The north bank settlement that became modern El Paso took shape after 1827, and in 1848 the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo placed it in United States territory, with Fort Bliss established the same year. When the railroad arrived in 1881, El Paso boomed into a wide-open crossroads of the Old West. Through all of it the city kept the identity the Spanish had named: the Pass — a place defined by the crossing itself, by two languages and two countries sharing one desert valley, and by the mountains that frame it.
Today El Paso is the Sun City still — a borderland metropolis of mountains, missions, and desert light, proud of four centuries at the Pass and home to a large military community at the edge of the Franklins. Its story runs from the Pueblo and Tigua peoples of the river, through the 1598 naming of the Pass and the oldest mission in Texas, to a modern bicultural crossroads. Our El Paso designs gather that identity into wearable form — the Pass of the North, the Sun City, the star on the mountain. El Paso del Norte — the Pass of the North, a crossing for four hundred years.
Why People Visit El Paso Texas
- Hike Franklin Mountains State Park, one of the largest urban parks in the country, with desert trails and overlooks above the city.
- Drive the Scenic Drive Overlook for the classic view of the valley, the mountains, and the lights of two countries at night.
- Follow the El Paso Mission Trail to Ysleta, the oldest mission in Texas, plus Socorro and the San Elizario chapel.
- Rest at San Jacinto Plaza, the historic downtown square with its sculpted alligators.
- Explore Hueco Tanks State Park for desert rock formations and world-class bouldering.
- Visit the El Paso Museum of Art downtown for regional collections and rotating exhibitions.
