| This study examines the formation, evolution and demise of the ethnic Mexican community of Smeltertown, the now-extinct company town for the American Smelting and Refining company (ASARCO) copper smelter located on the US/Mexico border in El Paso, Texas. Using interviews, company records, US census data, newspapers, El Paso city/county records and photography, this project examines the physical and social contours of Smeltertown and argues that although residents did not own their property, they asserted an emotional ownership of their community rooted in a legacy of habitation, and shared immigration, social, cultural, religious and educational experiences. Esmeltianos forged a complex relationship with the company, helping to define the physical and social geography of their neighborhood, and building a community that reflected their lived experience. Spanning nearly a century, the history of Smeltertown reveals the interplay of immigration, labor, and transnational capitalism in the lives of Mexican-origin workers in the United States. The largest company town of ethnic Mexican workers in the twentieth century, Smeltertown provides a window through which to view social, class and cultural formations among the largest minority group in the region.; Situated within the context of the industrial development of the US Southwest, this study argues that the arrival of the railroad and the expansion of mining corporations like ASARCO throughout the United States and northern Mexico created a larger industrial zone of which Mexican workers were an integral part. This industrial experience facilitated the formation of a permanent, working class community and promoted the creation of larger industrial economy defined in part by the ethnic Mexican residents. Ultimately, it was industry that brought about the community's decline, when medical experts discovered high levels of lead and other contaminants in the land upon which the community rested.; In addition to enhancing our knowledge of El Paso, a major entry port for Mexican immigrants in the United States, this case study examines the meaning of community and how communities cohere, change and are defined over time. It reveals the ways in which Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans articulated and actively fashioned national and ethnic identities on the US/Mexico border. |
