Last updated: January 24, 2023
Place
San Elizario Historic District
Quick Facts
Location:
San Elizario, Texas (about 17 miles southeast of El Paso)
Significance:
Historic district on the trail route
MANAGED BY:
City of San Elizario
Wandering the tranquil, laid-back streets of the San Elizario Historic District in West Texas, one finds it hard to imagine the place as an action-packed crossroads of culture, commerce and military affairs. Yet in the 18th and 19th centuries, San Elizario’s adobe embrace held more than the charming air of history it exudes today. Set on a section of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro locally known as the Mission Trail at the point where the trail moves north from Mexico across the Rio Grande and into the United States, San Elizario remains a well-preserved portrait of more than 300 eventful years of frontier life.
Once a major commercial connector on El Camino Real, San Elizario now connects the contemporary reality of the lower El Paso Valley as an increasingly urban borderland to the community’s history as an agricultural heartland, a military presidio and a transportation corridor for both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. While the town may feel sleepy to some visitors, its adobe architecture provides a stimulating reason for visitors to slow down, explore and experience a unique lesson in the history of the Southwest and the U.S.
Site Information
Location (San Elizario, Texas (about 17 miles southeast of El Paso))