East El Paso is located in the City of El Paso, Texas. It is bounded by the Rio Grande and Cervantes Street to the south, Zaragosa St. on the north, Mexico Avenue, and American Ave. on the east. The neighborhood contains a residential area with a majority of older homes with no sidewalks and bus service along the major roads only sporadically available.

There are several long-standing local businesses along Mesa Avenue including a fire station, tire shop and auto body repair, small grocery store and some family-owned restaurants.

There is an industrial zone located in the northern part of the neighborhood known as “The Pipe Yard” for its location alongside the El Paso Products Company which is used by area employees. Some of the older homes have been remodeled to accommodate apartments or condominiums and there also exists a small trailer park within this neighborhood called San Francisco Trailer Park.

East El Paso was settled in 1796 by Franciscan friars from Mexico near San Antonio Street, with Spanish families moving into this area from Ciudad Juárez. The residents of East El Paso were predominantly Mexican until 1920, when the Mexican Revolution and Pancho Villa’s raids forced many refugees into El Paso.

Many of the homes in this neighborhood were demolished to make way for expansion of Fort Bliss during World War II.

The first elementary school in East El Paso was San Francisco, which opened at the corner of Zaragosa Street and Driscoll Drive in 1917. The school was closed in 1933 when a new school named Martin Luther King Junior Elementary School opened on Mesa Ave., across from Fire Station #4. In 1960, the school moved to a newer building on Jackson St., where it remained until 2012, when it moved to its current facility along Gibson Avenue near Fort Bliss Military Reservation.

When Interstate 10 through El Paso was constructed, two bridges were built to cross the Rio Grande. The Zaragosa Street Bridge was open in 1966 and serves north-south traffic between El Paso and Mexico.

In recent years, commercial enterprises have moved into this neighborhood as East El Paso borders such street as Mesa Avenue which leads into the “Four Corners” area of Downtown El Paso close to the University Medical Center and Fort Bliss military base. In addition the industrial area along Martin Luther King Boulevard has opened up to many new small businesses moving eastward from downtown El Paso beside Interstate 10.

East El Paso contains several landmarks including a historic post office building located on US 54, Zaragoza Street just west of Driscoll Drive (built in 1883). Also during holidays such as the Cinco De Mayo, many of the residents come out with their families to celebrate in a culturally rich atmosphere. East El Paso is also home to several small businesses and local offices of state agencies including The Texas Department Of Criminal Justice -Institutional Division Office along Zaragosa Street near Driscoll Drive.

East El Paso is an area of El Paso that still has not been gentrified or urbanized like other areas in the city have been. The population has remained predominantly Hispanic although it is becoming more diverse in recent years with newcomers from within the United States and countries outside Mexico immigrating into this neighborhood bringing new culture, foods, and traditions to share with its already existing Mexican-American Residents.