Bridge to El Paso

Bridge to El Paso

Entry to the United States from Mexico

This bridge connected Juarez, Mexico to El Paso, Texas, and was a major point of entry for Mexican people coming to the United States in the early 1900s. Until 1924 when the Border Patrol was created, people tended to pass between Mexico and the United States with little government contact. The photo shows a woman and child walking across the bridge and train tracks are visible on the right. This likely was the path taken by three-year-old Teresa Reyes Trujillo when she initially crossed to the U.S. in 1910. According to her A-file, she and her parents came by train to El Paso.

Mutual Film Co.

Bain News Service photograph collection, Library of Congress

Library of Congress

between 1911-1915

Public domain

Photo