El Paso High School
El Paso, El Paso County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The oldest existing high school building in El Paso, this four-story structure was also the first separate facility in the city constructed for use as a high school. Begun in 1914, it was completed two years later. The prominent El Paso architectural firm of Trost and Trost designed the building, utilizing ideas from existing school facilities throughout the United States. The result was a novel plan that incorporated the athletic field, which was built by J.F. Woodward, Jr., into the overall academic center. One of the finest examples of the classical revival style in Texas, the El Paso High School was built by J.E. Morgan and by the American Construction Company of Houston. The structure features intricate detailing, elaborate columns and a dominant central pavilion that houses the auditorium. When the school was constructed, it included such innovative ideas as a Cadet Corps Armory, a four-bedroom apartment for the domestic arts classes, a rooftop garden, and drawing rooms and laboratory areas with skylights. Situated in the foothills of the Franklin Mountains, El Paso High School is a landmark in the city. Since 1916, it has been the alma mater of many prominent business, professional and civic leaders. RECORDED TEXAS HISTORIC LANDMARK – 2015
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Completed in 1916, El Paso High School was the city's first purpose-built high school and remains its oldest surviving one. The noted firm Trost and Trost designed a classical-revival landmark in the foothills of the Franklin Mountains, folding the athletic field into the academic plan and adding then-novel touches like a rooftop garden, a cadet armory, and skylit laboratories.
Why it matters
The building reflects the Progressive Era's faith in the modern public high school as an engine of civic advancement, a movement that reshaped American education in the early 20th century.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the 1910s El Paso was a growing city at a crossroads: the Rio Grande, the railroads, the U.S.-Mexico border and the military presence at Fort Bliss. Across the river, the Mexican Revolution was convulsing Ciudad Juárez and northern Mexico during exactly the years this school was going up. The city was booming and changing quickly, and its leaders wanted modern institutions to match.
Nationally, these were the Progressive Era years, when reformers saw the public high school as a key to building better citizens. High schools had once been small and reserved for a few, but in the early twentieth century enrollment began climbing steeply. Cities raced to build large, purpose-made high school buildings, often designed as civic showpieces.
El Paso High School belongs to that wave. Before it opened, the city had no building constructed specifically as a high school. Building one, and building it grandly, was a statement about El Paso's ambitions.
People & events
Construction began in 1914 and finished two years later. The design came from Trost and Trost, the El Paso architectural firm whose buildings shaped much of the city and the wider Southwest. The architects studied school buildings from across the United States and borrowed the best ideas they found. Their plan was unusual for its time because it folded the athletic field, built by J.F. Woodward, Jr., into the academic campus instead of treating sports as an afterthought.
The building itself was constructed by J.E. Morgan and the American Construction Company of Houston. The result is a classical revival building with intricate detailing, grand columns and a commanding central pavilion that holds the auditorium. It is considered one of the finest examples of the style in Texas.
Inside, the school was full of ideas that seemed very modern in 1916. There was a Cadet Corps Armory, a rooftop garden, drawing rooms and laboratories lit by skylights, and even a four-bedroom apartment where domestic arts classes could practice running a household. Each feature reflects what educators of the day thought a complete education should include: citizenship and discipline, science and art, and practical life skills.
Since 1916 the school has educated generation after generation of El Pasoans, including many who went on to lead the city's businesses, professions and civic life. In 2015 it was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.
Its place in the American story
El Paso High School is a textbook example of the Progressive Era belief that public education could build a better society. Reformers of the period widened what a school was expected to do: teach science in real laboratories, build bodies through athletics, train citizens through cadet programs, and prepare students for home and working life.
The building's design also says something about how Americans valued public schools then. Communities often gave their high schools the same classical columns and monumental scale they gave courthouses and libraries. A school designed like a temple announced that learning was a civic duty and a public treasure.
Because this happened in a border city during the Mexican Revolution, the school is also part of the story of how the American Southwest grew into its modern form. Institutions like this one helped turn El Paso from a frontier railroad town into a major city.
If you visit
The school sits in the foothills of the Franklin Mountains, and its setting is half the experience. Look for the dominant central pavilion and its columns, and notice how the building commands the slope, a landmark visible from around the neighborhood.
Take time with the details. Classical revival buildings reward a close look at their cornices, column capitals and decorative trim. Try to picture the features the marker describes, like the rooftop garden and the skylit laboratories, and imagine how cutting-edge they would have felt to students more than a century ago.
This is a school building, so plan to enjoy it from public areas and respect the grounds and students during school hours. It pairs well with a broader look at El Paso's historic architecture, much of it designed by the same Trost firm. With the Franklin Mountains as a backdrop and the border just to the south, it's a fine stop on any West Texas itinerary.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Themes & tags
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