In 1849, James Wiley Magoffin settled on the banks of the Rio Grande and established a trading post to the east of the present downtown El Paso area which was named Magoffinville. In 1854, a military post was established in Magoffinville named Fort Bliss. Both Magoffinville and Fort Bliss suffered from the fortunes of war and the ever wandering and flooding Rio Grande as time progressed. The Magoffin Home, built in 1875, is the most significant building in the District and one of the most historical in the city. It displays a regional architectural style developed in the Southwest between 1865 and 1880. A combination of native building techniques and materials and of popular eastern U.S. building motifs, the Territorial style was one of the first manifestations of the “Americanizing" of the Southwest. The Magoffin Home, a rare Texas example of this style, is built of sun-dried adobe with Greek revival details apparent in its pedimented and plastered doors and windows.

Because the Magoffinville area was the first neighborhood to be developed after the arrival of the railroads in 1880-1890, its houses reflect the styles and materials imported from the Middle West and east coast. High Victorian was the prevalent style. When the fashionable Sunset Heights neighborhood began to develop in 1906, Magoffinville suffered in several ways. The appeal of the high, rounded knolls for building sites overlooking the Rio Grande and the grand architectural styles and landscaping of Sunset Heights drew many from Magoffinville. In 1914 Kern Place became equally attractive and the wealthy and influential began moving out to these new developments. A lack of restrictive zoning policies in the Magoffin neighborhood resulted in a mixture of incompatible uses; residential, commercial and industrial. This mixture of uses only served to hasten deterioration in the area.

In an effort to stop this blight revitalize the neighborhood, and preserve the remaining landmark buildings, the City Council created the Magoffin Historic District on February 19, 1985. With the recently restored Magoffin Homestead at the heart of the District and other historic buildings being renovated, improvement in the neighborhood's economic and cultural vitality is already apparent.

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