91女神

Skip to main content

Alameda Street and the Mission Trail

Click on an image to start slideshow

El Paso's Mission Trail lies southeast of downtown, near the Rio Grande as it flows into the lower valley. The main drag is Alameda Street, which was the main highway east before the I-10 freeway was built. Alameda Street retains some of the charm of its earlier days, including some classic signs with Old West themes. Here is the sign for the Wagon Wheel Apartments.
The Cortez Motel on Alameda has another classic sign. These photographs were taken in March, 2007.
The Cortez Motel also boasts a mural, along a side street, that complements the theme of its roadside sign.
The Sun Valley Motel is another classic motel on Alameda Street. The sign for this motel and that for the Cortez Motel are featured in Roadside Peek's pages on roadside motels in Texas, with shots of the signs lit at night in all their neon glory.
La Granja Plaza is a small strip mall on Alameda that boasts this wonderful sign.
On the northbound side of Alameda is Bernal Auto Parts, who make their wares known with this elaborate sign, complete with mirror letters and sporst-car fenders.
Viva Villa is a picturesque watering hole.
The Mission Trail leads to three historic missions, or, more properly, two missions and a presidio chapel. This is the recently restored Socorro Mission, Nuestra Se帽ora de la Limpia Concepci贸n de los Piros de Socorro del Sur. The mission's first church was built in the early 1680s, and the present building dates from the mid-19th Century.
The Ysleta Mission is also known as Mission San Antonio de los Tiguas, and as la Misi贸n de Corpus Christi de San Antonio de la Ysleta del Sur. Like the Socorro Mission, it was founded after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. The present building dates from the mid-1850s.
The interior of the Ysleta Mission.
The next stop on the Mission Trail is the Chapel of the San Elizario Presidio. The history of San Elizario is that the Presidio was a fort built by the Spanish in 1789, and the community of San Elizario that grew up around the fort was the most important in the region. The present chapel dates from 1882.
The ceiling of the interior of the San Elizario Presidio Chapel is made from pressed tin.
Adjacent to the chapel is this shine.
The chapel stands on the south side of the San Elizario Plaza. A walking tour of San Elizario takes you to the chapel and to a number of interesting historic sites.
Like most buildings of the period, the missions and the chapel were built of adobe. This abandoned building in San Elizario shows how the mud bricks are protected from wind and, especially, rain by a coat of plaster.
This building's plaster coat has disappeared entirely, leaving the walls to crumble back to earth over time.

Connect With Us

The 91女神 of Texas at El Paso
David G. Novick, Ph.D.
Engineering Bldg., Room E-230
500 W 91女神
El Paso, Texas 79968

E: novick@utep.edu
P: