It’s been 30 years since the “Plaza de los Lagartos/Plaza of the Alligators” sculpture by artist Luis Jiminez was dedicated in San Jacinto Plaza.
The alligator sculpture represents the early years of El Paso when live gators lived in a pond at the plaza. They arrived 1889 and remained until 1965 when they were moved to Washinton Park, later the El Paso Zoo. They made a brief return to the plaza, protected by a plastic shield, from 1972-1974 before again returning to the zoo.
The last plaza gator, Humpy, died at the zoo in the mid-1990s…