El Paso Then: Our city has experienced some amazing significant and historic events.
In the 1950s, El Pasoans were fondly remembering visiting Dudley Field, Mona the Elephant at the El Paso Zoo and the Plaza Theater for the premier of John Wayne’s ‘Hondo.’
The Sun City also has special visits by the super stars of the era including John Wayne, Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson.
A top news story of the time involved 1,400 braceros at the Santa Fe Street International Bridge, waiting to be processed at the Public Health Service before they were loaded on a bus and taken to farms and ranches where they will be employed.
On hand for his third straight try at victory in the Kentucky Derby, jockey Willie Shoemaker, left, chats with trainer Noble Threewitt on April 29, 1954.
(C-J file photo)
Bette Davis and her attorney in Juarez where she got divorced and remarried there in 1950.
(Times file photo)
10/10/1950 Jerry porter, 165-pound Ysleta center, gets set to snap ball to Tailback Jesse Whittenton.
(Gordy/El paso times)
Nursed back to health under the watchful eye of Ray Bell, warden of the New Mexico Game and Fish Commission, Smokey stands on the plane that flew him from the Lincoln National Forest to Santa Fe for emergency treatment of his burns.
(U.S. Forest Service)
08/22/1950 FREE RIDE – Boosters of Bataan Memorial Trainway, riding a special train of six flatcars and caboose, inspect the finished project in a sightseeing tour. On the first car are members of the American Federation of Musicians band.
(Times file photo)
March 29, 1950 – BRIDE-ELECT OF EL PASOAN: Miss Elizabeth Taylor, left, is shown with Mrs. Mack Saxon, center, mother of Miss Taylor’s fiance, Conrad N. Hilton Jr., of El Paso and her mother, Mrs. Francis Taylor. They are pictured in Miss Taylor’s suite in the Hilton hotel here, as they chatted about the couple’s wedding plans.
(El Paso Times file)
Sept. 26, 1951: Robert E. Codner of Tucson, Ariz., tries to keep Abercrombie out of the water long enough for The Times’ photographer to set up a picture with him and Bob Shipp, city recreation director. But Abercrombie couldn’t wait to hit the water and Codner lost the uneven struggle. Abercrombie is the city’s new 175-pound, 6-foot alligator given to the city by Codner, who arrived in El Paso Tuesday night with the scaly monster.
(Times file photo)
Oct. 5, 1952: Providence Memorial Hospital Head Nurse Eileen Taylor (center) briefs four new nurses on conditions of patients to whom they will be assigned on their 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift. Misses Betty Wilson and Helen Powers are on the left and Misses Mary Forrest and Hazel Woodcock are on the right.
(El Paso Times)
Jan. 9, 1952: Removing statuary from the chapel in the old Hotel Dieu building are Juan Sanchez (left) and Jose Labrado, hospital employes. Here they lift the statue of the Virgin Mary from the altar. Chapel fixtures will be placed in a temporary chapel in the new wing until the permanent chapel in the north wing, now being built, is completed.
(Times file photo)
Sept. 18, 1952: Some 1400 braceros were processed in El Paso Wednesday and several hundred of them are shown lined up on the Santa Fe Street International Bridge, waiting to be processed at the Public Health Service station on the bridge. From the bridge the braceros were loaded on busses for Rio Vista Farm, where they await transportation to farms and ranches where they will be employed.
(El Paso Times)
Aug. 24, 1952: White uniformed girls take tortillas from a conveyor belt in the Ashley kitchen and deftly roll prepared cheese into them to make enchiladas. The rolled enchiladas move to cookers on the upper belt.
(Times file photo)
Feb. 8, 1952: These boys, who live in Saint Margaret’s Home, gather around a new heater which was recently placed in the boy’s dormitory at the home. The gift was solicited and installed by members of the local telephone workers union and donated by Boyd Engineering Co. of 718 North Stanton Street. The rebuilding of a wing of the home which was damaged by fire several weeks ago is nearly complete. Pictured are (left to right) Shorty Castillo, Johnny Minjares, Coy Latham and Jose Castillo.
(El Paso Times)
Jan. 6, 1952: An employee at Farah Manufacturing Co., wearing a mask to keep from breathing lint, cuts out jeans in the cutting room. The electric cutter can cut at one time through enough layers of material to make five dozen jeans.
(El Paso Times)
June 19, 1952: Being on the New Mexico-Texas state line would benefit industry though better freight rates, but also brings problems, according to Anthony businessmen who are sparking a move to incorporate Anthony. Shown here is the business district of the village, with the state boundary marker shown at extreme right.
(El Paso Times)
1952: C. N. Hilton, hotel chain owner, boarded an American Airlines plane Wednesday afternoon for Los Angeles at El Paso International Airport.
(Times file photo)
Nov. 12, 1952: A huge searchlight swept the heights of the Franklin Mountains Tuesday night as rescuers sought to reach a fatally injured Ft. Bliss soldier killed while mountain climbing. Rescueres point upward into the mountains as the searchlight tries to locate the cene of the tragedy.
(Times file photo)
A huge crowd accompanies the showing of “Take the High Ground” by director Richard Brooks on the evening of September 23, 1953.
(Times file photo)
March 22, 1953 – NEW ENTRANCE — From this central entranceway, spectators go to either right or left, passing restrooms and concession stands, to reach their seats in the stands, boxes or bleachers. The small window at left is the drive-in ticket window for fans who wish to purchase tickets in advance.
(Times file photo)
18 JUL 1954 – BOARD TRAINS – Some 1,500illegal Mexican farm workers who arrived in Juarez Saturday morning werer placed aboard freight trains for the return trip to their homes. Nicolas Castill, Mexican immigration officer, is shown at the left giving each of the workers a 5-peso bill.
(El Paso Times)
07/25/1954 Proclaiming the area of Texas Western College where the engineering buildings are located as the College of Mines, engineering students have drawn a “line of demarcation” on the only road leading into the area.
(Times file photo)
06/06/1954 One of the finest views in El Paso is from the top of the El Paso Natural Gas Co. building now nearing completion.
(Times file photo)
Burt Reynolds, FSU 1955 Sun Bowl
(El Paso Times file)
An Aug. 15, 1956, photo shows the monument to Col. William Wallace Smith Bliss, after whom Fort Bliss was named. It is now permanently located on the grounds of Fort Bliss.
(El Paso Times)
17 June, 1956, Chelsea Park Pool opening.
(El Paso Times)
Oct. 30, 1973 Mr. and Mrs. W.D. Patterson, who operated a successful photo business here, disappeared in 1957 and were never fond, one of the Southwest’s most puzzling mystery cases.
(Times file photo)
A photograph of Bracero Eduardo de Santiago, now 89 years old, from November 1957 in the cotton field he worked in.
(Times file photo)
21 OCT 1958 – BOMB DRILL – These students at Bowie High School left their classes in an orderly manner Monday afternoon when a fire drill was called after the Fire Department received a report that bombs had been placed in local high schools. Police and firemen stood by during the evacuation and searched the buildings before classes were resumed.
(El Paso Times)
03 JUL 1958 – INSPECT BORDER FENCE – Border Patrol Chief Gordon Pettingill (left), Mayor Raymond Telles (center) and District Director Marcus T. Neelly of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service inspect the new, heavy-gauge wire fence around Cordova Island. Neelly said the fence, erected primarily through his efforts during several years, “already is helping us a great deal in controlling illegal border crossers.” (Times Staff Photo)
(El Paso Times)
Zoo employee Rudy Romero in May 1958 gently feeds a handful of fish bits soaked in cod-liver oil to the Washington Park Zoo’s baby sea lion, which was captured in the Gulf of California. Employees also fed the youngster with a baby bottle.
(El Paso Times file)
03/13/1959 THE TELLES TEAM PICTURED ABOVE – Left to Right: Ernest Craigo, Alderman; Ralph Seitsinger, Alderman; Raymond L. Teless,Jr., Mayor; Ted Bender, Alderman; Jack C. White, Alderman.
(Times file photo)
28 JUN 1959 – MECHANIZATION – A costly investment in modern machinery enable the Borden Co. to convert milk into nutritious and low cost ice cream novelties at their El Paso Plant. The machine shon here automatically assembles and packages ice cream sandwiches under the watchful eye of Mrs. Maria Gomez. The operation is typical of mechanization used throughout the modern olant. (Times Staff Photo)
(El Paso Times)1950s photos: El Paso’s Zoo, Price’s Creameries and Elizabeth Taylor
1 of 31
On hand for his third straight try at victory in the Kentucky Derby, jockey Willie Shoemaker, left, chats with trainer Noble Threewitt on April 29, 1954.
(C-J file photo)
If there are historic photos of El Paso you would like to see email Trish Long at tlong@elpasotimes.com.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: 1950s photos: John Wayne visits El Paso, Price’s Creameries, gang weapons.