Some Stuff You Probably Don't Know About Fort Bliss

There are so many things that make El Paso unique. Here is the history behind one of them.

El Paso has many things you can really only find here like a stadium carved into a mountain, a beautiful mountain range and an international border just to name a couple.

Here are a few fun facts about one of those cool, "915 only" things, Fort Bliss, Texas. A military post named after William Bliss, POTUS Zachary Taylor's son in law.

A lot of places are home to military bases but El Paso has the 2nd biggest army base in the USA.
It's also the largest "training ground" of 'em all, spanning Texas and New Mexico with over 1.12 million acres in all.
It was established in the mid - 1800's to hold off Indian raids, maintain law and order and escort gold miners headed for California.

The biggest unit stationed at Fort Bliss is the 1st Armored Division which is comprised of 17,000 soldiers.
Fort Bliss encompasses an area of about 1,700 square miles.
Fort Bliss has the most unrestricted airspace in United States, which is mainly used for artillery training and missile testing.
Using German rocket scientists brought here following WW II, a number of missile systems were developed at Fort Bliss.
The Fort Bliss population, active duty, retirees and family members, hovers around 150,000, making up, (roughly), 20% of El Paso's total population.

Last one. Fort Bliss wasn't always under control of the United States military.

During the Civil War it was briefly seized by the Confederate States of America and was under control of Southern forces until Texas rejoined the Union after the war's end..