El Paso County, Texas
county in Texas, United States
El Paso County is the westernmost county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 865,657, making it the tenth-most populous county in Texas. Its county seat is the city of El Paso, the sixth-most populous city in Texas and the 22nd-most populous city in the United States. The county was created in 1850 and later organized in 1871.
El Paso is from the name El Paso del Norte, which is Spanish for "the Route of the North". It is named for the pass the Rio Grande creates through the mountains on either side of the river. The county is northeast of the Mexico–United States border.
El Paso County is included in the El Paso metropolitan area. Along with Hudspeth County, it is one of two counties of Texas entirely in the Mountain Time Zone (all other Texas counties except for northwestern Culberson County use Central Time). El Paso County is one of nine counties that comprise the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas.
“El Paso County, Texas” enters the record as county in Texas, United States. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Paso, County and Texas can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“El Paso County, Texas” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Paso, County and Texas provides the most credible route into that argument.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q108494. VIAF identifies the subject as 141149844935802960002. The Library of Congress control number is n81072763. Authority coordinates are 31.770, -106.240. 5 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 1850 and 1871.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “El Paso County, Texas”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow El Paso County, Texas primary sources, El Paso County, Texas archive and Paso research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “El Paso County, Texas”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “El Paso County, Texas” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.