El Paso has significant history, whether it’s American western expansion via railroads, European colonization starting about 400 years ago, indigenous movement and settlement before that, or the prehistoric fossil record. One might call us a crossroads of the continent, a gap that allows movement from east to west, north to south.
Because of this, one of my priorities has been to make sure that El Paso County has a commitment to uplifting our history, both as a point of pride and as part of our economic development efforts.
Those efforts have borne fruit, as El Paso County has delivered on a series of actions. Several weeks ago, I was honored to receive recognition from Preservation Texas for this work, which includes:
Telling our stories is not just the right thing to do for our community. Heritage tourism is a sustainable and economically valuable enterprise; heritage visitors spend an average of $30 more than other travelers, and the money typically circulates through local and small businesses. For example, during the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street exhibit titled Crossroads: Change in Rural America, which included six weeks of supplemental programing around the Mission Trail, foot traffic on event days increased by 61 percent over 2024 and 154 percent over in 2023.
Some of this history is challenging. For example, I-10 and the Chamizal Settlement resulted in mass displacement, and parts of our community have suffered disproportionally from these huge projects. Very few people know about the historic black community in El Paso, which was torn apart when I-10 came through. El Paso County has supported the Black History Tours, which tell the story of the community and its social and economic life and draw people from all over the country.
The El Paso County Historical Commission has done a great job in initiating and supporting efforts, especially when it comes to identifying and pursuing historical markers, and the commission’s Heritage Tourism Committee in partnership with The El Paso Community Foundation, Eastside Central Coalition, El Paso Museum of History, and the McCall Community Center created amazing brochures for the Black History Tours. The County has worked with people and organizations throughout El Paso, from the Concordia Heritage Association to the Eastside Central Coalition to Destination El Paso to the San Elizario Genealogical and Historical Society to Preservation Texas.
My office also initiated the Corazon Historia Raices series of presentations and walking tours in South-Central El Paso, which contains the county’s historic assets such as the Concordia Cemetery (where 60,000 people are buried, including Buffalo Soldiers, Jewish and Masonic sections, and the only Chinese Cemetery in Texas), the El Paso County Coliseum and its surrounding campus (where Italian POWs were held, braceros processed, some of the first desegregated dances in El Paso took place, and the Raza Unida convention took place in 1972), and Ascarate Park, a Civilian Conservation Corps project that was once part of a 1750 Spanish land grant to the Ascarate family.
All of this together is the history of El Paso del Norte. At a time when the concept of a multicultural America that was built by people from all over the world is under attack by an administration whose featured policies are cruelty towards immigrants and book-banning in education, El Paso’s story and the story of other border communities is more important than ever.
Understanding the true breadth of our country’s history, and how it relates to the present, starts with understanding places like El Paso. Recognition by organizations such as Preservation Texas helps us share that mission.
It is a privilege to be able to honor and uplift all of the histories that make up the story of El Paso, and to be part of the movement that is creating a new, inclusive, and economically secure future for everyone.
David Stout is County Commissioner for Precinct 2.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: OPINION: El Paso’s history is American history
Reporting by David Stout, Guest Columnist / El Paso Times
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