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Dave's Pawn Shop site, Image provided by George D.
Torok
Dave's Pawn Shop site
El Paso, Texas
Research Packet and
Narrative by:
Adriana Davidson
Tommy Vicks
Dr. George D. Torok
Honors Project
Spring
2002
National Endowment for the
Humanities Historical Markers Project
Marker Text: Dave’s Pawn
Shop
216-218 South El Paso Street is the last surviving
false-front structure building in the city of El Paso. It was built as
American El Paso underwent a great transformation from a dusty adobe
village to a thriving city following the arrival of the railroad in
1881. As one of the earliest streets in the city, El Paso Street
became a bustling center of commerce running from the plaza on San
Francisco Street to the ferry landing at the Rio Grande. In 1882,
William J. Montgomery (1833 - 1899) built this structure on a vacant
lot between two buildings. Montgomery made use of the two building’s
existing walls constructing only a roof, floor, front and back. He ran
a new wall down the middle, creating two new addresses, 216 and 218 El
Paso Street.
The Montgomery building was typical of western
frontier architecture of the late 19th century. It featured
a false-front to make it appear taller and more like commercial
buildings found in the east. Originally, the building housed a drug
store and book store. There was a wooden sidewalk covered by a wooden
roof and a hitching post for horses. This address has been in
continuous use since 1882 making it the oldest surviving commercial
structure in the city of El Paso.
Historical Narrative: Dave’s Pawn Shop 216-18 El Paso Street
216-218 South El Paso Street, a double building now
occupied by Dave’s Pawn Shop, is the last surviving false-front
structure and the oldest existing business building in the city of El
Paso. The building design and construction is typical of western
commercial architecture in the booming railroad era of the late 19th
century. Situated on the what was once the main commercial
thoroughfare of the city, it continues to represent part of the rich
frontier heritage of El Paso and has remained in continuous use for
more than one hundred and twenty years.
The story of 216-218 South El Paso Street begins on
May 13, 1881 when the Southern Pacific Railroad arrived in El Paso and
two other railroads were approaching the outskirts of the county. A
great commercial building boom followed as lumber and brick
structures, some two stories high, began replacing adobe ones. In
following months, El Paso underwent a great transformation from a
dusty village to a thriving city and El Paso Street became a bustling
center of commerce.
South El Paso Street, which connected the plaza at San Francisco with
a ferry crossing at the Rio Grande, became the an important commercial
center. In this boomtown atmosphere, William J. Montgomery (1833 -
1899) acquired a small vacant lot on South El Paso Street and created
a structure between two buildings that were situated north and south
of the property. Montgomery made use of the two building’s existing
walls constructing only a roof, floor, front and back. He ran a new
wall down the middle, creating two new addresses, 216 and 218 El Paso
Street.
The outward appearance of the Montgomery building
was typical of those built in western towns during the railroad boom
of the late 19th century. Developers wanted railroad towns
to look as much like eastern towns as possible so stone and lumber
quickly adobe and log as the primary building materials. Timber was
scarce in El Paso but the railroad brought milled lumber, much of it
from the Cloudcroft area. Railroads also brought pressed tin, cast
iron, glass and hardware that were used to simulate styles popular in
the east.
The Montgomery building had one ground-level floor but false-fronts
were added to make the building appear taller. The false-fronts were
topped by a bracketed cornice typical of the Italianate style popular
at the time. This created the impression that the building was larger
and housed more businesses and people, similar to the main commercial
streets found in eastern towns.
In front of the original structure there was a wooden sidewalk covered
by a wooden roof and hitching posts for horses. We know exactly what
the exterior of the Montgomery building looked like in 1882 from a
photograph taken by F. Parker who documented many of the changes
taking place in the city during that period.
The two addresses have undergone many interior and
exterior renovations over the years. They have have housed drugstores,
restaurants, shoemakers, and clothing stores. With the arrival of the
automobile and the paving of streets, the wooden sidewalks, post, and
roofs were removed and conventional sidewalks were constructed.
Today, the wooden facade of the building lies beneath a modern sign
but the cornice is clearly visible. 216-218 South El Paso Street is a
classic example of western architecture from the boom era of the
1880s. It is the oldest surviving false-front structure in El Paso and
is one of the few remaining structures from the original commercial
heart of the city.
.
W.H. Timmons, El Paso: A Border History (El Paso, TX 1990),
171-72; C.L. Sonnichsen, Pass of the North: Four Centuries on the
Rio Grande (El Paso, TX 1968), I, 255.
.
Dena Hirsch, “216/218 South El Paso Street: A Building History,”
(unpublished paper, 1984), 14.
.
Elaine Freed, Preserving the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains
(Albuquerque, NM 1992), 67-68.
.
Hirsch, “216/218 South El Paso Street,” 9, 17.
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