Fred Hervey - Mayor - 1951

Fred Hervey was the mayor of El Paso from 1973-1975. Fred was also Mayor of El Paso from 1951-1955. A legend has passed on. Fred T. Hervey, selected for El Paso County Historical Society’s Hall of Honor on Nov. 17, 1976, whose energy and activity added so much to the history of the city on the border, passed away at the age of 90. Two significant things contributed to his success: serving as El Paso’s mayor for two consecutive terms in the 1950s and again in the mid-’70s, and creating a chain of convenience stores called the Circle K. Fred was born in El Paso July 28, 1909, to Taylor Masters Hervey and Sarah Gertrude Crossett Hervey. He attended El Paso High School until he had a chance to obtain a job at First National Bank where he worked as a runner. In 1929, at age 18, he moved to First National Bank in Mesa, Ariz. While in Mesa he married Helen Lockhart. When the stock market crashed and the Great Depression was imminent, he returned with his family to El Paso. He later divorced Helen. Jobs being unavailable, he and his brother decided to focus on a drive-in restaurant. They borrowed money from H.T. Ponsford to build their first Oasis. After the debt was paid he invested his money in building more Oasis restaurants until he had eight in the El Paso area, which he sold 36 years later after he had created the Circle K chain that mushroomed to 5,500 stores from coast to coast as well as China, Japan, and England. In 1942, at age 33, he joined the Navy and was sent to the island of Kwajalein in the South Pacific. While he was gone, his wife Hazel Pendleton and 13-year-old Sherleen kept the Oasis restaurants running. In 1951 he began his campaign for mayor of El Paso. By 1952 he was selected by the El Paso Realtors as its outstanding citizen. In 1953 he took the oath of office as mayor for the second time. In 1955 he refused to run for a third term. He decided to tour French Equatorial Africa, paying a visit to Dr. Albert Schweitzer in Lamberene. He had an audience with Pope Pius XII during his world travels.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: City of El Paso

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History