Science Fair Project Encyclopedia El Paso, Texas As of the 2000
census, the city had a total population of 679,622. El Paso —
second only to San Diego, California, in size among all United
States cities on the border with Mexico — lies opposite Ciudad
Juárez, Chihuahua. The two cities form a binational metropolitan
area of approximately two million people, divided by the Rio
Grande. El Paso is the seat of the University of Texas at El
Paso (founded 1913 as the Texas College of Mines, received
university status 1967). Fort Bliss, a major United States Army
installation, lies to the east and northeast of the city,
extending north up to the White Sands Missile Range. The
Franklin Mountains extend into El Paso from the north and nearly
divide the city into two sections. Archeological evidence at the
Keystone Wetlands and Hueco Tanks sites indicates thousands of
years of human settlement within the El Paso region. The Manso
and Suma Indians were identified as present by the earliest
Spanish explorers. Nothing is k