El Paso has significant history, whether it’s American western expansion via railroads, European colonization starting about 400 years ago, indigenous movement and settlement before that, or the prehistoric fossil record. One might call us a crossroads of the continent, a gap that allows movement from east to west, north to south.
Because of this, one of my priorities has been to make sure that El Paso County has a commitment to uplifting our history, both as a point of pride and as part of our economic development efforts.
Those efforts have borne fruit, as El Paso County has delivered on a series of actions. Several weeks ago, I was honored to receive recognition from Preservation Texas for this work, which includes:
- Fighting to protect sites such as Duranguito, one of El Paso’s first neighborhoods, which was saved from demolition by a coalition of grassroots, historians, and a broad spectrum of El Pasoans.
- Successfully nominating the Segundo Barrio Historic District, which received federal recognition in 2021; and work is under way to designate a Downtown El Paso Historic District.
- Work under way on Countywide Historic Assets Master Plan (CHAMPS).
- Created position of Heritage Tourism coordinator under the Economic Development Department; approved a Hotel Occupancy Tax policy in 2020 to allow for the use of funds towards historic preservation and projects that promote the county’s history; and placed Heritage Tourism in county strategic plan.
- Saved the historic County Coliseum from destruction during the evaluation process for a nearby federal project that threatened to take the property.
Telling our stories is not just the right thing to do for our community. Heritage tourism is a sustainable and economically valuable enterprise; heritage visitors spend an average of $30 more than other travelers, and the money typically circulates through local and small businesses. For example, during the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street exhibit titled Crossroads: Change in Rural America, which included six weeks of supplemental programing around the Mission Trail, foot traffic on event days increased by 61 percent over 2024 and 154 percent over in 2023…