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  Texas : Towns A-Z / South Texas : Eagle Pass

EAGLE PASS, TEXAS

Maverick County Seat, South Texas
Hwy 277, 57 and FM 1021
140 miles SW of San Antonio via Hwy 90

Population: 22,413 (2000)

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buggy and people vintage photo
The Eagle Pass Centennial

Photo Courtesy William Peterson
businessmen on a buggy, vintage photo
Early Eagle Pass Businessmen
According to local historian Al Kinnsel, these men were photographed each New Year's Day for years

Photo Courtesy Maverick County Historical Museum
History on a Pecan shell

Names:
The name Eagle Pass was named after migrating eagles or one particular eagle that flew to and from its nest while the military was deciding what to name their first camp. The town was predated by this camp which was two miles downstream from what became Fort Duncan.

Maverick County was named after Samuel Maverick, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, legislator and the man whose name became a synonymous with unbranded calves.
1916 building







1916
Photo by John Troesser
The bridege at Fort Duncan, Eagle Pass, Texas





Fort Duncan post bridge
Photo by John Troesser

A timeline of significant historical events in Eagle Pass

1845: Camp Eagle Pass is established during the Mexican War
1849: Fort Duncan is established as a permanent installation (2 miles upsteam from the former camp)
1850: Trading post is opened by a San Antonio merchant and Piedras Negras is established
1851: Stage line to San Antonio is established
1855: Volunteer rangers pursue Indians into Mexico and burn Piedras Negras
1856: Maverick County is formed
1863: Renegades attack Confederate Fort Duncan and townspeople drive them back to Mexico
1865: General Shelby buries a Confederate flag in the Rio Grande - a symbolic burial of the Confederacy.
1868: Federal troops reoccupy the fort after its use by Confederate forces during the Civil War.
1871: Maverick County is organized and Eagle Pass becomes county seat
1875: Population reaches 1,500 - Outlaw John King Fisher unofficially controls the Eagle Pass area
1882: The Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway is built from Spofford (Kinney County)
1884: Population reaches 2,000
1885: Courthouse is built
1900: Population of Eagle Pass is 2,729
1920: Population reaches 5,765
1941: Eagle Pass Army Air Field was constructed twelve miles north of Eagle Pass

Eagle Pass was 94 percent Hispanic in 1980.

Eagle Pass Architecture & Images

The Maverick County Courthouses and Jail - next page
The Depot
The Aztec Theatre
Post Office

Eagle Pass Texas downtown street scene


An early morning street scene downtown

Photo by John Troesser
Main Street in 1916

Postcard courtesy www.rootsweb.com/
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School, Eagle Pass, Texas in the 1920s

Eagle Pass school in the 1920s

Postcard courtesy www.rootsweb.com/
%7Etxpstcrd/

Nearby Destinations
  • Piedras Negras - The Mexican town across the border which claims to be the birthplace of the nacho.
  • Guerrero, Coahuila, Mexico - 30 miles East of Piedras Negras on Mexico Highway 2
  • Fort Duncan - Restored buildings form the centerpiece of Eagle Pass' city park. Buildings include the Fort Duncan Museum.
  • Uvalde 40 miles NE
  • Brackettville 46 miles N on Hwy 131
  • Del Rio 56 miles N on Hwy 277


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    Eagle Pass sign painter
    A sign painter at work
    Photo by John Troesser
    cafe neon sign at dusk






    A downtown "Cafe" neon sign
    Photo by John Troesser
    The Kress Building in Eagle Pass Texas
    The Kress Building in Eagle Pass
    Photo by John Troesser

    Eagle Pass Tourist Information
  • Eagle Pass Chamber of Commerce:
    PO Box 1188 Eagle Pass, TX 78853
    Office: 400 Garrison Street Eagle Pass, TX
    Phone: 1-888-355-3224 (830) 773-3224
    Website: http://www.eaglepasstexas.com/

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  • Eagle Pass Texas Forum
  • Subject: Aztec Theatre
    My memories of the "Aztec" are growing up down the resaca in the "Jardin" neighborhood. We never really had any money back then, so for the weekends, we'd camp-out in the park just across the water and catch fish for dinner. I remember my Grandmother, God rest her soul, took me to "bailes" a couple of times on the rooftop….Oh what a priviledge it would have been to have seen it in its heyday!! I think my mother has a charcoal drawing I did back when I was around 15 years old. If I find it, I'll try and scan it and send it to you guys! Thanks for the memories! - George L. Rodriguez, Jr. Chesapeake, Virginia, July 31, 2006

  • Subject: Prada Marfa
    As me and my mom were on our way to Eagle Pass we passed the shoestore [Prada Marfa] and we were not sure if it was what we had seen. We wanted to make a U-turn and see if it was really there. Well, on our way back it was there. We stopped and took pictures of it. To us it was a store in the middle of nowhere, but [we] enjoyed it as well. I told my brother about it and he doesn't belive it's really there. - Marisa Flores, May 11, 2006

  • When you were down in Eagle Pass did you cross the border and go to Guerrero, about 25 miles down river from Piedras Negras, to visit the mission San Juan Baptista?

    This mission was the original mission and the headquarters from which the fathers operated in their forming and governing the missions in Texas including the Alamo. It is a ruin now but the Mexican government has made some attempts to save it. - Sincerely, Bick Eubanks, June 24, 2002

  • "Nearby is the site of the Battle of Dove Creek, although it is on private land. This fight took place in January of 1865 and involved a Confederate Frontier Battalion and a large number of Kickapoo Indians who were en route to Mexico (where they remain today)."

    I found the above in your description of Sherwood. While it is true that the Kickapoo do live near Nacimientos, Coahuila, Mexico, they also live near Eagle Pass, Texas and in Kansas and travel between all locations freely.

    I really enjoy Texas Escapes and thank you for your dedicated work on it. - Respectfully Yours, Bick Eubanks, June 22, 2002


    © John Troesser
    Our special thanks to local historian Al Kinnsal and the Fort Duncan Museum for providing us with many of the photos in our Eagle Pass town site.


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