Louise Dietrich (1878-1962) was a pioneer in the nursing profession in Texas and a leader of the women’s suffrage movement in El Paso. She was a charter member of the El Paso Equal Franchise League (EPEFL) and served in several key leadership roles. Dietrich was a professional nurse, who was the founder of the Texas […]
News & Events
Weddings at the Burges House.
Brides of the Burges House (excerpt from the Brides of the Burges House by former EPCHS President, Carolyn Beck.) The Burges House, home of four generations of the Burges family, has been the setting for more than twenty weddings and receptions for family and friends during the years of 1923 through 1977. The first bride […]
EPCHS Honors Sunset Heights Neighborhood Improvement Association
October 22, 2020— The El Paso County Historical Society is pleased to name the Sunset Heights Neighborhood Improvement Association as the recipient of the 2020 Chris P. Fox Award.
Exhibit: Preserving Local History: El Paso County Historical Society 1953-1986.
Preserving Local History: El Paso County Historical Society 1953-1986. Since 1954 the El Paso County Historical Society has been the driving force of the historic scene of El Paso. EPCHS strives to foster research into the history of the El Paso area; share that history with the public; publish and encourage historical writing pertaining to […]
The Lorenzen Family Collection: ‘How We Cook in El Paso;
By Joseph Longo This copy of the 1926 cookbook “How We Cook in El Paso” is part of the Lorenzen Family Collection. It belonged to Ada Lane Lorenzen, who was an active civic leader and served as president of the El Paso Woman’s Club. She was also a charter member of the El Paso County […]
Davenport Family Donates Iconic Gas Station to El Paso County Historical Society
EL PASO – August 18, 2020— Mrs. Rod Davenport and the Davenport family have donated the 101-year-old, former Texaco Service Station located at 2871 Grant Avenue to the El Paso County Historical Society (EPCHS). The donation earlier this year fulfilled Mr. Davenport’s wish to preserve the station as a gift to the community that as […]
New Publication from EPCHS: “My Book: Richard Fenner Burges’ Personal Diary, 1891-1898”
We are happy to announce the release of “My Book: Richard Fenner Burges’ Personal Diary, 1891-1898,” an El Paso County Historical Society publication. In the diary, written during his late teens and early twenties, Burges recounts his life in the far west Texas town of El Paso shortly after his arrival from Seguin. As El […]
From the Archives: Anita Lee Blair
Anita Lee Blair(1916-2011) was the woman to represent El Paso in the Texas State Legislature from 1953-1955. She also was the first blind woman to hold any elected office in The United States. Blair was also a national freelance safety lecturer, who traveled all around the county with a seeing-eye dog, a German Shepherd named […]
From the Archives: Scrapbooks
Since the founding of the El Paso County Historical Society, our collections have expanded giving the Society a wide variety of subjects for study. The Archives of the El Paso County Historical is composed of documents, photographs, three-dimensional items, maps, scrapbooks, Oral histories, Books, and annuals. A sampling of these collections are detailed below. […]
The El Paso Woman’s Club and the Woman’s Suffrage Movement By Joseph Longo
The El Paso Woman’s Club and Woman’s Suffrage Movement By Joseph Longo The El Paso Woman’s Club was formed in 1894 on San Francisco street at the home of the first president, Mary Hamilton Mills. The organization would later become the Women’s Club of El Paso. Starting as an intellectual club, in the 1890s it […]