Parkland High School

Ysleta school History: 1958-1962

In 1958 Scotsdale Elementary was built with Allen Reeves as the first principal. The school was named after the residential area and was built to serve the Scotsdale and Eastwood subdivisions developed in the 1950s. Reeves served as principal until his retirement in 1986 and was succeeded by Billie Kay Harvey. In 1958 South Loop Elementary also opened. That same year, the first northeast Ysleta district school was Parkland Elementary with C.G. Matthews as the first principal. The high school opened for the 1961-62 school year with Matthews as principal. The mascot chosen was the Matador. The first graduating class of Parkland was in 1964.

In 1959 Ceder Grove opened with John Dorgan as the first principal. Ceder Grove was built to relieve Cadwallader and Ascarte and serve the kids in the area between the two schools. It started with eight classrooms, a cafeteria, clinic, and office. In the 1960s the district started to expand east. In 1960 the enrollment in the school district was 21,2371 in 17 schools. In 1960 two new schools opened, Dolphin Terrace with A.D. Fredic as principal and Sageland Elementary was opened with Kathyrn May as principal. Dolphn Terrance was named after the subdivision, built to relieve Parkland Elementary’s overcrowding student population in the Northside-Tobin Park area, the northeast section of YISD. Sageland Elementary was named after the Sageland subdivision. Both Sageland and Dolphin Terrace started off with 10 rooms. Both schools were financed by a $3.5 million bond election approved by the voters.

In 1961 Eastwood High School opened with Russell Mack as the principal. Some of the first staff members included Lady Knight, Jackie Easton, Howard Aycock, Bessie Birkhead, William Crawford, Julia Daesler, Dorothy Davenport, Lee Dobson, Mary Domb, Dorothy Douglass, Elizabeth Dow, Connie Hulbert, Fred Harvey, Stephen Harper, Kenneth Jones, Frances Mearns, Carol Olden, Peggy O’Neil, and Lois Reich. The name Eastwood was chosen by the parents in the Scottsdale area. It was built to serve students in the Eastwood and Scottsdale areas. Its mascot, the Troopers, was inspired by the tradition of the cavalryman. The first graduating class of Eastwood was in 1965.

Joseph Longo
El Paso County Historical Society Volunteer

Since 1954 the El Paso County Historical Society has been a driving force in the historic scene of El Paso. EPCHS strives to foster research into the history of the El Paso area; acquire and make available to the public historic materials; publish and encourage historical writing pertaining to the area; and to develop public consciousness of our rich heritage.