In September 1997 the El Paso Community Foundation and the Glyn and Karl O. Wyler Sr. Foundation transferred ownership of the tramway and land to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in an effort to reopen the tramway to the public.
The foundation had closed the tramway about 11 years earlier because of high maintenance and liability costs.
The foundation inherited the KTSM broadcasting company and the tramway from the estate's founder, Karl Wyler Sr., after his death. The station built the tramway in 1960 as a way for the company's engineers to get to the broadcast tower at the top of Ranger Peak.
As part of the foundation's transfer agreement, the state named the 190-acre area - including the tramway observation deck - the Wyler Observatory.
Wyler was a community leader and pioneer in the broadcasting business. He started out in radio and later ventured into television. He eventually gained controlling interest of KTSM's owner, Tri-State Broadcasting Inc., in 1951.
February 24, 1960
El Paso Tuesday became the third locality in the country to boast a public aerial tramway when KTSM-TV’s Ranger Peak tramway was opened for business.
The other two aerial tramways open to the public are located in Estes Park, Colo., and at Cannon Mountain in New Hampshire.
KTSM-TV’s Ranger Peak tramway will be open to the public daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Officials of the television station have reported that as the weather warms night trips will be scheduled so that El Pasoans and visitors will have the opportunity of going to the top of Ranger Peak to view the magnificent panorama of lights which are El Paso and Juarez at night.
The daytime view from the location has been hailed as a thrilling experience by persons who have already made the trip. In addition to commanding a complete view of El Paso, Juarez, and the Upper and Lower Valleys, one can see east to the Hueco and Guadalupe Mountains, southward far into Mexico, westward to the Florida Mountains near Deming, and north and northeast to the rugged Organs and often snow-capped Sacramentos.
The aerial tramway was originally constructed by KTSM-TV to haul material to its new transmitter location and to provide a means of transportation for station personnel to and from the isolated location. Interest proved so high that KTSM-TV officials decided to open the tramway as a service to El Paso residents and as a tourist attraction.
El Paso County Board of Development listed it as a major tourist attraction in a half-page tourist promotion ad in the current issue of Coronet Magazine.
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