History
Blackwell School
Education for local children of Mexican descent dates from 1889, when the former Methodist Church became a schoolhouse. The school, named for longtime principal Jesse Blackwell, served hundreds of Hispanic children up to ninth grade. Students were told to speak only English on campus; Spanish words written on slips of paper were buried on the grounds in a mock funeral ceremony.
History
Brooks Cemetery
George H. Brooks (1833-1911) served in a California volunteer unit during the Civil War before settling in Presidio County in the 1860s. In 1878 he married Mexican native Ygnacia Reza. This cemetery began with the burial of their son, Albion E. Brooks, in 1904. George and Ygnacia Brooks (d.
Military
Building 98, Fort D.A. Russell
Constructed in 1920, Building 98 housed the Officers Club and Bachelor Officers Quarters for Fort D.A. Russell. During the latter years of World War II, from 1943 to 1945, German prisoners of war from Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps were housed at the fort, and evidence of their ornate artwork can be found on the building's interior walls.
History
Captain Henry Skillman, C.S.A.
Born in Kentucky. Came to Texas before 1846. Was a U. S. Army scout in Mexican War. Established first mail service from San Antonio to El Paso in 1851. Drove first Butterfield Overland Mail coach in 1858 through dangerous Comanche Indian territory from Horsehead Crossing on the Pecos to El Paso.
History
El Fortin de la Cienega
Built along Cienega Creek in the mid-19th century and modeled after his headquarters ranch complex at nearby El Fortin del Cibolo, El Fortin de la Cienega was the second property developed by Milton Faver as he expanded the vast ranching empire he began in Presidio County in the 1850s.
History
El Fortin de San Jose
About 1773, the Spanish garrison at Presidio del Norte, present Ojinaga, Mexico, established El Fortin de San Jose in this vicinity to protect local farmers. The settlement retained the name after the post was abandoned about 1810. After Ben Leaton had acquired extensive property in the area in 1848, the community came to be called Fort Leaton.
History
El Fortin del Cibolo
Constructed in 1857, El Fortin del Cibolo was the headquarters of the vast ranching empire of Milton (Don Meliton) Faver (ca. 1829-1889). The heavily fortified structure was the first major outpost built between Fort Davis (established in 1854) and the Rio Grande.
Architecture
El Paisano Hotel
Named for the nearby Paisano Mountain pass, this structure was completed in 1930. Gateway Hotel Company, owners of several area hotels, built it in anticipation of a local oil boom that never materialized. The architectural firm Trost and Trost of El Paso designed the building. Constructed around a central courtyard area, the structure reflects Spanish Baroque styling.
Military
Fort D.A. Russell
Originally named Camp Marfa, this installation began as a supply post for U. S. Army border patrol stations in 1911. It was a cavalry camp during the years of the Mexican Revolution. Renamed for Civil War general David Allen Russell, it became a permanent Army post in 1929. Deactivated at the end of 1933, it was reopened in 1935 with artillery units.
History
Here Milton Faver
Here Milton Faver established in the fifties the first Anglo-American owned ranch in the Big Bend. Three quadrangular adobe fortresses situated at big springs Cibolo, Cienaga and La Morita served as a defense against hostile Apaches. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
History
Home of Ben Leaton
First Anglo-American farmer in Presidio County. In August 1848, Mr. Leaton acquired the building and it has since been known as Fort Leaton. (1936)
History
Humphris-Humphreys House
This was the home of rancher, merchant and community leader John Humphris and his wife Mary. Built in 1883 by local builder Saturnino Naborette, the house represents traditional building methods of early pioneer days in west Texas, with a central hallway with four rooms on either side.
History
Hunter Gymnasium
In 1940, Marfa received a Works Progress Administration (WPA) grant of more than $15,000 to help build a new gymnasium named to honor athletic director Boren Hunter. The modified rectangular plan building features plastered adobe infill walls, a rare earthen material in buildings of this type.
History
James Buchanan Gillett
(Nov. 4, 1856 - June 11, 1937) A very famous Texas Ranger. Born in Austin, son of Adjutant General of Texas. At 16 became cowboy on Western frontier. At 19 joined Rangers; hunted down raiding Indians, rustlers, feuding settlers. After serving 1875-1881, became El Paso city marshal. Ranched 41 years in far West Texas (living in and near Marfa) and New Mexico.
Quirky
Marfa Lights
The Marfa Lights, mysterious and unexplained lights that have been reported in the area for over one hundred years, have been the subject of many theories. The first recorded sighting of the lights was by rancher Robert Ellison in 1883. Variously explained as campfires, phosphorescent minerals, swamp gas, static electricity, St.
History
Marfa Stockyards
Built in 1920 by the Galveston, Harrisburg, and San Antonio Railway company, the Marfa stockyards provided a central shipping point for livestock raised in Presidio, Jeff Davis, and Brewster counties. As many as 70,000 head of cattle were shipped from these pens in a single year. The facilities were enlarged in 1929 to handle the great volume of business.
History
Milton Faver
(ca. 1829 - December 1889) The earliest large-scale cattleman to settle in the Big Bend, Milton (Don Meliton) Faver prospered against seemingly impossible odds to become the first cattle baron west of the Pecos. While operating a freighting business on the Chihuahua Trail, he moved his family to Presidio del Norte and opened a general store about 1855 .
History
Milton Faver Ranches
Milton Faver (ca. 1822-1889), a native of the midwest United States, moved to this area in the 1850s from Presidio del Norte, where he owned a general store and operated a freighting business on the Chihuahua Trail.
History
Mission del Apostol Santiago
One of nine missions established in the Big Bend country by Father Fray Nicolas Lopez, O.F.M., and Don Juan Dominguez de Mendoza in 1683-1684. Maintained by Franciscan missionaries for the civilizing and christianizing of the Jumano, Julimes and other Indians of this area. (1936)
History
Mission San Francisco de los Julimes
One of nine Missions established in the Big Bend country by Father Fray Nicolas Lopez, O.F.M., and Don Juan Dominguez de Mendoza in 1683-1684. Maintained by Franciscan missionaries for the civilizing and Christianizing of the Jumano, Julimes and other Indians of this area. (1936)
History
Native Peoples of La Junta de los Rios
AT THE JUNCTION OF THE RIO CONCHO AND RIO BRAVO IS A FERTILE FARMLAND THE SPANISH NAMED LA JUNTA DE LOS RIOS ('THE JUNCTION OF THE RIVERS') OFTEN ABBREVIATED 'LA JUNTA.' NATIVE PEOPLES HAVE OCCUPIED THE AREA FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS. THIS LANDSCAPE PROVIDED THE BEST FARMLAND FOR HUNDREDS OF MILES, AND, DUE TO THE PRACTICE OF FOLLOWING THE RIVERS TO TRAVEL, WAS A NATURAL TRADING HUB.
History
Paisano Pass
Legend recounts that two Spaniards meeting here greeted each other "Mi Paisano" (My Countryman). First known to history when Juan Dominguez de Mendoza camped here on January 3, 1684. Well known after 1850 as a point on the Chihuahua Trail, an emigrant road to California.
History
Porvenir Massacre
Porvenir was a community in remote northwest Presidio County on the Rio Grande. In the midst of military conflicts and raids across and along the international border and in the immediate area during the Mexican Revolution, the small farming and ranching settlement was the site of a notorious tragedy in 1918. A group of Texas Rangers from Company B in Marfa, U.S.
Architecture
Presidio County Courthouse
A landmark of the Big Bend. Large dome is visible for miles. Constructed of native stone and brick made at Marfa. Stucco added later. Built 1886 in this county's third seat of justice. First county seat was Fort Leaton, on the Rio Grande; second, Fort Davis. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1964.
History
Presidio del Norte
Proximate site of Presidio del Norte de la Junta established by Captain Alonzo Rubin de Celis in 1759-1760. Name of post retained in part by the present town and county. In this vicinity the missions of San Antonio de los Puliques, San Francisco de Los Julimes, Santa Maria la Redonda, San Pedro Alcantara, El Apostol Santiago, San Cristobal.
Elsewhere in Texas
Hear it from the road
Whistlestop tells you this story automatically when you drive past. No searching, no tapping, nothing to ask.
