Villa Family

Jose Torres Villa and his wife, Manuela Parra Casavante Villa, moved into their Chamizal home in the early 1950s. In 1951, their daughter, Elvira Villa, and son, Gilberto Villa (in photo above on right), purchased the empty lot on which the Villa family home stood as a gift to their parents. The lot was located in the recently established Cotton Mill Addition to the City of El Paso. On this lot the family would build a home at 1220 Algodon Place.

“I bought the lot and built the house,” Elvira recalled in a recent documentary about the Chamizal Treaty. “Papa was so happy because he had always been planning to build a house,” she explained, “[but] he never had a chance.” As Elvira remembers it, she and Jose walked around the empty lot and imagined out loud together where they would build each room and how the furniture would be arranged. Suddenly, Jose turned to his daughter and spoke from a place of regret, shame, and gratitude . “Vila,” he told her, using her childhood nickname, “I wish that I had this when you were little. I wish that I had had this when you guys were little.” “That’s okay, Papa,” Elvira replied. “Now you got it.”

As the family began transforming the empty lot into a home, somewhere along the way a small plaque that read “1220 Jose Villa” became the household fixture.

In September 1963, Life Magazine En Español did a story on the Chamizal Treaty that featured Jose and Manuela Villa. A photo of the couple (shown above) was included in the story. Two years later, in August of 1965, the United States federal government purchased the Villa property for $10,000.

  • 1951 Deed of Sale Elvira and Gilberto Villa

    1951: Elvira & Gilberto Villa Purchase Property in Cotton Mill

    Elvira Villa and her younger brother, Gilberto, who was a marine veteran in the Korean War, purchased an empty lot in the Cotton Mill Addition to the City of El Paso. They would later gift the house to their parents. Elvira and Gilberto, however, would remain the legal property owners until Gilberto transferred his portion to his sister. Elvira and her husband, Guillermo Lacarra, would then become the legal property owners.

    Read the 1951 Deed of Sale
  • 1965 USA to Elvira Lacarra Deed of Sale

    1965: Elvira sells her parents' home to the United States of America

    On August 11, 1965, the United States federal government purchased the Villa property at 1220 Algodon Place for $10,000. The deed of sale was made out to Elvira and her husband Guillermo Lacarra.

    Read the 1965 Deed of Sale

El Paso Herald-Post September 25, 1964

In an 1964 El Paso Herald-Post article headlined, “Residents Given Voice in Settlement,” a photograph of Manuela Villa sitting outside her Cotton Mill home took centerstage.

“Mrs. Manuela Villa sits in front of her home at 1220 Algodon Place and contemplates the future,” reads the photograph’s caption. “[S]he is reconciled to the change but regrets most that she must leave behind many cherished flowers and plants she has tended over the years with loving care.”

The article covered the activities of the Chamizal Civic Association, a neighborhood association and advocacy group spearheaded by Manuela’s daughter, Elvira. Due to these activities, the report claimed, Chamizal residents were finally getting their voice heard by government officials.