Neighborhoods and Shared Memories: Manhattan Heights

Manhattan Heights historic district was originally the site of a copper smelter company known as Federal Copper Company founded in 1899. The company went bankrupt and had different owners until the smelter was finally shut down in 1908 and then demolished in 1912. The parcels of land were sold and turned into subdivisions where beautiful Spanish-Italian, Georgian Revival, American Bungalow, and other style homes were constructed. Until the 1950s, Manhattan Heights was used to promote and to attract the elite. The affluence is reflected in the style of many of the homes constructed by respected architects, Mabel Welch and Otto Thorman.

Due to its history and distinguished architecture styles, in 1976 a group of citizens formed the Memorial Park Improvement Association (MPIA) to preserve and restore the area. Their work and research lead to the nomination of the neighborhood which was successfully listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. In 1981 the neighborhood became the first designated historic district in the city of El Paso, Texas.

Neighborhoods & Shared Memories is an ongoing series exploring historic neighborhoods and their residents throughout El Paso. Previously highlighted neighborhoods include Chihuahuita, Segundo Barrio, and Sunset Heights.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: El Paso Museum of History

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Neighborhoods and Shared Memories: Manhattan Heights

Manhattan Heights historic district was originally the site of a copper smelter company known as Federal Copper Company founded in 1899. The company went bankrupt and had different owners until the smelter was finally shut down in 1908 and then demolished in 1912. The parcels of land were sold and turned into subdivisions where beautiful Spanish-Italian, Georgian Revival, American Bungalow, and other style homes were constructed. Until the 1950s, Manhattan Heights was used to promote and to attract the elite. The affluence is reflected in the style of many of the homes constructed by respected architects, Mabel Welch and Otto Thorman.

Due to its history and distinguished architecture styles, in 1976 a group of citizens formed the Memorial Park Improvement Association (MPIA) to preserve and restore the area. Their work and research lead to the nomination of the neighborhood which was successfully listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. In 1981 the neighborhood became the first designated historic district in the city of El Paso, Texas.

Neighborhoods & Shared Memories is an ongoing series exploring historic neighborhoods and their residents throughout El Paso. Previously highlighted neighborhoods include Chihuahuita, Segundo Barrio, and Sunset Heights.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: El Paso Musuem of History

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Neighborhoods and Shared Memories: Manhattan Heights

Veterans Memorial Park

Built on the original grounds of the Federal Copper Company, Veterans Memorial Park became an official City park in 1920 with the approval of city council. The park was designed by George Kessler a City and park planner from St. Louis, Missouri. Kressler’s vision was to create a “forest in the desert” and included tennis courts, a swimming pool, circular walkways, and a stone bridge.

In the 1930s, the Work Progress Administration began to develop public gardens in Memorial Park. The resulting Hilltop Gardens were completed with the help of the Chamber of Commerce, the City’s parks department, and the El Paso Garden Clubs. In 1935, when the gardens in the park were flourishing, the Women’s Department of the Chamber of Commerce and the Garden Club entered the Hill Top Gardens in the park into a Better Homes and Gardens magazine competition. In 1938, the El Paso Hill Top Gardens won first place out of 2,000 submissions. This would give the park national recognition.

Since Memorial Park has expanded and grown to the size of 45 acres with both indoor and outdoor recreation sites. The park is also located within Texas Parks and Wildlife’s Far West Texas Wild Life Trail (El Paso Rio Loop) giving rich opportunities for bird watching and an escape from urban life.

Neighborhoods & Shared Memories is an ongoing series exploring historic neighborhoods and their residents throughout El Paso. Previously highlighted neighborhoods include Chihuahuita, Segundo Barrio, and Sunset Heights.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: El Paso Museum of History

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Neighborhoods and Shared Memories: Manhattan Heights

Veterans Memorial Park

Built on the original grounds of the Federal Copper Company, Veterans Memorial Park became an official City park in 1920 with the approval of city council. The park was designed by George Kessler a City and park planner from St. Louis, Missouri. Kressler’s vision was to create a “forest in the desert” and included tennis courts, a swimming pool, circular walkways, and a stone bridge.

In the 1930s, the Work Progress Administration began to develop public gardens in Memorial Park. The resulting Hilltop Gardens were completed with the help of the Chamber of Commerce, the City’s parks department, and the El Paso Garden Clubs. In 1935, when the gardens in the park were flourishing, the Women’s Department of the Chamber of Commerce and the Garden Club entered the Hill Top Gardens in the park into a Better Homes and Gardens magazine competition. In 1938, the El Paso Hill Top Gardens won first place out of 2,000 submissions. This would give the park national recognition.

Since Memorial Park has expanded and grown to the size of 45 acres with both indoor and outdoor recreation sites. The park is also located within Texas Parks and Wildlife’s Far West Texas Wild Life Trail (El Paso Rio Loop) giving rich opportunities for bird watching and an escape from urban life.

Neighborhoods & Shared Memories is an ongoing series exploring historic neighborhoods and their residents throughout El Paso. Previously highlighted neighborhoods include Chihuahuita, Segundo Barrio, and Sunset Heights.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: El Paso Museum of History

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Neighborhoods and Shared Memories: Manhattan Heights

Veterans Memorial Park

Built on the original grounds of the Federal Copper Company, Veterans Memorial Park became an official City park in 1920 with the approval of city council. The park was designed by George Kessler a City and park planner from St. Louis, Missouri. Kressler’s vision was to create a “forest in the desert” and included tennis courts, a swimming pool, circular walkways, and a stone bridge.

In the 1930s, the Work Progress Administration began to develop public gardens in Memorial Park. The resulting Hilltop Gardens were completed with the help of the Chamber of Commerce, the City’s parks department, and the El Paso Garden Clubs. In 1935, when the gardens in the park were flourishing, the Women’s Department of the Chamber of Commerce and the Garden Club entered the Hill Top Gardens in the park into a Better Homes and Gardens magazine competition. In 1938, the El Paso Hill Top Gardens won first place out of 2,000 submissions. This would give the park national recognition.

Since Memorial Park has expanded and grown to the size of 45 acres with both indoor and outdoor recreation sites. The park is also located within Texas Parks and Wildlife’s Far West Texas Wild Life Trail (El Paso Rio Loop) giving rich opportunities for bird watching and an escape from urban life.

Neighborhoods & Shared Memories is an ongoing series exploring historic neighborhoods and their residents throughout El Paso. Previously highlighted neighborhoods include Chihuahuita, Segundo Barrio, and Sunset Heights.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: El Paso Museum of History

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Neighborhoods and Shared Memories: Manhattan Heights

Manhattan Heights Churches

Three historical places of worship reside in the Manhattan Heights historic district: St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, Manhattan Presbyterian Church, and the First Church of Christ, Scientist. The three separate denominations catered to the needs and faith of residences of Manhattan Heights. The three historical churches have played an important role in the formation of the Manhattan Heights historic district and continue to do so up to the present day.

St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, situated on the corner of Elm Street and Wheeling Avenue, began offering services in their unfinished chapel in September 1921. Before the Memorial Park swimming pool opened, St. Alban’s had a pool that the entire neighborhood would use. With the original chapel being built in 1921, with an adjacent home that also served as the rectory in 1933 which was later demolished to build the church’s new parish hall. The church itself was constructed by Ray Ward & Sons but it was architect Garland & Hilles who designed the church’s new addition.

Manhattan Presbyterian Church has its beginnings in 1903 when the church stood at the corner of N. Florence and Rio Grande Avenues. On April 12, 1921, the church opened at 1201 N. Piedras where it still stands today. The structure itself was constructed of hand-hewn bluish Mount Franklin limestone, with architectural drawings by Beutell and Hardie. An important Mexican individual who fled the Mexican Revolution, named Pascual Reyes arrived to El Paso in 1913 and would later assist in cutting and laying the stones for the church itself. Reyes would also help in the construction of the United States Post Office downtown in 1917. He would also chisel stones and lay them in locations like El Paso High School, the Colleges of Mines, and many other churches throughout El Paso.

The original First Church of Christ, Scientist was located at the corner of Montana Avenue and Stanton Street from 1910 to 1927. In 1940 the church began construction at its new location at San Diego Avenue and Elm Street. The first service was held on May 19, 1940. This newer structure has Mediterranean influences but was completed with native stone and was built to include an auditorium, administrative offices and rooms dedicated to reading, music, and distribution. It was also finished with offices, reading, distribution, and directors’ rooms all within the church’s tower. Additions to the church would later be added, considering the church was completely free of debt.

Neighborhoods & Shared Memories is an ongoing series exploring historic neighborhoods and their residents throughout El Paso. Previously highlighted neighborhoods include Chihuahuita, Segundo Barrio, and Sunset Heights.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: El Paso Museum of History

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Neighborhoods and Shared Memories: Manhattan Heights

Crockett Elementary

As Manhattan Heights district developed, there was a need for an elementary school. In 1916 the School Board took steps to provide the district with a facility and purchased block 12 (3200 block, Wheeling Street) as the grounds for Crockett Elementary. It took three years for the School Board to unanimously approve and designate the firm of H.M. Beutell & Bradford Hardie (led by established El Paso architect H.M. Beutell) to design the elementary school. The school was constructed in a Collegiate Gothic Architectural style. in 1920 the school was opened with an enrollment of 360 students. The school was originally named Manhattan Heights School but was later changed to Crockett in remembrance of American folk hero Davy Crockett. When the school first opened its doors Miss Alice Fitzpatrick served as the first principle and classes were only held on the first floor as construction continued on the second floor. By 1926, the two top floors had been completed and the school had an enrollment of 1,000 students from kindergarten through seventh grade. The centennial of Crockett Elementary was celebrated in 2020.

Manhattan Heights Churches

Three historical places of worship reside in the Manhattan Heights historic district: St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, Manhattan Presbyterian Church, and the First Church of Christ, Scientist. The three separate denominations catered to the needs and faith of residences of Manhattan Heights. The three historical churches have played an important role in the formation of the Manhattan Heights historic district and continue to do so up to the present day.

St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, situated on the corner of Elm Street and Wheeling Avenue, began offering services in their unfinished chapel in September 1921. Before the Memorial Park swimming pool opened, St. Alban’s had a pool that the entire neighborhood would use. With the original chapel being built in 1921, with an adjacent home that also served as the rectory in 1933 which was later demolished to build the church’s new parish hall. The church itself was constructed by Ray Ward & Sons but it was architect Garland & Hilles who designed the church’s new addition.

Manhattan Presbyterian Church has its beginnings in 1903 when the church stood at the corner of N. Florence and Rio Grande Avenues. On April 12, 1921, the church opened at 1201 N. Piedras where it still stands today. The structure itself was constructed of hand-hewn bluish Mount Franklin limestone, with architectural drawings by Beutell and Hardie. An important Mexican individual who fled the Mexican Revolution, named Pascual Reyes arrived to El Paso in 1913 and would later assist in cutting and laying the stones for the church itself. Reyes would also help in the construction of the United States Post Office downtown in 1917. He would also chisel stones and lay them in locations like El Paso High School, the Colleges of Mines, and many other churches throughout El Paso.

The original First Church of Christ, Scientist was located at the corner of Montana Avenue and Stanton Street from 1910 to 1927. In 1940 the church began construction at its new location at San Diego Avenue and Elm Street. The first service was held on May 19, 1940. This newer structure has Mediterranean influences but was completed with native stone and was built to include an auditorium, administrative offices and rooms dedicated to reading, music, and distribution. It was also finished with offices, reading, distribution, and directors’ rooms all within the church’s tower. Additions to the church would later be added, considering the church was completely free of debt.

Neighborhoods & Shared Memories is an ongoing series exploring historic neighborhoods and their residents throughout El Paso. Previously highlighted neighborhoods include Chihuahuita, Segundo Barrio, and Sunset Heights.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: El Paso Museum of History

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Neighborhoods and Shared Memories: Manhattan Heights

Manhattan Heights historic district was originally the site of a copper smelter company known as Federal Copper Company founded in 1899. The company went bankrupt and had different owners until the smelter was finally shut down in 1908 and then demolished in 1912. The parcels of land were sold and turned into subdivisions where beautiful Spanish-Italian, Georgian Revival, American Bungalow, and other style homes were constructed. Until the 1950s, Manhattan Heights was used to promote and to attract the elite. The affluence is reflected in the style of many of the homes constructed by respected architects, Mabel Welch and Otto Thorman.

Due to its history and distinguished architecture styles, in 1976 a group of citizens formed the Memorial Park Improvement Association (MPIA) to preserve and restore the area. Their work and research lead to the nomination of the neighborhood which was successfully listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. In 1981 the neighborhood became the first designated historic district in the city of El Paso, Texas.

Neighborhoods & Shared Memories is an ongoing series exploring historic neighborhoods and their residents throughout El Paso. Previously highlighted neighborhoods include Chihuahuita, Segundo Barrio, and Sunset Heights.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: El Paso Museum of History

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Neighborhoods and Shared Memories: Manhattan Heights

Crockett Elementary

As Manhattan Heights district developed, there was a need for an elementary school. In 1916 the School Board took steps to provide the district with a facility and purchased block 12 (3200 block, Wheeling Street) as the grounds for Crockett Elementary. It took three years for the School Board to unanimously approve and designate the firm of H.M. Beutell & Bradford Hardie (led by established El Paso architect H.M. Beutell) to design the elementary school. The school was constructed in a Collegiate Gothic Architectural style. in 1920 the school was opened with an enrollment of 360 students. The school was originally named Manhattan Heights School but was later changed to Crockett in remembrance of American folk hero Davy Crockett. When the school first opened its doors Miss Alice Fitzpatrick served as the first principle and classes were only held on the first floor as construction continued on the second floor. By 1926, the two top floors had been completed and the school had an enrollment of 1,000 students from kindergarten through seventh grade. The centennial of Crockett Elementary was celebrated in 2020.

Neighborhoods & Shared Memories is an ongoing series exploring historic neighborhoods and their residents throughout El Paso. Previously highlighted neighborhoods include Chihuahuita, Segundo Barrio, and Sunset Heights.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: El Paso Museum of History

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Neighborhoods and Shared Memories: Manhattan Heights

Texaco

Texaco was founded in Beaumont, Texas as the "Texas Fuel Company" in 1902, by Jim Hogg, Joseph S. Cullinan, John Warne Gates, and Arnold Schlaet. The company originally conducted business only in Texas and later expanded to all states in the United States.

The Texaco station in El Paso, Texas was built in 1919 and operated as a gas station until it housed the Radio TV Hopsital (a form of audio broadcasting produced specifically for the in-patients of hospitals). In 2007, Rob Davenport bought the property and began work to restore the Texaco building. Davenport acquired gas pumps in the style of the 1930s to give the historic building its final touches. In 2019, the building was gifted to the El Paso County Historical Society. The Texaco gas station is an iconic El Paso landmark.

Neighborhoods & Shared Memories is an ongoing series exploring historic neighborhoods and their residents throughout El Paso. Previously highlighted neighborhoods include Chihuahuita, Segundo Barrio, and Sunset Heights.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: El Paso Museum of History

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Neighborhoods and Shared Memories: Manhattan Heights

Untold Story of Manhattan Heights

Before the area north of the Rio Grande became U.S. territory, adobe served as the primary building material for homes and other structures. In the late 1800s, El Paso officials agreed that adobe homes and buildings should be demolished to make way for buildings and homes made from brick, concrete, wood, and stone. The sight of adobe was considered an eyesore. Found in The El Paso Times, June 16, 1883, wrote that “the removal of the ancient adobes, with all their bad associations, means a new life for El Paso.”

Ironically, in the 1920’s architect Mabel Welch introduced the Spanish architectural style sans adobe; eliminating the energy efficiency adobe provides, and divorcing traditional native building practices from new/old architecture. Scholar Kimberly Diedrich writes, “Addressing the lack of Mexican cultural elements throughout the region will exemplify Welch’s significance to the site and will demonstrate El Paso’s local communities’ dire need to create an Anglicized identity separate from the Mexican heritage that previously dominated the cultural landscape.”

Manhattan Heights also had restrictions enforced by the sole agent of the district C.H. Leavell, that were thought to protect the public image of the neighborhood. Diedrich adds, “According to the weekend edition of the El Paso Herald on August 26-27, 1916, these regulations were incorporated into every deed pertaining to the Manhattan Heights district to ensure the neighborhood maintained a positive public image that exuded prosperity and wealth, as well as allowed property owners to maintain a uniformity and control the desirability and integration of people into the district. Further, by enforcing a restriction ‘that no residence shall be erected upon said premises unless of reasonable value of at least two thousand dollars’, El Paso’s leaders and wealthy demonstrated the residential and social segregation that firmly fixed those of Mexican heritage and working class to their daily life in their city.”

Federal Copper Smelter

Beginning in 1899, the property was purchased in four separate parcels as the future site for the Federal Copper Company’s smelting operations owned by Colonel Greene. The area was chosen as a midway point to process copper ore from the company’s mines in Arizona and Mexico. Officially opened on September 10, 1901, the smelter required crews of over 100 men working round-the-clock to process the ore. From 1901 to 1908, the Federal Copper Company operated a smelter on a barren stretch of land several miles northeast of downtown near the Franklin Mountains. By 1908 Greene’s mining company collapsed, and in 1912 the smelter structureskm were demolished as residential developments extended toward the area. Parcel 1 was purchased by El Pasoans J.F. and O.C. Coles in 1913 for $32,000. Coles Building and Real Estate Company then subdivided the land, a portion of which became the Castle Heights Subdivision, and the remainder of which eventually became Veterans Memorial Park. Concurrently, Leo C. Dessar, who had purchased Parcels 2, 3 and 4 from the Federal Copper Company in 1907, helped organize the Manhattan Heights Company, which then purchased the parcels from him. Subdivided into blocks and lots with streets and alleys, the property designated as the Manhattan Heights Addition to the City of El Paso, was sold to Dr. James Brady, a local dentist who was also the president of both a paving and construction company. Reflecting the original use of the property, developers named the streets Federal, Copper, Silver, Gold and Bronze.

Neighborhoods & Shared Memories is an ongoing series exploring historic neighborhoods and their residents throughout El Paso. Previously highlighted neighborhoods include Chihuahuita, Segundo Barrio, and Sunset Heights.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: El Paso Museum of History

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Neighborhoods and Shared Memories: Manhattan Heights

Manhattan Heights historic district was originally the site of a copper smelter company known as Federal Copper Company founded in 1899. The company went bankrupt and had different owners until the smelter was finally shut down in 1908 and then demolished in 1912. The parcels of land were sold and turned into subdivisions where beautiful Spanish-Italian, Georgian Revival, American Bungalow, and other style homes were constructed. Until the 1950s, Manhattan Heights was used to promote and to attract the elite. The affluence is reflected in the style of many of the homes constructed by respected architects, Mabel Welch and Otto Thorman.

Due to its history and distinguished architecture styles, in 1976 a group of citizens formed the Memorial Park Improvement Association (MPIA) to preserve and restore the area. Their work and research lead to the nomination of the neighborhood which was successfully listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. In 1981 the neighborhood became the first designated historic district in the city of El Paso, Texas.

Neighborhoods & Shared Memories is an ongoing series exploring historic neighborhoods and their residents throughout El Paso. Previously highlighted neighborhoods include Chihuahuita, Segundo Barrio, and Sunset Heights.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: El Paso Museum of History

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Neighborhoods and Shared Memories: Manhattan Heights

Manhattan Heights historic district was originally the site of a copper smelter company known as Federal Copper Company founded in 1899. The company went bankrupt and had different owners until the smelter was finally shut down in 1908 and then demolished in 1912. The parcels of land were sold and turned into subdivisions where beautiful Spanish-Italian, Georgian Revival, American Bungalow, and other style homes were constructed. Until the 1950s, Manhattan Heights was used to promote and to attract the elite. The affluence is reflected in the style of many of the homes constructed by respected architects, Mabel Welch and Otto Thorman.

Due to its history and distinguished architecture styles, in 1976 a group of citizens formed the Memorial Park Improvement Association (MPIA) to preserve and restore the area. Their work and research lead to the nomination of the neighborhood which was successfully listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. In 1981 the neighborhood became the first designated historic district in the city of El Paso, Texas.

Neighborhoods & Shared Memories is an ongoing series exploring historic neighborhoods and their residents throughout El Paso. Previously highlighted neighborhoods include Chihuahuita, Segundo Barrio, and Sunset Heights.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: El Paso Museum of History

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Neighborhoods and Shared Memories: Manhattan Heights

Mabel Welch

A wife and mother in her 20s. A widow and sole owner of a construction business at 35. A University student at 46. A registered architect at 49. From the beginning, Mabel Welch was an active part of Welch Construction Company. She did all the drawings and interior decorating for the houses, and her husband Malcolm Hiram Welch built the homes. He built houses on Trowbridge Drive, Pershing Drive, Tularosa Avenue, Hastings Drive – all over Central El Paso – and in the Lower Valley, all of dark brick with white trim and black lines around screen doors. Welch built huge homes on Rim Road for prominent families, including A. B. Poe, J. P. Kemp, and F. P. Schuster, who's house was designed not in Spanish style but English Norman, based on ideas the Schusters had collected from various sources during a trip to Europe in 1927. A recycler, Welch bought marble mantels and stair treads from the old U.S. Courthouse downtown when it was razed and used the marble in the Schuster “castle” in 1939. Welch died in December 1981 in California where her son and family lived. Fall 2008, the El Paso County Historical Society inducted her into its Hall of Honor. Her son Elvin, told Pat Worthington, curator for the Society, that his mother had made him promise to burn all her plans and papers in McKelligon Canyon after her death. Like a good son, Elvin did. What has not been destroyed, however, are all the marvelous Spanish homes in Manhattan Heights.

Notable homes in the neighborhood:
3100 Gold Avenue - Home of Katharine Harvey White, this home was built and completed in 1929 in a Spanish Colonial Revival style.
3012 Silver Avenue – Located across the street from Memorial Park, the two-story home was built in 1928. The beams of the home are from an old bridge that spanned across the Rio Grande. The second owner of the home was Ann Corzelius, the daughter of oil millionaire Ira G. Yates.

Otto H. Thorman

Architect Otto H. Thorman designed many houses in the Manhattan Heights neighborhood. His work was mainly residential with the exception of some commercial designs such as the Woman’s Club of El Paso, the El Paso Free Public Library, the pavilion for the Liberty Statue in Pioneer Plaza, and St. Alban’s Episcopal Church. The homes in the Manhattan Heights Neighborhood designed by Thorman are primarily Pueblo, Spanish, Georgian Revival, and red brick bungalows.

Notable homes/structures in the neighborhood:
3037 Federal Avenue – First home in Manhattan Heights designed by Otto H. Thorman.
3113 Federal Avenue - Childhood home of Sandra Day O’Connor, former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
1810 Elm Street - St. Alban’s Episcopal Church

Neighborhoods & Shared Memories is an ongoing series exploring historic neighborhoods and their residents throughout El Paso. Previously highlighted neighborhoods include Chihuahuita, Segundo Barrio, and Sunset Heights.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: El Paso Museum of History

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Neighborhoods and Shared Memories: Manhattan Heights

Manhattan Heights historic district was originally the site of a copper smelter company known as Federal Copper Company founded in 1899. The company went bankrupt and had different owners until the smelter was finally shut down in 1908 and then demolished in 1912. The parcels of land were sold and turned into subdivisions where beautiful Spanish-Italian, Georgian Revival, American Bungalow, and other style homes were constructed. Until the 1950s, Manhattan Heights was used to promote and to attract the elite. The affluence is reflected in the style of many of the homes constructed by respected architects, Mabel Welch and Otto Thorman.

Due to its history and distinguished architecture styles, in 1976 a group of citizens formed the Memorial Park Improvement Association (MPIA) to preserve and restore the area. Their work and research lead to the nomination of the neighborhood which was successfully listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. In 1981 the neighborhood became the first designated historic district in the city of El Paso, Texas.

Neighborhoods & Shared Memories is an ongoing series exploring historic neighborhoods and their residents throughout El Paso. Previously highlighted neighborhoods include Chihuahuita, Segundo Barrio, and Sunset Heights.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: El Paso Museum of History

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History