Ysleta, El Paso, Texas

Ysleta is a community in El Paso, Texas. Ysleta was settled between October 9 and October 12, 1680, when Spanish conquistadors, Franciscan clerics and Tigua Indians took refuge along the southern bank of the Rio Grande. These people were fleeing the Pueblo Revolt in New Mexico. Ysleta is the oldest European settlement in the area that is the present-day U.S. state of Texas.

History

Settlement

Antonio de Otermín, the Spanish Governor, placed Fray Francisco de Ayeta as administrator of the refuge camp of those fleeing Popé's rebellion in 1680. The refuge camp and mission was placed about 3 miles south of the Rio Grande at the time. The Rio Grande was prone to both flooding and silt deposit.

Resettlement

The settlement and associated mission moved several times over the next few hundred years. In 1691 the original refuge mission was replaced by an adobe structure. A flood in 1740 washed away that mission. It was rebuilt on higher ground four years later. The Tigua (i.e. Tiwa people) of Ysleta were among the most faithful Christian converts in the area and the Spanish were keen to keep the settlement healthy and vibrant. In the period between 1829 and 1831 the river moved much further south than usual. In 1836 the new country of Texas claimed the new channel of the Rio Grande as the boundary. In 1848, with the ratification of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Ysleta was ceded to the United States. The mission was a stop on the Butterfield Overland Mail from 1858 to 1861.