Frommer's Review
When the Mexican-American War ended in 1848, the two countries agreed upon a border: the center of the deepest channel of the Rio Grande. However, as historian Leon C. Metz once wrote, "Rivers are never absolutely permanent. They evaporate, flood, change channels, shrink, expand, and even disappear. Rivers are, by nature, capricious." After the war, the Rio Grande gradually shifted southward, resulting in a diplomatic stalemate between Mexico and the United States over the boundary's location. This impasse lasted until 1967, finally ending when presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Adolfo López Mateos signed the Chamizal Treaty. Parcels of land were exchanged, residents and businesses uprooted, and a permanent, concrete channel was constructed to signify a more predictable boundary.
The 55-acre park at the Chamizal National Memorial commemorates the dispute's settlement with a bevy of facilities: 2 miles of foot trails, an outdoor amphitheater that hosts many free concerts, and a visitor center/museum (expect to spend 30 min. touring the museum). It's a nice open space that's more accessible and greener than the Franklin Mountains and larger than the other municipal parks. There is also a walkway to the adjacent Bridge of the Americas leading to the memorial's Mexican counterpart, Parque Chamizal, with an anthropology museum and an amusement park in Ciudad Juárez.
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