El Paso historian Fred Morales displays some of the barrio's history March 12 during the special celebration day.
By A. Daniel Bodine
EL PASO--A “cultural and historic treasure” for El Paso, as one promoter of this city's El Secundo Barrio neighborhood described it in the local paper, is getting new attention these days. Whether or not that will lead to another crown jewel for the city, or whether or not even being a crown jewel is good or bad for citizens of this neighborhood, wasn't much of a burning issue one special day this month.
For a city stalked by a horrible winter, the spring-like weather March 12 was all it took. It was good enough reason for more than 50 vendors and various health agencies in the city to come together on a Saturday for a special Celebrate Segundo Barrio Day—just to showcase the old neighborhood at its finest, and do some helpful health screenings for some folks at the same time. And the crowds came out. The special activities were centered in and around Lydia Patterson Institute at 517 S. Florence.
“We're happy to be able to do this,” said El Paso's resident historian Fred Morales, standing at a display table inside the institute he'd put together of items more or less whose composite told most of thebarrio's storied past. “El Paso is a proud city.”
And it has some excellent history to show, too. A history that's opening up more and more since a group of developers under Paso del Norte Group stirred things up several years ago by proposing an upscale development plan to the City Council. The group's plan was criticized because it not only failed to provide locals an opportunity to comment on it but also because it would have meant demolishing many of its buildings.
Morales said a development plan finally was approved by the city, but work on it hasn't started yet. He felt adversely it would “affect only a small portion” of the barrio, however. Not to mention whatever improvements it would bring. But True Grit would be an adequate gringo description of the nature of this barrio and the feelings of the people willing to fight to defend it. Indeed, those roots and feelings go deep.
This is a section of the city after all—at one time named by the City Council as the 2nd Ward—that borders the Rio Grande where waves of Latino immigrants over the years first entered the United States. The famed Mexican General Pancho Villa also used it as a base to help fight the Mexican Revolution.
But strangely, El Segundo supporters have never been able to obtain either a state or national historical designation for the neighborhood. In one of the most recent efforts, a National Latino Congress resolution adopted at a session Jan. 31, 2010, in El Paso (and later presented to the City Council for action), failed in an effort to have the barrio recognized as the 3rd leg of key immigration processing points into this country. Apparently it was an administrative slip-up somewhere for further submissions that halted it.
Ellis Island, well-known in New York City for Europeans, and San Francisco Bay's Angel Island for Asians, both already are on the national registry for their historical significance. El Paso's El Segundo Barrio being recognized as the gateway for immigrants coming in from Mexico should be equally acknowledged, the supporters of the resolution felt, because of the contributions those immigrants have made to improve America. A copy of the resolution can be found on page 5 of a site here.
The neighborhood could actually be called a far southwest slice of the sprawling downtown district, bounded by Paisano Street on the north, Cotton on the east, El Paso on the west, and Border Highway on the south. About 8,000 people currently live in it, enough for any demographer's map. And yes, apparently there is much planned for the old barrio.
A comprehensive, 5-yr. revitalization plan dated Feb. 9, 2010, was put together by the city after a series of neighborhood meetings and posted on the internet. It includes a wide array of ambitious programs--from expensive infrastructure improvements, such as water and sidewalks and health care facilities; to extensive community education programs for the youth (such as drug abuse and unwanted teen pregnancies); proposals for business development to bring in jobs; and the renovation of some existing housing coupled with the addition of other housing units to provide places for job-seekers to live.
Morales, who runs an insurance business out of his office, has put together several books on El Paso, including “El Segundo Barrio”—a compilation of text, sketches and photos tracing it's storied past back 177 years. That makes it among the oldest noteworthy neighborhoods not only in El Paso but in the United States as well.
Put together in binders, the book traces land grants; touches on the development of Smeltertown andbarrio churches, various businesses and families (with many accompanying photos); and even includes a photo of the fabled 4-story Toltec building, which Francisco (Pancho) Villa rented for business purposes during the Mexican Revolution to obtain and send munitions to his soldiers in Chihuahua.
Morales provided one lecture at the institute on this particular Saturday on El Segundo's history, as well as conducted a walking tour of the neighborhood for visitors, showing them some of the more interesting sights. The historian has written a total of 26 books on El Paso and Juarez.
Later in the month, March 12, Morales conducted a free tour of the Jewish section of the old Concordia Cemetery for interested parties. Congregation B'Nai Zion built the first synagogue in the neighborhood in 1912; Temple Mount Sinai, the first temple, was built in 1899. He can be reached thru El Paso Walking Tours.
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