El Paso's oldest museum, the Centennial Museum and Chihuahuan Desert Gardens, sits on the UTEP campus in front of you. Built in 1936 to commemorate the centenary of Texas independence, it is the oldest museum in El Paso. Here the university promotes and shares the natural and cultural history of the Chihuahuan Desert, focusing on the geology and biology of the Southwest and on the indigenous, colonial, pre-urban, and folk cultures of the border regions of the southwestern United States and Mexico.
The museum is an academic support and outreach unit of UTEP; its work promotes knowledge and understanding of the natural diversity of the region and its people. Inside and outside you encounter the permanent collections the museum presents and curates, including the Chihuahuan Desert Gardens. The institution also supports scholarly research by UTEP students, faculty, and alumni and serves the general mission of the university.
As you stand here, imagine the conversations between natural history and cultural history that this place encourages — between geology and biology, between local communities and scholarly research. The Chihuahuan Desert Gardens carry the same story outdoors, from the geology of the Southwest to the folk cultures of the border.