Fort Bliss

Fort Bliss, Texas, is the home of the US Army Air Defense Center, located 70 miles to the south of White Sands Missile Range. Fort Bliss was staffed in 1849 to guard El Paso, at first on the banks of the Rio Grande river, overlooking Mexico. The fort was moved northeastward 10 miles, where it remains today. To this day, the walls of the Fort Bliss Officers Club still contain adobe bricks from over a century ago, and the installation has survived, in contrast to Fort Selden, 45 miles to the northwest, which is crumbling back into desert.