On May 31, 2025 the Railroad Museum and the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society will commemorate the arrival of five great railroads in El Paso. Take a tour back in time when El Paso was an adobe village and three railroads arrived in 1881. All historians agree that the most important event in the history of El Paso is the arrival of the railroads. Travel across the West was slow, difficult and dangerous in 1880. The first Transcontinental link occured at Deming in March 1881. Then two railroads arrived at El Paso in May and June of 1881 and the town was changed forever as it began to grow. Our tour starts at the historic Union Passenger Station, designed by one of America’s greatest architects in 1906, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Santa Fe Railroad operated the famous Harvey “eating ” House in that Depot. Several
Hundreds of Chinese workers from California built the first bridge across the Rio Grande River from New Mexico to Texas. After the first Southern Pacific (SP) train arrived in May of 1881, the boomtown of El Paso became a city. We will walk past the Bataan Memorial Trainway, across town to the location where the first train stopped, and on to the site of the first Depot. We will walk along the route of the Mule Car line and look over 1880s Victorian buildings as we consider the growth of the city. The SP built eastward to Sierra Blanca and connected a link to North Texas with the Texas & Pacific Railroad. Then the SP continued on across the Pecos River to a connection with San Antonio in 1883. When the Santa Fe opened a line to Chihuahua in 1883 El Paso had three Transcontinental Railroad links. The 1880 town with less than a thousand people had grown beyond ten thousand by 1890. These connections changed the economy of Southern New Mexico and West Texas.
The tour will start at 9:30. Parking is free in front of Union Station at 700 West San Francisco Ave. (MAP) We will walk 10-15 blocks. Please remember to wear sunscreen and perhaps a hat. Wear comfortable walking shoes and bring at least a liter of water.
There will be an optional no host lunch at Mac’s Seafood Restaurant 315 E. Mills. (MAP)
Organizer
