SOCORRO, TEXAS

El Paso County, West Texas

31°38'29"N 106°16'29"W (31.641340, -106.274756)
On Southern Pacific Railroad & State Hwy 20
About 10 Miles SE of El Paso
Population: 33,116 (2017) 32,013 (2010) 27,152 (2000)

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Mission Socorro
Photo courtesy Terry Jeanson, 2005 photo

History in a Pecan Shell

A revolt against the Spanish and their Indian charges by the New Mexican Pueblo Indians created the need for a refuge. Arriving in El Paso in 1860, the refugees were provided with a more permanent home two years later with the establishment of the Nuestra Señora de la Limpia Concepción del Socorro Mission. Severe flooding destroyed the mission in 1744 and again in 1829. The current incarnation was built in 1840, five years before Texas Statehood. A community formed around the mission with a population of over 1,000 residents. Due to a change in the course of the river, the town was part of Mexico until the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848.

Irrigated crops, vineyards and orchards provided the city of El Paso with fruit, grain and wine, while provided cash to Socorro. Soccoro, with its neighboring towns held an enviable position until the arrival of the railroad in 1881.

The Elephant Butte Dam on the Rio Grande was built in 1916 and forever changed the landscape, replacing family-run farms with large scale cotton operations. Prior to the collapse of cotton prices in the mid 1920s, it was the major crop.

From 2,100 residents in the mid 1930s, Socorro dropped to a mere 350 in the early 1940s.

Beginning in the 1960s, developers built subdivisions here and the population soared to 10,000 in the 1970s. By 1990 it had swelled to over 22,000. The 2000 census gave a figure of over 27,000.

The town resisted attempts at being annexed by El Paso by a wide margin of votes in the 1980s and is doing its best to keep growth under control.

Statue of St. Michael

To the left of the altar inside the church stands the statue of St. Michael. A marker outside the church states the following: "Legend has it that in 1845 (the same year in which Texas became part of the United States) the statue was being transported from Mexico City to Santa Fe by carreta (oxcart.) The carreta became mired in mud not far from here, and parishioners took this as a sign that Saint Michael wanted Socorro to be his "home." Mission Socorro has been his home to this date, and parishioners have adopted Saint Michael as their patron." Terry Jeanson

Statue of St. Michael in Mission Socorro
Photo courtesy Terry Jeanson, 2005

Elephant Butte Dam on Rio Grande near El Paso, TX

Dam at Elephant Butte, on Rio Grande, near El Paso, Texas
Postcard courtesy www.rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/

El Paso County 1907 Postal Map showing Socorro SE of El Paso
Courtesy Texas General Land Office

Related Topics:
San Antonio Missions by Sam Fenstermacher
San Antonio Missions by Byron Browne
Texas Churches

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