Los Portales

Duane's take

The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one passin' it along. Out in El Paso County, there's a building with a story that stretches from a family home all the way to the halls of the United States Senate. And it starts, as so many good Texas stories do, with one man and a piece of land.

Around 1855, a local farmer, rancher, and landowner by the name of Gregorio Nacenseno Garcia put up a building meant to be something simple and lasting: a home for his family. He built it in the territorial style, and he didn't skimp on the details. There was milled wood work throughout.

But the feature that really caught people's attention was the inset gallery, what you'd call a portal. That covered, recessed porch became the building's calling card, and folks started calling the place Los Portales. Now, a name like that tends to stick.

And the building itself, it had a way of holding on too. By the 1870s, Los Portales had taken on a new purpose. The residence had been converted into a schoolhouse.

A family home becoming a place of learning, that's a certain kind of legacy all by itself. But here's where the story takes a turn nobody could have predicted when Garcia first laid those walls. The first teacher to stand up in that converted schoolhouse was a man named Octaviano Larrazola.

Let that name sit with you for a moment. Because the young man teaching lessons inside those portal-shaded walls would go on to become governor of New Mexico. And then, as if that weren't enough, a United States Senator.

A building raised by a rancher in 1855. A schoolhouse by the 1870s. And somewhere in between, a future senator was standing at the front of the room.

Los Portales didn't just shelter a family. It helped shape one.

What the marker says

Local farmer, rancher, and landowner Gregorio Nacenseno Garcia constructed this building as his family's residence about 1855. Built in the territorial style, it features milled wood detailing. Because of its distinctive inset gallery (portal), it became known as Los Portales. In the 1870s, the structure was converted to use as a schoolhouse. The first teacher was Octaviano Larrazola, who later became governor of New Mexico and a U.S. Senator. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1962