document_title: El Paso, Texas

question_text: how far is it from el paso texas to austin texas

question_tokens: how far is it from el paso texas to austin texas

root

text: El Paso, Texas

text: History[edit]

text: Early years[edit]

text: The El Paso region has had human settlement for thousands of years, as evidenced by Folsom points from hunter-gatherers found at Hueco Tanks. The evidence suggests 10,000 to 12,000 years of human habitation.[15] The earliest known cultures in the region were maize farmers. When the Spanish arrived, the Manso, Suma, and Jumano tribes populated the area. These were subsequently incorporated into the Mestizo culture, along with immigrants from central Mexico, captives from Comanchería, and genízaros of various ethnic groups. The Mescalero Apache were also present.

tag: p

text: Spanish explorer Don Juan de Oñate was born in 1550 in Zacatecas, Zacatecas, Mexico and was the first New Spain (Mexico) explorer known to have observed the Rio Grande near El Paso, in 1598,[16] celebrating a Thanksgiving Mass there on April 30, 1598 (decades before the Pilgrims' Thanksgiving). However, the four survivors of the Narváez expedition, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Alonso del Castillo Maldonado, Andrés Dorantes de Carranza, and his enslaved Moor Estevanico, are thought to have passed through the area in the mid-1530s.[17] El Paso del Norte (present-day Ciudad Juárez) was founded on the south bank of the Río Bravo del Norte (Rio Grande), in 1659 by Fray Garcia de San Francisco. In 1680, the small village of El Paso became the temporary base for Spanish governance of the territory of New Mexico as a result of the Pueblo Revolt, until 1692 when Santa Fe was reconquered and once again became the capital.

text: The Texas Revolution (1836) was generally not felt in the region, as the American population was small; not being more than 10% of the population. However, the region was claimed by Texas as part of the treaty signed with Mexico and numerous attempts were made by Texas to bolster these claims. However, the villages which consisted of what is now El Paso and the surrounding area remained essentially a self-governed community with both representatives of the Mexican and Texan government negotiating for control until Texas irrevocably took control in 1846.

text: During this interregnum, 1836–1848, Americans nonetheless continued to settle the region. As early as the mid-1840s, alongside long extant Hispanic settlements such as the Rancho de Juan María Ponce de León, Anglo settlers such as Simeon Hart and Hugh Stephenson had established thriving communities of American settlers owing allegiance to Texas. Stephenson, who had married into the local Hispanic aristocracy, established the Rancho de San José de la Concordia, which became the nucleus of Anglo and Hispanic settlement within the limits of modern-day El Paso, in 1844. Given the reclamations of the Texas Republic that wanted a chunk of the Santa Fe trade, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo effectively made the settlements on the north bank of the river a formal American settlement, separate from Old El Paso del Norte on the Mexican side.[18] The present Texas–New Mexico boundary placing El Paso on the Texas side was drawn in the Compromise of 1850.

text: El Paso remained the largest settlement in New Mexico until its cession to the U.S. in 1848, when the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo specified the border was to run north of El Paso De Norte, then what is now the area around the Ciudad Juárez Cathedral, it became part of the state of Chihuahua.

text: El Paso County was established in March 1850, with San Elizario as the first county seat. The United States Senate fixed a boundary between Texas and New Mexico at the 32nd parallel, thus largely ignoring history and topography. A military post called "The Post opposite El Paso" (meaning opposite El Paso del Norte, across the Rio Grande) was established in 1849 on Coons' Rancho beside the settlement of Franklin, which became the nucleus of the future El Paso, Texas; After the army left in 1851 the rancho went into default and was repossessed; in 1852 a post office was established on the Rancho bearing the name El Paso as an example of Cross-border town naming until El Paso del Norte was renamed Juarez in 1888. After changing hands twice more the El Paso company was set up in 1859 and bought the property, hiring Anson Mills to survey and lay out the town forming the current street plan of downtown El Paso.[19]

text: During the Civil War, a Confederate presence was in the area until it was captured by the Union California Column in 1862. It was then headquarters for the 5th Regiment California Volunteer Infantry until December 1864.[20]

text: After the Civil War's conclusion, the town's population began to grow as Texans continued to move into the villages and soon became the majority. El Paso itself, incorporated in 1873, encompassed the small area communities that had developed along the river. In the 1870s, a population of 23 non-Hispanic whites and 150 Hispanics was reported.[21] With the arrival of the Southern Pacific, Texas and Pacific and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroads in 1881, the population boomed to 10,000 by the 1890 census, with many Anglo-Americans, recent immigrants, old Hispanic settlers, and recent arrivals from Mexico. The location of El Paso as well as the arrival of these more wild newcomers caused the city to become a violent and wild boomtown known as the "Six Shooter Capital" because of its lawlessness.[19] Indeed, prostitution and gambling flourished until World War I, when the Department of the Army pressured El Paso authorities to crack down on vice (thus benefitting vice in neighboring Ciudad Juárez). With the suppression of the vice trade and in consideration of the city's geographic position, the city continued into developing as a premier manufacturing, transportation, and retail center of the U.S. Southwest.

text: In 1909, William Howard Taft and Porfirio Díaz planned a summit in El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, an historic first meeting between a U.S. president and a Mexican president and also the first time an American president would cross the border into Mexico[22] But tensions rose on both sides of the border, including threats of assassination, so the Texas Rangers, 4,000 U.S. and Mexican troops, U.S. Secret Service agents, FBI agents and U.S. marshals were all called in to provide security.[23] Frederick Russell Burnham, the celebrated scout, was put in charge of a 250 private security detail hired by John Hays Hammond, who in addition to owning large investments in Mexico was a close friend of Taft from Yale and a U.S. Vice-Presidential candidate in 1908.[24][25] On October 16, the day of the summit, Burnham and Private C.R. Moore, a Texas Ranger, discovered a man holding a concealed palm pistol standing at the El Paso Chamber of Commerce building along the procession route.[26][27] Burnham and Moore captured, disarmed, and arrested the assassin within only a few feet of Taft and Díaz.[28][29]

text: By 1910, the overwhelming number of people in the city were Americans creating a settled environment. However, this period was short lived as the Mexican Revolution greatly impacted the city, bringing an influx of refugees – and capital – to the bustling boom town. Spanish-language newspapers, theaters, movie houses, and schools were established, many supported by a thriving Mexican refugee middle class. Large numbers of clerics, intellectuals, and businessmen took refuge in the city, particularly between 1913 and 1915.

text: Ultimately, the violence of the Mexican Revolution followed with the large Mexican diaspora which had fled into El Paso. In 1915 and again in 1916 and 1917 various Mexican revolutionary societies planned, staged, and launched violent attacks against both Texans and their political Mexican opponents in El Paso. This state of affairs eventually led to the vast Plan de San Diego which resulted in the murder of 21 white citizens.[30] The subsequent reprisals by local militia soon caused an escalation of violence, wherein it is estimated that approximately 300 Mexicans and Mexican-Americans lost their lives. These actions affected almost every resident of the entire lower Rio Grande Valley, resulting in millions of dollars of losses; the end result of the Plan of San Diego was long-standing enmity between the two racial groups.[30]

text: Simultaneously, other Texans and Americans gravitated to the city and by 1920, along with the U.S. Army troops, the population exceeded 100,000 and whites once again were in the clear majority. Nonetheless, the city increased the segregation between Mexicans and Mexican-Americans with Americans. In reply, the Catholic Church attempted to garner the Mexican-American community's allegiance through education and political and civic involvement organizations, including the National Catholic Welfare Fund.[31] In 1916, the Census Bureau reported El Paso's population as 53% Mexican and 44% white.[32]

text: Mining and other industries gradually developed in the area. The El Paso and Northeastern Railway was chartered in 1897, to help extract the natural resources of surrounding areas, especially in southeastern New Mexico Territory. The 1920s and 1930s saw the emergence of major business development in the city, partially enabled by Prohibition-era bootlegging.[19] However, the military demobilization, an agricultural economic depression which hit places like El Paso first before the larger Great Depression was felt in the big cities, hit the city hard. In turn, as in the rest of the United States, the Depression era overall hit the city hard, and El Paso's population declined through the end of World War II with most of population losses coming from the white community. Nonetheless, whites remained the majority to the 1940s.[citation needed]

text: During and following the war, military expansion in the area, as well as oil discoveries in the Permian Basin (North America), helped to engender rapid economic expansion in the mid-1900s. Copper smelting, oil refining, and the proliferation of low-wage industries (particularly garment making) led the city's growth. Additionally, the departure of region's rural population, which was mostly white, to cities like El Paso, brought a short term burst of capital and labor. However, this was balanced by additional departures of middle class Americans to other parts of the country which offered new and better paying jobs. In turn, local businesses looked south to the opportunities afforded by cheap Mexican labor. Furthermore, the period from 1942 to 1956 saw the bracero program which brought in cheap Mexican labor into the rural area to replace the losses of the native white population. In turn, seeking better-paying jobs these migrants also moved to El Paso. By 1965, Hispanics once again were a majority. Meanwhile, the post-war expansion slowed again in the 1960s, but the city continued to grow with the annexation of surrounding neighborhoods and in large part because of its significant economic relationship with Mexico.[citation needed]

text: Geography[edit]

text: El Paso is located at the intersection of three states (Texas, New Mexico, and Chihuahua) and two countries (the U.S. and Mexico). It is the only major Texas city on Mountain Time. Ciudad Juarez used to be on Central Time,[33] but both cities are now on Mountain Time.

text: El Paso is closer to the capital cities of four other states - Phoenix, Arizona (430 miles away); Santa Fe, New Mexico, (272 miles away); Ciudad Chihuahua, Chihuahua, (212 miles away); and Hermosillo, Sonora (327 miles away) - than it is to the capital of its own state, Austin (526 miles away). It is closer to Los Angeles, California (702 miles away) than it is to Orange, Texas (762 miles away), the easternmost town in the state.

text: El Paso is located within the Chihuahuan Desert, the easternmost section of the Basin and Range Region. The Franklin Mountains extend into El Paso from the north and nearly divide the city into two sections; the west side forms the beginnings of the Mesilla Valley, and the east side expands into the desert and lower valley. They connect in the central business district at the southern end of the mountain range.

text: The city's elevation is 3,800 ft (1,200 m) above sea level. North Franklin Mountain is the highest peak in the city at 7,192 ft (2,192 m) above sea level. The peak can be seen from 60 mi (100 km) in all directions. Additionally, this mountain range is home to the famous natural red-clay formation, the Thunderbird, from which the local Coronado High School gets its mascot's name. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 256.3 square miles (663.7 km2).[34]

text: The 24,000-acre (9,700 ha) Franklin Mountains State Park, the largest urban park in the United States, lies entirely in El Paso, extending from the north and dividing the city into several sections along with Fort Bliss and El Paso International Airport.

text: The Rio Grande Rift, which passes around the southern end of the Franklin Mountains, is where the Rio Grande flows. The river defines the border between El Paso and Ciudad Juárez to the south and west until the river turns north of the border with Mexico, separating El Paso from Doña Ana County, New Mexico. Mt. Cristo Rey, an example of a pluton, rises within the Rio Grande Rift just to the west of El Paso on the New Mexico side of the Rio Grande. Nearby volcanic features include Kilbourne Hole and Hunt's Hole, which are Maar volcanic craters 30 miles (50 km) west of the Franklin Mountains.

text: Climate[edit]

text: El Paso has a transitional climate between cold desert climate (Köppen BWk) and hot desert climate (Köppen BWh) featuring hot summers, usually with little humidity, and cool, dry winters. Rainfall averages 9.7 in (250 mm) per year, much of which occurs during the summer from July through September, and is predominantly caused by the North American Monsoon. During this period, southerly and southeasterly winds carry moisture from the Pacific, the Gulf of California, and the Gulf of Mexico into the region. When this moisture moves into the El Paso area and places to the southwest, orographic lift from the mountains, combined with strong daytime heating, causes thunderstorms, some severe enough to produce flash flooding and hail, across the region.

text: The sun shines 302 days per year on average in El Paso, 83% of daylight hours, according to the National Weather Service; from this, the city is nicknamed "The Sun City".[35] Due to its arid, windy climate, El Paso often experiences sand and dust storms during the dry season, particularly during the springtime between March and early May. With an average wind speed often exceeding 30 mph (50 km/h) and gusts that have been measured at over 75 mph (120 km/h), these wind storms kick up large amounts of sand and dust from the desert, causing loss of visibility.

text:
El Paso and the nearby mountains also receive snow, weather systems have produced over one foot (30 cm) of snow on several occasions. In the 1982–1983 winter season, three major snowstorms produced record seasonal snowfall. On December 25–26, 1982, 6.0 inches (15 cm) of snow fell, producing a white Christmas for the city.[36] This was followed by another 7.0 inches (18 cm) on December 30–31, 1982. On April 4–7, 1983, 16.5 inches (42 cm) of snow fell on El Paso, bringing the seasonal total to nearly 30 inches (76 cm). On December 13–14, 1987, a record storm dumped over 22 inches (56 cm) of snow on El Paso, and two weeks later (December 25–26), another three inches (7.6 cm) fell, bringing the monthly total for December 1987 to an all-time record high of 25.9 inches (66 cm)[37] of snow.[38]
The average annual snowfall for the city varies widely between different neighborhoods at different elevations, but is 6.1 inches (15 cm) at the airport (but with a median of 0, meaning most years see no snow at all).[39] It is most rare around Ysleta and the eastern valley area, which usually include large numbers of palm trees; while in the higher neighborhoods palm trees are more vulnerable to cold snaps and as a result many of which can be seen with brown leaves.

text: One example of El Paso's varying climate at its most extreme was the damaging winter storm of early February 2011, which caused closures of schools, businesses, and City Hall. The snow, which was light, stopped after about a day, but during the ensuing cold episode, municipal utilities went into a crisis. The high temperature on February 2, 2011 was 15 °F (−9 °C), the lowest daily maximum on record. In addition, the low temperature on February 3 was 1 °F (−17 °C), breaking the 5 °F (−15 °C) monthly record low set during the cold wave of 1899.[36] Loss of desert vegetation, such as Mexican/California palm trees, oleanders, and iceplants to the cold weather was one of the results. Two local power plants failed, forcing El Paso Electric to institute rolling blackouts over several days,[40] and electric wires were broken, causing localised blackouts. Many water utility pipes froze, causing areas of the city to be without water for several days.

text: Monthly means range from 45.5 °F (7.5 °C) in December to 83.5 °F (28.6 °C) in July, but high temperatures typically peak in June before the monsoon arrives, while daily low temperatures typically peak in July or early August with the higher humidity the monsoon brings (translating to warmer nights). On average, there are 52 nights of at- or below-freezing lows, 109 days of 90 °F (32 °C)+ highs and 20 days of 100 °F (38 °C)+ highs annually; it is extremely rare for temperatures to stay below the freezing mark all day.[38] The city's record high is 114 °F (46 °C) on June 30, 1994, and its record low is −8 °F (−22 °C) on January 11, 1962; the highest daily minimum was 85 °F (29 °C) on July 1 and 3, 1994, with weather records for the area maintained by the National Weather Service since 1879.

text: Flooding[edit]

text: Although the average annual rainfall is only about 9.7 in (250 mm), many parts of El Paso are subject to occasional flooding during intense summer monsoonal thunderstorms. In late July and early August 2006, up to 10 in (250 mm) of rain fell in a week, the flood-control reservoirs overflowed and caused major flooding citywide.[41] The city staff estimated damage to public infrastructure at $21 million, and to private property (residential and commercial) at $77 million.[42] Much of the damage was associated with development in recent decades in arroyos protected by flood-control dams and reservoirs, and the absence of any storm drain utility in the city to handle the flow of rain water.

text: Monthly statistics[edit]

text:
showClimate data for El Paso Int'l, Texas (1981–2010 normals, extremes 1879–present)[a]

Month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Year

Record high °F (°C)

80 (27)

86 (30)

93 (34)

98 (37)

105 (41)

114 (46)

112 (44)

108 (42)

104 (40)

96 (36)

87 (31)

80 (27)

114 (46)

Average high °F (°C)

57.7 (14.3)

63.1 (17.3)

70.3 (21.3)

78.6 (25.9)

87.8 (31)

95.5 (35.3)

94.7 (34.8)

92.4 (33.6)

87.6 (30.9)

78.2 (25.7)

66.2 (19)

57.1 (13.9)

77.4 (25.2)

Daily mean °F (°C)

45.1 (7.3)

50.1 (10.1)

56.6 (13.7)

64.7 (18.2)

73.9 (23.3)

82.0 (27.8)

82.8 (28.2)

81.0 (27.2)

75.5 (24.2)

65.1 (18.4)

53.2 (11.8)

44.8 (7.1)

64.5 (18.1)

Average low °F (°C)

32.5 (0.3)

37.1 (2.8)

42.9 (6.1)

50.7 (10.4)

60.0 (15.6)

68.0 (20)

70.9 (21.6)

69.7 (20.9)

63.3 (17.4)

52.0 (11.1)

40.1 (4.5)

32.5 (0.3)

51.6 (10.9)

Record low °F (°C)

−8 (−22)

1 (−17)

14 (−10)

23 (−5)

31 (−1)

46 (8)

56 (13)

52 (11)

41 (5)

25 (−4)

1 (−17)

−5 (−21)

−8 (−22)

Average precipitation inches (mm)

0.40 (10.2)

0.46 (11.7)

0.26 (6.6)

0.23 (5.8)

0.47 (11.9)

0.94 (23.9)

1.55 (39.4)

2.01 (51.1)

1.51 (38.4)

0.61 (15.5)

0.49 (12.4)

0.78 (19.8)

9.71 (246.6)

Average snowfall inches (cm)

1.3 (3.3)

0.6 (1.5)

0.3 (0.8)

0.8 (2)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

trace

0.8 (2)

3.1 (7.9)

6.9 (17.5)

Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in)

3.8

3.4

2.4

1.9

2.7

3.9

8.3

8.7

6.3

4.7

3.1

3.9

53.1

Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 in)

1.0

0.4

0.1

0.2

0

0

0

0

0

0.1

0.3

1.1

3.2

Average relative humidity (%)

50.5

41.6

32.4

26.9

27.1

29.9

43.9

48.4

50.5

47.1

46.1

51.5

41.3

Mean monthly sunshine hours

254.5

263.0

326.0

348.0

384.7

384.1

360.2

335.4

304.1

298.6

257.6

246.3

3,762.5

Percent possible sunshine

80

85

88

89

90

90

83

81

82

85

82

79

85

Source: NOAA (relative humidity 1962–1990, sun 1961–1990)[36][43][44]

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text: Neighborhoods[edit]

text: Downtown and central El Paso[edit]

text: This part of town contains some of the city's oldest and most historic neighborhoods. Located in the heart of the city, it is home to approximately 130,000 people. Development of the area started in 1827 with the first resident, Juan Maria Ponce de Leon, a wealthy merchant from Paso del Norte (present day Ciudad Juárez), who built the region's first structure establishing Rancho Ponce within the vicinity of S. El Paso Street and Paisano Dr. when the city was barely beginning to gain its roots. Today, central El Paso has grown into the center of the city's economy and a thriving urban community. It contains numerous historic sites and landmarks mostly in the Sunset Heights district. It is close to the El Paso International Airport, the international border, and Fort Bliss. It is part of the El Paso Independent School District.

text: Dr. James Day, an El Paso historian, said that downtown's main business area was originally centered between Second Avenue (now Paisano Drive) and San Francisco Avenue. At a later point the main business area was centered around Stanton Street and Santa Fe Street. In the late 1800s most of the white American residents lived to the north of the non-white areas, living in brick residences along Magoffin, Myrtle, and San Antonio Avenues. Hispanic-American residents lived in an area called Chihuahuita ("little Chihuahua"), which was located south of Second Avenue and west of Santa Fe Street. Several African Americans and around 300 Chinese Americans also lived in Chihuahuita. Many of the Chinese Americans participated in the building of railroads in the El Paso area.[45] Another downtown neighborhood is El Segundo Barrio, which is near the United States/Mexico border.[46]

text: Northwest El Paso[edit]

text: Better known as West El Paso or the West Side, the area includes a portion of the Rio Grande floodplain upstream from downtown which is known locally as the Upper Valley and is located on the west side of the Franklin Mountains. The Upper Valley is the greenest part of the county due to the Rio Grande. The west side is home to some of the most affluent neighborhoods within the city, such as the Coronado Hills and Country Club neighborhoods. It is one of the fastest-growing areas of El Paso.

text: West central El Paso[edit]

text: West central El Paso is located north of Interstate 10 and west of the Franklin Mountains. The University of Texas at El Paso and the Cincinnati Entertainment district are located in the heart of the area. Historic districts Kern Place and Sunset Heights are in this part of town.

text: Kern Place was founded in 1914 by Peter E. Kern, for whom the neighborhood was named.[47]

text: The homes of Kern Place are unique in architecture and some were built by residents themselves.[47] One of the better known homes is the Paul Luckett Home located at 1201 Cincinnati Ave. above Madeline Park, and is made of local rock. It is known as "The Castle" due to its round walls and a crenelated rooftop.[47]

text: Kern Place is extremely popular with college and university students. The area is known for its glitzy entertainment district, restaurants and coffee shops who cater to both business patrons and university students.[48][49] After UTEP's basketball and football games, UTEP fans pack the Kern Place area for food and entertainment at Cincinnati Street a small bar district. This bar scene has grown over the years and has attracted thousands to its annual Mardi Gras block party as well as after sporting events or concerts. Young men and women make up the majority of the crowds who stop in between classes or after work.[citation needed]

text: Sunset Heights is one of the most historic areas in town, which has existed since the latter part of the 1890s. Many wealthy residents have had their houses and mansions built on this hill. Although some buildings have been renovated to their former glory, but many have been neglected and have deteriorated. During the Mexican Revolution, a widely popular Mexican revolutionary leader, Doroteo Arango (also known as Francisco "Pancho" Villa), owned and resided in this area during the 1910s.[50] During the 1910 Mexican Revolution many Mexicans fled Mexico and settled in Sunset Heights.[51]

text: Northeast El Paso[edit]

text: This part of town is located north of central El Paso and east of the Franklin Mountains. Development of the area was extensive during the 1950s and 1960s. It is one of the more ethnically diverse areas in the city due to the concentration of military families. The Northeast has not developed as rapidly as other areas like east El Paso and northwest El Paso, but its development is steadily increasing. It is expected that the population will grow more rapidly as a result of the troop increase at Ft. Bliss in the coming years. The area has also gained recognition throughout the city for the outstanding high school athletic programs at Andress High School, Parkland High School, Irvin High School, and Chapin High School.

text: East El Paso[edit]

text: The area is located north of Interstate 10, east of Airway Blvd., and south of Montana Ave. It is the largest and fastest growing area of town with a population of over 150,000. It includes the 79936 ZIP Code, which was considered in 2013 as the most populous in the nation with over 114,000 people.[52] Its neighborhoods are mainly middle-class, but does have a considerable number of affluent neighborhoods. East El Paso is noted also for its ridges and cliffs which offer desirable views of the lower valley, the Franklin Mountains and downtown El Paso. It also possesses the greatest number of entertainment venues in the city.

text: Mission Valley[edit]

text: Formerly known as the lower valley, it includes part of Eastside and all lower valley districts. It is the third largest area of the city, behind east El Paso and central El Paso. Hawkins Road and Interstate 10 border the Mission Valley. This location is considered the oldest area of El Paso, dating back to the late 17th century when present-day Texas was under the rule of Nueva España (New Spain).

text: In 1680 the Isleta Pueblo tribe revolted against the Spaniards who were pushed south to what is now El Paso. Some Spaniards and tribe members settled here permanently. Soon afterward, three Spanish missions were built; they remain standing, currently functioning as churches: Ysleta Mission-1682 (La Misión de Corpus Christi y de San Antonio de la Ysleta del Sur/Our Lady of Mt. Carmel), Socorro Mission-1759 (Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción del Socorro)-1759 and San Elizario Chapel (Capilla de San Elcear)-1789.

text: On April 30, 1598, the northward-bound Spanish conquistadors crossed large sand dunes about 27 miles south of present-day downtown El Paso. It is said that the expeditionaries and their horses ran toward the river, and two horses drank themselves to death. Don Juan de Oñate, a New Spain-born conquistador of Spanish parents, was an expedition leader who ordered a big feast north of the Río Grande in what is now San Elizario. This was the first documented and true Thanksgiving in North America. Oñate declared La Toma (taking possession), claiming all territory north of the Río Grande for King Philip II of Spain.

text: Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo (related to the insurgent Isleta Pueblo Tribe) is also located in this valley. The Tigua (pronounced Tiwa) is one of three Indian tribes in Texas whose sovereignty is recognized by the United States government. Ysleta is spelled with a "Y" because 19th-century script did not differentiate between a capital "Y" and a capital "I."

text: Some people in this area and its twin city across the river, Ciudad Juárez, are direct descendants of the Spaniards.

text: Texas and New Mexico suburbs[edit]

text: El Paso is surrounded by many cities and communities in both Texas and New Mexico. The most populated suburbs in Texas are Socorro, Horizon City, Fort Bliss and San Elizario. Other Texas suburbs are Anthony, Canutillo, Sparks, Fabens and Vinton.

text: Although Anthony, Santa Teresa, Sunland Park, and Chaparral lie adjacent to El Paso County, they are considered to be part of the Las Cruces, New Mexico metropolitan area by the United States Census Bureau.[53]

text: Cityscape[edit]

text: Tallest buildings[edit]

text:
Rank
Building
Height
Floors
Built

1

Wells Fargo Plaza

302 ft (92 m)[54]

21

1972

2

Chase Tower

280 ft (85 m)[55]

20

1971

3

Stanton Tower

260 ft (79 m)[55]

20

1983

4

Plaza Hotel

239 ft (73 m)

19

1930

5

Hotel Paso del Norte Tower

230 ft (70 m)

17

1986

6

El Paso County Courthouse

230 ft (70 m)

14[56]

1991

7

El Paso Natural Gas Company Building

229 ft (70 m)

18

1954

8

O. T. Bassett Tower - Aloft Hotel

216 ft (66 m)

17

1930

9

One Texas Tower

205 ft (62 m)

15

1921

10

Albert Armendariz Sr. U.S. Federal Courthouse

205 ft (62 m)

9 [57]

2010

text: El Paso's tallest building, the Wells Fargo Plaza, was built in the early 1970s as State National Plaza. The black-windowed, 302-foot (92 m)[54] building is famous for its 13 white horizontal lights (18 lights per row on the east and west sides of the building, and seven bulbs per row on the north and south sides) that were lit at night. The tower did use a design of the United States flag during the July 4 holidays, as well as the American hostage crisis of 1980, and was lit continuously following the September 11 attacks in 2001 until around 2006. During the Christmas holidays, a design of a Christmas tree was used, and at times, the letters "UTEP" were used to support University of Texas at El Paso athletics. The tower is now only lit during the holiday months, or when special events take place in the city.

text:
showvteCentral business districts of Texas's ten largest cities (2010)
Downtown Houston
Downtown San Antonio
Downtown Dallas
Downtown Austin
Downtown Fort Worth
Downtown El Paso
Downtown Arlington
Downtown Corpus Christi
Downtown Plano
Downtown Laredo

text: Demographics[edit]

text:
Historical population

Census
Pop.

%±
1850200—1860428114.0%1880736—189010,3381,304.6%190015,90653.9%191039,279146.9%192077,56097.5%1930102,42132.1%194096,810−5.5%1950130,48534.8%1960276,687112.0%1970339,61522.7%1980425,25925.2%1990515,34221.2%2000563,6629.4%2010649,12115.2%Est. 2017683,577[58]5.3%U.S. Decennial Census[59]Texas Almanac: 1850–2000[60]2012 Estimate[61]El Paso 1850 to 2006[62]TX State Historical Association[63]

text:
hideDemographic profile
2010[64]
2000[65]
1990[66]
1970[66]

White
80.8%
76.3%
76.9%
96.7%

 —Non-Hispanic whites
14.2%
18.3%
26.4%
40.4%[67]

African American or Black
3.4%
3.5%
3.4%
2.3%

Hispanic or Latino (of any race)
80.7%
76.6%
69.0%
57.3%[67]

Asian
1.2%
1.5%
1.2%
0.3%

text: As of the census of 2010, 649,121 people, 216,694 households, and 131,104 families resided in the city. The population density was 2,263.0 people per square mile (873.7/km²). There were 227,605 housing units at an average density of 777.5 per square mile (300.2/km²).

text: According to the 2010 US Census, the racial composition of El Paso was:[68]

text:
White– 80.8% (Non-Hispanic Whites: 14.2%)
African American or Black – 3.4%
Two or more races – 3.3%
Asian – 1.2%
Native American – 0.7%
Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander – 0.1%

tag: ul

text: Ethnically, the city was:

text: Hispanic or Latino (of any race) – 80.7%

text: There were 182,063 households out of which 42.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.6% were married couples living together, 18.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.5% were not families. About 19.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.07 and the average family size was 3.54.

text: In the city, the population was distributed as 31.0% under the age of 18, 10.0% from 18 to 24, 29.1% from 25 to 44, 19.2% from 45 to 64, and 10.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.0 males.

text: The median income for a household in the city was $32,124, and for a family was $35,432. Males had a median income of $28,989 versus $21,540 for females. The per capita income for the city was $14,388. About 19.0% of families and 22.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.8% of those under age 18 and 17.7% of those age 65 or over.

text: Economy[edit]

text:
Largest Employers in El Paso[69]

1
Fort Bliss

2
El Paso Independent School District

3
City of El Paso

4
Ysleta Independent School District

5
T & T Staff Management L.P.[70]

6
Tenet Healthcare

7
University of Texas at El Paso

8
El Paso Healthcare System, LTD.

9
El Paso County

10
El Paso Community College

11
U.S. Customs and Border Protection

12
Automatic Data Processing, Inc.

13
University Medical Center

14
Dish Network

15
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Network

text: El Paso has a diversified economy focused primarily within international trade, military, government civil service, oil and gas, health care, tourism and service sectors. The El Paso metro area had a GDP of $29 billion in 2011.[71] There were also $92 billion worth of trade in 2012.[72] Over the past 15 years the city has become a significant location for American-based call centers. Cotton, fruit, vegetables, and livestock are also produced in the area. El Paso has added a significant manufacturing sector with items and goods produced that include petroleum, metals, medical devices, plastics, machinery, defense-related goods and automotive parts. The city is the second busiest international crossing point in the U.S. behind San Diego.[73]

text: El Paso is home to one Fortune 500 company, Western Refining, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.[74] This makes the city one of six Texas metro areas to have at least one Fortune 500 company call it home; the others being Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio, Austin and Corpus Christi.[75] The second publicly traded company is Helen of Troy Limited, a NASDAQ-listed company that manufactures personal health care products under many labels, such as OXO, Dr. Scholl's, Vidal Sassoon, Pert Plus, Brut and Sunbeam, and the third is El Paso Electric listed on the New York Stock Exchange, a public utility engaging in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity in west Texas and southern New Mexico. The fourth publicly traded company is Western Refining Logistics also traded in the New York Stock Exchange. It is a Western Refining subsidiary which owns, operates, develops, and acquires terminals, storage tanks, pipelines, and other logistics assets.

text:
More than 70 Fortune 500 companies have offices in El Paso, including AT&T, ADP, Boeing, Charles Schwab, Delphi, dish network, Eureka, Hoover,  Raytheon, Prudential Financial, USAA and Verizon Wireless.[76][77]
Hispanic Business Magazine included 28 El Paso companies in its list of the 500 largest Hispanic owned businesses in the United States.[78] El Paso's 28 companies are second only to Miami's 57. The list of the largest Hispanic owned businesses includes companies like Fred Loya Insurance, a Hispanic 500 company and the 18th largest Hispanic business in the nation. Other companies on the list are Dos Lunas Spirits, Dynatec Labs, Spira Footwear, Datamark, Inc. and El Taco Tote. El Paso was home to El Paso Corporation formerly known as El Paso Natural Gas Company.

text: The city also has a large military presence with Fort Bliss, William Beaumont Army Medical Center and Biggs Army Airfield. The defense industry in El Paso employs over 41,000 and provides a $6 billion annual impact to the city's economy.[79] Fort Bliss was chosen as the newly configured U.S. Air Force Security Forces Regional Training Center which will bring 8,000 to 10,000 Air Force personnel annually.[when?][80]

text: In addition to the military, the federal government has a strong presence in El Paso to manage its status and unique issues as an important border region. Operations headquartered in El Paso include the DEA domestic field division 7, El Paso Intelligence Center, Joint Task Force North, U.S. Border Patrol El Paso Sector and U.S. Border Patrol Special Operations Group (SOG).

text: Call center operations employ more than 10,000 people in the area.[citation needed] Automatic Data Processing has an office in West El Paso, employing about 1,100 people with expansion plans to reach 2,200 by 2020.[81]

text: Tourism is another major industry in El Paso, bringing in $1.5 billion-a-year and over 2.3 million visitors annually due to the city's sunny weather, natural beauty, rich cultural history and many outdoor attractions.[82]

text: Education is also a driving force in El Paso's economy. El Paso's three large school districts are among the largest employers in the area, employing more than 20,000 people among them. UTEP has an annual budget of nearly $418 million and employs nearly 4,800 people.[83][84] A 2010 study by the university's Institute for Policy and Economic Development stated the university's impact on local businesses is $417 million annually.[85]

text: Arts and culture[edit]

text: Annual cultural events and festivals[edit]

text: Amigo Airsho[edit]

text: Amigo Airsho is one of El Paso's premier events, and is ranked as one of the top ten air shows in the country. The show is filled with air entertainment and ground activities. Acts include the Franklin's Flying Circus, where performers walk on the wings of an airborne plane. Ground activities include the Jet Powered School Bus. After 31 years of being held at Biggs Army Airfield, the show was moved to Dona Ana Airport in 2014.[86]

text: KLAQ Great River Raft Race[edit]

text: The KLAQ Great River Raft Race is an annual event celebrated on the second to last Saturday of June. Participants are encouraged to ride the river and float the Rio Grande with family and friends. The organizers encourage the building of unique rafts that will get you down the river with prizes and trophies awarded for the most points earned, best looking crew, and best decorated raft. The race starts at the Vinton bridge and ends three miles downstream at the Canutillo bridge.[87]

text: Southwestern International PRCA Rodeo[edit]

text: The Southwestern International PRCA Rodeo is the 17th oldest rodeo in the nation and El Paso's longest running sporting event. Consistently ranked as one of the top 50 shows in the country by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, this charitable event is a true celebration of western culture and heritage.[88]

text: Fiesta de las Flores[edit]

text: Fiesta de las Flores is the oldest Hispanic Festival in the Southwest. The three-day Fiesta is held each year during the Labor Day weekend and emphasizes El Paso's Hispanic heritage and culture. The festival attracts 20,000 to 30,000 visitors from El Paso County, New Mexico, West Texas and the State of Chihuahua, Mexico.[89] Activities included in the Fiesta are crowning of the Queen, a Fiesta Parade, Senior Appreciation Dance, Military Appreciation Day, and live Entertainment. The Fiesta is also well known for the authentic regional cuisine, arts and craft wares, games, and services available for the enjoyment of all segments of the attendees. Over 80 booths, sponsored by local vendors and nonprofit organizations create the Hispanic ambience and culture.

text: El Paso Balloonfest[edit]

text: The El Paso Balloonfest is an annual event celebrated on Memorial Day weekend and is self described as "3 days of hot air balloons filling the El Paso skies, 3 afternoons of concerts and fun in the sun at Wet N' Wild Waterworld in Anthony, Texas." Over 60 balloons take to the air annually from TFCU launch field which is adjacent to the water park. After the balloons launch, visitors have a weekend of water rides, swimming, concerts, and grilling. The concert aspect of the event features local bands, starting at noon, and different headlining artists in the afternoon.[90] Overnight camping has been added for 2014.[91]

text: Music festivals[edit]

text: El Paso Downtown Street Festival[edit]

text: The annual El Paso Downtown Street Festival is held during the last weekend of June in downtown El Paso near the El Paso Convention center.[92] It is the oldest musical festival in the city and brings local, regional and nationally known acts.

text: Neon Desert Music Festival[edit]

text: The annual Neon Desert Music Festival is a two-day event usually held on the last Saturday and Sunday of May on five stages in downtown El Paso stretching from San Jacinto Plaza to Cleveland Square.[93] The festival brings over 30 acts from the worlds of indie rock, Latin and electronic dance music.

text: Music Under the Stars[edit]

text: The outdoor concert series, started in 1983, is held annually at the Chamizal National Memorial and draws over 60,000 attendees. It features local and international performers with musical genres ranging from Classical, Country, Tejano, rock and others. The evening concerts are showcased every Sunday afternoon and start in early June and end in the middle of August.[94]

text: Sun City Music Festival[edit]

text: The only El Paso musical festival not held downtown; instead it is held at Ascarate Park. The Sun City Music Festival is a two-day event dubbed as the largest electronic dance music festival in Texas.[95]

text: Texas Showdown Festival[edit]

text: The Texas Showdown Festival is an annual event celebrating musicians and tattoo artists under one roof.[96] Dubbed as the world's largest tattoo and musical festival, the event is held usually the last weekend of July at the El Paso County Coliseum.

text: Performing arts[edit]

text: Viva! El Paso[edit]

text: The outdoor musical extravaganza Viva! El Paso is performed in the McKelligon Canyon Amphitheatre. It is locally produced and chronicles the 400-year history and cultural evolution of the El Paso region. The show is performed each Friday and Saturday night in June, July, and August. Viva! El Paso has entertained local residents and out-of-town visitors for over 35 years.[97]

text: El Paso Symphony Orchestra[edit]

text:
The El Paso Symphony was established in the 1930s, it is the oldest performing arts organization in El Paso and the longest continuously running symphony orchestra in the state of Texas.[98] It has received both national and international recognition as a result of its very successful tours of Germany in 1996 and Turkey in 2000, and continues to represent the El Paso region with pride and distinction.
The El Paso Symphony Orchestra Association season is anchored by 12 classical concerts. Special events serve as outreach toward new audiences.

text: Ballet in El Paso[edit]

text: Ballet was largely nonexistent in El Paso until the arrival of Ingeborg Heuser, a professional ballerina from Germany, in the 1950s. Heuser taught ballet at the University of Texas at El Paso for 47 years and founded the city's first professional ballet company, firstly known as Texas Western Civic Ballet and eventually as Ballet El Paso. The company dissipated due to financial trouble in 1997 and Heuser retired from UTEP soon after.[99][100]

text: The El Paso Youth Ballet was founded in 2009 by Heuser's previous student, Marta Katz, following Heuser's departure from the university. With students from the youth ballet, Heuser staged her last Nutcracker in 2006. The youth company continues to perform the Nutcracker and other pre-professional pieces in and around the El Paso area. The company provides the only platform for young ballet dancers to train and perform at such a level within the city since the folding of Ballet El Paso.[101]

text: El Paso City Ballet is a current professional ballet company in El Paso, providing local employment for professional dancers in the field of ballet. The company performs a variety of classical and contemporary works choreographed by Artistic Director Lisa Skaf and artists from the US and Latin America.[102] It has been active since 2005, performing yearly productions.

text: Theaters[edit]

text: This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: The Abraham Chavez Theatre features a three-story-high glass-windowed entry and sombrero-shaped architecture.

text: The Plaza Theatre features Broadway productions, musical concerts, and individual performers. It has a seating capacity of 2,100.

text: McKelligon Canyon is a 90-acre (360,000 m2) park, located in the Franklin Mountains, open to hikers and picnickers. In the canyon, McKelligon Canyon Amphitheatre is surrounded on three sides by canyon walls; the 1,500-seat amphitheater is used for concerts and special events, such as Viva! El Paso.  El Paso Playhouse is a theater affiliated with Kids-N-Co, a theater for child actors. The UTEP Dinner Theatre is a theatre within the UTEP campus.

text: Area museums[edit]

text: The Centennial Museum and Chihuahuan Desert Gardens, located on the grounds of UTEP, includes a comprehensive collection of El Paso Brown, Native American pottery, as well as educational exhibits for students.

text: The El Paso Museum of Archaeology is located on the eastern slope of North Franklin Mountain, west of Gateway South Blvd. on TransMountain Rd.[103] Its grounds include native plants of the American Southwest, as well samples of Native American shelters, in an unspoiled location. The museum includes dioramas for school children which illustrate the culture and geology of the American Southwest, such as Hueco Tanks in El Paso County. One diorama (see image to the right) is of the Cueva de la Olla[104] (cave of the pot) which is located in the Sierra Madre of Chihuahua, an example of the Paquimé culture.[105]

text: The El Paso Museum of Art is located next to the Plaza Theater adjacent to San Jacinto Plaza, the public square downtown. It contains works of southwestern artists such as Tom Lea.

text: Other area museums include:

text:
El Paso Holocaust Museum and Study Center
International Museum of Art El Paso
El Paso Museum of History[106]
Fort Bliss Museums and Study Center[107]
Insights El Paso Science Museum[108]
The Magoffin Homestead, dating from 1875, is now a state historic site.
The National Border Patrol Museum is located adjacent to the El Paso Museum of Archaeology.
Railroad and Transportation Museum of El Paso[109]
War Eagles Air Museum[110] in nearby Santa Teresa, New Mexico
The Gene Roddenberry Planetarium[111]
Lynx Exhibits[112]

text: Sites within the city limits[edit]

text:
Ysleta Mission is recognized as the oldest continuously operated parish in the State of Texas.
Cathedral of Saint Patrick erected in 1916 is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of El Paso.
Chamizal National Memorial
El Paso Zoo
Magoffin Home State Historic Site
Plaza Hotel
Union Depot
El Paso High School
University of Texas at El Paso The university's distinctive style is a type of fortress architecture, Dzong, found in the present and former Buddhist mountain kingdoms of the Himalayas, Bhutan and Tibet.[113][114]

text: Sites within the metro and surrounding area[edit]

text: Within driving distance from El Paso are nine state parks, two national parks, two national monuments, one national memorial and a national forest.

text:
Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Guadalupe Peak – the highest point in Texas at 8,749 feet in elevation.
Hueco Tanks State Historic Site
McKittrick Canyon
Lincoln National Forest
Mt. Cristo Rey
Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument
Socorro Mission
White Sands National Monument
San Elizario Chapel
Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Old Mesilla
Wet N' Wild Waterworld
Spaceport America
Sunland Park Racetrack & Casino
Western Playland

text: Sports[edit]

text: El Paso is home to the Sun Bowl, the second oldest consecutive college football contest[citation needed] (after the Rose Bowl). Its first game was held in 1937.

text: On September 18, 2012, the city council voted to approve the demolition of the current city hall to make way for Southwest University Park,[115] to be the new home of the El Paso Chihuahuas Triple-A team (San Diego Padres affiliate) beginning with the 2014 season. The team was recently purchased by Mountainstar Sports Group of El Paso.[116]

text: The El Paso Marathon takes place annually since 2007. The El Paso Patriots played their last season in 2013 and are no longer an organization.

text: El Paso will get a USL team starting in 2019. They will play at the Southwest University Park.[117]

text:
Club

Sport

League

Venue

Capacity

El Paso Chihuahuas

Baseball

AAA PCL

Southwest University Park

9,500

El Paso Rhinos

Ice Hockey

WSHL

Sierra Providence Event Center

5,250

El Paso Coyotes

Indoor Soccer

MASL

Sierra Providence Event Center

5,250

UTEP Miners Football

NCAA Division I FBS Football

C-USA

Sun Bowl Stadium

51,500

UTEP Basketball Men

NCAA Division I Basketball

C-USA

Don Haskins Center

12,000

UTEP Basketball Women

NCAA Division I Basketball

C-USA

Memorial Gym

5,000

UTEP Softball

NCAA Division I Softball

C-USA

Helen of Troy Field

607

UTEP Track and Field

NCAA Division I Track and Field

C-USA

Kidd Field

15,000

UTEP Women's Soccer

NCAA Division I Soccer

C-USA

University Field

500

EPCC Baseball

NJCAA Division I Baseball

WJCAC

EPCC Baseball Field

520

text: Parks and recreation[edit]

text: El Paso is home to the largest urban park in the nation.[118]  The Franklin Mountains State Park, with its more than 24,248 acres (9,813 ha), is completely located within the city limits. The park is open year-round for recreation including hiking, mountain biking, picnicking, scenic driving and views of the city. The city is also home to 242 municipal parks.[119][120]

text: The Wyler Aerial Tramway is operated by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and is in the Franklin Mountains State Park. The tramway complex covers 196 acres (0.79 km2) on the east side of the Franklin Mountains. The gondolas travel along two 2,600-foot (790 m) 1 3⁄8 diameter steel cables to Ranger Peak, 5,632 feet (1,717 m) above sea level. The trip takes about four minutes and lifts riders 940 feet (290 m) above the boarding area.

text: Hueco Tanks State Historic Site is a Texas historic site in the Hueco Tanks area, approximately 32 miles (51 km) northeast of El Paso. The park is popular for recreation such as birdwatching and bouldering, and is culturally and spiritually significant to many Native Americans. This significance is partially manifested in the pictographs (rock paintings) that can be found throughout the region, many of which are thousands of years old.[121] Also within the city limits, the Chamizal National Memorial is a 54.90-acre (22.22 ha) memorial park that serves primarily as a cultural center and contains art galleries, a theater, and an amphitheatre. A museum detailing the history of the Mexico–U.S. border is located inside the visitor center.

text: Botanical gardens[edit]

text:
The Chihuahuan Desert Gardens (CDG) display the flora of the Chihuahuan Desert and adjacent regions in the United States and Mexico. The Gardens were formally dedicated in September 1999 and contain over 625 different species of plants, comprising one of the largest captive assemblages of Chihuahuan Desert flora in the world.
The El Paso Municipal Rose Garden (officially named the All-American Rose Selection (AARS) public garden) is one of over 100 certified gardens within the United States. There are over 1,900 rosebushes with 500 varieties. The wrought-iron fenced garden has wide walkways with handicap accessibility, raised beds, a waterfall, and trees and shrubs. Several new rose varieties are planted each year, and after two years the highest-rated are named and receive the AARS symbol.
Feather Lake is a 43.5-acre (17.6 ha) wildlife sanctuary based on a 40-acre (16 ha) wetland built by the City of El Paso in 1969 as a stormwater-retention basin. Since 1976, the El Paso/Trans-Pecos Audubon Society has leased this land from the city and managed it for wildlife. Over 200 different species of birds, especially those associated with water, have been observed at the sanctuary. Fauna residing there include muskrats, spiny softshell turtles, pond sliders, and Trans-Pecos striped whiptail lizards.
Keystone Heritage Park comprises an Archaic-period archaeological site, wetlands, and a desert botanical garden. The 4,500-year-old site is one of the oldest villages in the United States. The wetlands are home to many birds, and over 200 species have been spotted there on their seasonal migrations. The botanical garden features a variety of native plants, and includes a pavilion and a replica of an Archaic period brush hut. The newest component, The Chihuahuan Desert Experience, is a work in progress that will allow visitors to stroll the 900-mile (1,400 km) length of desert over a 17-acre (6.9 ha) recreation of the plant indigenous life.
Rio Bosque Wetlands is a 372-acre (151 ha) city park, managed by the Center for Environmental Resource Management of the University of Texas at El Paso, which began restoration efforts in 1998. In the fall and winter, water flows through the park along the route of the river before it was confined within levees in the 1930s. Many animals and birds have returned to the area as the restoration proceeds, and over 200 species of birds have been sighted.

text: Golf courses[edit]

text: The metro area has 16 golf courses including Butterfield Trail Golf Club, the only public premium daily fee Tom Fazio designed golf course in the state of Texas.[122] It was ranked No. 1 in Texas and No. 3 in the Nation on Golfweek's 2013 Best Municipal Golf Courses.[123] Other golf courses found in the county include:

text:
Ascarate Golf Course[124]
Coronado Country Club[125]
El Paso Country Club[126]
Horizon City Golf Course[127]
Lone Star Golf Club[128]
Painted Dunes Desert Golf Club[129]
Vista Hills Country Club[130]
Underwood Golf Complex[131]

text: Next door in Dona Ana County there are the following golf courses:

text:
Dos Lagos Golf Course[132]
Las Cruces Country Club[133]
New Mexico State Golf Course[134]
Picacho Hills Country Club[135]
Red Hawk Golf Club[136]
Santa Teresa Country Club
Sonoma Ranch Golf Course[137]

text: Zoo[edit]

text: The El Paso Zoo has 35 acres (14 ha) and over 200 animal species. The zoo is divided into three distinct sections: the Americas; Asia; and Africa. Exhibits include elephants, lions, tigers, sea lions, zebras, and giraffes.

text: Government[edit]

text:
El Paso City Council[138]
• City Council is officially nonpartisan

Peter Svarzbein

District 1, Westside

Alexsandra Annello

District 2, West Central

Cassandra Hernandez

District 3, East Central

Sam Morgan

District 4, Northeast

Dr. Michiel Noe

District 5, Eastside

Claudia Ordaz

District 6, East Valley

Henry Rivera

District 7, Mid Valley

Vacant

District 8, Southside/ Upper Valley

text: City[edit]

text: The city government is officially nonpartisan. Mayors and city council members are elected for four year terms and may not be elected more than twice or serve for more than 10 years in their respective offices.[139] Municipal elections are currently held in May in odd-numbered years, but a voter-approved charter amendment will change this to November in even-numbered years, beginning in 2018.[140] Council members elected in 2015 will serve through December 2018, and council members and the mayor elected in 2017 will serve through December 2020. Those elected in 2018 and 2020 will serve regular four-year terms.[141]

text: The city operates under a council–manager form of government. Power is concentrated in the eight-member elected city council and mayor, who hire a manager to carry out its directives and oversee the delivery of public services. The current city manager is Tommy Gonzalez[142] and the current mayor of El Paso is Dee Margo, who was elected to the office in 2017.[143]

text: The terms of Mayor Margo and Councillors Annello, Hernandez, Morgan, and Rivera will end in 2020. The terms of Lizarraga, Noe, Ordaz, and Svarzbein will end in 2018.

text: Noe has been on the council since 2011, Ordaz since 2014, Svarzbein since 2015, and Annello, Hernandez, Lizarraga, Morgan, and Rivera since 2017. Due to the term limits clause of the city charter Noe is ineligible for reelection. All other councilors and the mayor are eligible for reelection.

text: County[edit]

text: The El Paso County Judge is Ruben Vogt, and the county commissioners are Carlos Leon (Precinct 1), David Stout (Precinct 2), Vince Perez (Precinct 3),[144] and Andrew Haggerty (Precinct 4). Haggerty is a Republican, the other commissioners and the county judge are Democrats.

text: Vogt was appointed County Judge in October 2017 by the County Commissioners, following County Judge Veronica Escobar's resignation to run for Congress. He was previously Escobar's chief of staff. He will serve the remainder of her term, through the end of 2018.[145] Leon and Perez were first elected to their positions in 2012, were re-elected in 2016,[146] and have been in office since 2013. Haggerty and Stout were first elected to their positions in 2014, and have been in office since 2015.[147]

text: State[edit]

text: The El Paso metropolitan area is represented in the Texas State House by Democrats Cesar Blanco, Mary Gonzalez, Joe Moody, Lina Ortega and Joe Pickett, and in the State Senate by José R. Rodríguez (D-El Paso).[148]

text: The Texas Department of Criminal Justice operates the El Paso I District Parole Office in the city. The El Paso II District Parole Office is in an unincorporated area east of Horizon City.[149]

text: Federal[edit]

text: El Paso City and County vote overwhelmingly Democratic, like most of the Texas–Mexico border area and urban Texas.[150]

text: In the United States House of Representatives, most of El Paso is part of Texas's 16th congressional district represented by Democrat Beto O'Rourke. A small sliver in the eastern part of the city is part of Texas's 23rd congressional district, represented by Republican Will Hurd.[151] The current U.S. Senators for Texas are Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and John Cornyn (R-Texas).

text: Education[edit]

text: El Paso is home to the University of Texas at El Paso, the largest public university in the region. UTEP was ranked as the 7th best university in Washington Monthly's 2013 National University Rankings, just behind Stanford and ahead of Harvard.[152] Also, the university's School of Engineering is the nation's top producer of Hispanic engineers with M.S. and Ph.D. degrees.[153]

text: El Paso is also home to Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at El Paso, Paul L. Foster School of Medicine, Texas Tech College of Architecture at El Paso, Brightwood College, Park University, Southwest University, Webster University and the University of Phoenix. Also due to its proximity, many El Paso students attend New Mexico State University where the school offers in-state tuition to El Paso County residents.[154]

text: The El Paso Community College serves most of the area as well as several technical schools and for profit schools. El Pasoans also have access to the Doña Ana Community College with campuses in Sunland Park, Anthony and Chaparral, New Mexico: This community college is a part of the New Mexico State University system.

text: El Paso area students primarily attend public schools in four school districts, El Paso Independent School District, Ysleta Independent School District, Socorro Independent School District and Canutillo Independent School District. Numerous accredited private preparatory schools also serve El Paso students. These include various pre-high school religious (Christian, Catholic, Jewish) affiliates and Montessori schools, Cathedral High School, Loretto Academy, Father Yermo High School, Lydia Patterson Institute, Faith Christian Academy, El Paso Jewish Academy, Rose of Sharon Christian Academy, Zion Lutheran Day School and Radford School.

text: Public libraries[edit]

text: The El Paso Public Library serves the needs of the public in El Paso, TX.  It consists of 12 branches, a bookmobile, a mobile computer classroom and a mobile outreach unit (Kidsmobile). It also has multiple outreach services available.[155] Livability.com ranked El Paso's libraries as the 6th best library for kids in the U.S.[156]

text: Media[edit]

text: Newspapers[edit]

text:
The main newspapers are the English-language daily El Paso Times, founded in 1881; the Spanish-language daily El Diario de El Paso, and the online newspaper El Paso Herald Post started in 2015.
The original and defunct El Paso Herald Post was also founded in 1881 as the El Paso Herald, which then merged with the El Paso Post in 1931. The paper was shut down in 1997. El Paso also has some weekly and niche magazines:

text:
El Paso Developmental News[157]
El Paso Inc[158]
El Paso Scene[159]
La Polaka[160]
The City Magazine[161]
The Prospector, published by the University of Texas at El Paso[162]

text: Radio stations[edit]

text:
showvteRadio stations in the El Paso, Texas marketBy AM frequency
600
690
750
920
1060
1150
1340
1380
1590
1650
By FM frequency
88.5
89.5
91.1
92.3
93.1
93.9
94.7
95.5
96.3
97.5
99.9
102.1
103.1
104.3
NOAA Weather Radiofrequency
162.475
162.55
By callsign
KAMA
KBNA-FM
KELP
KHEY
KHEY-FM
KHRO
KINT-FM
KKLY
KLAQ
KOFX
KPAS
KPRR
KQBU
KROD
KSII
KSVE
KTEP
KTSM
KTSM-FM
KVER
KVIV
KXPL
KYSE
WNG652
WXK25
XHTO-FM

Nearby radio markets
Carlsbad
Ciudad Juárez
Las Cruces
See also
List of radio stations in Texas

text: Radio stations from Las Cruces, New Mexico, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, can also be heard within the El Paso market.

text: Television[edit]

text: El Paso was the largest city in the United States without a PBS television station within the city limits until 1978. El Paso viewers had to watch channel 22, KRWG, from Las Cruces until 1978. In fact, the city had only three English-speaking channels and two Spanish-language channels (channel 2 and channel 5) from Juarez, and cable TV subscribers in the 1970s and 1980s could receive four Los Angeles independent channels: KTLA, KHJ, KTTV and KCOP as well as Spanish-language stations KMEX of Los Angeles and KWEX of San Antonio usually sharing the same cable channel slot. Over time, as more television stations signed on, more cable channels were added and those stations added network affiliations, the Los Angeles and San Antonio stations disappeared from the lineup. The last to be removed was KTLA in the fall of 2006 as a consequence of the WB-UPN merger into The CW, when KVIA-TV launched a digital subchannel with the network's programming.

text: El Paso's current television stations are as shown in the table below:

text:
showvteTelevision stations in the El Paso/Las Cruces/Juárez areaMexican and U.S. Network O&Os are in boldEl Paso
KDBC (4.1 CBS, 4.2 MNTV/This TV, 4.3 MeTV)
KVIA (7.1 ABC, 7.2 CW, 7.3 Ion Television, 7.4 K42DJ/AZA)
KTSM (9.1 NBC, 9.2 Estrella TV, 9.3 Escape, 9.4 Laff)
KCOS (13.1 PBS, 13.2 EPCC-TV, 13.3 Create)
KFOX (14.1 Fox, 14.2 Comet, 14.3 Grit)
K26KJ-D (25.1 MMTV, 25.2 Milenio)
KINT (26.1 UNI, 26.2 UniMás, 26.3 LATV)
KSCE (38.1 Religious Ind, 38.2 Spanish religious Ind, 38.3 Unknown, 38.4 Scriptures)
KTFN (65.1 UniMás)
Las Cruces
KCWF-CA (4.1 CBS, 4.2 MNTV, 4.3 MeTV)
K41KY-D (7.1 ABC, 7.2 CW, 7.3 StormTRACK 24/7, 7.4 K42DJ/AZA)
K54GR (9.1 NBC, 9.2 Estrella TV, 9.3 Escape, 9.4 Laff)
KRWG (22.1 PBS, 22.2 World, 22.3 PBS Kids)
KLCP (30.1 GLC)
K42DJ (42.1 AZA)
KTDO (48.1 TMD, 48.2 Test pattern)
Ciudad Juárez
XHCJE (1.1 Azteca Uno, 1.2 ADN 40)
XEPM (2.1 Las Estrellas Targeting Ciudad Juárez, 2.2 Las Estrellas Targeting El Paso)
XHCTCJ (3.1 Imagen TV)
XHJUB (5.1 Canal 5)
XHMTCH (6.1 MMTV, future)
XHCJH (20.1 Azteca 7, 20.2 a+)
XHJCI (32.1 Televisa Regional, 32.2 FOROtv)
XHIJ (44.1 Canal 44, 44.2 Canal 44 delayed, 44.3 Canal Catorce, 44.4 Milenio Televisión)
XEJ (50.1 Nu9ve, 50.2 Televisión Alternativa)

Texas television (by city)
Abilene/Sweetwater
Amarillo (Texas Panhandle)
Austin (Hill Country)
Beaumont/Port Arthur (Southeast Texas)
Corpus Christi
Dallas–Fort Worth (North Texas)
Ciudad Acuña – Del Rio
Eagle Pass
El Paso (West Texas)
Houston
Laredo
Lubbock (South Plains)
Midland–Odessa (Permian Basin)
Rio Grande Valley
San Angelo
San Antonio
Sherman/Ada, OK
Texarkana/Shreveport, LA (Ark-La-Tex)
Tyler/Longview (East Texas)
Victoria
Waco/Bryan (Brazos Valley)
Wichita Falls/Lawton, OK

New Mexico broadcast television areas by city
Albuquerque/Santa Fe
Amarillo, TX
El Paso, TX
Odessa/Midland, TX

Chihuahua broadcast television areas by city
Chihuahua City
Ciudad Juárez

text: Cellular phone coverage[edit]

text: KTSM-TV reports that cellular phone users in El Paso may be subject to international calling fees.[163]

text: El Paso in popular culture[edit]

text: Infrastructure[edit]

text: Healthcare[edit]

text: El Paso is the medical hub of West Texas and Southern New Mexico, hosting numerous state-of-the-art medical centers. Some of the city's top hospitals include William Beaumont Army Medical Center, Sierra Medical Center, Las Palmas Medical Center, Del Sol Medical Center, Sierra Providence East Medical Center, El Paso Children's Hospital, and Providence Memorial Hospital. University Medical Center is the only level I trauma center in the region. William Beaumont Army Medical Center will be replaced by a new state of the art $650 million Fort Bliss Replacement Hospital expected to open in 2017.[164] West El Paso will be getting a new $120 million 140-bed teaching hospital complex with construction expected to be completed by late 2016[citation needed]. The hospital will be affiliated with the Texas Tech Paul L. Foster School of Medicine.

text: El Paso is also home to the Medical Center of the Americas, an integrated complex of medical facilities anchored by Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at El Paso, Paul L. Foster School of Medicine, its primary teaching hospital University Medical Center, the El Paso Psychiatric Center and by the new El Paso Children's Hospital. It is also site to the future Cardwell Collaborative biomedical research park and the Gayle Greve Hunt School of Nursing.

text: Transportation[edit]

text: El Paso is served by El Paso International Airport and Amtrak via the historic Union Depot.

text: Several roads and highways connect El Paso, including Interstate 10, US Highway 54 (known locally as "54", the "North-South Freeway" or officially as the Patriot Freeway), Spur 601 (Liberty Expressway), US Highway 180 and US Highway 62 (Montana Avenue), US Highway 85 (Paisano Drive), Loop 375, Loop 478 (Copia Street-Pershing Drive-Dyer Street), numerous Texas Farm-to-Market roads (a class of state highway commonly abbreviated to FM) and the city's original thoroughfare, State Highway 20, the eastern portion of which is known locally as Alameda Avenue (formerly US Highway 80). Texas 20 also includes portions of Texas Avenue in central El Paso, Mesa Street from Downtown to the West Side, and Doniphan Drive on the West Side. Northeast El Paso is connected to West El Paso by Transmountain Road (Loop 375). The city also shares four international bridges and one railbridge with Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. In 2009, El Paso was home to number 52, number 98, and number 100 of the 100 most congested roads in Texas, which are, respectively: North Zaragoza Road between Sun Fire Boulevard and Interstate 10; Lee Trevino Drive between Montana Avenue and Interstate 10; and Interstate 10 between Patriot Freeway and Loop 375.[165]

text: In 2009, 79.8% of El Paso (city) commuters drive to work alone. The 2009 mode share for El Paso (city) commuters are 10.3% for carpooling, 2.4% for transit, 2.5% for walking, and .2% for cycling.[166] In 2016, Walk Score ranked El Paso as the 32nd most walkable of the 50 largest U.S. cities, rating it "car-dependent".[167] The city of El Paso has a slightly lower than average percentage of households without a car. In 2015, 7.4 percent of El Paso households lacked a car, and increased to 8.4 percent in 2016. The national average was 8.7 percent in 2016. El Paso averaged 1.82 cars per household in 2016, compared to a national average of 1.8.[168]

text: Airports[edit]

text:
El Paso International Airport, a public airport four miles (6 km) northeast of downtown El Paso. It is the largest commercial airport in West Texas, handling 2,778,248 passengers in 2014.[169] The El Paso International Airport serves the El Paso-Las Cruces Combined Statistical area.
Biggs Army Airfield
Horizon Airport
Dona Ana Airport[170]
Las Cruces International Airport

text: Passenger rail[edit]

text: Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, serves El Paso at the Union Depot, operating its Sunset Limited/Texas Eagle three times weekly between Los Angeles and New Orleans via San Antonio and Houston and between Los Angeles and Chicago via San Antonio and Fort Worth.

text: Major highways[edit]

text:
Interstate 10: The primary thoroughfare through the city, connecting the city with other major U.S. cities such as Los Angeles, Phoenix, Tucson, San Antonio, Houston, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Gulfport and Mobile, with the east end located in Jacksonville, Florida. I-10 is also a connector to Interstate 25, which connects with the cities of Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Colorado Springs, Denver, Fort Collins, Cheyenne, Casper, and north to the junction with I-90, located in Buffalo, Wyoming.
 US Highway 54: Officially called the Patriot Freeway, it is also known as the North-South Freeway. A business route runs along Dyer Street, the former US 54, from the freeway near Fort Bliss to the Texas–New Mexico border, where it again rejoins the expressway. The original US 54 was a transcontinental route connecting El Paso with Chicago.

text:
US Highway 62: Santa Fe Street south of Paisano Drive concurrently runs with US 85, Paisano Drive east of Santa Fe Street to Montana Avenue, then Montana Avenue concurrently with US 180.
 US Highway 85: Santa Fe Street south of Paisano Drive concurrently runs with US 62 and Paisano Drive west of Santa Fe Street to I-10.
 US Highway 180: Montana Avenue is a bypass route to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex to the east, and Flagstaff, Arizona to the west.
 SH 20: Alameda Avenue (formerly US 80), Texas Avenue, Mesa Street and Doniphan Drive
 SH 178: Artcraft Road in northwest El Paso extends from Interstate 10 west to the New Mexico state line, at which point it becomes New Mexico Highway 136, the Pete V. Domenici International Highway.
 Loop 375: Texas Highway Loop 375 encircles the city of El Paso. Between Interstate 10 and Fort Bliss, including the stretch that crosses the Franklin Mountains via Smuggler's Pass, it is TransMountain Road. In the Ft. Bliss Military Reservation between northeast and east El Paso, it is officially the Purple Heart Memorial Highway. In east El Paso, the north- and south-bound sections are known as Joe Battle Boulevard, or simply as "the Loop". South of I-10, in the east and westbound portion, it is known as the Cesar Chavez Border Highway, a four-lane expressway which is located along the Mexico–U.S. border between downtown El Paso and the Ysleta area.
 Spur 601: Once known as the Inner Loop, it was officially named the Liberty Expressway by the El Paso City Council in April 2010 at the request of then Fort Bliss commander Maj. Gen. Howard Bromberg.[171] It was fully completed on April 27, 2011;[172] it connects the Patriot Freeway (US 54) and Biggs Army Airfield to the Purple Heart Memorial Highway (Loop 375).
 North Loop Road, as well as Delta Drive between North Loop Road and Alameda Avenue (Texas Highway 20)
 Zaragoza Road, running more or less north from the Ysleta International Bridge to US 62–180 (Montana Avenue), it lies mostly in east El Paso.
 Texas Farm-to-Market Road 3255 runs north from US 54 to the New Mexico state line in northeast El Paso and bears the city street name Martin Luther King Boulevard.
Border West Expressway under construction (as of 2018), parallel to I-10 through downtown and the west side.

text: Mass transit[edit]

text: The Sun Metro Mass Transit System operates a system of medium- to large-capacity natural gas-powered buses all around the city of El Paso.[173]

text: El Paso County Transit makes trips with small-capacity buses mainly in the eastern El Paso area.

text: On September 1, 2009, NMDOT Park and Ride began operating commuter bus service to and from Las Cruces, New Mexico.[174]

text: Historically, El Paso and Ciudad Juarez had a shared streetcar system with a peak electrified route mileage of 64 miles (103 km) in 1920. The first electrified line across the Rio Grande, which opened on January 11, 1902, was preceded by a network that relied on animal labor. The system quickly spread into residential and industrial areas of El Paso. In 1913, a 12-mile (19 km) interurban line was built to Ysleta. At the close of 1943, the holding company El Paso Electric sold its subsidiary, the El Paso Electric Railway Company and its Mexican counterpart, to one of National City Lines' subsidiaries. This resulted in the formation of El Paso City Lines, whose domestic streetcar lines were replaced by buses in 1947.[175] The international streetcar line which crossed the border via the Stanton Street Bridge continued to operate until 1973. In 1977, El Paso City Lines and two other bus companies were bought by the municipality and merged to form Sun City Area Transit (SCAT). In 1987, SCAT restyled itself Sun Metro.[176]

text: El Paso Streetcar is a $90 million Sun Metro project to restore and run the original rolling stock on a 4.8 miles (7.7 km)[177] route from Downtown El Paso to University of Texas at El Paso.

text: In 2011, Sun Metro was named the most outstanding public transit system of the year in all of North America for a mid-size transit system by the American Public Transportation Association.

text: International border crossings[edit]

text: The first bridge to cross the Rio Grande at El Paso del Norte was built in the time of Nueva España, over 250 years ago, from wood hauled in from Santa Fe.[178] Today, this bridge is honored by the modern Santa Fe Street Bridge, and Santa Fe Street in downtown El Paso.

text: Several bridges serve the El Paso–Ciudad Juárez area:

text:
Bridge of the Americas, also known as the Cordova Bridge.
Good Neighbor International Bridge, also known as the Stanton Street Bridge
Paso del Norte International Bridge, also known as the Santa Fe Street Bridge.
Ysleta–Zaragoza International Bridge, also known as the Zaragoza Bridge.

text: Notable people[edit]


document_title: United States one-dollar bill

question_text: where is the date on a dollar bill

question_tokens: where is the date on a dollar bill

text: United States one-dollar bill

text: History[edit]

text: Large size notes[edit]

text: (approximately 7⅜ × 3⅛ in ≅ 187 × 79  mm -- see also IBM punched cards)

text:
1862: The first one-dollar bill was issued as a Legal Tender Note (United States Note) with a portrait of Salmon P. Chase, the Secretary of the Treasury under President Abraham Lincoln.[5][6]
1869: The $1 United States Note was redesigned with a portrait of George Washington in the center and a vignette of Christopher Columbus sighting land to the left. The obverse of the note also featured green and blue tinting. Although this note is technically a United States Note, TREASURY NOTE appeared on it instead of UNITED STATES NOTE.[7]
1874: The Series of 1869 United States Note was revised. Changes on the obverse included removing the green and blue tinting, adding a red floral design around the word WASHINGTON D.C., and changing the term TREASURY NOTE to UNITED STATES NOTE. The reverse was completely redesigned. This note was also issued as Series of 1875 and 1878.[8]
1880: The red floral design around the words ONE DOLLAR and WASHINGTON D.C. on the United States Note was removed and replaced with a large red seal. Later versions also had blue serial numbers and a small seal moved to the left side of the note.[8]
1886: The first woman to appear on U.S. currency, Martha Washington, was featured on the $1 silver certificate. The reverse of the note featured an ornate design that occupied the entire note, excluding the borders.[9]
1890: One-dollar Treasury or "Coin Notes" were issued for government purchases of silver bullion from the silver mining industry. The reverse featured the large word ONE in the center surrounded by an ornate design that occupied almost the entire note.[10]
1891: The reverse of the Series of 1890 Treasury Note was redesigned because the treasury felt that it was too "busy," which would make it too easy to counterfeit. More open space was incorporated into the new design. The obverse was largely unchanged.[11]
1896: The famous "Educational Series" Silver Certificate was issued. The entire obverse was covered with artwork of allegorical figures representing "history instructing youth" in front of Washington D.C. The reverse featured portraits of George and Martha Washington surrounded by an ornate design that occupied almost the entire note.[12]
1899: The $1 Silver Certificate was again redesigned. The obverse featured a vignette of the United States Capitol behind a bald eagle perched on an American flag. Below that were small portraits of Abraham Lincoln to the left and Ulysses S. Grant to the right.[13]
1917: The obverse of the $1 United States Note was changed slightly with the removal of ornamental frames that surrounded the serial numbers.[14]
1918: The only large-sized, Federal Reserve Note-like $1 bill was issued as a Federal Reserve Bank Note (not to be confused with Federal Reserve Notes). Each note was an obligation of the issuing Federal Reserve Bank and could only be redeemed at that corresponding bank. The obverse of the note featured a borderless portrait of George Washington to the left and wording in the entire center. The reverse featured a bald eagle in flight clutching an American flag.[15]
1923: Both the one-dollar United States Note and Silver Certificate were redesigned. Both notes featured the same reverse and an almost identical obverse with the same border design and portrait of George Washington. The only difference between the two notes was the color of ink used for the numeral 1 crossed by the word DOLLAR, treasury seal, and serial numbers along with the wording of the obligations. These dollar bills were the first and only large-size notes with a standardized design for different types of notes of the same denomination; this same concept would later be used on small-size notes.[16]

text: Small size notes[edit]

text: (6.14 length × 2.61 width× 0.0043 in thickness = 156 × 66.3 × 0.11 mm)

text: In 1929, all currency was changed to the size with which we are familiar today. The first one-dollar bills were issued as silver certificates under Series of 1928. The treasury seal and serial numbers were dark blue. The obverse was nearly identical to the Series of 1923 $1 Silver Certificate, but the treasury seal featured spikes around it and a large gray ONE replaced the blue "1 DOLLAR." The reverse, too, had the same border design as the Series of 1923 $1 bill, but the center featured a large ornate ONE superimposed by ONE DOLLAR. These are commonly known as "Funnybacks" due to the rather odd-looking "ONE" on the reverse. These $1 Silver Certificates were issued until 1934.

text: In 1933, Series of 1928 $1 United States Notes were issued to supplement the supply of $1 Silver Certificates. Its treasury seal and serial numbers were red and there was different wording on the obverse of the note. However, a month after their production, it was realized that there would be no real need for these notes and production was stopped. A small number of these $1 bills entered circulation and the rest were kept in treasury vaults until 1949 when they were issued in Puerto Rico.[17]

text: In 1934, the design of the $1 Silver Certificate was changed. This occurred with that year's passage of the Silver Purchase Act, which led to a large increase in dollar bills backed by that metal.[18] Under Washington's portrait, ONE SILVER DOLLAR was changed to ONE DOLLAR. The treasury seal was moved to the right and superimposed over ONE, and a blue numeral 1 was added to the left. The reverse remained the same.

text: A year later, in 1935, the design of the one-dollar bill was changed again. On the obverse, the blue numeral 1 was changed to gray and made smaller, the gray ONE to the right was removed, the treasury seal was made smaller and superimposed by WASHINGTON D.C., and a stylized ONE DOLLAR was added over the treasury seal. The reverse was also changed to its current design, except for the absence of IN GOD WE TRUST.

text: World War II brought about special issues of one-dollar bills in 1942. Special $1 Silver Certificates were issued for Hawaii in case of a Japanese invasion. HAWAII was printed vertically on the left and right side of the obverse and also horizontally across the reverse. The seal and serial numbers were changed to brown. Special Silver Certificates were also issued as payment for Allied troops in North Africa about to begin their assault into Europe. The only difference on these one-dollar bills was a yellow instead of blue seal. Both of these types of notes could be declared worthless if they fell into enemy hands.

text: The next change came in 1957 when the $1 bill became the first piece of paper U.S. currency to bear the motto IN GOD WE TRUST; it was added over the word ONE on the reverse. Initially the BEP began printing the motto on notes printed with the new 32 note press, but soon Series of 1935G bills printed on a 18 note press featured the motto.

text: The final production of $1 Silver Certificates occurred in late 1963. In 1964, the redemption of Silver Certificates for silver coin ended and in 1968 the redemption of Silver Certificates for silver bullion ended.

text: Production of one-dollar Federal Reserve Notes was undertaken in late 1963 to replace the soon-to-be obsolete $1 Silver Certificate. The design on the reverse remained the same, but the border design on the obverse underwent considerable modification, as the mostly abstract filigrees were replaced with designs that were mostly botanical in nature. In addition, the word "one," which appeared eight times around the border in small type, was eliminated. The serial numbers and treasury seal were printed in green ink. This was the first time the one-dollar bill was printed as a Federal Reserve Note.

text: The $1 bill became the first denomination printed at the new Western Currency Facility in February 1991, when a shipment of 3.2 million star notes from the Dallas FRB was produced.[19]

text: Though bill denominations of $5 and higher have been redesigned twice since 1995 as part of ongoing anti-counterfeiting efforts, there are currently no plans to redesign the $1 or $2 bills.

text: Experimental issues[edit]

text: Since 1933, the one-dollar bill has been the exclusive experimental denomination amongst circulating US currency, however, an exception was made in August 1981 for several Richmond $10 notes produced on Natick test paper. The first experiment was conducted in January and February of that year to assess the effects of using different ratios of cotton to linen in the make-up of the bills. Series 1928A and 1928B $1 Silver Certificates with serial number block letters X-B and Y-B were used as the experimental group; the Z-B block was used as the control group. The results of the experiment were inconclusive.

text: In 1937, another test was conducted, similar in style to the 1933 experiment. This test used Series 1935 one-dollar bills. The particular notes used in this experiment can be identified by their serial numbers. Notes ranging from A00000001B–A06180000B and B00000001B–B03300000B were the experimental group and notes ranging from C00000001B–C03300000B were part of the control group. No conclusive results were found.

text: A more well-known test was done in 1942 during World War II to test alternative types of paper; this was a precautionary measure in case the current type of paper supply could not be maintained. Series 1935A notes made of the special paper and were printed with a red "S" to the right of the treasury seal, while notes of the control group were printed with a red R. Fake red S's and R's have been applied to regular Series 1935A notes to try and pass them at a higher value; checking a note's serial numbers can prevent this. Serial numbers of the R group range from S70884001C–S72068000C and serial numbers of the S group range from S73884001C–S75068000C.

text: Sometime in the early to mid 1960s, the BEP experimented with a new firm, the Gilbert Paper Company, to see if they could duplicate the usual paper production. The BEP selected a series of notes printed by the Philadelphia FRB as the test subjects. Serial numbers for this group range from C60800001A–C61440000A.

text: One-dollar bills were again the subject of experimentation in May 1992, when the BEP began to test a web-fed Intaglio printing press. Because of a need for greater quantities of $1 FRN's, the BEP sent out a REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP) (year 1985) NO. BEP-85-73 to procure a web-fed intaglio printing press to dramatically increase the production of currency notes within the confines of their current (1985) 14th & C street facility. Instead of printing one side of a square sheet of 32 notes at a time, the web-fed press used 96 engraved images or plate-cylinder to print the back of the note, then another 96 image engraved plate-cylinder to print the front of the note. Both sides of notes were printed from a continuous roll of paper. The Alexander-Hamilton intaglio Web press printed both sides of intaglio at the same time. The web-press was actually designed as a full-blown production press as opposed to an experimental press. The notes were issued in Series 1988A, 1993, and 1995. Because of mechanical problems, operator error, as well as the sometimes poor quality of the notes, production was ended in July 1996. Web notes can be identified by the back plate number next to IN GOD WE TRUST and the removal of face check letters and quadrant numbers.[20]

text: Obverse of current $1 bill[edit]

text: The portrait of George Washington is displayed in the center of the obverse of the one-dollar bill, as it has been since the 1869 design. The oval containing George Washington is propped up by bunches of Bay Laurel leaves.[citation needed]

text: To the left of George Washington is the Federal Reserve District Seal. The name of the Federal Reserve Bank that issued the note encircles a capital letter, (A-L), identifying it among the twelve Federal Reserve Banks. The sequential number of the bank, (1: A, 2: B, etc.), is also displayed in the four corners of the open space on the bill. Until the redesign of the higher denominations of currency beginning in 1996, this seal was found on all denominations of Federal Reserve Notes. Since then it is only present on the $1 and $2 notes, with the higher denominations only displaying a universal Federal Reserve System seal, and the bank letter and number beneath the upper left serial number.

text: To the right of George Washington is the Treasury Department seal. The balancing scales represent justice. The chevron with thirteen stars represents the original thirteen colonies. The key below the chevron represents authority and trust; 1789 is the year that the Department of the Treasury was established. The series 1969 dollar bills were the first to use a simplified Treasury Seal, with the wording in English instead of Latin.

text: Below the FRD seal (to the left of George Washington) is the signature of the Treasurer of the U.S., which occasionally varies, and below the USDT Seal (right side) is the Secretary of the Treasury's signature. To the left of the Secretary's signature is the series date. A new series date, or addition or change of a sequential letter under a date, results from a change in the Secretary of the Treasury, the Treasurer of the United States, and/or a change to the note's appearance such as a new currency design.

text: On the edges are olive branches entwined around the 1's. A small plate serial number-letter combination is on the lower right, and a small plate position (check) letter is on the upper left corner of the note. If an "FW" appears before the lower right plate number it indicates that the bill was produced at the satellite Bureau of Engraving and Printing facility in Fort Worth, Texas. Currency has been printed here since 1990. No "FW" means the bill was made at the main plant in Washington, D.C..

text: Reverse of current $1 bill[edit]

text: The reverse of the one-dollar bill has an ornate design that incorporates both sides of the Great Seal of the United States to the left and right of the word ONE. This word appears prominently in the white space at the center of the bill in a capitalized, shadowed, and seriffed typeface. A smaller image of the word "ONE" is superimposed over the numeral "1" in each of the four corners of the bill.

text: "THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" spans the top of the bill, "ONE DOLLAR" is emblazoned along the bottom, and above the central "ONE" are the words "IN GOD WE TRUST," which became the official motto of the United States in 1956 by an Act of Congress. Below the reverse of the Great Seal on the left side of the bill are the words "THE GREAT SEAL," and below the obverse on the right side are the words "OF THE UNITED STATES."

text: The Great Seal, originally designed in 1782 and added to the dollar bill's design in 1935, is surrounded by an elaborate floral design. The renderings used were the typical official government versions used since the 1880s.

text: The reverse of the seal on the left features a barren landscape dominated by an unfinished pyramid of 13 steps, topped by the Eye of Providence within a triangle. At the base of the pyramid are engraved the Roman numerals MDCCLXXVI (1776), the date of American independence from Britain. At the top of the seal stands a Latin phrase, "ANNUIT COEPTIS," meaning "He favors our undertaking." At the bottom of the seal is a semicircular banner proclaiming "NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM" meaning "New Order of the Ages" that is a reference to the new American era. To the left of this seal, a string of 13 pearls extends toward the edge of the bill.

text: The obverse of the seal on the right features a bald eagle, the national bird and symbol of the United States. Above the eagle is a radiant cluster of 13 stars arranged in a six-pointed star. The eagle's breast is covered by a heraldic shield with 13 stripes that resemble those on the American flag. As on the first US flag, the stars and stripes stand for the 13 original states of the union. The eagle holds a ribbon in its beak reading "E PLURIBUS UNUM," a Latin phrase meaning "Out of many [states], one [nation]," a de facto motto of the United States (and the only one until 1956). In its left talons the eagle holds 13 arrows, and in its right talons it holds an olive branch with 13 leaves and 13 olives, representing, respectively, the powers of war and peace. To the right of this seal, a string of 13 pearls extends toward the edge of the bill. A plate position (check) number is normally found to the left of the eagle.

text: Collecting Federal Reserve dollar bills[edit]

text: Except for significant errors, and series 1988A web notes printed in small batches for some of the Federal Reserve districts (those from others are more common), green seal dollars are of little collector value. However two notes have generated public interest, although neither are scarce.

text: In 1963 dollar bills were produced for the Eleventh Federal Reserve District, headquartered in Dallas. Since the FRD jurisdictions are sequentially numbered, notes received the corresponding letter "K", for the 11th letter of the alphabet. People noticed that the 1963 Dallas note, with the number "11" and a "K" surrounded by a black seal, appeared about the time President John Kennedy was shot in Dallas in November, 1963. The bill was not a commemorative issue and there was no connection between it and the shooting.[21]

text: In 1968-69 Joseph W. Barr was Secretary of the Treasury for only 31 days and his signature appeared solely on the 1969B dollar bill. It was thought that his brief tenure might make these notes valuable, but use of their plates continued for some time afterwards and over 400 million were printed. Thus they are very common.[22]

text: Redesign or replacement of the dollar bill[edit]

text: In modern times, most Americans currently use the one dollar bill rather than the dollar coin[clarify], despite the U.S. Government's efforts to promote the latter.[23] There are organizations specifically aimed at either preventing (Save the Greenback)[24] or advocating (Coin Coalition)[25][26] the complete elimination of the one dollar bill in favor of the dollar coin.

text: On November 29, 2012, a House subcommittee met to consider replacing the dollar bill. This action took place after the seventh Government Accountability Office report on the subject. The latest report claimed that switching to dollar coins would save $4.4 billion over thirty years. However, according to polls, few Americans want to give up dollar bills.[27] Recent budgets passed by Congress have included provisions to prevent the Treasury Department from spending any of its funds to redesign the one dollar bill, largely because of potential cost impacts on the vending machine industry.[28]