Texas Historical Marker #15292
Lugar Inicial De Mision De Socorro. Despues de 80 anos de ocupacion Espanola, el group indigena Pueblo del Norte de Nuevo Mexico, se alzo en contra de los Espanoles, expulsandolos por un lapso de 12 anos. Los refugiados Espanoles, asi como algunos miembros de otras tribus de Nuevo Mexico, siguieron el Rio Bravo hacia el sureste, llegando al area del Paso del Norte, donde establecieron misiones y nuevos asentamientos. El 13 de Octubre de 1680, fue fundada la Mision Santa Maria de Socorro del Sur por los Franciscanos, aunque el lugar original se desconoce. Para 1684, en este mismo lugar los residentes de Socorro acudian a un santuario temporal. En 1691 se construyo una mision iglesia permanente la cual fue dedicada como Nuestra Senora de la Limpia Concepcion de los Piros de Socorro del Sur. Su construccion era de adobe con vigas sosteniendo el techo. Un pueblo indigena Piro quedaba a aproximadamente 183 metros al noreste de la iglesia y el asentamiento misionero incluia Espanoles y Piros, asi como indigenas Tano y Jemez. Los registros indican que el sitio fue utilizado hasta la decada de 1740, cuando por inundacion fue destruido. El cauce del Rio Bravo cambio al sur hacia Mexico despues de una inundacion en 1829, y la actual Mision de Socorro fue construida en la decada de 1840 a 804.67 metros al noreste de este lugar. Expertos asociados con la Universidad de Texas en El Paso realizaron investigaciones arqueologicas a principios de los 1980. Sus hallazgos incluyen los restos de los muros de la iglesia, los cuales indican que esta fue construida en forma de cruz, asi como algunos otros artefactos que se estima pertenecen a la epoca de 1680. Hoy dia, el sitio inicial de la mision, la mas antigua mision conocida en Texas, es protegida como Patrimonio Arqueologico del Estado. (2004) #15292
492 Buford Road, Socorro, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #15181
Early Site of Socorro Mission. Following 80 years of Spanish occupation, Pueblo Indians in northern New Mexico revolted in 1680, driving out the Spaniards for a twelve-year period. Spanish refugees, as well as some members of the New Mexico tribes, followed the Rio Grande southeast to the El Paso del Norte area, where they established missions and new settlements. On October 13, 1680, the Franciscans founded Mission Santa Maria de Socorro del Sur. The original site is unknown. By 1684, the Socorro residents were using a temporary church at this location. A permanent mission church was constructed here by 1691 and dedicated as Nuestra Senora de la Limpia Concepcion de los Piros de Socorro del Sur, meaning "Our Lady of Immaculate Conception of the Piros of the Socorro of the South." The church was adobe construction, with vigas, or wooden beams, supporting the roof. A Piro Indian pueblo stood about 600 feet northeast of the church, and the mission settlement was comprised of Spaniards and Piros, as well as Tano and Jemez Indians. Records indicate the site was used until the 1740s, when flooding destroyed the building. After a flood in 1829, the channel of the Rio Grande shifted to the south toward Mexico, and the present Socorro mission was built in the 1840s one half mile northwest of this location. Scholars associated with the University of Texas at El Paso conducted archeological investigations in the early 1980s. Discoveries included the remains of church walls, indicating it was built on a cruciform plan, as well as artifacts dating to as early as the 1680s. Today, the early mission site, the oldest known mission site in Texas, is protected as a State Archeological Landmark. (2004) #15181
492 Buford Road, Socorro, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #14954
Mission de Nuestra Senora del Perpetua. #14954
?, Socorro, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #12342
Rio Vista Farm. El Paso County's second poor farm, known as the El Paso Poor Farm, was established here in 1915. John O'Shea, a wealthy farmer and businessman whose farm was nearby, assumed operation of the farm. His wife, Agnes O'Shea, was in charge of the residents. John O'Shea died in 1929, and the couple's daughter, Helen O'Shea Keleher, came from her home in San Antonio to operate the farm with her mother. The farm was scheduled to be closed in 1929, but, with the troubled times of the Depression era, its population grew. Renamed "Rio Vista Farm," the poor farm hosted a variety of public welfare programs beginning in the 1930s. It operated under the Texas Transient Bureau and later the Federal Works Progress Administration. A temporary base for a Civilian Conservation Corps unit in 1936, the farm continued to shelter hundreds of homeless and destitute adults and children. From 1951 to 1964, the farm was used as a reception and processing center for the Bracero Program, which brought Mexican laborers to work in the lower valley of El Paso and other agricultural areas in the U.S. New federal welfare programs and state law reduced the population of the poor farm to four, and it was closed in 1964. Unlike other Texas county poor farms, Rio Vista followed a familial rather than institutional model, accepting neglected and abandoned children in addition to the adult indigent population. In later life, Helen O'Shea Keleher cited the fifty years she spent with the more than four thousand orphans and neglected children of the Rio Vista Poor Farm as her proudest accomplishment. (2000) #12342
800 Rio Vista Rd., Socorro, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #04972
Socorro. Site of the mission and pueblo of Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion Del Pueblo de Socorro established by Don Antonio de Otermin and Father Fray Francisco Ayeta, O.F.M. in 1683. Maintained by Franciscan missionaries for the civilizing and Christianizing of the Piro, Thano and Gemex Indians, refugees after the pueblo revolt in New Mexico. #4972
328 South Nevarez, Socorro, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #04904
Site of Tienda de Carbajal. Site (partially reclaimed) of a 19th century walled hacienda appearing on 1852 map near San Elizario Road crossing of Acequia Madre. By 1873 part of building was razed, but surviving parts were occupied by store of Juan Carbajal and some municipal offices. (1972) #4904
?, Socorro, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #03407
Mission Nuestra Senora de la Purisima Concepcion Del Socorro. Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception of Socorro Established in 1680 by Brother Antonio Guerra for Piros Indians, refugees from Old Socorro, N.M., this and 1682 mission at Ysleta (located 3.7 miles west) are among oldest continuously occupied settlements in the Southwest. By 1750, town had 498 Indians and 54 Spaniards. Present church, built about 1840, exhibits Indian influence on basic Spanish mission style. Adobe brick walls are several feet thick. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1963 #3407
328 S. Nevarez, Socorro, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #00745
Casa Ortiz. Legend says this house was built before 1800. In 1840s, its owner was Jose Ortiz, whose cart train freighted salt from foot of Guadalupe Mountains to Durango; knives, sarapes, clothing to Santa Fe and Llano Estacado. There he traded with Comanches and other wild Indians for dried buffalo hides and meat. He was a "Comanchero, Salinero, Cibolero." Francisco Lujan, the wido of Epifanio Ortiz (1842?-1932), was last of family to live here, in 1940s. A fine example of New Spain's frontier architecture: thick adobe walls; cottonwood and willow vigas and latias with dirt roof. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1973 #745
?, Socorro, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #00644
Camino Real. For more than 200 years the Camino Real, or Royal Road, was the major route for transporting commercial goods from Mexico City and Chihuahua to Santa Fe and Taos. First traveled by Juan de Onate during his 1598 expedition to New Mexico, the Camino Real followed the San Elizario, Socorro, and Ysleta Road, crossed the Rio Grande west of present downtown El Paso, and continued north into New Mexico. When the Rio Grande was established as the U.S. - Mexico boundary in 1848, this section of the old Camino Real became part of the United States. 1983 #644
328 S. Nevarez, Socorro, TX, United States