El Paso Brewing Co.

TEXAS AVENUE WAS EL PASO’S LINK EAST AND WEST

El Paso Brewing Company sits as one of the most significant roadways in El Paso’s history. Before Interstate 10 came through El Paso in 1959, State Highway 20, or “Texas 20” as it’s known by locals, was the main autoroute between San Antonio and Los Angeles.

To the west, Texas 20 follows Texas Avenue to Mesa St., then Doniphan Dr. at Country Club Rd. until it becomes Main St. in Anthony, Texas, to the state line with New Mexico. Going East, Texas Avenue roughly becomes Alameda Avenue past Tornillo, Texas, and eventually merges with I-10.

HEAR THAT TRAIN A-COMIN’

The railroad came through El Paso in 1881, and construction materials like heavy lumber, steel, and brick came quickly. Buildings got taller and goods shipped into El Paso traveled by truck to towns and villages in Mexico and north to Santa Fe. Warehouses on Texas Avenue flourished, most with brick walls and wooden rafters.

810 Texas Avenue is where El Paso Brewing makes its home, in the heart of the former industrial district that changed El Paso from a sleepy, dusty little adobe village of several hundred settlers into a western boomtown of more than 16,000 by 1900.

THEY DESERVE A COLD ONE

It was in 1900 that Alfred Courchesne established the original El Paso Brewing and Ice Co. to serve thirsty cowboys, businessmen, explorers, and gold seekers. El Paso was becoming infamous for being the “Six Shooter Capital of the World” and the original “Sin City.” Scores of saloons, dance halls, gambling establishments, and houses of prostitution opened on the main streets. Eventually, El Paso leaders cleaned up the lawlessness, and Prohibition in the 1920s spelled doom for brewing in El Paso.

All was not lost, however, as El Paso businesses enjoyed a boost to the local economy by a growing tourist trade with the drinking and gambling establishments across the border in Cd. Juárez.

Today’s El Paso Brewing Company is at historic 810 Texas Avenue, ready to serve our thirsty friends: cowboys and cowgirls, business leaders, space explorers, and fortune seekers.