Shalom Ya'll!
By Laura Gronich
The history of Jews in El Paso is a colorful one, rich in traditions, culture and contributions. Jews came here from all parts of the world and other parts of the United States in search of business opportunities and religious tolerance, or they simply chose not to continue farther west or north in their quest for a new life.
To understand the history of Jews in Texas, one also has to know the history of Jews in Mexico. The Spanish Inquisition (1478-1834) caused the influx of thousands of Jews into Mexico from Spain with many of these Jews traveling to Mexico with the conquistadores.
In 1545, Jews in Mexico City numbered approximately 1,400. The Holy Office of the Inquisition began targeting Jews in the 1580s. Punishment for practicing the Jewish faith included imprisonment, forced penance and even burning at the stake.
In the 1700s, many of these conversos (Jews who professed to be Catholic converts but practiced Judaism in secret), crossed the border into Texas looking for a life of religious freedom and settled in many of the border regions, including El Paso.
Entry for Jews from other parts of America and other parts of the world started in Galveston, Texas. The land agents representing the Republic of Texas advertised in the United States and overseas about the promise of fabulous opportunities in Texas. In 1848, steamship companies based in Germany were selling passage to the port of Galveston, Texas.
Most of the Jews who came to Texas in the early 1800s were merchants or peddlers, But, Jews filled every facet of the population as teachers, politicians, lawyers, landowners and doctors.
One of the pioneer merchants to come to El Paso was Solomon Schutz (?-?) who arrived with his uncles Samuel and Joseph in 1854 and opened Schutz Brother's Store. Solomon, a native of Westphalia, Germany, also founded El Paso's first international rail line in 1887, the Old Mule Line, which crossed the Rio Grande to Mexico. He was also elected mayor of El Paso in 1880.
Ernst Kohlberg, (1857-1910) also an immigrant from Westphalia, Germany, came to El Paso in 1875. Ernst was an entrepreneur whose International Cigar Factory (founded, 1886) was the first such business in the southwest. His civic contributions include being a city council member and founder of El Paso's Electric Light Company. He was also a deputy U.S. consul in Juarez, Mexico. His life was cut short by a bullet from the gun of a drunken tenant in 1910. Tom Lea modeled his character Ludwig Sterner from the novel Wonderful Country after Ernst Kohlberg.
Ernst's wife, Olga Bernstein Kohlberg (1864-1935) was a civic leader in her own right. She established the state's first free public kindergarten in 1892 and founded The El Paso Public Library in 1895. She also contributed to the establishment of El Paso's first public hospital. Both Olga and her husband were active members of Temple Mount Sinai, as they were two of its founding members in 1898.
Many with the entrepreneurial spirit came to Juarez, Mexico, to take advantage of the tariff-free trade zone there. One such person was Adolf Schwartz (1866-1941), originally from Stropko, Hungary, 
who established himself there as a successful merchant. He moved across the border to El Paso because of its flourishing Jewish community and opened The Fair store. He became ill in 1902 and closed The Fair, but became a silent partner in his nephew, Maurice's, Popular Dry Goods Company. Maurice and Adolf did not share the same political beliefs and supported opposite sides of the Mexican Revolution. It is said that, on the same day, Pancho Villa's soldiers and the government Maderistas both shopped at their store, unbeknownst to the other, each having been given credit by a different brother. The Popular was an excellent employer, employing many Hispanics and was also the first store in El Paso to employ black clerks. It closed in 1995, having grown over the decades to include several locations.
A special story of hard work and family dedication made all the more remarkable because of the strict U.S. immigration policies of the times, is that of Joseph Hillel Goodman (1868-1958). He arrived in New York in 1893 from Lithuania and began work in one of the city's notorious sweatshops and also found work as a peddler. He made his way south, eventually settling in El Paso in 1902. Through hard work, he established a very successful mercantile business and, by 1925, was able to sponsor the emigration of 47 family members to Texas.
> A History of Jewish El Paso, Part II: Great Changes, Great Challenges
> A History of Jewish El Paso, Part III: Recent History
