El Paso High School's stadium named for Robert Randolph Jones up for national honor
Trish Long
El Paso High School's R.R. Jones Stadium is known as one of Texas' most historic high school football stadiums, having been named a must-see Texas high school football stadium by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, voted as a top 10 stadium in the country by Maxpreps.com, and in 2014 it was inducted into the Texas Stadium Hall of Fame by the website TexasBob.com.
Now, the 103-year old stadium has a chance to be named America's Best High School Football Stadium. The stadium is one of 16 from across the country chosen by USA TODAY High School Sports to be part of a contest to pick the country's best high school stadium. Voting in the opening round runs through October.
More: Check out the vote for America's Best High School Football Stadium
Construction of El Paso High School, known as The Lady on the Hill, began in 1913. Henry and Gustavus Trost were the architects. The doors opened to students Sept. 18, 1916.
R.R. Jones Stadium was the first major concrete stadium built in the country, with a seating capacity of 12,000. Construction cost for the school and stadium was about $500,000.
The stadium boasts other firsts: the first in Texas with permanent outdoor lighting for sporting events and the first to host a Friday night football game in Texas in 1928.
The stadium also hosted the first three Sun Bowls from 1935 to 1937.
El Paso High School was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. The application for the National Register reads in part:
“Sited at the base of the Franklin Mountains, El Paso High School is a brick and terra cotta structure consisting of a raised basement and three stories, erected in 1916 in a Classic Revival style .…
“Trost and Trost, an early 20th century El Paso architectural firm whose work was prominent throughout the southwest for many years, is credited with the innovative plan of this educational facility which combines the school building and athletic field in an integrally related design. Constructed on the northwest corner of a square city lot, the building, elegantly detailed with classical elements, forms an impressive backdrop for the athletic field which is aligned diagonally across the approximately 9.5-acre lot .…
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“The field is embraced with concrete bleachers built into slopes that rise sharply around it on the north, west, and south sides. Further elevated beyond the western seating section, the building dominates the campus with a commanding view of the playing field, the lengthwise axis of which is aligned with the school’s monumental entrance pavilion.”
Name honors school's first assistant principal
The stadium is named after Robert Randolph “Railroad” Jones. He was the first assistant principal at the school from 1916 to 1923 and then was principal from 1936 to 1943.
He was associated with El Paso High for many of the 30 years he was associated with El Paso public schools. He also served as assistant superintendent of schools.
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Upon his retirement in 1943, Jones moved to California where he served several years as a counselor in a boys’ school. He died in San Bernardino on April 2, 1951.