El Paso County administrative offices are located at 500 East San Antonio Avenue, El Paso, TX 79901; phone: 915-546-2050.
TOWNS
The Spanish name El Paso del Norte denotes a historically important geographical point, the channel cut by the Rio Grande through the mountains to form a natural passageway for travelers to the north or south, east or west. The name El Paso appears in print as early as 1610, in the narrative of Gaspar Perez de Villagra, poet-historian of the Onate expedition of 1598.
In January 1850 the Texas legislature subdivided Santa Fe County into four smaller counties, one of which was named El Paso County; and in February 1850 Robert Neighbors arrived in El Paso to organize the area after a previously failed attempt. [Texas State Historical Association,