Timeline of El Paso, Texas

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of El Paso, Texas.

Prior to 20th century

 * 1598 The first Thanksgiving in North America celebrated by Spanish explorer Juan de Oñate and his expedition on April 30, 1598.
 * 1682 – Ysleta Mission established.
 * 1827 - Juan María Ponce de León is given a land grant for what is now downtown El Paso.
 * 1849 – U.S. military Fort Bliss established.
 * 1850 – El Paso County created, which originally extended north to what is now Garfield, New Mexico, and extending all the way to the Pecos River
 * 1859 - Anson Mills surveys and lays out a town on Ponce's Rancho and names it El Paso, the layout of Downtown El Paso still follows this original plan
 * 1873 – El Paso incorporated.
 * 1876 – Lone Star newspaper begins publication.
 * 1881
 * Southern Pacific Railroad begins operating.
 * El Paso Times and El Paso Herald newspapers begin publication.
 * 1882 – Avenida Lerdo–Stanton Street Bridge and Montgomery Building constructed.
 * 1883 – First National Bank built.
 * 1884
 * El Paso County seat relocated to El Paso from Ysleta.
 * El Paso Browns baseball team formed.
 * 1888 - El Paso del Norte renamed "Juárez" in honor of Benito Juárez. leaving El Paso, Texas the sole El Paso.
 * 1889 – McGinty Club active.
 * 1890 – Population: 10,338.
 * 1892 – Santa Fe Street bridge built.
 * 1895 – El Paso Public Library founded.
 * 1898 - Zion Lutheran Church is established. It is the first Lutheran Church in El Paso.
 * 1899 – American Smelting and Refining Company plant in operation.
 * 1900 – White House Department Store in business.

1900s–1940s

 * 1901 – El Paso Electric Company formed.
 * 1902
 * Electric streetcar begins operating.
 * Popular Dry Goods Department Store in business.
 * 1904 - Carnegie Library opens.
 * 1906 – Union Depot opens.
 * 1910 – Population: 39,279.
 * 1911 – Anson Mills Building constructed.
 * 1912 – Hotel Paso del Norte in business.
 * 1913 – Several hundred workers at the American Smelting and Refining Company's plant go on strike.
 * 1914
 * Roman Catholic Diocese of El Paso established.
 * Texas State School of Mines and Metallurgy opens.
 * 1916 - El Paso High School opens
 * 1917
 * Bath Riots occurred to protest new U.S. immigration/entry requirements for Mexican's crossing the border.
 * Cathedral Parish of Saint Patrick dedicated.
 * 1919 – June 15–16: Battle of Ciudad Juárez occurs near El Paso.
 * 1920 – Population: 77,560.
 * 1921 – Ku Klux Klan active.
 * 1922 – El Paso Post newspaper begins publication.
 * 1924 – United States Border Patrol begins operating.
 * 1925 – Cathedral High School established.
 * 1926 – Orndorff Hotel built.
 * 1928 – El Paso Municipal Airport built.
 * 1929 - KTSM and WDAH radio begin broadcasting.
 * 1930
 * Bassett Tower built.
 * Plaza Theatre and El Paso Zoo open.
 * Austin High School opens.
 * Hilton Hotel in business.
 * Population: 102,421.
 * 1933 – Junior League of El Paso founded.
 * 1935
 * Sun Bowl football contest begins.
 * First neon sign installed in El Paso, atop the steeple of Zion Lutheran Church, in December in time for Christmas
 * 1936 – United States Court House built.
 * 1937
 * El Paso Mothers' Health Center opens.
 * Kress Building constructed.
 * 1938 – El Paso Ysleta Port of Entry established.
 * 1939 – Fort Bliss National Cemetery established near city.
 * 1940
 * El Paso Star built.
 * Population: 96,810 city; 131,067 county.
 * 1942
 * Biggs Air Force Base begins operating near Fort Bliss.
 * Ysleta–Zaragoza Bridge rebuilt.
 * El Paso County Coliseum opens.
 * 1945 - Household Furniture Opens
 * 1946 – El Paso Drive-in cinema opens.
 * 1948 – First city flag adopted.
 * 1949 – Texas State School of Mines and Metallurgy becomes Texas Western College

1950s–1990s

 * 1950
 * Bronco Drive-In cinema opens.
 * Population: 130,485.
 * 1952
 * KROD-TV (television) begins broadcasting.
 * Town of Anthony incorporated near El Paso.
 * 1953 - KTSM-TV (television) begins broadcasting.
 * 1954 – El Paso County Historical Society founded.
 * 1957- First Hispanic Mayor (Raymond Telles) is elected
 * 1959
 * El Paso Museum of Art founded.
 * Sunland Park Racetrack opens in nearby Sunland Park, New Mexico.
 * 1960
 * El Paso Aerial Tramway begins operating.
 * Northgate Mall opens with "acres of parking"
 * Population: 276,687.
 * 1961 – Village of Vinton incorporated near El Paso.
 * 1962
 * Bassett Place shopping mall in business.
 * Chase Tower built.
 * New city flag adopted.
 * 1963 – Sun Bowl stadium opens.
 * 1965
 * U.S. Supreme Court decides El Paso v. Simmons contract-related lawsuit.
 * Fox Theatre (cinema) opens.
 * 1967
 * Cordova Bridge built.
 * Texas Western College becomes University of Texas at El Paso.
 * El Paso BOTA Port of Entry built per Chamizal treaty.
 * 1969 – San Jacinto Plaza remodelled.
 * 1970 – Population: 322,261.
 * 1971
 * El Paso Genealogical Society founded.
 * Wells Fargo Plaza hi-rise built.
 * 1972
 * September: Raza Unida Party convention held in El Paso.
 * El Paso Community College established.
 * 1973 – Biggs Air Force Base becomes Biggs Army Airfield at Fort Bliss.
 * 1974
 * Civic Center opens.
 * Cielo Vista Mall, first enclosed air-conditioned shopping center, opens.
 * Chamizal National Memorial established.
 * 1977 – El Paso Museum of Archaeology established.
 * 1980
 * Mujer Obrera (labor group) established.
 * Population: 425,259 city; 479,899 county.
 * 1981
 * Foreign trade zone established.
 * "Sandra Day O'Connor, a native of El Paso, becomes the first woman U.S. Supreme Court Justice."
 * 1982 - Ysleta Lutheran Mission Human Care begins operations, originally named "Centro Cristiano de Ysleta"
 * 1983 – Kayser Building constructed.
 * 1987
 * Franklin Mountains State Park opens.
 * Sun Metro Mass Transit System active.
 * 1988
 * Sunland Park Mall in business.
 * Horizon City incorporated near El Paso.
 * 1989 – El Paso Patriots soccer team formed.
 * 1990 – Population: 515,342 city; 591,610 county.
 * 1997 – Silvestre Reyes becomes U.S. representative for Texas's 16th congressional district.
 * 1998 – City website online (approximate date).
 * 1999 – Chihuahuan Desert Gardens established.
 * 2000 – Population: 563,662 city; 679,622 county.

21st century

 * 2003
 * Carolina Park skatepark opens.
 * Cinemark West cinema in business.
 * 2004 – International news media reports on ongoing female homicides in Juarez City area.
 * 2005
 * El Diario de El Paso Spanish-language newspaper begins publication.
 * 2006
 * Railroad and Transportation Museum of El Paso established.
 * Major flooding from up to 10 inches of rain in one week.
 * 2007
 * El Paso Marathon begins.
 * El Paso Skatepark Association formed.
 * El Paso Star remodeled.
 * 2008 – Borderzine website launched.
 * 2010
 * December 17: Mexican drone crashes down in El Paso.
 * Population: 649,121 city; 800,647 county.
 * 2011 – Worst drought in a decade.
 * 2013
 * ASARCO smokestacks demolished.
 * City Hall demolished to make room for Southwest University Park baseball stadium.
 * 2019
 * A terrorist mass shooting at a Walmart kills 23 people and injures 22 others.

Published in the 19th century

 * 1886–1899
 * 1886–1899
 * 1886–1899

Published in 20th century

 * 1901–1905
 * Mills, W. W., Forty Years at El Paso, Carl Hertzog, 1962
 * Jones, Harriot Howze, El Paso A Centennial Portrait, El Paso County Historical Society, 1973
 * W. H. Timmons, El Paso A Borderlands History, Texas Western Press, The University of Texas at El Paso 1990
 * Mills, W. W., Forty Years at El Paso, Carl Hertzog, 1962
 * Jones, Harriot Howze, El Paso A Centennial Portrait, El Paso County Historical Society, 1973
 * W. H. Timmons, El Paso A Borderlands History, Texas Western Press, The University of Texas at El Paso 1990
 * W. H. Timmons, El Paso A Borderlands History, Texas Western Press, The University of Texas at El Paso 1990
 * W. H. Timmons, El Paso A Borderlands History, Texas Western Press, The University of Texas at El Paso 1990
 * W. H. Timmons, El Paso A Borderlands History, Texas Western Press, The University of Texas at El Paso 1990