Site of Tienda de Carbajal
Socorro, El Paso County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Site (partially reclaimed) of a 19th century walled hacienda appearing on 1852 map near San Elizario Road crossing of Acequia Madre. By 1873 part of building was razed, but surviving parts were occupied by store of Juan Carbajal and some municipal offices. (1972)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On the old San Elizario road along the Rio Grande valley near Socorro stood a walled hacienda that appears on an 1852 map beside the crossing of the Acequia Madre, the region's ancient mother irrigation ditch. By 1873 part of the building had been torn down, but the surviving rooms housed the store of Juan Carbajal and served as local municipal offices. The site preserves a trace of the Spanish-Mexican settlement that long predated Anglo Texas in the El Paso district.
Why it matters
It marks the deep Hispanic roots of far West Texas, where irrigated valley communities and their acequias sustained life on the Rio Grande frontier for generations before statehood.
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Related people
- · Juan Carbajal
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Casa Ortiz
Socorro, TX
Tradition holds that this thick-walled adobe near Socorro was built before 1800, in the era of New Spain's far northern frontier. By the 1840s it belonged to José Ortiz, a 'Comanchero' whose ox-cart trains hauled salt from the Guadalupe Mountains and carried goods to Santa Fe and out onto the Llano Estacado, where he traded with the Comanches for buffalo hides and meat. With its cottonwood and willow vigas and earthen roof, the house is a fine surviving example of Spanish colonial frontier building.
The Camino Real
Socorro, TX
For more than two centuries the Camino Real, or Royal Road, was the great trade route carrying goods from Mexico City and Chihuahua north to Santa Fe and Taos. First traveled by Juan de Oñate during his 1598 expedition into New Mexico, it threaded through the Ysleta, Socorro, and San Elizario settlements and crossed the Rio Grande near present-day El Paso. When the river became the U.S.–Mexico boundary in 1848, this stretch of the ancient road became American soil.
The Camino Real
El Paso, TX
For more than two centuries the Camino Real, or Royal Road, carried commerce from Mexico City and Chihuahua north to Santa Fe and Taos. First traveled by Juan de Oñate on his 1598 expedition, it wound through the El Paso valley, crossing the Rio Grande and pressing on into New Mexico. When the river became the U.S.-Mexico boundary in 1848, this segment of the ancient route became American ground.
San Elizario Cemetery
San Elizario, TX
San Elizario Cemetery, established in 1898, lies in one of the oldest settlements in the El Paso valley—a onetime presidio town and county seat with deep Spanish colonial roots. By the late 19th century the community was a farming center along the Rio Grande, and its cemetery holds generations of the families who lived there. It carries the Historic Texas Cemetery designation.