Month: July 2017

Dr. Vilas had big impact in El Paso

Walter Nathaniel Vilas brought big ideas, big names and big events to his adopted home of El Paso in the late 1800s and early 1900s.   Dr. Vilas was born on Sept. 11, 1847, in Red Creek, Wayne County, N.Y. He was one of seven children of Dr. Calvin Vilas and Mary Catherine Ford. The […]

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The Pershing Theater: 2905 Pershing Drive

     A newspaper clipping from March 29,1940 from the El Paso Herald Post about the construction of Pershing Theater in the Five Points Area. The construction  of the Pershing Theater started in 1939. The Pershing  Theater Opened on March 28,1940. -Joseph Longo

Pioneering Women Athletes in El Paso: Tennis

In 1921, the El Paso Tennis and Swimming Club was founded. The organization only allowed men at first, but in 1923 women were allowed to join. Some of the early women members included Mary and Virginia Seamon, Norma Heffler, Dorothy Crawford, Elise Strickland, Bena Perez, Elizabeth Coldwell, Mrs. C.A. Mitchell, Ruth Mott Rawling, Margie McBloom, […]

Animals at Washington Park Zoo.

75 Animals added  To El Paso Zoo, El Paso Herald-Post, Jan 7, 1929 page 3 In 1928 the El Paso Zoo at Washington Park acquired 75 new birds and animals through births and sale. One of the animals was a lioness named, Frances valued at $450, she was acquired from a circus, trading two mountain […]

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“Ostriches, Eggs and Young Birds in Washington Park”

El Paso Times, Aug. 23, 1925 Birds at Washington Park By Col. M.L. Crimmins While looking over the animals at Washington Park the other day I spoke to the head keeper, B.F. Van Horn, about the ostriches. He told me these birds were so little known that a very intelligent-looking middle-aged woman came to the […]

Wingo Home hosted parties, animals and soldiers

    The Tullius M. Wingo House at 4115 Trowbridge was designed by Henry Trost in 1907. When it was built, the home stood alone among the sand dunes with no neighbors close by. According to an article in the Aug. 14, 1935, edition of the El Paso Herald, the home’s interior design was commissioned […]

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Ysleta Woman’s Club

Photo Credit: Ysleta Woman’s Club Collection, UTEP Special Collections The Ysleta Woman’s Club was organized in March 1921 at “Sunnyfields” on Alameda, the home of Mrs. J. Stoney Porcher, which later became Cesar Chavez Academy. The club’s first president was Mrs. W.B. Abadie. Other officers included Anne Whitney, vice president Elinor Porcher, treasurer Gertrude Cadwallader, […]