page_title: History of El Paso, Texas
section_title: Frontier town
hierarchical_section_title: History of El Paso, Texas / Frontier town
caption_attribution_description: El Paso, Texas in 1886. Bird's Eye View of El Paso, El Paso County Texas, 1886. Lithograph, 20 x 30 in. Lithographer unknown. Private Collection.
context_page_description: Founded as El Paso del Norte by Spanish Franciscan friars at an important mountain pass, the area became a small agricultural producer though most settlement was south of the river where modern Mexico lies. The city was considered part of New Mexico under Spanish Conquerors and was tied economically to Santa Fe, New Mexico and the Chihuahuan mining districts of San Felipe El Real and San José del Parral.
  The Texas Revolution when Texas revolted from Mexico, which itself had recently become independent from Spain, did not involve paseños as the region was a part of Chihuahua. However, after Texas' annexation by the United States the boundary of the state was claimed to include what would become this important trading center.
  As railroads were built through the area it boomed as a commercial center. The World Wars and the Texas Oil Boom helped develop the city further. As international trade has become increasingly important in the U.S., and Juárez has grown as a manufacturing center, El Paso's economic importance has continued to expand.
context_section_description: With the arrival of the Southern Pacific, the Texas and Pacific, and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroads in 1881, the population boomed to 10,000 by the 1890 census. With a tempting green valley and a nearly perfect climate year-around, the town attracted a constant stream of newcomers, including many merchants, entrepreneurs, and professionals who came to the region to benefit from the Mexican Free Trade zone. Others arrived seeking a cure for respiratory ailments in the warm, dry climate. Various sanatoriums were established catering to their needs. Small immigrant communities–Jewish, Italian, and Chinese–also arrived, adding to the diversity of the bustling town. The origins of the Jewish community dates from at least the 1880s, with the first Reformed synagogue, Temple Mt. Sinai, built in 1898. The cosmopolitan community established many educational and cultural institutions, including a symphony orchestra that is the oldest in Texas. The American Catholic hierarchy gradually exerted control over the El Paso Valley, sending out Jesuit priests who developed a network of parishes and schools over the 1880s–1910s. Their work established the foundations for the Diocese of El Paso, created by Pius X in 1914. Among the dozens of Jesuits active in El Paso, one of the most notable was Father Carlos Pinto (1841–1919), known as "the apostle of El Paso," for his work among the Mexican population. A native of southern Italy, Pinto arrived in Northern New Mexico and Colorado in the 1870s, working there until he was assigned to El Paso ca. 1890. Pinto established the parishes of the Immaculate Conception (El Paso's first English-speaking Catholic Parish in 1893), Sacred Heart/Sagrado Corazón (El Paso's first Spanish-speaking Catholic Parish in 1893), St. Ignatius (1905), Guardian Angel (1908), and Holy Family (1914) parishes, among others. Working with the Sisters of Loretto at the Foot of the Cross, the Jesuits established schools at these parishes.  A distinct architectural style is evident in these structures that have yet to attract serious historical research.  The Jesuit High School in Ysleta was briefly expanded into a junior college in the mid-twentieth century.
  However, as with other frontier regions, undesirables also arrived: gamblers, gunfighters, thieves, murderers, and prostitutes. After the arrival of the railroads, El Paso became a boomtown. Some historians, like Leon Metz, have stressed in their narratives the lawlessness that accompanied the arrival of Anglos, with "scores of saloons, dance halls, gambling establishments, and houses of prostitution lin[ing] the main streets." El Paso hired a town marshal with rough reputation, Dallas Stoudenmire, who was known to shoot first and ask questions later.  The "Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight" took place here on April 14, 1881. This was prior to the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. Stoudenmire, the sixth marshal in eight months, was hired to "clean" and tame a remote, violent and wild town. Stoudenmire was an effective marshal due to his fierce reputation and dexterity with his pistols. He effectively intimidated a violence-hardened town and used fear to control the City Council. On May 28, 1882, the City Council announced they were firing the marshal. Stoudenmire learned of this discussion, he entered the Council Chambers; they were terrified and remained quiet. Stoudenmire strolled up and down the chamber as he scolded, cursed and threatened to shoot. Drawing out and twirling his pistols, he threatened, "I can straddle every God-damn aldermen on this council!" The coerced Council members quickly voted unanimously to retain Stoudenmire as town marshal. Stoudenmire glared at them for a few seconds before he calmed down and put away his pistols.  Knowing Stoudenmire's fearsome reputation, the Mayor defused a tense situation by calling for an abrupt adjournment.  Stoudenmire exited the Chamber and a potentially fatal incident was averted.
  In 1883 the county seat was moved from Ysleta, Texas to El Paso. This was decided in a strongly disputed 
caption: Map of the city in 1886
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