I went to go look at a home for a possible listing yesterday that was located off of Socorro Rd. This was my first time to venture out that way and I had no idea what to expect….I think I may have found one of my new areas to explore. Not only is the mission trail located along the way but so are some interesting restaurants, art galleries, and other interesting landmarks.
As you drive in to Old Socorro (is it Historic Socorro? I forgot what the sign said) there is this giant wall with what appeared to be mostly older men with balls that were playing a game. I drove by to quickly to get a good eye but for those that know, what game is it that they were playing?
As far as the missions go, I have yet to still go visit any of the missions in along the Trail but that I hope to change that fairly soon.
The El Paso Region is full of many surprises and even after almost 4 years of exploring, there is still so much to see and experience.
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My name is David and I am living El Paso.
I know….I still have Yselta, San Elizario, Clint, and other communities to visit as well and I hope to see them in the near future!
Hi David, glad you included the tour in your blog. I grew up where we saw the Socorro Mission from our kitchen window and could hear the bell ring. My family and the families of many of my friends farmed a lot of that area before it unfortunately became covered up with houses and apartment projects. I and my friends went to school at the old Escontrias School (built in 1924) where my mom and the parents and relatives of most of my classmates attended also. Ysleta High School was the only high school from Ysleta to Fabens, so there are hundreds of us Lower Valley natives whose family members knew each other back to the 1930′s or before, having gone to school together, owned businesses, and married into each other’s families. Some of those families date back to the 1700′s before the Spanish Land Grant and still have some of their land and buildings. Many of those old adobe houses were where friends and some of my family members lived when we were growing up in the 60′s and 70′s. It’s a neat grapevine of old families down there, nice hard-working people where we had no gangs, no crime, no problems, no police, no mayors nor corrupt politicians. The school board was made up of honest local folks who would never have tolerated the deplorable corruption and graft that has become the media story of the last several years. I wish so much that visitors could see Ysleta, Socorro, Clint, and Fabens and the beautiful cotton fields and narrow quiet roads that are the real history.
Contact Al Borrego in San Elizario. His family has been there for about 100 years, seriously. He was one of our classmates at Socorro, a wonderful artist and a nice person. He can tell you a lot about the area also.