The first authenticated expedition here was by Rodriguez Chamuscado in 1581. Juan de Oñate named the place El Paso del Norte in 1598. Several missions were founded in the area beginning in 1659. They are now considered to be among the oldest continuously active parishes in the United States. Over the years several ranches were established. The first actual settlement in what is now downtown El Paso was in 1827, adjacent to the ranch of Juan Maria Ponce de Leon.

The town remained wholly Mexican throughout the Texas Revolution. In 1846, it surrendered to US forces engaged in fighting the Mexican War. In 1848, it was divided between present-day Ciudad Juárez and what was to become El Paso proper. The border was placed in the middle of the Rio Grande, according to the terms of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. By provision of the Chamizal Treaty of 1963, the boundary has been changed, giving back to Mexico about 700 acres cut off by the shifting of the river. The disputed area was made into parkland on both sides of the border.

A military post was established in 1846 and a trading post in 1852. In 1854, the military post was named Fort Bliss. By this time, the Butterfield Stage Line from St. Louis to San Francisco was carrying gold seekers to California through El Paso.

Fort Bliss was captured by Texas troops of the Confederate Army in 1861 as part of a campaign to win New Mexico. The campaign failed, and the troops gradually withdrew. El Paso returned to Union hands by the end of the Civil War.

Spanish and English are mutually spoken in both El Paso and Ciudad Juárez. International spirit runs heavy between these two cities, as does the traffic. This spirit is reflected in the Civic Center complex and in the Chamizal National Memorial.

Along with more than 400 manufacturing plants ranging from oil refineries to food processing facilities, El Paso is also home to a military training center and one of the largest air defense centers in the world.