El Paso

El Paso (pop. 543,800), city in western Texas and the seat of El Paso County. It is the largest city on the U.S.-Mexico border, situated on the Rio Grande, opposite Ciudad Juarez in Mexico. Copper smelting and refining are the major industries. Tourism, oil refining, lead smelting, meat packing, cement manufacture, brewing, and cotton processing also figure in its economy. El Paso is a regional headquarters for numerous federal agencies, and is also the site of Texas Western College. Nearby is Fort Bliss, a U.S. Army post and experimental station for guided missiles. Prior to the Texan declaration of independence (1836), which preceded the territory's annexation, the area was part of Mexico. The present site, settled in 1827, was named El Paso in 1859; it was incorporated in 1873.