History of El Paso, Texas
El Paso is the county seat of El Paso County, Texas|El Paso County in the U.S. state of Texas and part of the Southwestern United States|American Southwest. According to the 2005 U.S. Census population estimates, the city had a population of 598,590. It is the sixth-largest city in Texas and the 21st-largest city in the United States. Its List of Texas metropolitan areas|metropolitan area covers all of El Paso County and has a population of 736,310.
It stands on the Rio Grande|Rio Grande (RÃo Bravo del Norte), across the U.S.-Mexico border|border from Ciudad Juárez. The two cities form a metropolitan area of 2,280,782 making it the second largest bi-national metropolitan area on the US/Mexico border.
El Paso is home to the University of Texas at El Paso (founded in 1914 as The Texas State School of Mines and Metallurgy and receiving university status 1967). Fort Bliss, a major United States Army installation, lies to the east and northeast of the city, extending north up to the White Sands Missile Range. The Franklin Mountains (Texas)|Franklin Mountains extend into El Paso from the north and nearly divide the city into two sections.
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