Maj. Gen. Anson Mills
Teniente General Anson Mills

Maj. Gen. Anson Mills

Anson Mills, surveyor, builder, army officer, engineer, American boundary commissioner, diplomat, and inventor, was born at Thorntown, Indiana, on August 31, 1834, the son of James P. and Sarah (Kenworthy) Mills. He attended school in Indiana and New York and accepted an appointment to the United States Military Academy in 1855. After flunking out at West Point in 1857, he rode the Butterfield Overland Mail stage to El Paso, where he arrived on May 8, 1858. He was appointed district surveyor and surveyed Forts Quitman, Davis, Stockton, and Bliss, all in West Texas. He also built the Overland Building, for three decades the largest structure in El Paso. On February 28, 1859, Mills submitted a street map of a settlement called Ponce's Rancho, Franklin, and Smithsville. He called the little community El Paso, and the name stuck. The downtown is still practically as he platted it. Mills is best remembered, however, for the boundary dispute with Mexico over the Chamizal tract and for the Mills Building in El Paso. As the American boundary commissioner he refused to accept the 1911 arbitration agreement that gave the El Paso Chamizal to Mexico. The Mills Building began as the Grand Central Hotel, which Mills constructed in 1883. When the hotel burned, he replaced it with the Mills Building in 1911, at that time the largest concrete monolith in the world. Today it is no longer the highest building in El Paso, but it remains a major El Paso landmark. Source: http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fmi36 Image Description: Black and white photograph of General Anson Mills is shown. He stands to pose for the photo with his body and face slightly at an angel facing away. The image is taken from Mills thighs, up to his head where he wears a decorated military suit. The suit has six sets of buttons coming down his chest and several badges and pins to the left of his chest. Mills also wears shoulder pads and a belt as to complete his military look. His hair can be seen white from his long beard that hangs only from his chin and his multi shaded mustache. His hair is parted at the side and of white color.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: El Paso County Historical Society

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Comments

Add a comment
Thank you for your comment

Report this entry

Choose the most important reason for this report

Your name

Your email address

Optional detail

Thank you for your report

More from the same community-collection

Downtown Ballpark

Since spring 2014 the ballpark is home of El Paso's Triple A ...

El Paso Convention Center

Conventions, concerts, trade shows and other special events take ...

View towards Ciudad Juárez

The image looks towards the South from Downtown El Paso. In the ...

View towards East El Paso

The image captures El Paso's Downtown area and looking farther ...

View towards Juárez

The image shows parts of downtown El Paso and Ciudad Juárez. ...

View towards Juárez

The lower half of the picture shows downtown El Paso. The ...

Al's Shop For Men

Al's Shop was at the corner of San Antonio and Mesa.

Al's Shop For Men

Al's Shop was at the corner of San Antonio and Mesa.

Otis A. Aultman

Otis A. Aultman playing cards with friend.

El Paso's Public Band Stand

El Paso's Public Band Stand had frequent concerts by Military ...

Katherine Stinson

As a girl, Stinson wanted to study music in Europe. To raise the ...

First National Bank

The picture shows the First National Bank building in El Paso.

The State National Bank, second location.

This is the second location for the bank, on the southwest ...

Lightbody & James Clothing Store

Lightbody & James was located on the west side of El Paso St. in ...

Newspaper

The Lone Star was a semi-weekly newspaper published by S.H. ...

Lawmen, Texas Rangers, El Paso, TX, 1896

Texas Rangers on the steps of the El Paso County Courthouse in ...

Alligator Pond

San Jacinto Plaza featured live alligators from the 1890s until ...

Landmark

The O.T. Bassett Tower at 301 Texas Avenue. In the year 2017 - ...

El Paso Street in 1910s

The image shows El Paso street in the 1910s. The street is ...

Women Working In A Cigar Factory

Women working in a cigar factory in downtown El Paso, Texas.

Sheldon Hotel

A view from the facilities of one of the rooms at the Sheldon ...

US Post Office

US Post Office in 219 E Mills Ave El Paso, TX 79901

US Post Office

US Post Office in 219 E Mills Ave El Paso, TX 79901

home.search_collection