, thus largely ignoring history and topography. A military post called The Post opposite El Paso (meaning opposite El Paso del Norte, across the Rio Grande) was established in 1854, and the Butterfield Overland Mail arrived in 1858. A year later pioneer Anson Mills completed his plat of the town, calling it El Paso, a name that resulted in endless confusion until the name of the town across the river, El Paso del Norte, was changed to Ciudad Jußrez in 1888.

El Paso was incorporated in 1873 and encompassed the small area communities that had developed along the river (Magoffinsville, Concordia, Hart's Mill). - Cliff M

What is the most special thing in El Paso, Texas?

Here's my top ten list:
1. The way the sunset paints the mountains lavender at dusk.
2. The sparkli ng blue sky that never ends
3. The relentless heat of summer, which lasts almost all year!
4. Palm tre es covered with a rare dusting of snow.
5. The way the rain smells on a summer afternoon as I sit on my fro nt porch.
6. The way creosote bushes smell like rain.
7. Mexican food, warm tortillas, chile, salsa.
8. The lilt of Spanish being spoken.
9. The warm and friendly people.
10. Dust storms and blow ing tumbleweeds!
- Walli H.

These questions and answers are posted here for their trivia and entertainment value. We do not verify their accuracy. Many answers are the opinions of our visitors and do not reflect our own opinions in any way.