Tays Place Public Housing Project

Tays Place was built under the Housing Act of 1937, also called the Wagner-Steagall Act, which created the United States Housing Authority to pay federal subsidies to local agencies like El Paso's. Housing reformer Catherine Bauer drafted much of the law. To answer charges of socialism and protect private builders, it required that one old unit be torn down for each new one built, held construction to $5,000 a unit and strictly limited tenants' incomes. Local governments chose where and how to build, which let segregation continue. From 1939 to 1943, 160,000 units went up nationwide.

What the plaque says

Tays Place Public Housing Project Funded under the Housing Act of 1937 as one of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal projects, Tays Place is the oldest-surviving public housing project in El Paso. In 1938, the housing authority of the city of El Paso was created and plans were developed for two large public housing projects, Alamito and Tays Place, in the crowded and impoverished neighborhoods of the city's southside. The chief architect for both projects was Guy L. Frazer, assisted by Trost & Trost and several other local architectural firms. Robert E. Mckee served as the general contractor. New deal housing was designed to provide a high quality, comfortable and safe environment with many modern conveniences. Alamito opened in 1940 and served the old Segundo Barrio. Tays Place, named for pioneer episcopalian Minister Joseph Tays, was sited in the Chamizal neighborhood, and opened in 1941. Tays Place was El Paso's only formally segregated public housing project. Most apartment units were leased to white and Hispanic tenants, but south of the Franklin Canal were 33 units for African American families. These units were located across the street from Douglass Grammar and High School, the city's only designated African American educational facility. In 1952, the African American section was expanded to include 30 additional housing units. Alamito remained in use for more than 60 years until the complex was demolished in 2006 and replaced with new housing units. The old African American section of Tays Place was demolished in 2016 and replaced with apartments the following year. Tays Place apartment buildings north of the canal have undergone periodic maintenance and renovation. However, through their impact on El Paso and structural integrity, they represent a fine example of new deal-era federal housing. (2017)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Chamizal National Memorial — 0.6 mi
  A park on land the Rio Grande once put in dispute, where a century-old border quarrel between the United States and Mexico was settled by treaty and a new concrete channel.
• Magoffin Home State Historic Site — 0.9 mi
  A U-shaped adobe of the 1870s in central El Paso that joins Mexican building to an Anglo plan, closed for restoration through 2027 while its visitor center stays open.
• Ysleta Mission (Corpus Christi de la Ysleta del Sur) — 9.7 mi
  The Tigua mission church at Ysleta, rebuilt in 1908 around the walls, bell and Santo Entierro that came through fire, its interior painted with rain clouds and corn.
• Tigua Indian Cultural Center, Ysleta del Sur Pueblo — 10 mi
  The cultural center of Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, the Tigua nation that has lived in the Mission Valley of El Paso since 1682 and keeps its own history here.

More markers nearby

• Estela Portillo Trambley — 0.6 mi
• Dr. Lawrence A. Nixon — 0.9 mi
• Magoffinsville — 0.9 mi
• Henry O. Flipper — 0.9 mi