After the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, the Spanish colonists retreat to El Paso along with members of the Tigua and Piro tribes. A century later, a garrison was founded in San Elizario. After Mexican independence, Juan Maria Ponce de Leon established a hacienda in what is now downtown El Paso.
The United States annexed Texas in 1845. In 1849, the Army built Fort Bliss to protect the settlement from Apache and Comanche raids. The town boomed in the late nineteenth century, and became notorious for its gunfighters, cattle rustlers, and Texas Rangers. El Paso quickly grew into a major trade center, as a stop on the Butterfield Stage Route and the Southern Pacific Railroad. El Paso is both a stop for coast-to-coast trade in the US, but also a logical gateway for trade in and out of Mexico. A tale of El Paso is not complete without mentioning its sister city, Ciudad Juarez. The two cities were one until 1846, when a treaty between the US & Mexico formally recognized the Rio Grande to be the international boundary.