all area communities that had developed along the river. In the 1870s, a
population of 23 Non-Hispanic whites and 150 Hispanics was reported. With the
arrival of the Southern Pacific, Texas and Pacific and the Atchison, Topeka and
Santa Fe railroads in 1881, the population boomed to 10,000 by the 1890 census,
the large majority of which were Americans, principally of Texan descent as
well as other Americans and a few recent Mexican newcomers ranging from
businessmen and priests, to gunfighters and prostitutes. The location of El
Paso as well as the arrival of these more wild newcomers caused the city to
become a violent and wild boomtown known as the "Six Shooter Capital"
because of its lawlessness. Indeed, prostitution and gambling flourished until
World War I, when the Department of the Army pressured El Paso authorities to
crack down on vice (thus benefitting vice in neighboring Ciudad Juárez). With
the suppression of the vice trade and in consideration of the city's geographic
position, the city continued into developing as a premier manufacturing,
transportation, and retail center of the US Southwest.
By 1910, the overwhelming number of people
in the city were Americans creating a settled environment. However, this period
was short lived as the Mexican Revolution greatly impacted the city, bringing
an influx of refugees – and capital – to the bustling boom town.
Spanish-language newspapers, theaters, movie houses, and schools were
established, many supported by a thriving Mexican refugee middle class. Large
numbers of clerics, intellectuals, and businessmen took refuge in the city,
particularly between 1913 and 1915.
Ultimately, the violence of the Mexican
Revolution followed with the large Mexican diaspora which had fled into El
Paso. In 1915 and again in 1916 and 1917 various Mexican revolutionary
societies planned, staged,
