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By Dr. Marc Thompson and Freddie Morales
The Mexican Revolution began on November 20, 1910 and the Union Plaza complex area became involved in various ways with the revolution and persons famous, infamous and unknown involved in that struggle.
After the first battle of Ciudad Juárez in May of 1911, the U.S. Government recognized the strategic location of Fort Bliss, and by 1912, the post became the most important military installation along the border. In January of 1913, Doroteo Arango, a.k.a. Pancho Villa, established a hideout in an alley apartment behind the corner of El Paso en Second Streets (Brady 1967; 15). Free after four months of imprisonment in Mexico City, Villa resided in the section of El Paso known as Chihuahuita. The revolutionaries from Mexico received firearms and ammunition from the nearby companies of Shelton-Payne Arms, Haymon Krupp, and Krakauer, Zork and Moye. The revolutionary problems in Mexico brought many refugee families to El Paso and specifically Duranguito.
In 1916, the enrollment at Franklin School reached 689. A wooden building was obtained following Pershing's punitive expedition, and in rooms of the Star Bakery and a nearby warehouse, refugee families were sheltered. Mrs. Alberta Madero, sister-in-law of Mexican President Francisco I. Madero provided, with others, food for needy children in the Principal's office of Franklin School as well. By this time, the character of the neighborhood had changed from affluent to needy families (El Paso herald Post 1972). Along San Francisco Street, Troop H of the 8Th Cavalry from Fort Bliss was posted in case of problems at the border. Some U.S. soldiers who were stationed here had children in Franklin School as well. In addition to numerous, uncounted Mexican refugees, nearly 2,000 Mormons reached El Paso in 1912. They were sheltered, vaccinated against small pox, and given free transportation to any point in the U.S. before the onset of winter (Department of Planning 1967:14).
In 1915, at 329 Leon Street lived a friend of Pancho Villa named George Benton. Benton had a safe to store Villa's valuables such as currency, gold, and jewelry. On November 10th U.S. Customs officials raided the house on Leon and found more than $500,000, gold, and jewelry. The money was stacked in piles of bills, and drawers were filled with gold coins. None of the money was confiscated, but the jewelry was seized as it was claimed to have been smuggled into the U.S. (Peterson and Knoles 1977:195).
Following Villa's raid on Columbus, New Mexico in March of 1916, local Euro- Americans began attacking Mexicans on Santa Fe Street. In one case, a Mexican of dark complexion escaped from an attack claiming he was not a Mexican but a Negro (Garcia 1981:191). In the same year, Fort Bliss rose to prominence again as the Punitive Expedition to Mexico was initiated there. By March 13, 2,700 additional troops were sent to the Post and later, National Guard troops were also called to duty at Fort Bliss. By 1917, the guard units were sent home and Fort Bliss returned to regular army occupation. (Faunce 1997:116-118).
The Mexican Revolution had a profound affect on the population dynamics of El Paso. As Vigil (1980:147) notes, "Most adult Chicanos presently living in the U.S. have a parent or grandfather who migrated to the U.S., during that time." Additionally, the Mexican civil war lasted throughout the decade and into the 1920s because land reform had been the key issue for the largely Mestizo population. In the U.S. immigration restrictions had been periodically relaxed and special migration treaties were enacted from time to time. During WWI and during the Bracero ("arms" or "fieldhands") period of WW II, legal entrance was permitted for much needed Mexican laborers (Vigil 1980:148).
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