Julia Breck, a local club women and outspoken community leader, ran for mayor of El Paso in 1961. She was the first women to run for that position and the first women to run for any city office in decades. She had little money and organization but Breck was no token candidate, she give the […]
News & Events
Dr. Ann Brennan Damiani
the article shown above is from Dec 27, 1974, El Paso Herald-Post Dr. Ann Brennan Damiani was born and raised in El Paso. She was the daughter of James and Lilian Brennan. Dr. Damiani graduated from the Texas Medical School in Galveston. Damiani became a neuropsychiatrist and was one of the handful and the first women psychiatrists […]
Dr. Rene Noren
Dr. Rene Noren was born in 1926 in Chicago. She earned a B.S. from Roosevelt University and earned a degree from Kirkville College of Osteopathy. She opened up her own clinic in El Paso in 1955 called, Park Foothills Hospital Clinic. Dr. Noren served as an examiner for the Federal Aviation Agency and for the Association of Aerospace Medicine. She was named in “Who’s […]
Women in El Paso History part 1
Click on each photo to see each woman’s biography.
“Hurricane Isabel”
Isabel Adbou Hatchett was organizer and the first president of the Miners Co-Ed Association, Women’s Division. The group met at what later became Cathedral High School. Her father was born in west Syria and opened a produce store in 1915. Hatchett was the first woman to graduate from the TWC’s (now the University of Texas […]
Confused? Clarifying the Differences between the County Historical Society and the County Historical Commission
Since I started my work here in March 2015, I have been asked countless times: “What is the difference between the El Paso County Historical Society and the El Paso County Historical Commission? Is there a difference at all?” Indeed there is. This post should clarify some of the confusion. 1.) We are different types […]
History of Socorro Schools
In 1878, a public school was opened in Socorro and Ysleta, but these schools were not continuous. By 1886, according to the county school census, there were 15 boys and 16 girls students. By 1906, Frances Culligan was teaching school in a two-room adobe building on Socorro Road, boys and girls were educated separately. The […]
The El Paso Mayor race of 1973
In 1973, Mayor Bert Williams ran for a second term despite some controversies during his administration. The mayor split with his city council, even with those who ran on his ticket in 1971, when he won a close race over contractor and city public works alderman, Clinton Wolf. All of his team members expect, one […]
Debbie Reynold’s El Paso Grandmother
The date of this article is August 16, 1954, and it appeared in the El Paso Herald-Post Debbie Reynolds, Movie Star, Possesses 100 Dresses; Her El Paso Grandmother Helped to Make Some of Them Actress Born Here Earns $1250 Weekly, Saves Money, Lives on Budget, Likes Mexican Food By Virginia Turner Clothes worn by Debbie […]