DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Houchen Community Center in El Paso's El Paso County. Now, some stories start with a building. This one starts with a meeting — the kind that quietly changes everything.
It's 1893, and a teacher from Michigan named Rose Gregory Houchen crosses paths with a woman named Margaret Tripp. Tripp is a missionary with the Women's Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, working in Segundo Barrio — a Hispanic neighborhood right along the U.S.-Mexico border. Two women, one corner of the world, and an idea that would take nearly two decades to become brick and mortar.
Fast forward to 1910. Rose Gregory Houchen donates a thousand dollars — a thousand dollars — to build an institution to help the poor. And in 1912, at the corner of Tays and Fifth streets, the Rose Gregory Houchen Settlement House opens its doors.
English classes, Bible study, daycare, kindergarten, social gatherings. A place where people could show up and find something — community, maybe, or just a foothold. Then history came flooding in.
During the Mexican Revolution in the 1910s, an influx of immigrants arrived in Segundo Barrio. They came in waves, and they came into poverty. The conditions were hard, and disease followed hardship the way it always does.
When the 1918 flu epidemic tore through, the residents of Segundo Barrio suffered. The settlement house shifted. It started teaching hygiene, treating illnesses, opening public showers.
The mission was the same — serve the people — but the work had changed shape. Soon, the Women's Division of the Methodist Board of Global Ministries stepped in, purchasing a neighboring building and opening Freeman Clinic. Then in 1937, a new building with two wings replaced the clinic.
One wing kept the Freeman Clinic going. The other became Newark Maternity Hospital — offering pre- and post-natal care and delivery services. And before Newark Maternity Hospital closed in 1986, it had delivered more than sixty-two thousand babies.
Sixty-two thousand lives that came into this world through those doors on the border. The center didn't slow down after that. In 1945, El Buen Pastor Methodist Church joined the fold.
In 1947, Houchen Day School came alongside, and together they formed a compound known as Friendship Square. A gymnasium went up in 1988. By 1992, a playground and a Head Start building had replaced the old settlement house itself — the original structure, gone, but its purpose still standing.
All of it traces back to that meeting in 1893. One teacher from Michigan, one missionary in Segundo Barrio, one donation of a thousand dollars. More than sixty-two thousand babies later, the Houchen Community Center is still there on the corner, still serving the residents of Segundo Barrio.
Some stories, it turns out, don't have an ending — they just keep going.
What the marker says
This center has served El Paso since 1912, though its roots go back to 1893 when Rose Gregory Houchen, a teacher from Michigan, met Margaret Tripp, a member of the Women's Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Tripp was a missionary in Segundo Barrio, a Hispanic neighborhood along the U.S.-Mexico border. In 1910, Houchen donated $1,000 to build an institution to help the poor. Completed in 1912 at the corner of Tays and Fifth streets, the Rose Gregory Houchen Settlement House offered English language classes, Bible study, daycare, kindergarten and social gatherings. An influx of immigrants arrived in Segundo Barrio during the Mexican Revolution in the 1910s. The poor conditions in which they lived contributed to outbreaks of disease; residents especially suffered during the 1918 flu epidemic. The center began to focus on health care, teaching hygiene, treating illnesses and opening public showers. Soon, the Women's Division of the Methodist Board of Global Ministries purchased a neighboring building, opening Freeman Clinic. In 1937, a building with two wings replaced the clinic, with one wing for Freeman Clinic and the other for Newark Maternity Hospital, which provided pre- and post-natal care as well as delivery for more than 62,000 babies before closing in 1986. The center continued to grow in the following years, adding new programs. Later it was joined by El Buen Pastor Methodist Church (1945) and Houchen Day School (1947) to form a compound known as Friendship Square. In 1988, a gymnasium was built and in 1992, a playground and Head Start building replaced the old settlement house. Today, Houchen Community Center continues to offer many programs to serve and encourage residents of Segundo Barrio. (2007)