What Is Chamizal National Memorial?
Chamizal National Memorial commemorates the end of a 100-year border dispute between the United States and Mexico!
What Makes It Historical?
In 1848, the US and Mexico reached an agreement over where their two countries would split: the Rio Grande! The framers of the agreement knew the river wouldn’t stay in the same place forever, so they decided if it shifted naturally, the border would change, but if people shifted it, the border would stay the same. Sure enough, the river started to shift south, exposing two new swathes of land on the US side: Chamizal in 1864 (from a natural flood) and Cordova Island in 1899 (from man-made flood-control channels)!
President Taft failed to reach an agreement on Chamizal in 1911, and the issue simmered for the better part of 50 years. During this time, the disputed land became a nebulous haven for drug traffickers, illegal border crossings, and US citizens seeking escaping Prohibition laws! It was because of this chaos that the first border fence got built in 1940!
Herbert Hoover offered to buy Chamizal outright in 1932, but Mexico didn’t want to give up any more land after losing half its territory during the Mexican-American War. It wasn’t until 1963, when President Kennedy went to talk to President López Mateos about how to keep Mexico from joining Communist Russia that the ball really got rolling. President Kennedy ordered the International Boundary and Water Commission to get to work with the stakes being the destabilization of the US by a Communist neighbor to the south!
His successor, Lyndon B. Johnson finished up the Chamizal Convention of 1963, settling five things: Chamizal went to Mexico, the Rio Grande got cemented so it wouldn’t shift anymore, 200 acres of Cordova Island went to the US while Mexico got 200 acres downriver, the US and Mexico eased their tensions, and a new peace park and cultural center got set up on the riverbank, today known as Chamizal National Memorial!
How Can I #HelpTheHelpers?
- Pay the entrance fee to help maintain trails, signs, structures, and other visitor services!
- Volunteer at Chamizal National Memorial!
- Donate to Chamizal National Memorial!
- Be a responsible visitor! Remember the old adages: Pack out what you pack in! Take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but footprints!
How Do I Get There?
800 S San Marcial St
El Paso, TX 79905
(Take Me There!)
When Should I Visit the Park?
The park is open daily from 7:00 AM until 10:00 PM, while the Cultural Center is open from 10:00 AM until 5:00 PM!
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