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

Ride for Reading 2015

Ride for Reading 2015

Ride for Reading 2015

Ride for Reading 2015

Southwest University Park

Chihuahua Art Display 2014

El Paso Convention Center

Sun Bowl Fan Fiesta 2013

Sun Bowl Fan Fiesta Rally 2013

Sun Bowl Fan Fiesta Rally 2013

Sun City Craft Beer Fest 2013

Sun City Craft Beer Fest 2013

El Paso Tattoo Fest 2014

El Paso Tattoo Fest 2014

Tigua Indian Dancers - El Paso, Texas

Tigua Indian Dancers - 2014.

Dirt texture

Textures for the Digie CS

Member of Six Guns and Shady Bernie Sargent

Bernie Sargent Member of Six Gun And Shady Ladies Talkin El ...

Karl Rimkus at soft opening Feb 7, 2015

Learning all about the wall...

DIGIE

DIGIE soft opening at the El Paso Museum of History. February 7, ...

DIGIE

Director Julia Bussinger left and to the right Rebecca Whitaker ...

Street texture

Texture from the streets of El Paso

El Paso Sheriff's Posse Stagecoach

Founded in 1936, the El Paso Sheriff's Posse has been an ...

Santa and the El Paso Sheriff's Posse

Sun Carnival Thanksgiving Day Parade and the El Paso Sheriff's ...

El Paso Sheriff's Posse Getting Ready for the Parade

Several members of the El Paso Sheriff's Posse getting ready for ...

El Paso Sheriff's Posse Getting Ready for the Parade

Pat Gordon and his horse Trigger getting ready for the 2014 Sun ...

2014 Walk-A-Mile In Her Shoes Event

The El Paso Sheriff's Posse members traded their cowboy boots ...

El Paso Sheriff's Posse and the 2014 Walk-A-Mile Event

Several El Paso Sheriff's Posse members gather together before ...

Old City Hall

City Hall, North face, 2006, at 2 Civic Center Plaza, prior to ...

home.search_collection