Mapping Inequality & Reclaiming Place – Demolition of a Neighborhood

Mapping Inequality & Reclaiming Place – Demolition of a Neighborhood

In 1956, congress passed the Federal-Aid Highway Act and created a vast interstate highway network across the country. It encompassed a 41,000 system that connected populations of more than 100,000 residents. Completed in the 1990’s and at a cost of a hundred billion dollars, it profoundly changed the landscape of America and how citizens travel and conduct business.

Interstate 10 was one of the largest interstate highways built with a length of 2,500 miles. It spans from Jacksonville, Florida to Santa Monica, California. Interstate 10 made its way through El Paso in the early 1960’s. Much of the interstate would cut through existing El Paso neighborhoods such as Lincoln Park, Rio Grande, Downtown and Sunset Heights. Large parcels of land were bought out and families left their homes. Much of this demolition happened in El Paso’s then Eastside which included Lincoln Park Neighborhood, the epicenter for El Paso’s African American community. A large amount of homes and businesses were lost despite a nationwide protest to save these communities from erasure and possible health hazards coming from construction and automobiles.

This map from the “Mapping Inequality” project documents redlining in El Paso. Dating back to the 1930s, redlining was a widespread, discriminatory practice that started during the New Deal-era when the United States government began offering government-insured mortgages to prevent mass foreclosures during the Great Depression. As the program grew, the government began adding qualifications to who could qualify for these mortgages based on the value and location of homes. Color-coded maps were used to evaluate the risk associated with the loan and, across the United States, Black and other non-white neighborhoods were consistently deemed high risk and circled with a red line. By labeling these areas high risk, banks and other mortgage agencies were able to deny loans to people of color. Though redlining was ultimately deemed illegal under the Fair Housing Act of 1968, its effects are still felt today. Redlining inhibited families from upward economic mobility during an era of unprecedented economic growth post-WWII and also restricted movement within cities.

As a result, the majority of El Paso’s historic Black homes and businesses are located within these redlined areas. A current list of identified locations is available here on Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/4DW2ao2WTipU58G27

This object is currently on view in the El Paso Museum of History's newest exhibition Still We Rise: El Paso's Black Experience on view until January 2024.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: Robert K. Nelson, LaDale Winling, Richard Marciano, Nathan Connolly, et al., “Mapping Inequality,” American Panorama, ed. Robert K. Nelson and Edward L. Ayers, accessed September 29, 2023, https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/[YOUR VIEW].

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

Exhibition - Saint Patrick Cathedral & Cathedral High School

Exhibition Celebrating Saint Patrick Cathedral & Cathedral High ...

Mayor Dee Margo & Adair Margo - 2017 - El Paso, Texas

Photograph of Dee Margo & Adair Margo - El Paso, Texas El ...

Cathedral High School, Mr. G

Cathedral High School, Mr. G"s Memorial Celebration: Mr. G’s ...

Blanche Ethel Henderson - 1906

Mother of Frances Marie Grundy who attended Douglass High School ...

El Paso & Juarez tourist map

A vintage map of two great city's El Paso and Juarez. This map ...

Bird Dogs - El Paso, Texas - 2017

Bird Dogs - El Paso, Texas - 2017 Oh how special, Gino Forti, ...

Cotton Belt - 75th Anniversary - 1952

Southern Pacific Building - El Paso, Texas -1952 Left to ...

G.M. Locomotive: St. Louis & Southwestern R.R. - 1944

G.M. Locomotive: St. Louis & Southwestern R.R. - 1944 On ...

Company E - Lecture Series - 2017

David Grabitske to the left of the image, Director of the El ...

Company E - Lecture - El Paso, Texas - 2017

Dave Gutierrez gives lecture on Company E - downtown El Paso, ...

Alex Rivas - With Dave Gutierrez - Company E - 2017

Alex Rivas from El Paso, Texas was an original member of Company ...

Alex Rivas - With Dave Gutierrez - Company E

Alex Rivas from El Paso Texas was an original member of Company ...

Mexican Border Service - 1916

ON THE BORDER For better or for worse, the National Guard was ...

Judge R.E. Thomason - 1960

Robert Ewing Thomason (May 30, 1879 – November 8, 1973) was a ...

First Steps Exhibit Ribbon Cutting Ceremony - 2017

First Steps Exhibit Ribbon Cutting Ceremony - 2017 Left to ...

Luz Ulrickson and Brother Nick Gonzalez

Luz Ulrickson and Brother Nick Gonzalez at the opening for the ...

First Steps Grand Opening - 2017

First Steps Grand Opening - 2017 Photograph of audience of ...

Raymond L. Telles, Jr. and Rene Mascarenas Miranda, 2017

Raymond L.Telles, Jr .mayor of El Paso, Texas and Rene ...

Janice Woods Windle, El Paso, TX circa 1989

Janice Woods Windle built the El Paso Community Foundation into ...

Zacchia Jabalie Ayoub, Border Tobacco

Zacchia Jabalie Ayoub came to El Paso, Texas as a 13 year old ...

Cathedral Exhibit In El Paso, Texas - 2017

Pedro Zaragoza, Giuliana Leal and Jorge I. Angulo at the grand ...

Cathedral High School and Saint Patrick's Cathedral Exhibit

Cathedral High School and Saint Patrick's Cathedral honored on ...

Cathedral High School & Saint Patrick's Cathedral - 2017

Photograph taken at the opening for First Steps - exhibit ...

home.search_collection