Four Railroads Arrived in 1881 and Transformed El Paso Overnight

Before the railroads, El Paso was a small settlement. The 1880 census counted 736 people in the city. Then four major rail lines arrived in 1881–1882. By 1900, the city had grown to more than 15,000 residents. By 1930, it held over 100,000.

The railroads brought commerce, smelters, and migration. In 1887, the Kansas City Consolidated Smelting and Refining Company built a smelter in El Paso to process ore from Mexico and the Southwest; that company merged into ASARCO in 1899. Cotton farming expanded after the Elephant Butte Dam opened in 1916. Manufacturing took off in the mid-20th century. The railroad intersection made El Paso a natural crossroads for goods moving between the U.S., Mexico, and the rest of the continent — a role the border city still plays today.