The first event the Coliseum hosted was the El Paso Sheriff's Posse Rodeo in June 1942. In 1943, approval was received from Major C.L. Whitmarsh to house Italian prisoners of war inside the Coliseum building. The prisoners were expected to pick cotton. Prisoners were moved to the Coliseum in September 1943, some of them coming from a concentration camp in Lordsburg, New Mexico. Concerned El Pasoans donated games and instruments to the prisoners for recreational purposes. The Italian prisoners remained in the Coliseum until around March 1944. The Texas State Guard used the Coliseum as temporary headquarters in 1946. The Coliseum was again used to house people in 1951, this time temporarily sheltering braceros.