The Equestrian

The world's largest bronze equestrian statue was bolted into place on October 23, 2006 at the entrance to El Paso, Texas's international airport. It stands 36 feet tall on an eight-foot base, and is the second-tallest statue in Texas, overshadowed only by a titanic Sam Houston in Huntsville. The statue, first proposed in the mid-1990s, is of a horse-riding Spanish conquistador named Don Juan de Oñate. It initially drew approval from city officials because Oñate was known for celebrating the first Thanksgiving in The New World, near present-day El Paso, a good twenty years before the Pilgrims did the same in New England. Directions: I-10 exit 25, then north on Airway Blvd a little over one mile to El Paso International Airport. The statue stands beside the entry road. http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM7K1B_The_Equestrian_El_Paso_International_Airport

Area: Eastside / El Paso Int'l Airport

Source: Jody Polk Schwartz

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History