Throughline Why the wall was built
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Apr 21, 2026 
Anya Steinberg, a producer who reported and narrated the Nogales border fence story, guides listeners through the town split by an imaginary line. She recounts rising tensions from the Mexican Revolution, WWI fears and militarization, the 1918 Battle of Ambos Nogales, and how that clash pushed officials to build a defining fence. The narrative links that fence to wider shifts in U.S. border policy.
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Saloon Built On The Border Fueled Confusion
- John Brickwood built a saloon straddling the U.S.-Mexico line to sell duty-free liquor and cigars.
- The town's porous layout let people move freely until officials placed a white obelisk boundary marker on the porch and later cleared buildings for a 60-foot strip.
McKinley Ordered A Clear Border Strip
- In 1897 President William McKinley ordered a clear 60-foot strip through Ambos Nogales to demarcate the border.
- Officials demolished Brickwood's saloon and other buildings, showing early use of physical clearing to assert territorial control.
Revolution And War Militarized The Border
- The Mexican Revolution and World War I turned friendly border towns into security flashpoints with raids, refugees, and fear of German spies.
- That mix prompted deployment of military, intelligence, customs, and immigration officials to the border.