DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker at Tays Place has to say — so hold on, because this one's got layers. Way back in 1937, Congress passed the Housing Act, and President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal got to work. El Paso was about to feel it.
In 1938, the housing authority of the city of El Paso was created, and planners set their sights on the city's southside — the crowded, impoverished neighborhoods down there — and drew up designs for not one but two large public housing projects. They called them Alamito and Tays Place. Now the man behind the drafting table for both of them was chief architect Guy L.
Frazer, working alongside Trost and Trost and several other local architectural firms. Robert E. McKee served as general contractor.
And what they were building wasn't just shelter — New Deal housing was designed to provide a high quality, comfortable, and safe environment with many modern conveniences. This was a statement. A federal promise that decent living was within reach.
Alamito opened first, in 1940, serving the old Segundo Barrio. Then Tays Place followed in 1941, sited in the Chamizal neighborhood. It was named for Joseph Tays — a pioneer Episcopalian minister — and it would become the oldest-surviving public housing project in all of El Paso.
But here's where the story gets heavy, and it deserves to be said plainly. Tays Place was El Paso's only formally segregated public housing project. Most apartment units were leased to white and Hispanic tenants.
South of the Franklin Canal, though — separated by that waterway — were 33 units specifically designated for African American families. Those units sat right across the street from Douglass Grammar and High School, the city's only designated African American educational facility. Two separate institutions, holding up two separate worlds, separated by a canal and by policy.
In 1952, that African American section was expanded — 30 additional housing units added to the original 33. Alamito, the companion project, endured for more than 60 years before it was demolished in 2006 and replaced with new housing units. The old African American section of Tays Place was demolished in 2016 and replaced with apartments the following year.
The apartment buildings north of the canal at Tays Place have undergone periodic maintenance and renovation over the decades and still stand. And that's the thing about this place. Through their impact on El Paso and their structural integrity, those remaining buildings represent a fine example of New Deal-era federal housing — a monument to an era that believed government could build its way toward something better, even as it drew lines in the dirt about who could live where.
The canal is still there. So are the buildings. Make of that what you will.
What the marker says
Funded under the Housing Act of 1937 as one of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal projects, Tays Place is the oldest-surviving public housing project in El Paso. In 1938, the housing authority of the city of El Paso was created and plans were developed for two large public housing projects, Alamito and Tays Place, in the crowded and impoverished neighborhoods of the city's southside. The chief architect for both projects was Guy L. Frazer, assisted by Trost & Trost and several other local architectural firms. Robert E. Mckee served as the general contractor. New deal housing was designed to provide a high quality, comfortable and safe environment with many modern conveniences. Alamito opened in 1940 and served the old Segundo Barrio. Tays Place, named for pioneer episcopalian Minister Joseph Tays, was sited in the Chamizal neighborhood, and opened in 1941. Tays Place was El Paso's only formally segregated public housing project. Most apartment units were leased to white and Hispanic tenants, but south of the Franklin Canal were 33 units for African American families. These units were located across the street from Douglass Grammar and High School, the city's only designated African American educational facility. In 1952, the African American section was expanded to include 30 additional housing units. Alamito remained in use for more than 60 years until the complex was demolished in 2006 and replaced with new housing units. The old African American section of Tays Place was demolished in 2016 and replaced with apartments the following year. Tays Place apartment buildings north of the canal have undergone periodic maintenance and renovation. However, through their impact on El Paso and structural integrity, they represent a fine example of new deal-era federal housing. (2017)