DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Pioneer Plaza — El Paso, Texas. Doesn't sound like much of a name now, does it?
But there was a time when that little patch of ground was the beating heart of everything that happened in El Paso. Everything passed through it. Everybody passed through it.
And I do mean everybody. But we'll get to that. First, let's set the scene.
In the late 1870s, a United States military guard was posted right here — not for ceremony, not for show — to defend citizens from Apache Indian attacks. That is the kind of neighborhood watch that commands your full attention. And when the shooting wasn't happening, the military bands performed in the plaza, because life on the frontier moved in both registers: danger and music, sometimes on the same afternoon.
Now the plaza had a gentler side too. An irrigation ditch flowed along its south boundary, feeding a line of trees that shaded the whole area. Among those trees stood one ash tree that the people of early El Paso put to particular use.
They called it the Newspaper Tree, and on its bark and branches they posted their public notices — the news of the day, nailed to a living thing. No printing press required. Major roads and trails radiated outward from this plaza like spokes on a wheel.
El Paso Street led southward toward El Paso Del Norte, Mexico. San Francisco Street headed westward, connecting travelers with trails all the way to California. And the Butterfield overland stage route — that legendary line — crossed right through the southwest corner of the plaza.
So if you were movin' through the Southwest in those days, chances are good the dirt of Pioneer Plaza ended up on your boots. The plaza saw parades, public events, the full theater of a young city findin' its feet. But here is the moment that makes you stop and just sit with it for a second.
October 16, 1909. United States President William H. Taft and Mexican President Porfirio Diaz — two heads of state, two nations, one plaza — each passed through Pioneer Plaza with their entourages, on their way to the Chamber of Commerce building for what the marker calls, plainly and correctly, their historic meeting.
Two presidents. One little plaza. You couldn't have scripted it any grander if you'd tried.
But here's the thing about Pioneer Plaza — and life has a way of doin' this — it was just too small. Couldn't hold all that El Paso was becomin'. And so, in time, it was replaced by San Jacinto Plaza as the center of activity.
The city outgrew it. But a place where military bands played, where an ash tree carried the news, where two presidents walked the same ground on the same October day — that place doesn't really disappear. It just steps aside and lets history do the talkin'.
What the marker says
Pioneer Plaza was the center of public activity in early El Paso. A United States military guard was posted here in the late 1870s to defend citizens from Apache Indian attacks, and military bands performed in the plaza. An irrigation ditch flowed along the south boundary of the plaza and nourished a line of trees which shaded the area. Among the trees was an ash known as the "Newspaper Tree" on which public notices were posted. Major roads and trails passed through the plaza. El Paso Street led southward to El Paso Del Norte, Mexico, and San Francisco Street led westward from the plaza to connect with trails to California. The Butterfield overland stage route crossed the southwest corner of the plaza. Pioneer Plaza was the site of many parades and public events. United States President William H. Taft and Mexican President Porfirio Diaz each passed through the plaza with their entourages while en route to the Chamber of Commerce building for their historic meeting on October 16, 1909. Due to its small size, Pioneer Plaza was replaced by San Jacinto Plaza as the center of activity. (1988)