TIMELINE: 90 YEARS OF HISTORY 1940s

1940 - El Paso Electric begins Star on the Mtn.   1949 - College of Mines name changed to Texas Western College of the University of Texas   1949 - Wilson Homer Elkins

Significant events in UTEP history * Significant events in El Paso history ** Significant events in national or world history   1940 Regents approve first graduate degree, Master of Arts * El Paso County population: 131,000 * Christ statue completed on Mount Cristo Rey * El Paso Electric begins Star on the Mountain Christmas tradition ** Selective Service Act creates peacetime draft 1941 Campus radio WTCM established ** Japan attacks Pearl Harbor; United States enters World War II ** Citizen Kane premieres 1942 ** Thousands of Japanese-Americans placed in internment camps ** U.S. wins decisive battle of Midway Islands 1943 With young men and women serving in war, enrollment hits 10-year low of 561 students War Department assigns Army Specialized Training Unit to College of Mines ** Penicillin developed for widespread use 1944 No Flowsheet is published because of the war * B-24 bomber crashes into Franklin Mountains ** GI Bill of Rights passed ** D-Day: Allies land on Normandy beaches 1945** Franklin D. Roosevelt dies ** U.S. drops atomic bombs on Japan; World War II ends 1946 * Fort Bliss Army Anti-Aircraft and Guided Missile Center established ** United Nations organizes 1947 Veterans' GI Bill benefits helps push enrollment past 2,000 Radio WTCM becomes KVOF * Test V-2 rocket hits Juárez ** ENIAC, the world's first electronic digital computer, produced 1948 Army ROTC established * Centennial of Fort Bliss ** Berlin Airlift begins 1949 Wilson Homer Elkins named president of the College of Mines College of Mines name changed to Texas Western College of the University of Texas Miners lose to Virginia 21-12 in the 14th annual Sun Bowl