After the Civil War was concluded, El Paso's population began to grow. The town was incorporated in 1873 and encompassed the small area communities that had developed along the river. With the arrival of the ATSF, SP and Texas and Pacific (T&P) railroads in 1881, the population boomed to 10,000 by the 1890 census, attracting newcomers ranging from businessmen and priests, to gunfighters and prostitutes. El Paso became a boom town known as the "Six Shooter Capital" because of its lawlessness. Prostitution and gambling flourished until World War I, when the US Army pressured El Paso authorities to crack down on vice, thus benefitting vice in neighboring Ciudad Juárez in Mexico.

Mining and other industries gradually developed in the area. The 1920s and 1930s saw the emergence of major business development in the city partially enabled by Prohibition era bootlegging. The Depression era hit the city hard and population declined through the end of World War II. Following the war, military expansion in the area as well as oil discoveries in the Permian basin helped to cause rapid economic expansion in the mid 1900s. Copper smelting, oil refining, and the proliferation of low wage industries (particularly garment making) led the city's growth. The expansion slowed again in the 1960s but the city has continued to grow in large part because of the increased importance of trade with Mexico.

MODELING THE ATSF INDUSTRIAL AREA

In addition to a large yard and engine facility, the ATSF serviced the large American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO) copper and zinc smelting operation along their mainline northwest of Union Depot in the area known as Smelter Town. Next to ASARCO, the Portland Cement Company built a large cement plant. The layout attempts to model these two large complex operations and the associated holding yard trackage that existed in the mid-1950’s. Several ATSF trains come up the SP mainline from Vaughn to switch Smelter Town. One transfer train is run between the ATSF and SP yards in El Paso.