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

Victoria Sinclair and Shelley Mozelle

Victoria Sinclair to the left of the image and Shelley Mozelle ...

Victoria Sinclair

Liz Sinclair, Victoria Sinclair, Miss El Paso 2014, Shelly ...

Victoria Sinclair

Liz Sinclair, Victoria Sinclair, Miss El Paso 2014, Shelly ...

Victoria Sinclair

Victoria Sinclair --Miss El Paso 2014-with friends.

Miss Elizabeth Garrett

Elizabeth Garrett (1884-1947) was a nationally acclaimed soprano ...

Lobby of Hilton Hotel

The photograph shows the Lobby of the Hilton Hotel (from Mills ...

Kitchen, Hilton Hotel, El Paso, TX circa 1935

The image shows the kitchen and the cooking staff of the Hilton ...

Bell Boys of Hilton Hotel

The photograph shows the bell boys at the Hilton Hotel in ...

Guest Room in Hilton Hotel

The photograph shows one of the guest rooms at the Hilton Hotel ...

Victoria Sinclair

Victoria Sinclair - Miss El Paso 2014.

Dining Area of Hilton Hotel

The picture shows the dining area of the Hotel Hilton in 1930. ...

Miss Merle Garner

The photograph shows Miss Merle Garner. She was the swimsuit ...

Reva Reyes with Dancing Partner Mr. Villareal

El Paso native Reva Reyes posed here with her dancing partner, ...

Miss Reva Reyes - 1920 -1929

Reva Reyes circa 1925 became an international actress, singer, ...

Elliott Chess

Elliott Chess was an El Paso native who served in WWI and later ...

Dee & Dawn Burns

The two sisters Dee and Dawn Burns took their picture in the ...

Angelina Virginia Winkler - El Paso, Texas

Angelina Virginia Winkler wrote the book Texas Hood's Brigade. ...

Two Men Drinking

The image shows two men sitting together and drinking. The scene ...

Baby in Carriage

The photograph shows a baby in his/her carriage. It is signed ...

Miss El Paso - Victoria Sinclair

Crowning of Miss El Paso 2014, Victoria Sinclair.

Miss El Paso and Miss El Paso Teen

Victoria Sinclair, Miss El Paso 2014 and Miss El Paso Teen 2014. ...

Miss El Paso

Victoria Sinclair after her crowning for Miss El Paso and Miss ...

Miss El Paso and Miss El Paso Teen

Miss El Paso 2014 and Miss Teen El Paso 2014. Miss El Paso ...

home.search_collection