Montana Avenue Historic District

Montana Avenue was named after the state of Montana, with nearby avenues named after Arizona, Nevada, Kansas, and Wyoming. The adjacent Rio Grande Historic District (NR 1999) was developed to meet the needs of the growing middle class and features mostly bungalows and other popular plan houses built through the first four decades of the 20th century. Contrary to those who settled in the neighborhood to the immediate north, residents along Montana Avenue had the means to build architect-designed homes reflecting their own tastes and styles popular in the areas where they lived before coming to El Paso. All houses in the district are brick, and the majority of styles represented are derived from influences other than Spanish, with yards of non-native grass and trees. These blocks of Montana Avenue served as a wide promenade, lined with homes that met a standard of opulence, and the district has served as the site of the city's Golden Jubilee and continues to be the route of the annual Sun Carnival Parade. The influence of famed architect Henry Trost, who moved to El Paso in 1903, is specifically noteworthy, and his regional interpretation of the Prairie Style is prominent in the district, with some of the residences actually designed by him.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF EL PASO

Before the arrival of the railroads in 1881, the geographical area that is currently the city of El Paso was inhabited by the Tigua Indians, Mexicans, and United States soldiers. The international boundary between the U.S. and Mexico wasn't formally established until 1848 and the military post named Fort Bliss followed in 1854. The settlements established by these three factions are all now local historic districts: Ysleta, Chihuahita, and Magoffin respectively. In 1880, the population of El Paso was approximately 700, most people working for the military or as wagonmasters along the Chihuahua Trail from Mexico to the U.S. Some worked in saloons or as outfitters, as travelers would often stop to drink a warm beer or re-outfit, but few would stay. No event in the city's history, however, brought such spectacular and dramatic growth as the establishment of the railroads. El Paso had a runaway population of over 10,000 in less than a decade, creating the need for much additional housing.

The City of El Paso issued franchises for twelve railway companies in the years between 1880 and 1900, most notably the Southern Pacific, Mexican Central, Santa Fe, Texas Pacific, and Juarez. Seven of these franchises were issued between May and December of 1881. What a few years earlier had been a small, sleepy and extremely isolated adobe village was now a rapidly growing city with fast and dependable freight and passenger transportation to every major population center on the continent. Thus, the railroad facilities brought several important industries to El Paso. In 1885, the custom smelter of the American Smelting and Refining Company was built solely because the railroad could furnish a continuous feed of copper ore from Mexico and Arizona. Other industries that opened overnight, brought about by the railroads, included flour milling, cement manufacturing, cotton milling, oil refining, making of optical instruments, brewing, cotton ginning, bottling and meat packing. As with any western boom town, housing needed to be provided quickly and inexpensively.

Becoming one of the southwest's major rail centers created a booming population that required several new services for residents. El Paso went from a population of 700 in 1880 to 10,000 in 1890. This trend continued as the new demands for laborers swelled these figures to 15,000 in 1900, 40,000 in 1910, and 77,000 in 1920. Banking facilities became more numerous than saloons and gambling halls. Retail stores, hospitals, ice plants, fire departments, and churches transformed the architectural landscape of the city and remain today. Utilities such as gas and, later, indoor plumbing, electricity, telephones, and city water became available. A center for the performing arts was built where touring companies could entertain and boxing and wrestling exhibitions flourished. A continuous city government was in place after 1880, and an independent school district was established in 1882 with the first public school opening in 1883. Although gunfighters and gamblers continued to characterize the city for two decades after the arrival of the railroads, by the turn of the century, the familiar processes of a more lawful society gained the upper hand, evidenced by the occupations and homes of the Montana Avenue Historic District's first residents, who were members of a growing elite class. Collectively, the district provides an intact visual representation of early El Paso high society. The neighborhood was recognized early in the 20th century as a point of pride for residents of El Paso, evidenced by numerous mass-produced postcards that depicted streetscapes along Montana Avenue.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE MONTANA AVENUE NEIGHBORHOOD

In 1889, the city of El Paso annexed the land where the Montana Avenue neighborhood would later develop, and the land was platted soon thereafter. Street layouts were oriented to the nearby rail lines, rather than on a strict N/S/E/W axis, following a grid system that developers used almost exclusively in new suburban development in Texas during the early 20th century. This layout system appears to have been essentially pasted onto the area's sloping terrain, ignoring the irregular topographical features of the area, which sits at the very base of the Franklin Mountains. The grid system used in this area also appears at odds with the historical plat lines, which were drawn following cardinal directions. The adherence to this plan typifies early suburban development and its orientation to the railroad lines also reveals the impact that the railroad had on El Paso's subsequent growth patterns. Because of the adherence to the grid, the district boundary lines are almost rectangular.

While many wealthy families in El Paso lived in the fashionable Sunset Heights (NR 1988) neighborhood to the west, the Montana Avenue district also had its share of prominent citizens, including business owners, doctors, developers, and notable political figures. Owners on Montana Avenue built houses in styles popular in other parts of the country, using building materials not native to the desert (especially bricks and wood) which could now be imported via railroad. Classical Revival, late Queen Anne and Prairie Style homes dominate the district, although the formerly common Spanish Eclectic and Mission styles are still seen to a lesser degree.

Building types fall within a fairly narrow focus. With few exceptions, houses are large, two-story brick veneer with stone foundations, vertical double-hung wood windows, multiple chimneys and composition shingle roofs. The dominant front porches create a rhythmic pattern and sense of flow. Setbacks allow for small front yards, a few steps to the porch and sidewalks. The lack of driveways further adds to the visual continuity of the neighborhood. The architectural cohesiveness of this housing stock enhances the district's association with community development patterns and suburban growth of the early 1900s.

When architect Henry C. Trost moved to El Paso in 1903 at the height of the city's building boom, he began to make prolific use of the fashionable Prairie Style in his designs, furthering the local popularity of this new style. Houses in this neighborhood demonstrate developers' and builders' shift to using predominately lumber and brick in new construction. At the turn of the century, brick and lumber, which are not indigenous to the region, became available from the east via new rail lines. It was also during this period that El Paso struggled to resemble other American communities and began to reject the use of Hispanic building traditions, such as adobe and vernacular Spanish-influenced building techniques and forms. The houses of the Montana Avenue Historic District represent this influx of new materials and hence the "Americanization" of the southwest, both through the change of materials as well as the changes in styles used in the local housing industry. Local builders and architects, including Trost, discovered that many features of these new forms, including hipped roofs, wide overhanging eaves, verandas, and balconies, were extremely useful for solar and heat control in El Paso's desert climate. The homes of the district display the use and combination of various styles, including Prairie, Queen Anne, Classical Revival, Mission Revival, and Italian Renaissance. Many houses in the district, however, are the result of mixed forms, plans, and stylistic details of more than one style, such as a predominately Prairie Style home with classical columns supporting the front porch, or a predominately late Queen Anne form finished with geometric Prairie Style details and topped by a low hipped roof. The popularity of new residential forms and styles reflects the progressive aspirations of the growing middle and upper classes in El Paso.

The Montana Avenue Historic District was nearly built out by 1910, and with few buildings demolished, the district retains a very distinct early 20th-century residential character. Only four buildings in the district are estimated to have been built during the 1920s and 1930s, and only a handful were built after World War II, including the 1950 Lutheran Church at 1000 Montana. The primary effect of later post-war prosperity in the residential neighborhood resulted in the "modernization" of some homes and the addition of garages and storage buildings of more recent vintage.

Over the years, the historically residential corridor of Montana Avenue has been transformed into a primarily commercial neighborhood, as numerous owners converted homes into professional offices. Through examination of city directories, the trend from single-family occupation to largely nonresidential use of houses in the district becomes apparent. In 1910, all houses in the district were single-family occupied. By 1930, three houses had been subdivided into apartments. In 1940, five houses had been converted to apartments, two properties were listed as hotels, and four houses were used for non-residential commercial purposes. By 1960, the number of houses converted to apartments ballooned to 15 (about 20% of the housing stock), and another 12 former houses were occupied by non-residential tenants. By the year 2000, the transformation from a residential neighborhood to a non-residential neighborhood was complete. Although the historical function of this area has changed, the majority of these properties retain their residential character and therefore continue to add to the sense of visual cohesiveness with the residential area to the north, which today remains largely working class in character. Local residents are optimistic that recognition of the area through National Register listing, and perhaps local designation, as well as access to tax credits and other forms of assistance will help revitalize the neighborhood while also maintaining its sense of historicity.