First Mayor of El Paso, Benjamin Dowell
Primer Alcalde de El Paso, Benjamin Dowell

First Mayor of El Paso, Benjamin Dowell

First mayor of El Paso Benjamin Shacklett Dowell came to El Paso as one of the earliest pioneers, at the close of the War with Mexico. He arrived about 1849, white-haired at the age of 31 years. Tradition holds that his hair turned white while he was a prisoner of war in Mexico City. A Native of Kentucky, he had been a volunteer in the First Regiment of the Kentucky Cavalry during the war. He was in a party that was captured at a ranch called La Encarnacion. He was freed months later and upon his discharge was among those receiving claims to 160 acres of land for having served in the military. We do not know what drew him to the El Paso valley, but upon his arrival he went to work for Juan Maria Ponce de Leon who had large land holdings on both sides of the river. The ranch on the east side, where Dowell worked, occupied the heart of the present downtown area and was planted in orchards and vineyards. Few people lived in that immediate area; the valley's population of about five thousand was clustered mainly around Ysleta, Socorro, and San Elizario. It was in Ysleta that he found his wife, Juana Marquez. A Tigua Indian, she was the daughter of a tribal cacique. When they married around 1852. She was 19 and he was 34. She spoke only Spanish and the Tigua language and like many young women of her era, had no formal schooling. In 1853 Dowell's closest friend, William Ford, became sheriff of El Paso County which had been organized only three years earlier. Ben became his deputy. Following the so-called Magoffin Salt War in January, 1854 the two men took their families to California. There they found the construction of houses much more profitable than panning for gold. Ben and Juana's first child, Mary, was born there on October 31, 1854. Six months later, the family decided to return to El Paso, where several changes had occurred during their absence. The Post at El Paso, which had been on the Ponce ranch location from 1849 to 1851, had been re-established in January 1854. Stage service had begun, linking the community to San Antonio and Santa Fe. And a Masonic lodge had been instituted in April. Dowell evidently went into business for himself at this time: In 1857 he paid $450 for the 128-by-60 foot lot at the corner of Alameda and Sonora, now El Paso and West San Antonio streets, where he operated his well-known billiard saloon. It was located in the lower end of a long adobe building that occupied the block where the El Paso Del Norte now stands. Family quarters were in the back of the building. Ben's brother, Nehemiah, called Nim, joined him during this period, for his name also is shown on lots in the 1859 plat of El Paso drawn by Anson Mills. Nim's lots were part of the present Civic Center site. The City of El Paso was incorporated by the Texas Legislature on May 17th, 1873. In the election of August 12, Dowell was chosen as mayor, with six aldermen. Their early concerns were for the safety of the water supply, the definitions of crime and punishments for them, the division of the city into three wards, and the design of a city seal. Within a month, three aldermen resigned and a forth was disqualified, so another election was held in October to fill the vacancies. He was the sixth Worshipful Master of El Paso Lodge #130. Image Description: A black and white photograph shows Ben S. Dowell from his chest up facing the camera directly. He wears a dark suit with a white shirt underneath. His face looks directly at the camera wearing a long white beard up to his chest. He has no mustache and his hair also white looks abundant although short and parted at the side.

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

In Front of the Magoffin House - El Paso, Texas

I am not a native El Pasoan, so I found this house very ...

Sun Plaza Housing Project

This is an elevated housing project for the elderly. I find it ...

El Corrido Del Segundo Barrio

This very recently created mural was created with the message ...

My uncles

My uncle Chuy on the right and my uncle Lalo on the left

John Wesley Hardin Shooting - Video

In 1895 the sheriff of El Paso tried to make the town a bit less ...

UTEP Centennial Video -2014

The UTEP Centennial Celebration, at the El Paso Museum of ...

UTEP Centennial Video -2014

The Texas State School of Mines and Metallurgy, now named The ...

Rosa Guerrero - Video Part 1

"Rosa Ramirez Guerrero of El Paso, Texas, is an artist, ...

Marshall Dallas Stoudenmire Gunfight – Video

Dallas Stoudenmire (December 11, 1845 – September 18, 1882) ...

Grand Opening of the Digital Wall

Went to the Digi Wall Grand Opening.

Old Public Library Sign

The El Paso Public Library sign on Oregon Street.

Healthy Kids Day at Southwest University Park

Project Amistad offers many free services to the community of El ...

Sixth Wall of Giants Exhibit

The El Paso Museum of History ,beginning to prepare for the ...

Sixth Wall of Giants Exhibit

Sebastian Ribas-Normand,Facilities Maintenance Lead Worker , ...

Sixth Wall of Giants Exhibit

To the Left- is Bernie Sergeant, and Rebecca Whitaker ,Circle of ...

Sixth Wall of Giants Exhibit

David Saucedo, Circle of Giants Co-Chair ,and Julia H. ...

Parade Dowtown

Soldiers marching, in the parade Downtown in honor of the new ...

Vietnam Veterans

Vietnam Veterans, marching in the parade Downtown.

Fort Bliss Parade

Soldiers holding, the flags as they make their way down to the ...

Fort Bliss Parade

Soldiers marching and playing down Oregon Street.

Fort Bliss Parade

Soldiers Playing, their instruments down Oregon Street. ...

Ethel Foster and Family 1889

3-year old Ethel Foster is sitting on the swing with her ...

Pridefest 2015

The Biggest Pride celebration in West Texas!

home.search_collection