Top of page

Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities
BETA

Newspaper El Paso Herald (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931

View All Front Pages

About El Paso Herald (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931

Seeking to capitalize on El Paso’s expected growth with the coming Southern Pacific Railroad, Barron F. Deal and James P. Baker established the Herald Publishing Company in 1881 and published the first issue of the El Paso Herald in April of that year. Alternately published as the El Paso Herald, Sunday Herald, and El Paso Daily Herald during the late 1800s, the paper ran consistently as the El Paso Herald from 1901 to 1931. The paper circulated in El Paso and surrounding communities, including Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. By 1901, the Herald News Company published the Herald each evening, except Sunday, on a 15 x 22 inch paper with a yearly subscription rate of seven dollars. By 1904 the Herald was a member of the Associated Press and by June 1906 had a circulation of 6,169. Hughes D. Slater directed the Herald from 1899 to 1929 as controlling owner and editor-in-chief. Influential in civic affairs, Slater opposed gambling, served on planning committees, and promoted positive relations with Mexico.

The Herald actively reported on civic progress and international affairs. In special sections, the newspaper covered the mining and livestock industries and routinely included a section, “The Better Half,” that catered to female readers. The Herald described the October 16, 1909 meeting of Presidents William Howard Taft and Porifirio Diaz as the “Most Eventful Diplomatic Event in the History of the Two Nations,” despite prevailing anti-Diaz sentiment in the El Paso area. During the Mexican Revolution and World War I, the Herald reported on border issues carefully, knowing the city relied heavily on labor and commerce from Juarez. In various editorials in the 1910s, it supported lifting immigration restrictions and encouraged positive relations with Juarez commuters, especially during labor shortages resulting from the First World War. As civic leaders raised fears of an epidemic due to an influx of immigrants fleeing the Mexican Revolution, the Herald opined that any health problems resulted from poorer immigrants from the interior of Mexico rather than the “productive and sober” residents of Juarez. In a series of editorials between 1915 and 1917, the paper supported social reforms in barrios such as Chihuahuita, the largest Mexican district in El Paso. During Francisco “Pancho” Villa’s raids in 1915, the Herald congratulated residents for not reacting negatively to immigrants and encouraged El Pasoans to help migrants who had suffered from the fighting.

As the Scripps Howard News attested in January 1951, “In the early 1900s the Herald stood for ‘Republicanism, radicalism, and reformation.’” With the Herald representing the Republicans and the rival El Paso Times editorializing for the nascent Democratic Party, the two papers served as rallying points for the community. In 1931, the Herald was sold to Scripps Howard along with the El Paso Evening Post, and they merged to become the El Paso Herald-Post. The paper shut down in 1997 amid declining circulation.

Provided By: University of North Texas; Denton, TX

About this Newspaper

Title

  • El Paso Herald (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931

Dates of Publication

  • 1901-1931

Created / Published

  • El Paso, Tex. : Herald News Co., 1901-

Headings

  • -  El Paso (Tex.)--Newspapers
  • -  Texas--El Paso
  • -  United States--Texas--El Paso--El Paso

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Daily
  • -  Ceased with issue for Apr. 2, 1931.
  • -  21st year, no. [?] (Apr. 3, 1901)-
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format as part of the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  El Paso evening post (DLC)sn 88084263 (OCoLC)18565059
  • -  El Paso herald El Paso evening post (DLC)sn 88084289 (OCoLC)18664155

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn88084272

OCLC Number

  • 18614885

ISSN Number

  • 2159-5623

Preceding Titles

Succeeding Titles

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

The NEH awardee responsible for producing each digital object is presented in the Chronicling America page display, below the page image – e.g. Image produced by the Library of Congress. For more information on current NDNP awardees, see https://www.loc.gov/ndnp/listawardees.html.

For more information on Library of Congress policies and disclaimers regarding rights and reproductions, see https://www.loc.gov/homepage/legal.html

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

El Paso Herald El Paso, Tex. -1931. (El Paso, TX), Jan. 1 1901. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn88084272/.

APA citation style:

(1901, January 1) El Paso Herald El Paso, Tex. -1931. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn88084272/.

MLA citation style:

El Paso Herald El Paso, Tex. -1931. (El Paso, TX) 1 Jan. 1901. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn88084272/.