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Photo, Print, Drawing Rio Vista Bracero Reception Center, 901 North Rio Vista Road, Socorro, El Paso County, TX Rio Vista Farm Texas Transient Bureau Labor Camp El Paso County Poor Farm Rio Vista Farm Historic District

View 4 images in sequence.
[ Drawings from Survey HABS TX-3626  ]

More Resources

[ Data Pages from Survey HABS TX-3626  ]

About this Item

Title

  • Rio Vista Bracero Reception Center, 901 North Rio Vista Road, Socorro, El Paso County, TX

Other Title

  • Rio Vista Farm Texas Transient Bureau Labor Camp El Paso County Poor Farm Rio Vista Farm Historic District

Names

  • Historic American Buildings Survey, creator
  • U.S. Department of Labor
  • Mexican Farm Labor Program
  • Roosevelt, Franklin Delano
  • U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)
  • U.S. Public Health Service
  • El Paso County Poor Farm
  • Texas Transient Bureau (TTB)
  • Nilson, E. R.
  • El Paso County Sheriff's Department
  • National Trust for Historic Preservation
  • Book, W. P.
  • Braunton, Hugh
  • Leibert, John G.
  • O'Shea, John
  • O'Shea, Agnes
  • Keleher, Helen O'Shea
  • U.S. Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works (FEAPW)
  • U.S. Federal Emergency Work Administration (FEWA), Transient Division
  • McGhee, Percy
  • J.E. Morgan and Sons
  • McKee, R. E.
  • Monroe, Licht and Higgins
  • Trans-Pecos Cotton Growers Association
  • Texas Agricultural Extension Service
  • U.S. Department of Labor
  • Arzola, Robert R., project manager
  • Davidson, Paul, field team supervisor
  • Villada, Allison Toro, field team
  • Esparza, Steven Jesus, field team
  • Lavoie, Catherine C., historian
  • Reta, Victor, consultant
  • U.S. National Park Service (NPS), Youth and Young Adult Programs, sponsor
  • Latino Heritage Internship Program (LHIP), sponsor
  • Environment for the Americas, sponsor
  • American Conservation Experience (ACE), sponsor
  • McPartland, Mary, transmitter

Created / Published

  • Documentation compiled after 1933

Headings

  • -  agriculture
  • -  Mexican-Americans
  • -  people associated with manual labor
  • -  laborers
  • -  seasonal labor
  • -  adobe buildings
  • -  plastered adobe
  • -  adobe
  • -  government facilities
  • -  farming
  • -  Hispanic Heritage
  • -  dormitories
  • -  bathhouses
  • -  bathrooms
  • -  immigrants
  • -  Spanish Colonial Revival architectural elements
  • -  trefoils
  • -  migration
  • -  working class
  • -  employment
  • -  cotton industry
  • -  citrus fruit industry
  • -  health & hygiene facilities
  • -  work camps
  • -  Works Progress Administration
  • -  barracks
  • -  mess halls
  • -  Mission Revival architectural elements
  • -  offices
  • -  consulates
  • -  stucco
  • -  quadrangles (courtyards)
  • -  parapets
  • -  niches
  • -  infirmaries
  • -  New Deal
  • -  public address systems
  • -  Contracts
  • -  administration buildings
  • -  war (World War II)
  • -  internal migration
  • -  drinking fountains
  • -  public works
  • -  Texas--El Paso County--Socorro

Latitude / Longitude

  • 31.661814,-106.264974

Notes

  • -  Significance: The Rio Vista Bracero Reception Center is the best preserved of seven complexes established by the Mexican Farm Labor Program to bring much needed farmhands to the U.S. from Mexico. Operating between 1951 and 1964, the bracero program supplied nearly one‐quarter of the U.S. agricultural workforce, the largest ever temporary worker program. It significantly impacted Mexican immigration and contributed to the post‐war increase in the Latino population, both documented and undocumented, as many of the approximately two million braceros stayed in the U.S. and were joined by family members. The program underpinned and substantially contributed to the profitability of U.S. agribusiness by providing a reliable, low‐cost seasonal labor force. Braceros worked mostly in the border states of Texas, California, Arkansas, Arizona, and New Mexico, with such crops as cotton, sugar beets, fruits, and vegetables. The Rio Vista complex formed the base from which braceros were processed, receiving a health screening and evaluation for their ability to work. The site includes dormitories, kitchen/mess hall, recreation hall, restroom/shower, buildings for the use of U.S. Public Health Service doctors and staff, and other support structures. Most of the buildings predate the program, built in 1935‐36 as the El Paso County Poor Farm, a complex of adobe brick buildings clad in stucco and arranged around an open quadrangle. Designed by Texas architect E.R. Nilson and funded by the Texas Transient Bureau and Works Progress Administration, the buildings are distinguished by their adobe construction and Mission Revival styling with parapet end walls, reflecting the vernacular architecture of the region. When leased by the federal government in 1951, the existing buildings were rehabilitated and others added, including a large frame Selection and Dormitory building. At its peak in 1956, Rio Vista processed 85,000 braceros, all‐in‐all processing about nineteen percent of the national total.
  • -  Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N2574
  • -  Survey number: HABS TX-3626
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1935-1936 Subsequent Work
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1916-1929 Initial Construction
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1951 Subsequent Work
  • -  National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 96000131

Medium

  • Measured Drawing(s): 4
  • Data Page(s): 16

Call Number/Physical Location

  • HABS TX-3626

Source Collection

  • Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)

Repository

Control Number

  • tx1397

Rights Advisory

Online Format

  • image
  • pdf

Format

Contributor

Location

Language

Subject

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not license or charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot grant or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute the material.

Ultimately, it is the researcher's obligation to assess copyright or other use restrictions and obtain permission from third parties when necessary before publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the Library's collections.

For information about reproducing, publishing, and citing material from this collection, as well as access to the original items, see: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscape Survey (HABS/HAER/HALS) Collection - Rights and Restrictions Information

  • Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
  • Reproduction Number: ---
  • Call Number: HABS TX-3626
  • Access Advisory: ---

Obtaining Copies

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Cite This Item

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

Chicago citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, U.S. Department Of Labor, Mexican Farm Labor Program, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, U.S. Immigration And Naturalization Service, U.S. Public Health Service, El Paso County Poor Farm, et al. Rio Vista Bracero Reception Center, 901 North Rio Vista Road, Socorro, El Paso County, TX. Socorro Texas El Paso County, 1933. translateds by Mcpartland, Marymitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/tx1397/.

APA citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, C., U.S. Department Of Labor, Mexican Farm Labor Program, Roosevelt, F. D., U.S. Immigration And Naturalization Service, U.S. Public Health Service [...] American Conservation Experience, S. (1933) Rio Vista Bracero Reception Center, 901 North Rio Vista Road, Socorro, El Paso County, TX. Socorro Texas El Paso County, 1933. McPartland, M., trans Documentation Compiled After. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/tx1397/.

MLA citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, et al. Rio Vista Bracero Reception Center, 901 North Rio Vista Road, Socorro, El Paso County, TX. trans by Mcpartland, Marymitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <aj.sunback.homes/item/tx1397/>.