El Paso US Courthouse

The El Paso U.S. Courthouse is eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places at the local level of significance for its association with federal construction and art programs designed to relieve the economic depression of the 1930s. The courthouse is also eligible at the local level of significance in the area of Architecture as an example of Moderne design with Classical Revival elements. An integral part of the building is its WPA mural for which the courthouse is recognized in the area of Art.

From 1936, when construction was completed, through the present time, the building has provided a strong federal presence in El Paso by housing federal services. Like other buildings built in the 1930s, its design and construction were part of the federal construction programs enacted to reduce unemployment during the Depression. The first-floor lobby still displays a mural designed to beautify public buildings and to develop American art while, at the same time, building community pride by representing regionally significant themes.

Historical Significance

The City of El Paso, although settled much earlier, was officially founded in 1852. It was also in this year that the new town had its first postmaster, Franklin Coontz. Coontz chose to call the town Franklin. During the mid-1850s, while Franklin was becoming a prominent stage stop, the Army established a series of forts along the stage trails in an effort to protect early travelers. It was also during this period that the Butterfield Overland Mail arrived. In 1858, General Anson Mills conducted the first survey of the town and found the streets to run not parallel or perpendicular to each other but, in relation to corrals, saloons, and other existing buildings, in a confusing pattern that still exists today. It was Anson Mills who suggested that the name of the town be changed to El Paso.

Progress for El Paso was abundant in 1881 and it was a year of firsts for the frontier community. The first Southern Pacific and Santa Fe trains came to town and the first post office was built. The Mexican Central Railroad also laid tracks there and the Western Union Telegraph Company obtained a charter. The once sleepy village of several hundred inhabitants quickly became a flourishing community, and in 1883, El Paso became the seat of the county.

This growth led county commissioners to construct a new courthouse on the corner of San Antonio and Overland streets in February of 1884. The courthouse was built in the Renaissance style and was completed in January 1886. Local historians suggest that it housed El Paso's lone court as well as offices for the district attorney, the sheriff, the tax collector, the federal court, and federal offices.2 Prior to the occupation of the 1886 building, the federal government and the U.S. District Court rented space in the Monarch Building in the 400 block of El Paso Street.

The federal government's use of the new courthouse was short-lived. In 1892, El Paso's first federal building was erected on Mills and Oregon streets. It was one of three, 4-story buildings in El Paso at the time of its construction and was considered a skyscraper compared to most of the buildings in the town. For a number of years, this building's tenants included the post office, the customs department, and the federal court.

As the century turned, El Paso evolved from a frontier town into a modern municipality with significant transportation, commercial, and industrial resources. Its population doubled twice during the first two decades, and this growth led to the construction of a new post office. In 1911, Congressman W. R. Smith of the 16th District requested funds for this purpose. Five years later, the government acquired land at the corner of Mills and Stanton streets and constructed an impressive Beaux-Arts-style building designed by the Office of the Supervising Architect. While the post office abandoned the 1892 building on Mills and Oregon streets for its new facility, the earlier building continued to provide federal services including serving as the site of the U.S. District Court.

By 1925, El Paso's population had reached 77,650. During the 1920s, the city enjoyed new economic opportunities as a tourist gateway to Mexico and as a location of major oil refineries and manufacturing plants. As the Depression loomed near in 1929, plans were underway to construct a new modern federal building. Space in the 1892 building was limited, and several federal agencies including the U.S. Weather Bureau and the U.S. Immigration Service were renting space at nongovernment facilities.

According to newspaper reports, the government initially considered purchasing property at Santa Fe and El Paso streets- This transaction appears to have either fallen through or appropriations failed because the next reference for selecting a site for the new federal building occurred in 1932. Over a several-month period in late 1932 and early 1933, various sites throughout the city were examined. Asking prices for property ranged from $75,000 to $414,500.

The site selected was the block north of the existing courthouse and east of city hall bounded by Kansas Street on the west, San Antonio Avenue on the south, Campbell Street on the east, and Myrtle Street on the north. The asking price for the 1.0-acre site was $230,000. That same year (1933), the team of architects, Percy McGhee and Guy L. Fraser, both of El Paso, and Thomas B. Lippencott of Philadelphia, was contracted by the Treasury Department to design the new building.

Appropriations in the amount of $690,000 were secured for construction in 1934. Like many public building projects, the construction of the El Paso U.S. Courthouse provided employment opportunities during economic hardship and served as a positive indication of better times to come. As a federal undertaking, it further served as a powerful symbol of the permanency and security of the United States.

In April of 1935, the government's contractor, Robert E. McKee Construction Company, began work at the site. By April of the following year, the new 5-story building was sufficiently complete for federal tenants to begin the arduous process of moving into the modern facility 10 Following the government's departure from the 1892 federal building, the Oregon and Mills street property was sold to S. H. Kress and Company and was subsequently demolished.

The completed federal building was touted by local newspapers as having all the modern conveniences of the day, such as intercommunicating telephones that were attached to the regular office telephones and allowed offices to communicate without the need for a switchboard. The building also had three elevators and several large vaults that were able to withstand the shock of dynamite. The courtrooms were designed so that no outside noise could be heard but acoustically treated so that someone speaking in a low voice could be heard throughout the room. Special offices for the U.S. Weather Bureau were put on the fifth floor. To the irony of the bureau, these offices had no outside windows and could not be reached by either passenger elevator.

Twenty-eight government agencies occupied the new federal building, which had space for some 300 offices. Housed on the first floor were the Collector of Customs; the Special Customs agents; the Secret Service, Narcotics, and Customs agencies; the Customs appraisers; the Navy Recruiting Station; the Alcohol Tax Unit; the Public Health Service; and the Organized Reserves. The second floor was occupied by the International Boundary Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Reclamation Service, and plant quarantine. Several agencies/offices were located on the third floor, including the U.S. Commissioner, the U.S. District Attorney, the Referee in Bankruptcy, and the U.S. Immigration Service Division Headquarters. The U.S. Courtrooms, the U.S. Marshal's Office, and the U.S. Probation Office were housed on the fourth floor. Finally, the U.S. Customs Patrol, the U.S. Weather Bureau, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture occupied the fifth floor.