History
Charles Champion
The son of Joseph Champion, an Italian immigrant who settled in Texas in 1855, Charles Champion was born on February 2, 1870, in Old Point Isabel. He served as district clerk in Hidalgo County before purchasing the Hess General Store in Old Point Isabel in 1894. He renamed it "The Champion Store," and continued to operate the business in the small frame structure.
History
Chisholm Trail
Iberian range cattle, progenitors of the Texas longhorn, were brought into Texas by Spain in the 1600s and 1700s. The cattle thrived on the area's rich grasslands and roamed throughout Texas. At the time of the Texas Revolution (1835-36) vast Mexican ranchos with their illustrious vaqueros (Spanish for cowboys) were an established tradition in the Rio Grande Valley.
Architecture
Church of the Advent
One of the earliest Episcopal churches organized in Texas, this congregation was founded in 1851. The Rev. William Passmore served as first Rector, and by 1854 a church building was completed in the downtown area. Destroyed by a hurricane in 1867, it was rebuilt by 1877. The current building was designed by Scottish architect Thomas McLaren and built in 1926-1927.
Architecture
Cisneros House
Local architect Jose Colunga (1882-1946) built this house for businessman Jose A. Cisneros, Sr. (1887-1963). A hallmark example of the Spanish Colonial Revival style when completed in 1926, the structure's current Eclectic appearance dates to 1933, when a Classical Revival porch was added. Original Spanish Colonial Revival elements, such as tiled pent awnings, remain. Owned by Mr.
Civic & Local
City of Harlingen
Platted 1904; incorporated 1910. Named for town in Holland, by founder Lon C. Hill, Sr. (1862-1935), promoter of railroad and early business enterprises. Here were organized the first irrigation district and first navigation district in Rio Grande Valley. Center for finance, wholesale business, commerce and medical services.
History
Convent of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament
This block was once surrounded by a ten-foot wall enclosing a beautiful structure housing America's first colony of Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament, a cloistered teaching order. The convent had a history of vicissitudes and heroism.
Architecture
Cueto Building (La Nueva Libertad)
A fine example of late Nineteenth Century South Texas commercial architecture, this building was constructed in 1893 to house the expanding grocery and mercantile, retail and wholesale business of Don Andres Cueto (1862-1927), a native of Spain. "La Nueva Libertad," as the business was known, included a retail store, storerooms, a carriage house, and domed brick bakery ovens.
History
Dunlap House
Rio Grande Valley developer W.E. Stewart began construction of this adobe brick and stucco residence in 1912. Before it was completed, he sold the house to his employee Bailey H. Dunlap (1886-1957), a native of Illinois. Dunlap started La Feria's first bank, the Cameron County Bank, and was involved in real estate dealings throughout the valley.
History
Esparza Cemetery
This graveyard was named for Carlos Villarreal Esparza (1828-1885), whose family's occupation of the surrounding ranch land began in the early 19th century. According to family records, the original Esparza Cemetery was established south of this site in the mid-1800s.
History
Est'fana Goseascochea Cemetery
María Est'fana Goseascochea de Cavazos y de Cortina established this burial ground on her property by the mid-1800s. Doña Est'fana, as she was known, was a large landowner and matriarch of noted pioneer families in south Texas. Born in Ciudad Camargo, Nuevo Santander, Mexico in 1792 to an affluent family, she married José María Fransisco Cavazos in 1815.
Architecture
First Presbyterian Church of Brownsville
This church, organized by The Rev. Hiram Chamberlain and 19 charter members in 1850, is Brownsville's oldest Presbyterian congregation. Services were held on a river boat and in several sanctuaries before this structure was built by the San Antonio construction company in 1927.
History
First Presbyterian Church of San Benito
This church was organized in 1910, three years after the founding of San Benito. The first building, a frame structure completed in 1911, served the congregation until a hurricane destroyed it in 1933. The following year, this building ws constructed. Funded in part by a Federal Government loan, it was known as America's first Public Works Administration church.
Military
Fort Brown
Oldest permanent fort in Texas; Called Fort Taylor in March, 1846; Later renamed in honor of Major Jacob Brown killed here in May, 1846; Permanent post established, 1849; Evacuated by Federal troops in 1861, by Confederates, 1863; Reoccupied by United States troops from 1865 to 1906; Again reoccupied by United States troops in 1913
History
Fort Brown Cavalry Barracks
This building, associated with the rebuilding of Fort Brown after the Civil War, housed cavalry units until World War I, when it served as a quartermaster warehouse and commissary. Closed after World War II, the building was leased by private industry until purchased by Texas Southmost College.
History
Fort Brown Commissary/Guardhouse
Constructed in 1905 to serve as a food storage facility, this building was abandoned one year later when Fort Brown was closed. Upon reactivation of the post during Mexican border disturbances, the building served as a guardhouse and jail. Among those quartered here were political refugees following the Battle of Matamoros on June 4, 1913.
Military
Fort Brown Reservation
Named by Gen. Zachary Taylor during Mexican war, for Maj. Jacob Brown, who died in 1846 defending the post. Permanent 385-acre reservation laid out 1848 by Col. Wm. Davenport, around original earthworks. Young officers in the Taylor occupancy included D.C. Buell, U.S. Grant, Geo. G. Meade, Geo. H. Thomas, later Civil War general in the U.S. Army; and Braxton Bragg, T.H.
History
Fort Brown, Buildings 85 and 86
Morgue and linen storage. 1867 Fort Brown Buildings 85 and 86. Brick fringe, cornice. Autopsies in yellow fever study were made here by Dr. Wm. C. Gorgas, Capt. Hennessey, Lt. Crowder, Dr. Melon, defying orders of superior officer. Dr. Gorgas became immune.
Military
Fort Brown, Texas
Fort Taylor, renamed Fort Brown, May 17, 1846, in honor of Major Jacob Brown, 7th Infantry, who died here May 9, 1846, in its defense; Garrisoned by the 7th Infantry with Companies "I" 2nd Art. and "E" 3rd Artillery. Original dimensions: Earthwork of 800 yards perimeter, 6 bastion walls 9 1/2 ft. high, parapet 15 ft. wide, ditch 8 1/2 feet deep, 15 to 20 feet wide. Lieut. Thomas Barlow Chapter, D.
History
Frank Rabb
Frank Rabb (1866-1932) was born in Corpus Christi to Texas ranching pioneers John and Martha Rabb. After marrying Lillian Starck, granddaughter of ranching neighbor Mifflin Kenedy, Frank and Lillian settled at San Tomas on 20,000 acres.
History
Getsemani Presbyterian Church
In the first decade of the 20th century, a number of immigrants came from Mexico and settled in the newly founded town of San Benito. Among these immigrants were individuals who followed the prinicples of the Presbyterian Church of Mexico. In 1911, Presbyterian families in San Benito organized the Mexican Presbyterian Church of San Benito. Anne E.
History
Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes
This brick and stone grotto was constructed about 1869-70 on the grounds of the Convent of the Congregation of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament, a cloistered order. Built under the supervision of Sister Theresa Solis and opened to the public in 1926, it contains petrified wood from Roma (120 miles northwest) and stones from European grottos and the Grave of St. Theresa.
Military
Harlingen Army Airfield and Harlingen Air Force Base
With the depressed economy of the 1930s, Harlingen leaders sought to attract federal funds to the area. In May 1941, in preparation for what would become World War II, the U.S. War Department accepted the city's offer of 960 acres for a military airfield and flexible gunnery school. The area's flat topography, impractical for artillery training, was ideal for aircraft operations.
History
Harlingen Cemetery
The Harlingen Cemetery came into legal existence in 1912. In that year, Lon C. Hill (1862-1935), founder of the city of Harlingen and president of the Harlingen land and water company, sold 7.6 acres of land at this site for one dollar to trustees of the Harlingen Cemetery.
History
Harlingen Hospital
This building, originally located on "F" Street, housed the first hospital in Harlingen. The institution was started by local businesswoman Ida Gilbert and Marie Yeager, a nurse. Built in 1923, the structure was comprised of an original center section with two buildings added as wings. The 7-bed facility closed four years later after the opening of the Valley Baptist Hospital.
History
Hebrew Cemetery
Jewish settlers came to the Brownsville/Matamoros area in the mid-1840's. In 1868 one half acre of land next to the city cemetery was purchased by the Hebrew Benevolent society from Charles Stillman for $1. Victims of an 1858 yellow fever epidemic, who were originally buried in the city cemetery, were later reinterred here.
Elsewhere in Texas
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