A to Z Exhibit 2017 - El Paso, Texas

You are invited to explore El Paso: A to Z Here you will discover artifacts, photographs, stories, and events that offer an opportunity to connect with the everyday lives of people of the past. Create your own path and enjoy these remarkable and sometimes unusual treasures.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Engine No. 2 - El Paso, Texas

The El Paso Fire Department’s second steam pumper was built in 1901. In the center is a coal fired water boiler that provides the pressure to pump water through the fire hose. El Paso’s original water system was gravity fed with low pressure, so advanced fire-fighting technology such as this engine allowed businesses to build taller (four-story) buildings that could still be protected from fire. One of El Paso artist Tom Lea’s childhood memories was of the Fire Department’s steam pumper, pulled by two black horses and billowing smoke, galloping past the family home on Rio Grande. Later, when his father was Mayor, he visited a fire station and was allowed to slide down the pole.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

A to Z Exhibit - El Paso, Texas

Mass transportation in 1882 came in the form of mule cars, which were used on the streets of El Paso and Juarez until 1902, when they were replaced by electric streetcars. A memorial to these first streetcars, consisting of an original mule car and a cast iron mule, was dedicated at San Jacinto Plaza in September, 1955. Two Texas Western art students, Odd fellows Lodge 284, The Popular Department Store, and El Paso City Lines were involved with the project. The ceremony was binational, befitting the world’s first international streetcar line. The memorial was eventually moved and was located at the corner of El Paso and Missouri Streets from 1969 until 2005. Mandy was one of several mules used to pull the cars. When the line was electrified in 1902, she was given a symbolic ride on the first electric streetcar and then was retired from streetcar service.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Don Haskins Bear - El Paso, Texas

This bear was given to Don Haskins by boosters of the UTEP Basketball Program and school alumni, in celebration of his first 25 years as the basketball coach (he was hired in 1961). From A to Z Exhibit 2017 - El Paso Museum of History downtown El Paso, Texas.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Rosa Guerrero - El Paso, Texas

Rosa Guerrero is a well-known El Paso artist, educator, dance historian, and humanitarian. Her life’s mission is to promote cultural awareness, harmony, and understanding through the use of art and dance. She founded the International Folklorico Dance Group, and is the first Hispanic woman in El Paso to have a school named after her. She won a national award in documentary filmmaking for her film, “Tapestry,” as well as many other awards including the LULAC Arts and Humanities Award, the NEA Human Civil Rights George T. Sanchez Award, and being inducted into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame. One of Guerrero’s favorite dance costumes is that of La China Poblana, from the region of Puebla, Mexico. The costume, whose design is attributed to a Chinese or Asian Indian serving girl from that city, includes Mexican national symbols on the front of the skirt in elaborate sequin work.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Quilts - El Paso, Texas

Quilting is a process where several layers of material are sewn together in such a way that the layers will not shift. The cotton armor of the Aztecs and the leather jackets of Spanish colonial soldiers were both quilted. Quilting is frequently confused with piecework – the process of stitching small pieces of fabric together to form a larger unit of material – which might or might not be quilted. The textiles, patterns, and stitchery used in piecework often had personal significance to the maker, and both the handwork and the stories were passed down to later generations.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Jake Erlich - El Paso, Texas

Jake Erlich (professional name Jake Earle) grew up in El Paso. Well over 7 1/2 feet in height, he starred in silent films made for children as a teenager, and then worked for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. He eventually became a public relations specialist and salesman for the Roma Wine Company. Jake was an accomplished artist (painting and sculpture), poet, photographer, and golf enthusiast. His artwork has been displayed at the El Paso Museum of Art.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Amigo (Sun) Man - El Paso, Texas

Amigo man began in 1974 as a marketing tool for the El Paso Convention and Visitors Bureau, capitalizing on El Paso's 300+ days of sunshine and friendly residents. This bright and happy character appeared on El Paso's tourism brochures and soon became a beloved mascot for the city. While Amigo Man was officially retired in 1999, after many requests he was brought back in 2006. He continues to make appearances throughout El Paso, Texas.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Bridal Gown - El Paso, Texas

Wedding dresses are special, well cared for garments. Because of this, bridal gowns are the most common form of woman’s wear found in history museums. This dress was worn by Acelia Alderete, who married Leopoldo E. Armijo on February 27, 1921 at San Ignacio Church. Bishop Schuler, the first bishop of the young El Paso Catholic Diocese, officiated. Members of the Alderete family were local landowners and active in El Paso County politics. Leopoldo E. Armijo, of Las Vegas, New Mexico, came from an important family in New Mexico. The wedding was correspondingly large. Church decorations included 1000 roses imported from Mexico, and a ten course wedding dinner, entertained by live orchestra music, was provided by the bride’s father.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Radio - El Paso, Texas

Broadcast radio came to El Paso in the 1920s. The Mine and Smelter Company, under the callsign WDAH, went on the air in 1922. The Federal Government moved the boundary dividing its east-west call signs in 1923, so all subsequent El Paso radio and television stations use K as their call sign. The electronics of early home radios depended on glass vacuum tubes, so they were large, designed to blend with the furniture, and had to be plugged into an electrical socket. Solid state (tubeless) radios appeared in the mid 1950s. Transistor radios were powered by batteries and could be easily carried by an individual. El Paso cartoonist and Austin High graduate Tom Moore depicted the era when teenagers took control of their music in the classic Archie and Jughead comic series.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Chicano Art - El Paso, Texas

The Chicano Movement roughly parallels the efforts of African-Americans to gain equal access to work and education, as well as Civil Rights, but received far less publicity in the media. The effort of Chicano activists was recorded by an equally unrecognized (by the art world) group of artists centered in such communities as San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Antonio, El Paso, and Kingsville. One of the most visual forms of Chicano art is the public murals that appeared in the late 1960s and early 1970s – continuing to this day - depicting political, religious, and cultural themes. These might be painted by a single artist, or frequently by an artist working with young people from schools, youth programs, or the barrios. El Paso’s formal and informal murals decorate the sides of buildings, water tanks, and underpasses throughout the community. Suggestions for murals to visit can be found on-line under the heading “El Paso Mural Tours.” These gallery columns honor a mural project that decorates the structural supports of the Spaghetti Bowl.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Acelia Alderete Armijo Bridal Gown - El Paso, Texas

Wedding dresses are special, well cared for garments. Because of this, bridal gowns are the most common form of woman’s wear found in history museums. This dress was worn by Acelia Alderete, who married Leopoldo E. Armijo on February 27, 1921 at San Ignacio Church. Bishop Schuler, the first bishop of the young El Paso Catholic Diocese, officiated. Members of the Alderete family were local landowners and active in El Paso County politics. Leopoldo E. Armijo, of Las Vegas, New Mexico, came from an important family in New Mexico. The wedding was correspondingly large. Church decorations included 1000 roses imported from Mexico, and a ten course wedding dinner, entertained by live orchestra music, was provided by the bride’s father.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Typewriters Exhibit - El Paso, Texas

The modern manual typewriter was the creation of many inventors working in the late 1800s. Office supply stores, such as the El Paso Typewriter Co. which donated these machines, took trade-ins of still usable older models for the latest designs. The El Paso Typewriter Co. first appears in the El Paso City Directory in 1931, but through the purchase of an older store contained goods dating back to the early 1900s. The QWERTY keyboard, still used today on computers, was designed so that the letters most frequently used next to each other in words would be farthest apart on the keyboard. Speedy typists often tangled (or clashed) the type with its long metal supports together if the letters were too close.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Homecoming Mums - El Paso, Texas

Decorated homecoming mums are a Western – and an El Paso – tradition that grows bigger every year. Probably dating back to the custom of giving a flower corsage to the girl you took to a dance, homecoming mums (no longer real flowers) include decorations that symbolize the interests of the wearer, whether male or female. These mums can be custom ordered from professional makers, or made by the individual with findings from craft and hobby stores.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPHM

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History