DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Smeltertown, out in El Paso County. Now, before El Paso was the city it is today, there was a city within the city — and most folks driving past that stretch of the Rio Grande have no idea it ever existed. It started with the Kansas City Consolidated Smelting and Refining Company, which came to El Paso in the late 19th century and set up what would become a major mining and smelting center for the entire Southwest.
Then in 1899, the American Smelting and Refining Company — ASARCO — bought the operation. They were pulling lead, copper, and other ores out of the earth and refining them right there on the banks of the Rio Grande. Now, an operation that size doesn't run itself.
It needed workers — thousands of them. And so thousands of Mexican immigrants came, and they didn't just clock in and clock out. They stayed.
They built homes for their families on company land right there around the smelter, and what grew up out of that wasn't a camp or a shantytown — it was a full, breathing, living community. They called it Smeltertown. Or, if you spoke Spanish, La Esmelda.
And friend, La Esmelda was no small thing. It grew into a small city within a city. There were ASARCO brick and cement plants.
A limestone quarry. The settlement divided itself into upper and lower Smeltertown — El Alto and El Bajo — and within those, smaller barrios took shape. The only one still standing today is La Calavera, Skull Canyon, laid out along the road to the Smeltertown Cemetery.
There's a name that carries some weight. But here's what you need to understand about a community like this — it doesn't just survive, it builds. Smeltertown had its own Y.M.C.A. branch.
It had schools, most notably E.B. Jones School. Residents opened stores and restaurants and organizations.
They named streets after men and women from the neighborhood who died in military service during World War II. Those streets were a living memorial, right there in the barrio. And at the spiritual heart of it all stood the San José Del Rio — San José de Cristo Rey Catholic Church — which served as a place for worship, yes, but also for social and community life.
The parishioners there undertook regular pilgrimages up to the top of Cerro de Muleros, the mountain now known as Mount Cristo Rey. And it was those same parishioners who helped initiate the creation of the Cristo Rey Monument, which was erected in 1940. Think about that — a community of smelter workers building a monument on a mountaintop.
Smeltertown endured for decades. It was vibrant and bustling, as the marker puts it — two words that feel almost bittersweet now, knowing what comes next. In the early 1970s, environmental officials found high levels of lead contamination in the soil.
And just like that, the end came swiftly. Community buildings were razed. Families were relocated.
A city within a city — schools, churches, streets named for the fallen, Skull Canyon and all — gone. Today, what remains is a reunion. An annual gathering where former residents come together to remember what stood there.
To remember La Esmelda. Because some places, even after they're razed down to the dirt, refuse to stay forgotten.
What the marker says
The Kansas City Consolidated Smelting and Refining Company came to El Paso in the late 19th century, creating a mining and smelting center for the Southwest. In 1899, the American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO) bought the operation and refined lead, copper and other ores. The need for a large labor pool brought in thousands of Mexican immigrants; these workers established homes for their families on company land around the smelter and developed a dynamic community called Smeltertown, or La Esmelda. Smeltertown grew into a small city within a city and was home to Asarco brick and cement plants, and a limestone quarry. The settlement was divided into upper and lower Smeltertown, or El Alto and El Bajo, and within these areas were smaller barrios. The only one remaining today is La Calavera, or Skull Canyon, laid out along the road to the Smeltertown Cemetery. Smeltertown was home to its own Y.M.C.A. branch and schools, most notably E.B. Jones School. Throughout the area, residents established organizations, stores, restaurants and other businesses, and named streets after residents who died in military service during World War II. The San José Del Rio (San José de Cristo Rey Catholic Church) served the residents as a place for worship and social and community activity. Parishioners undertook regular pilgrimages to the top of Cerro de Muleros, now known as Mount Cristo Rey, and initiated creation of the Cristo Rey Monument, erected in 1940. In the early 1970s, after environmental officials found high levels of lead contamination in the soil, community buildings were razed and families were relocated. Today, an annual reunion brings former residents together to remember the once vibrant and bustling Smeltertown. (2004)