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SOCORRO,
TEXASEl
Paso County, West
Texas
I-20
About 10 Miles SE of El
Paso
Population: 27, 152 (2000) |
 |
History
in a Pecan Shell
A revolt against the Spanish and their Indian charges by the New Mexican Pueblo
Indians created the need for a refuge. Arriving in El
Paso
in 1860, the refugees were provided with a more permanent home two years later
with the establishment of the Nuestra Señora de la Limpia Concepción del Socorro
Mission. Severe flooding destroyed the mission in 1744 and again in 1829. The
current incarnation was built in 1840, five years before Texas Statehood. A community
formed around the mission with a population of over 1,000 residents. Due to a
change in the course of the river, the town was part of Mexico
until the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848.
Irrigated crops, vineyards
and orchards provided the city of El Paso
with fruit, grain and wine, while provided cash to Socorro. Soccoro, with its
neighboring towns held an enviable position until the arrival of the railroad
in 1881.
The Elephant Butte Dam on the Rio Grande was built in 1916 and
forever changed the landscape, replacing family-run farms with large scale cotton
operations. Prior to the collapse of cotton
prices in the mid 1920s, it was the major crop.
From 2,100 residents in
the mid 1930s, Socorro dropped to a mere 350 in the early 1940s.
Beginning
in the 1960s, developers built subdivisions here and the population soared to
10,000 in the 1970s. By 1990 it had swelled to over 22,000. The 2000 census gave
a figure of over 27,000.
The town resisted attempts at being annexed by
El Paso by a wide margin of votes in the
1980s and is doing its best to keep growth under control. |
Statue of St.
MichaelTo the left
of the altar inside the church stands the statue of St. Michael. A marker outside
the church states the following: "Legend has it that in 1845 (the same year in
which Texas became part of the United States) the statue was being transported
from Mexico City to Santa Fe by carreta (oxcart.) The carreta became mired in
mud not far from here, and parishioners took this as a sign that Saint Michael
wanted Socorro to be his "home." Mission Socorro has been his home to this date,
and parishioners have adopted Saint Michael as their patron." Terry
Jeanson |
Statue
of St. Michael in Mission Socorro
Photo
courtesy Terry
Jeanson, 2005 |
Dam
at Elephant Butte, on Rio Grande, near El Paso,
Texas
Postcard
courtesy www.rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/ |
Socorro, Texas on 1907 Post
Office Map
Courtesy Texas General Land Office |
| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories, and vintage/historic/contemporary
photos of their town, please contact
us. |
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