What We Brought El Paso, Texas

Have you ever moved into a new (to you) house or apartment? A move frequently means making choices about what items we can keep or what we have to discard. What We Brought looks at photographs and objects from the El Paso Museum of History’s collection that people thought were important enough to bring to El Paso. They form a visual record of how we came to this region and what was important to us at that time. How We Brought It. Choosing El Paso can limit the size of the items and the form and speed of the transportation available. El Paso has experienced three major innovations in travel during the past 400 years the use of animals, the steam locomotive, and the internal combustion engine.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

1950's El Paso Post Card El Paso, Texas

Walk into history! You are welcome to stand among the words "El Paso."

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPHM

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

1970 Map of El Paso, Texas

Together these blocks make up a 1970 map of the City of El Paso. The map shows railroad lines and streets. By the 1970's passenger rail service was about to swith to Amtrak.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Hands on Activity Trunk El Paso, Texas

This trunk and items in it represent what people could bring with them on their way to El Paso. As it can be seen not everything can brought along with them on their travels to a new home.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Hands on Activity Trunk El Paso, Texas

This trunk and items in it represent what people could bring with them on their way to El Paso. As it can be seen not everything can brought along with them on their travels to a new home.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Baggage Scale El Paso, Texas

Baggage Scale from Union Depot, post 1873-1990.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Baseball Items El Paso, Texas

Championship Baseball, 1891. Photo of El Paso Browns, 1890. Samples of Rubber in Various Stages of Production N.d.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Boy with the Boot Statue El Paso, Texas

The Boy was first placed in the park next to old City Hall in 1901. He is believed to have been purchased, as an early effort at cultural improvement, by Alderman James. B. Badger during a trip to St. Louis. The Boy was eventually moved to San Jacinto Plaza. There he was guarded by the alligators J. Fisher Satterthwaite introduced in 1883.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Engine No 2 El Paso, Texas

Engine No 2, Steam Pumper, 1901

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Men's and Women's Wedding Clothing El Paso, Texas

Man’s Wedding Coat, 1853 Worn by Prof. C.C. Huffaker at his wedding in Westport, Missouri. Prof. Huffaker was the father of Dr. D.Hunter Huffaker of El Paso. Carolyn Fall’s wedding dress, 1909 Carolyn was the daughter of politician Albert B. Fall. She died in 1918 of influenza. The most memorable event in many people’s lives is their wedding. It marks the start of a new family and a new home, sometimes far away from parents and in-laws. Wedding clothes for the bride and groom were frequently special occasion clothes that were either put away or used only for parties. Wedding dresses might be altered for a daughter or granddaughter.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Destiladora

This large cone-shaped limestone filters rainwater to make it drinkable. Destiladoras are made of porous stones, such as sand stones, volcanic rock (lava), or limestone. This Destiladora comes from Chihuahua, Mexico. Designed to be portable, it can be moved throughout the house, garden, or patio.the netting prevents bugs from spoiling the filtered water collecting in a jar under the stone.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Typewriters and Saddle Making Tools

Skills Choosing El Paso often meant bringing skills to the community. Tools here represent those of skilled laborers, office workers, and professionals. The hand tools helped create the built environment. The typewriters advanced business and communication. The glasses worn by this unidentified El Pasoan represent the work of a professional optometrist. People brought all of these kinds of skills and many more to the city.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Architecture and Landscaping El Paso, Texas

Both the Spanish and the Native American peoples of Meso America and the Southwest built with adobe, made from readily available raw materials. The thick walls served as insulation. Oscar T. Bassett brought in the first dimensional lumber by railcar. El Pasoans who came from the United States built wood and brick homes with which they were familiar. These new building materials burned easily and prompted creation of a fire department.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Letters and Bibles El Paso, Texas

The surge of population headed to California for the 1849 Gold Rush got the attention of the United States Post Office. By 1850, a mail courier on horseback carried letters between San Antonio and El Paso, and then up to Santa Fe. San Diego and stagecoaches were added by 1857. Railroad service over the same routes opened in 1881, with airmail arriving in 1930. The mail remained the least expensive way to correspond – compared to long distance telephone – until the advent of e-mail. For those families professing a Christian faith, the family Bible was a keepsake. Bibles are traditionally printed with record pages. Major life events such as births and marriages that are recognized in church ritual are listed there. Bibles not only provided comfort and direction, but contained family history.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Mason and Hamlin Organ and Edison Phonograph

Mason & Hamlin Organ, ca. 1870. Edison Phonograph, 1915-1919. Victor Talking Machine, 1908-1920. Prior to Edison’s development of the phonograph in the late 1870s, music could not be played back at will. All music was either live, recorded in musical notation on paper, or produced in a repetitive format by a music box.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Vanity Case

Vanity case, 1872. Emma Schuyler may have received this vanity case as a present for her wedding in 1872. Her niece, Jane Schoonmaker, donated it to El Paso’s International Museum 80 years later, with the understanding that “if she [the niece] is ever in reduced circumstances and needs to raise money that – the exhibit – is to be sold and money given to her.”

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Packsaddle El Paso, Texas

The men in charge of a string of pack mules – were very careful to balance their loads. An uneven load could pull the packsaddle across the mule’s backbone or injure his muscles.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Quilts, Patchwork, and Coverlet

Patchwork, Quilts and Coverlets from the 19th Century. Coverlets are woven on a loom – sometimes the woman of the house would spin and dye the yarn and an itinerant weaver would do the weaving. Quilting is actually a technique for stitching two pieces of cloth or leather together, which may include a middle layer of padding. Patches from worn out clothing or new cloth could be sewn together in decorative patterns as the top layer of a quilt. Quilts and coverlets were both useful and a daily reminder of the people who contributed to their creation.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Sports

Highlights the different sports that were brought to El Paso, from the early days of baseball in the late 19th century, horse racing on the streets of present day downtown El Paso, and the introduction of polo in the early 20th century.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Army Wagon and Repairing Wheel

U.S. Army Wagon, ca. 1915 Wrecked during service on the border No. 2 EUREKA Tire Bending Machine, ca 1902 Used for shaping iron tires for wagon wheels By the 1850s, El Paso was a crossroads for the freighting route between Mexico and the United States, and the stagecoach mail route to California. Horses and mules often replaced slower moving oxen. Vehicles now had replaceable iron tires, brakes, and a fifth wheel device that allowed the front axle to pivot on turns.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History