<P> In the first Mexican constitution (1824), given the dominance that Chihuahuan merchants had on New Mexico, Paso del Norte went to the state of Chihuahua after being part of New Mexico for 200 years . The town elected its first local government in 1825 and opened the first official school in 1829 . </P> <P> The Texas revolution (1836) was not felt in the region . The area was never considered part of Texas until 1848 . The Battle of El Brazito near Las Cruces was fought by Missouri volunteers led by Col. Alexander William Doniphan, for whom Doniphan Drive was named, in El Paso . Given the blurry reclamations of the Texas Republic that wanted a chunk of the Santa Fe trade, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo effectively made the settlements on the north bank of the river a formal American settlement, separate from Old El Paso de Norte on the Mexican side . A number of loyal Mexican families abandoned New Mexico and were resettled to the region south of El Paso's lower valley settlements, where, under the leadership of Guadalupe Miranda--the last secretary of Mexico's New Mexican government--sought to provide land and funds to displaced families . Mexican Catholic clergy also were active in these communities, with some of the most notable including Father Antonio Borrajo . </P> <P> The present Texas - New Mexico boundary placing El Paso on the Texas side was drawn in the Compromise of 1850 . </P> <P> A number of important developments during the 1850s shaped the character of the area north of the river . The Stephenson - Azcárate family acquired a 900 - acre (3.6 km) tract from the Ponce de León grant in the vicinity of today's I - 10 "Spaghetti Bowl" interchange . It was called "El Rancho de la Concordia" or "Stephensonville" after Hugh Stephenson's childhood home in Concordia, Missouri . The Archbishop of Durango later gave permission for the blessing of a private chapel there, San José de la Concordia, whose ruins persisted until the 1930s; its camposanto or burial grounds were the origins of Concordia Cemetery . Further west, a settlement on Coons' Rancho called Franklin became the nucleus of El Paso, Texas . El Paso County was established in March 1850, with San Elizario as the first county seat . The United States Senate fixed a boundary between Texas and New Mexico at the thirty - second parallel, thus largely ignoring history and topography . Following the establishment of the San Antonio - El Paso Road, a military post called The Post opposite El Paso (meaning opposite El Paso del Norte, across the Rio Grande) was established in 1854 . That same year San Antonio - El Paso Mail was established, passing through Franklin in 1854 . In 1857, the San Antonio - San Diego Mail Line, the first mail coach route from the East to California passed through Franklin, soon followed by the Butterfield Overland Mail in 1858 . A year later pioneer Anson Mills completed his plat of the town, calling it El Paso, a name that resulted in endless confusion until the name of the town across the river, El Paso del Norte, was changed to Ciudad Juárez in 1888 . </P>

When did el paso become part of texas