History of El Paso Law Enforcement

El Paso ("The Pass") spans four hundred years, beginning in 1581 when Spaniards came through the Pass of the North to test the missionary and mining possibilities of New Mexico. Various Indian groups had inhabited the area for centuries. In 1536 Cabeza de Vaca and his companions came within a hundred miles of the Pass in their travels across the Chihuahua Desert. It was, however, the Juan de Oñate expedition of 1598, which brought civilization and more than two centuries of Spanish rule to El Paso. Camped on the banks of the Rio Grande, Oñate, on April 30, 1598, took formal possession of the area for his monarch Philip II of Spain and subsequently crossed the river near a site west of the present downtown El Paso, which he called "El Paso del Rio del Norte." In 1659, the mission of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe was founded on a site that is in present day downtown Ciudad Juárez: the mission is still in use. In 1848 the United States military post that later became Fort Bliss was established. El Paso was incorporated as a city in 1873, and, with the arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1881, the future of the community was assured.

What I Do

This site is dedicated to the early years of law enforcement in El Paso County. The stories are a combination of research and interviews with those individuals that were in law enforcement or had family members in law enforcement.

Contact Me Today!

If you have comments or interesting tales or photographs from the early years, please contact me anytime. I look forward to hearing from you.

Harry E. Kirk

Three Fingers Tequila