Harlingen History by Norman Rozeff

(Norman also has a page of articles on "Valley History" which can be opened by Clicking and a page listing the "Chronological History of Harlingen" which also can be opened by Clicking )

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A Brief History of Harlingen by Betty Murray
A Postcard Exploration
A Chronological History of Education in Harlingen
A Harlingen Cemetery Chronology
Adams Gardens Connections – Ballí to Berly
Biographical Information on Hugh Ramsey
Of Buildings and Business Schools
F. Z. Bishop, Harlingen Developer
Faded History Comes to Life
Flames Fostered Town of Palm Valley
Where the Name of Harlingen, Texas Likely Derives
Good Cheer at the Harlingen Cemetery
Harlingen's First Hospital
Historic Harlingen
The Location of the Providencia Ranch and Harlingen's Early Water Supply
James Henry Dishman and His Mother, Georgiana Berryman Dishman
More Cool Stuff
Picture Worth a Thousand Words
Lozano Building Holds Many Memories and Stories
Sad End to Railroad Depot
Silk Stocking Row
Soldiers Stationed in Harlingen, 1915-1916, and Some of Their Actions
Summary History of the Harlingen Army Airfield and Harlingen Air Force Base
The Art of Naming Streets
The Broadway Theatre League of Harlingen and Its Successors
The Butt House on East Taylor Street
The City Parks of Harlingen
History of the Harlingen Army Airfield and Harlingen Air Force Base
The Harlingen Connection
The Railroad Bridges of Harlingen
Southern Hospitality in Harlingen -- The Verser House
Thomas F. Lee and Leeland
Unusual Photograph Explained
Valley Morning Star and Print Media Chronology
When Giants Roared in Hanger 38
Biographical Information on Wimbberly McLeod
Famed Sculptor, Lincoln Borglum, Farmed in Area
Dedication of the Texas Historical Commission Events Marker Commemorating the Harlingen Army Air Field and Harlingen Air Force Base
Characterizing Harlingen Eccentricities
The Harlingen Cemetery by Betty Murray
Memories of Harlingen's Five and Ten Cent Stores
Sorrento to Lone Star, a History of Good Eating
Harlingen 1910 Poll Tax Payers
Liberty's Belle Lived in Harlingen
Matz Family History
The Old Valley Baptist Hospital on F Street and Its Doctors
The Letzerich Building, Likely Harlingen's Oldest Existing Commercial Structure
The Weller family in Harlingen
Two Famous Architects of Harlingen
A 1930s Harlingen Teenager Coming of Age
Reese-Wil-Mond Hotel and Heritage Manor History
Ross-Bobo House History
Some African American History in Harlingen and the Valley
Identification of Robert Runyon's Harlingen Photographs
Harlingen and Harlingen Area Road History from the Beginning
The Weed Kindergarten School and the Valley Ice Cream Company
Cinema in Harlingen
Harlingen Auditorium and Harlingen Concert Association
Lozano Plaza Plaque Dedication
Harlingen Museum Chronology
Hand-Adams House History
Stuart Place History
Harlingen Skyscraper History
The New York Store and The Diana Shop, A Sweet Connection
Brick Kiln Location Discovered
Sun Valley Shopping Center History
World War II Heroes from the Harlingen Area
Major Facelift Creates a Beauty
Flooding in Harlingen
Airports, Airlines, and Airplanes in Harlingen—A Brief Survey
Bowling in Harlingen
Professional Baseball in Harlingen
The Canals of Harlingen
Osco Morris, Early Harlingen Pioneer and Character
Dr. Paul Maxwell and a Military Client
Betty Murray, a Generous and Gracious Lady of the Old School
Monthly Rainfall Data for Harlingen, 1911-2010

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A Brief History of Harlingen as Presented to the Tourist Club, Harlingen by Betty (Mrs. Menton J.) Murray on November 17, 1970

It is a real privilege for me to be here today to extend our thanks to God for our being in our Magic Valley. Being the daughter of two who came from the North as land seekers, stayed here to make their home, and reared their children to love this place on earth, I am grateful that I can share some thoughts with you about Harlingen's beginning.

On May 31, 1909, in an appeal to a group of Seminary Graduates in Richmond, Virginia, in describing the potential of Harlingen, Dr. S.L. Morris said, " Now this rich country is a crude frontier where people who are pouring into the country are laying the foundation for great wealth; but there is little opportunity for organized religious worship—Here is the greatest opportunity for Christian service to be found anywhere."

It was Samuel McPheeters Glascow who arrived to take charge in answer to the above appeal. He described Harlingen in 1909 as a mud town, no paved streets, or roads, or sidewalks—coal oil lamps, not a plumber in the entire Valley—burros, or horses, or mules were the chief means of transportation, and he estimated the population to be about 200.

On the site of (today's) Heritage Manor (the former Reese-Wil-Mond hotel), seventeen charter members, led by Rev. Glascow, gathering in a gospel tent on a vacant lot, organized the First Presbyterian Church of Harlingen, second only to the First Baptist church, which had been organized a few months before. These churches have continued to grow to the present time. A Catholic Church was built in 1910 on "C" Street, and the First Methodist Church was established in 1911. The first church building in Harlingen was a little Seventh Day Adventist Church on 4th and Jackson. It was constructed in1909. A tropical storm [perhaps that of August 27,1909 which came ashore just south of Brownsville] that year partially collapsed the incomplete church building, causing the death of their pastor. For this reason the Adventists never completed their building. By public conscription, the building was later completed so people in Harlingen might have another place to worship. It was shared by several denominations.

Dr. Edgar Graham Gammon followed Reverend Glascow and said, recalling his first impressions of Harlingen, "Everything looked strange—flat land, small trees, the birds, the very atmosphere; the coyotes running and screaming through my yard at night was music. I decided in my mind that I'd stick it out for three months—then six months—I stayed five years and then hated to leave." A full report of progress in 1913 by Edgar Gammon lists Mr. and Mrs. H.H. Burchard as members that year. It is their only child, Dorothy, who is to be one of the hostesses in the Tour of Homes. She is now Mrs. Charles A. Washmon.

Dr. Gammon believed in physical fitness for the young boy. During his stay here he took the boys swimming in the Arroyo under [what is now] the Hiway 83 Bridge [This was where the Arroyo was forded by people going to San Benito or Brownsville.]. He organized a boy's club, inspiring the young men and boys to a worthwhile life. A tiny clubhouse was built to hold their meetings.

Reverend Gammon built a small house, which stood at the corner of Van Buren and 6th, for his bride. At that time he was favored with a Ford Runabout. Prior to the Ford, he had walked or borrowed a horse.

After graduating law school, Lon C. Hill practiced law in Beeville—his law practice often brought him to Brownsville in the Valley. Mr. Hill bought the tract on which Harlingen was located from Mrs. Henrietta King, of King Ranch fame, for $2.50 an acre [the correct figure is $2.00 an acre]. Starting without capital in 1900, with 41,000 acres, with his Arroyo Camp his approximate center (200 feet north of where Heritage Manor is today) Lon C. Hill sketched his plans in the dirt for Colonel Sam Robertson. With a stick in the dust he sketched where he would build his canals, and where he would begin his city, its heart to be where they sat. Mr. Hill began getting options on enormous tracts of land all fronting the river [Not necessarily the case, for he had purchased parcels of land to the north also]. Many owners were descendents of original Spanish grantees [also not necessarily the case, since by this time much of the land had already passed into possession of Anglos]. Land went from one dollar to two dollars an acre. Although hard up for cash, Hill never for a moment had any doubt about the outcome of his plans. He envisioned a railroad, the initial development of an irrigation system, a deep water port for Harlingen on the Arroyo. All of these he helped to bring about. In the charter, the town was designated 25 miles north of Brownsville on the Arroyo Colorado. Since Holland was crisscrossed with canals, Mr. Hill studied the map of Holland and chose Harlingen as the name for his new settlement [The actual story of the name's origin is a bit more complicated]. His first attempt of putting water on Valley soil was carried out with the aid of a wood burning boiler and pump.

In 1903, Lon C. Hill moved his family from Beeville to the new country, taking them first to Point Isabel, then to Brownsville. Twelve [ fourteen in Kate Hill's account] wagons brought possessions and a family of a wife and nine children [along with several other families as well]. Four [three actually] sons herded the livestock. A chuck wagon was part of the wagon train.

On July 4, 1904, the first train came to Brownsville—just a month before Mr. Hill had bought the season's first two bales of cotton. He sent one to the World's Fair and the other to Houston, thus inaugurating the tradition of shipping to Houston for auction. The coming of the railroad boosted prices of the raw land from $2.00 to $75.00 to $125.00 an acre.

Tragedy stuck the Hill family when Mrs. Hill and a son died in November of 1904 of Typhoid Fever. So about three months later, Mr. Hill took his children to the partly completed ranch house at Harlingen. Only the three South rooms were roofed at the time. It was called the "hill" because it was six feet higher than the adjacent land. [Mrs. McKenna's account puts the move-in date as January 1905.] They lived there until 1919. This is the home the Junior Service League has restored and was the first home in Harlingen and is now located in the Museum complex. During the bandit attacks, the Hill home became an arsenal. One room (locked) downstairs held a sizeable stock of ammunition. Mr. Hill had a brick plant along the bluff on the Arroyo in present Finwood Heights [the area south-southwest of the Coakley School]. Original bricks from this plant are still about, but numbered. Dr. Shepard's home is noted as having some. A sugar mill was located on the site of the present baseball diamond at Fair Park. Mr. Hill is a said to have laid a foundation which is an inspiration for future generations to build upon. Lon C. Hill was honored on his seventy-sixth birthday in 1932 as Father of Harlingen. On May 5,1935, his powerful heart stopped.

History tells us that occasional brick buildings crowed between wooden shacks formed the business district, but life in the frontier town was still hard in the Valley between 1904 and 1914. The Valley was often described as "Heaven for men and mules, but Hell for women and horses." [A quote from Harbert Davenport] One of the earliest merchants was Santos Lozano, who moved here from Alice in 1903 [the correct date is 1905]. [In 1915]At the corner of Jackson and "A" Streets the Lozano Building [or brick Pioneer building] was erected to house the Lozano and Son General Merchandise Store.[It replaced a wooden structure built by the Lozanos in 1906.] At 323 West Van Buren, F.H. Pena owned a Variety store. A candle lantern was hung on a post to light the front of the store in 1910. This lantern was hung on a post, was bought for 2.50 Mexican Money in Brownsville and is still a keepsake. The earliest pictures show the Moore Hotel as the first. Harlingen's second hotel was built in 1908, called the Ogan Hotel. Nearby was the first Real Estate office. Mrs. A.H. Weller organized the first cemetery in 1906—the Harlingen Cemetery Association. In 1912, at the corner of Jackson and Commerce, a building was constructed by Dr. C.W. Letzerich, which house his office, the office of a dentist, and the Harlingen Pharmacy. In 1909, Harlingen had a telephone exchange with twenty subscribers. In 1910, Harlingen had a population of 350. The first electric light and water systems were built in 1911 and 1912.

Fifty civic minded citizens bought a steel lamppost each, primarily to light the city streets, however, they used them to shackle bad actors before taking them to the County Jail in Brownsville, if the need arose. Around 1907 the Taylor Lumber Company was opened.

From 1914 to 1917 the virgin lands of this Valley were unbelievably rich and many crops could be grown, but the irrigation systems, marketing systems and citrus industry were all in their infancy and were not yet functioning consistently and efficiently, so Harlingen and the Valley were tied to a one crop economy – cotton, which could not be marketed because of German boats, thus cutting off European markets. Also locally in 1915 was the problem of bandits. Skirmishes along the border and the killing of people of both countries brought militia and regular Army troops to the frontier. In Palm Gardens, just west of Harlingen, on August 10, 1913 the cavalry patrol was fired upon by the bandits, and a Private L.C. Waterfield was killed.

Between l918 and 1923 Harlingen began bursting out at the seams. A brochure published in 1923 said, "Harlingen points with pride to her commercial and industrial activities and advantages. Our diversified agricultural interests naturally require ample marketing and transportation facilities. These facilities are unsurpassed anywhere in the Valley." The oldest known copy of the Harlingen Star, forerunner of the Valley Morning Star was December 14, 1923 . Harlingen had her first fire pumper on March 6, 1922 when it accepted delivery. The first police chief was E.[Elmer] W. Anglin. Business boomed in the 20's. The Harlingen Canning Company was opened. The Harlingen Chamber of Commerce was organized in 1919. A.A. Kimmell was the Chamber's first president and J.B. Challes was its first Secretary-Manager. In the 20's a Valley Mid-Winter Fair was held in December of each year. A queen was crowned and local clubs gave dances to entertain her court. Parades were held and ribbons were prizes for the best of products. As early as 1923 one anchor wrote, "Harlingen is the principal icing station for carload vegetable lots from other Valley points and is the point from which the railroad distributes carload freight to other Valley towns on local consignment. On account of her advantages location as well as other reasons, Harlingen has played an important part in development and shared most generously in the prosperity experienced in the Valley in recent years." The First National Bank came into existence in 1922. It was first located on Jackson Street. Later, it occupied a new home at the corner of Jackson and "A" and in 1951 moved to its present location and is now Nations Bank [by the late 1990s it became Bank of America]. In 1945, the Harlingen State Bank was chartered with Elmer G. Johnson as President and D. B. Dunkin as Vice-President. The Harlingen State Bank became the Harlingen National in 1956. Two more banks were added just in the last two years, the Plaza National and the Harlingen State Bank. In 1927, Hygeia Milk Products Company came into existence with a 60 gallon per day milk capacity in their first home, 215 North "A".

In the entertainment field, the Rex Theater was built and existed from 1910-1915. Movies soon arrived, Lyceum tours and Chatauqua series were a part of the excitement. In 1920, the Rialto was built and opened in 1921. In the 20's, the Municipal Auditorium was built and Valleyites heard such greats as John Phillip Sousa, Madame Schumann Heinck, Galla Curchi, "George White Scandals", "Rio Rita". Baseball was from Harlingen's beginning. Football's first team was in 1913. Golf came to Harlingen in 1928. Always there was horseracing on Valley ranches, but horseracing came to Harlingen in 1935, when a race track was built at Fair Park; betting was legal at that time.

After one race, betting was ruled illegal again. Flying began early in Harlingen. The first plane was owned and flown by Leman Nelson and Clay Rader in 1923. Later, Bill Williams and Leman Nelson opened a flying school in Harlingen.

The Harlingen Study Club was organized in 1920 with a group of women who were largely responsible for founding the library and provided for its support for six years.

The Music Lovers Club was organized in 1925 and federated later that year. Our own Junior Service League was organized in 1947. These are only a few of the worthwhile organizations in this city.

In March, 1941, the Harlingen Gunnery School was opened with Colonel John Morgan in command. Miss Angela Murray was the first civil service employee.

In the interest of agriculture, an article in 1908 in the Gulf Coast Magazine reported that Lon C. Hill met with such success raising mid-winter tomatoes on his Harlingen farm that next year he will plant thirty acres in this vegetable alone. John Closner about that time wrote that the cost of clearing land is about $6.00 an acre. "Our field labor is Mexican. Good farm hands are plentiful at fifty cents per diem the year round. At present, there are fourteen pumping plants in operation and under construction. One of these under construction will have such vast pumping capacity as to all but stagger the human mind – 270,000 gallons per minute – a veritable river itself, bodily lifted from the channel of the Rio Grande and made to run wheresoever the mind of man wills, to make fruitful, to blossom and bloom as the roses of my fair lady's garden, thousands upon thousands of acres of what has been for centuries a desert waste."

Certainly I would be remiss if I did not mention our Medical Center in Harlingen. The Valley Baptist Medical Center began in June of 1925 as a twenty-five bed hospital on "F" Street. Dr. C.M. Cash of San Benito headed this effort. It was enlarged several times and then a new Valley Baptist Hospital was built in 1956 on 77 Bypass. Presently there is a large building project in the process of being built. Also the Harlingen State Tuberculosis Hospital, now Harlingen Chest Hospital of South Texas was built and the keys of the newly completed hospital were turned over in January 1956. On this same day, the new Valley Baptist Hospital, now Valley Baptist Medical Center, was used for the first time though it was not formally dedicated until May 18th. Soon Ed Carey Road became a medical center with many doctors building their offices along the strip. In November 1955 the Base Hospital at the Harlingen Air Force Base was completed. This is now the Center of the Rio Grande Valley Mental Health Clinic. Finally in July 1959 the Valley Baptist Hospital Nursing School was opened and the first class of future nurses was enrolled.

Enthusiasm for the Valley isn't anything new. Here's a sample from the January 1909 issue of the Gulf Coast Magazine. "There is a charm about the Valley of the Lower Rio Grande which all may feel but none can well define. The majestic flow of the river as it winds like a great serpent in the course to the sea—the blue skies; the never ceasing song of the birds; the flowers blooming at all seasons of the year—the matchless groves of lofty palms—all combine to fill the heart with rapture and inspire poetry and song."

"If thou would wander in enchanted land. Go linger by the winding Rio Grande. It is the land of plenty and of peace, where flowers ever grow and songbirds never cease."

On December the 8th, three outstanding homes of Harlingen will be shown.

First to be shown tonight complete in their Christmas finery will be the home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Washmon on Riverside Drive. The house is Southern Colonial architecture situated on two and a half acres on the Arroyo Colorado and is within the city limits. Furnishings are in Early Victorian, French, English and American. The Christmas tree is an accumulation of jeweled velvet balls which have been made by Mrs. Washmon herself through the years.

The Joe McGill home, 909 Little Creek Drive, was built only two years ago. It is of contemporary design with choice pieces from Mexico placed artistically in a chaparral setting. Tijinas tile and a screen done by the Mexican artist Lugo give this home an old world look. From each west window throughout the length of the home one can look upon the patio and the garden which overlook the Arroyo.

The gardens of the Dial Dunkin home [at 1009 East Parkwood]are tantalizingly delightful.

Old gold and antique green in a traditional setting best describes the home of Dr. and Mrs. Frank Shepard at 1102 Ferguson. Three wood burning fireplaces lend such warmth [while] the old stained glass doors take your breath away as you enter the dining room. The majestic grandfather's clock in the entrance hall and the chopping block in the kitchen would make a person green with envy except that these things couldn't be owned by nicer people. And don't forget to see the bricks from the early brick factory.

The newly completed country club is an answer to our dreams. Its beauty both inside and out shows much planning to the minutest detail.

Proceeds from the home tour will go to the Hill Home Restoration Fund. The Junior Service League has as one of its projects the restoration of the frame building to its original appearance. The League has purchased some o0f the original furniture and the Hill family has given other pieces of furniture and objects to be used to make it authentic.

Transcribed and annotated by Norman Rozeff, Harlingen Historical Preservation Society, September 2003.

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A Postcard Exploration

Norman Rozeff

Most of the Harlingen-topic postcards from the 1910s through the 1960s are promotional in nature. They picture public buildings such as the post office, municipal auditorium, schools, and the Casa del Sol among others. Additional cards show churches, hotels and motels. Then there are the numerous cards exploiting the merchant sections of Jackson Street.

When an acquaintance e-mailed me a postcard photograph which I had not previously encountered, I was excited at what I perceived to be a structure not visually documented elsewhere. Nearly in the center of the photo is seen a dark one story building sandwiched between the beginning of North B Street and Commerce. The darkest spot is actually a shaded overhang while the building is painted black or dark brown with its window frames in white. I immediately thought that this was the town's first city hall.

The building which served as Harlingen's first city hall was small and rustic. It erection was started in March 1910 by the Harlingen Commercial Club, which was similar to a chamber of commerce, and pretty much completed by the start of June. This organization expended $290 for the lumber, fixtures and other items used in its construction. The club's first unpaid secretary was H.D. Seago, who would later go on to serve many years as Cameron County clerk. In the second half of 1910 the City Commission began to rent the facility in order to conduct business meeting there. In 1926 the city moved into a new combination city hall/fire station facility at 202-204 East Van Buren Street, a city block almost empty even at this date. The old city hall was torn down. The small triangular lot was cleaned and planted. On 9/1/26 its site was dedicated as a small park to honor Gordon Hill, son of founder Lon C. Hill. Gordon, who had died of influenza in the pandemic of 1918, was a promoter of the city, served it in several capacities, and pushed for city park development. Few know it as such, since it appears today little more than a medial strip.

When, in December 2004, an individual donated 20 old Harlingen subject post cards to the archive room of the library, the "A Bird's Eye View of Harlingen" postcard was among them. The Kodak AZO print was considerably clearer than the e-mail reproduction. Sitting clearly atop what I had taken as city hall was a sign reading "Battery and Oil Station." Having been established in 1920 this was Harlingen's first drive-in automobile service station. It was operated by William Witt, son-in-law of G.P. Brandt, who ran the blacksmith shop at 202 N. Commerce. Brandt's occupation would later evolve into an automobile repair firm, the Harlingen Body Works, at 208 N. Commerce.

The photograph appears to have been taken in 1923 from atop the newly-constructed 3-story structure of the A Street Wittenbach Building put up by C.H. Wittenbach and A.J., his grocer son. It would later have an attached five story wing. To the immediate southeast of the service station is seen the 2-story cream-colored brick, over 5,500 square foot structure built in 1921 for Edwin R. Templeton. An outside staircase is to be seen rising to the second floor. That area played a significant part in Harlingen history for here met such organizations as the fraternal Woodmen of the World, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Masons, and also DeMolay, Rainbow Girls, Labor Temple for union members, and dance groups. The building currently housing Grimsell's has yet to be built but to the east of its lot, a sign on the building advertises the Hall Bro's (sic) Garage. No signs identify the occupants of the new-looking one story building north across the street from Templeton, but later it will house the Valley Drugs and Sundries Co.

Along Commerce we see the Rio Grande Hardware and Machine Co., successors to Ewing-Phillips Hardware, in a store later to be occupied by Harlingen Hardware and now Broadway Hardware. Next to it is the still one-story feed store of James W. Rhone. In January 1925 it will be purchased by F.G. Jackson. North of it is the Lockridge Millinery shop and Edelstein's with the very same logo the present-day company retains, followed by the warehouse built in 1920 for the Fulton Jones Moving and Storage Co. and adjacent to it is A.L. Brooks' early strip mall housing various commercial enterprises. In the distance up Commerce are the Taylor Lumber Co. (opened 1907), the cotton compress, and the Farmers Gin Co.

Along Jackson Street heading east is the Letzerich Building occupied upstairs by the brothers Drs. Casper W. and Alfred M. Letzerich. It was constructed in 1909, possibly by Charles H. Waterwall. It is likely Harlingen's oldest existing brick building. For a time Hugo J. Letzerich runs the Harlingen Pharmacy on the ground floor. He had arrived as mail clerk on the first train here in 1904. The triangular one-story addition to the Letzerich Building appears to have been added before 1930 for in this year The New York Store is listed as its occupant.

Next to Letzerich Building is the spacious premise of A.A. Kimmel and Company Hardware and Implements at 212 W. Jackson. It got its start in 1918. Kimmel, in 1919, would have the honor of becoming the first president of the newly organized Harlingen Chamber of Commerce, the one that presently exists as the Harlingen Area Chamber of Commerce. Johnson's Cafe and the E. B. Thompson News Stand abut Kimmel's. Next to them is the New Manhattan Cafe run first by the Daiments brothers and then sold to G.J. Corris and B.P. Nakes. Sandwiched between the Manhattan Cafe and E. Manautou, a branch of a Brownsville dry goods store which would leave Harlingen before 1930, is a small Photo Studio. The Famous Store would later occupy Manautou's old site.

Across the street is the former Planters State Bank which purchased the lot in 1917. Mack Crenshaw's little wooden barber shop had stood on the site at the southeast corner of Commerce and Jackson. The handsome bank building will be, in 1924-27, home to the Valley State Bank then hold the offices for the Cameron County Irrigation District No.1 from 1927 to 1965. In 1986 the building was awarded a bronze plaque as a Recognized Texas Historic Landmark. Around 1910 two false front wooden buildings, straight out of the old west, once sat next to the barber shop. The first was James Lockhart's general merchandise store which he ran with his oldest sons James Jr. and Brad. In November 1903 the Lockhart family came to the Valley. After managing Lon C. Hill's rice plantation near Brownsville for a short time, Lockhart moved his family to what would become Harlingen. For a time the family lived in tents along the north bank of the Arroyo Colorado. Lockhart commenced the clearing operations for the community-to-be. Upon the arrival of the railroad Lockhart was the community's first postmaster in its city hall location and acted as the unofficial law enforcement officer before the town was incorporated in 1910. The Lockhart store would be taken over by C. H. Ritter. For a time Ritter had to contend with August M. Weller's bustling saloon next door. Weller was the first to purchase lots offered by the Town and Improvement Co. of Lon C. Hill. Weller, after making good money operating other saloons around town, would gain respectability when he purchases the Harlingen State Bank and moves its office to A and Jackson Streets. The building seen in the photo next to the bank building will shortly house Morris Edelsteins's Edelstein's Furniture Store at 217 W. Jackson. It will here from an earlier location next to Jones' Transfer on Commerce. To its east will be the City Barber Shop, then an empty lot likely owned by Weller.

The exploration of this seemingly non-descript post card turns out to reveal unexpected history. Sometimes it's there for the looking.

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A Chronological History of Education in Harlingen
Compiled by Norman Rozeff, Harlingen Historical Preservation Society
Revised April 2009

1903 The children of La Providencia Ranch hands are taught by Miss Margarita Villareal (later she becomes Mrs. G.M. Lozano. Their son G.M. Lozano, Jr. will marry another early arrival to the Harlingen scene. This is Ida Priestly, who arrived here in 1922, as her father with ancestors from Clarksville, TX takes up tenant farming in the Rangerville area. In 2002 she is to celebrate her 86th birthday.) Having been graduated after eleven years of schooling in Brownsville Margarita is qualified to teach. Instruction is in English. Later the school moves into the second floor of the Pioneer Building. This serves some of the Hispanic children until the school district builds a facility.

9/05 Lon C. Hill, the founder of Harlingen, builds a small frame schoolhouse near his new home. It opens with the seven Hill children as pupils; three children (Frank, John and Elizabeth) of Hill's sister and brother-in-law –Mr. and Mrs. J.C. McBee; the children (Lynn and Etta) of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas L. Jones, who had accompanied Hill from Beeville; Henry Bell; and later Katherine Weller, daughter A.H. Weller. This is 14 students in all to be taught by W.A. Francis (1905-07). He will someday head the English Department at Texas A&I College in Kingville. He is to be followed by Miss Johnnie Phipps in the 1907-08 school year and Lillian Weems, later Baldridge, in1908-09. According to Mrs.Baldridge her students were: Kathryne Weller (Mrs. H. D. Seago), Mary Jones (Mrs. H. E. Bennett), Lynn Jones, Henry Bell, Ida Hill (Mrs. H. K. Morrow), Lon (Mose) C. Hill, Jr., John and Frank McBee, Gordon Hill, John Hill, Annie Rooney Hill, Hickman Hill, Sunshine Hill (Mrs. M.L. Caul), and Elizabeth McBee (Mrs. W.L. Darnell).

1907-09 Miss Jesusa Garcia, later Mrs. Cirilo Rodriguez, teaches 12 to15 Hispanic students in a small house outfitted to be a school room. It is on the property her father, Pancho Garcia, has bought from Hill in the 300 block of West Harrison. Mrs. Rodriguez is to die at age 94 on 11/1/84 leaving four surviving daughters.

10/5/09 The Harlingen Independent School District Board of Trustees holds its organizational meeting in the office of the Morrow Brothers Lumber Company. The board consists of John E. Snavely (chairman), C.F. Perry, H.N. Morrow, J.A. Card, R.S. Chambers, W.E. Hollingsworth, and W.H. Kilgore. The first school site purchased was the Alamo School site, just west of the railroad tracks. Lon C. Hill donated half the site and the District purchased the other half, according to Warren W. Ballard, later business manager of the schools. Miss Anna Dixon, later Mrs. Clark of Austin, teaches at the school for Hispanics.

1908-09 The number of school children is still small enough to list. They are: Allie Hathaway (Mrs. Harold Looney), Auro Hathaway (later Buster), Rhubena Hathaway (Mrs. Dallas Ingle), Peter Hathaway, J.D. Dorough, Bunny Dorough, Moody Dorough (Mrs. Flagg), LeRoy Hoffman, Roland Ogan, Lois Ogan, Grady Ferguson, Lucie Mary Weems, Vivian Barbee, Archie Barbee, Lucille Barbee, Luella Barbee, Quinton Barbee, Emmett Anglin, Wyatt Clark, Earl Waterwall, Laura Lockhart, Basil Watwood, and Jesus ?.

1909 Mrs. George Pletcher, mother of George Pletcher, Jr., who would enter the nursery business and become mayor of Harlingen, along with Mrs. Wiles' sister Eula were school teachers in the Adventist Church building. Her brother H.C. Ware and his wife owned a home next door to the old Adventist Church building, which was later to become a community building.

One student, I.E. (Renus) Snavely, of this period recalls that before the first brick schoolhouse was built classes were held in a succession of places. These were the Adventist Church building, which the Adventists never got to utilize, the Baptist Tabernacle, a red brick building on Harrison Street, and two buildings on the downtown blocks of Jackson. One of these was upstairs over a saloon with a pool hall next door.

A Mr. Williams was principal-superintendent of schools at this time.

5/14/10 The School Board of Trustees considers a bond election. On 7/8/10 the issue is set for $40,000, payable in 40 years at 4% interest in order to construct, equip, and purchase the sites for two brick schools. Forty-six voters (51 in another account) out of the population of 1,126 participate on 11/9/10. All vote in favor. L.S. Green of Green and Briscoe, Architects, Houston is selected for the "Main School" to serve grades 1 through 11. A.W. Cunningham is instrumental in purchasing a whole city block between 5th and 6th Street along Main Street for the site of the school. It is purchased from Lon C. Hill for $3,500. The Anglo students are attending school in the former Seventh Day Adventist building while the Hispanic students are in the brick one-story two-classroom school on what will be South E Street.

4/15/11 Contract for $5,649 let to R. H. Tadlock to construct the second story addition to the existing two classroom brick schoolhouse for Mexican ethnics. To some this school was called the Benito Juarez School after the president of Mexico. Juarez was called the Lincoln of Mexico for expulsion of the French and his many reforms during his service as president 1861-1872. The School Board Trustees accept this addition on 3/12/12. At this time J.S. Ford is president of the Board and Prof. William L. Sturgeon is school superintendent and secretary to the board. He is also a staunch First Christian Church member. Later when the board is reorganized, John E. Snavely will handle security. Lucie Weems is principal of the school from 1915 to 1917. This is the first of three schools to carry the name Alamo. By 1930 it was no longer being used as a school. Its second story was removed in 1949 and the rest demolished in 1975. Its location was likely on W. Van Buren not far from the railroad tracks.

4/25/11 Andrew Goldammer is awarded a $25,000 contract to build a three story brick schoolhouse on the northwest corner of Jackson and 6th Streets. J.P. McDonald is to supervise its construction. Another source puts the low-bid contract at $22,800. Now called a $40,000 school, it is nearing completion by 10/26/11. The building is accepted 3/25/12. First called the Central Ward School, it is, in1936, renamed the Sam Houston School.

Advanced students this year occupy a room above the saloon at the corner of Jackson and A Streets. One teacher instructs 15 students who even have to take a course in Latin. Ireneus Snavely, who will be graduated in the class of 1915, later recalls that boisterous saloon customers were frequently a distraction and the facility had no amenities.

1912 A small elementary school sponsored by the Sacred Heart of Mary Immaculate Catholic Church opens in southwest Harlingen with 48 students. It is in a frame house donated by the Extension Society. In 1918 Sisters of Mercy will come from Laredo to join the teaching staff and take care of administrative duties.

4/1/12 The Central Ward School is occupied. It serves as a school from 1912 to 1950 then several years as a community center. In 1952 it is purchased and renovated into an office complex named the E.O. Matz Building.

E.W. Anglin, a school board member in 1911-12, recalls, "We gathered up all the classes scattered about town on April 1, 1912 and moved them all to the new brick building on Jackson Street. The next year was a rainy one and we had to build a board walk all the way from downtown to the school."

1913 Enough boys are enrolled in the high school, so a 14 man football team organizes.

1913-18 Lyceum Courses for adults are held in the Central Ward School in these years.

5/14 The first graduating class (then 11 grades) of the Harlingen High School is compose of Roberta Chaudoin (later Mrs. I.E (Renus) Snavely), Murl and Gladys Snavely, and Fred Osborn.

1915 The Wilson School at Primera to the west of J.F. Rodgers' place is built. Rodgers and J.T. Avery are its prime movers. Lilian Weems Baldridge is to be its first teacher.

The Sacred Heart of Mary opens a three room school. Three years later a fourth class room is added. It is located just south of the church on Winchell (now C) Street.

4/7/16 W.F. Jourdan is superintendent of schools and Pearl Botts is principal of the high school. Domestic science classes will be added next term. Miss Pearl Cleary is principal of the Wilson rural high school.

1918 This is the year Paul E. Phipps comes to the Valley where he later becomes Superintendent of McAllen schools for two years. He comes to Harlingen in 1922 and takes the same position here until 1933, the year of his death. He is a native of New Boston, MO having been born there 4/30/88. He was educated at Kirksville Teachers College in Missouri and Columbia University where he received an M.S. degree. He also has a Superintendent School Diploma from Columbia. This Methodist and Mason married Susan Case on 6/28/11. He was president of the Valley Mid-Winter Fair Association its first two years in Harlingen. Paul Earl Phipps was superintendent of schools in Princeton, Missouri in 1918 when, due to his father's health condition, he brought his family including his father, wife Susan Case, and daughter Jean to McAllen in the summer of 1918. Two years later he was selected to be Harlingen Superintendent of Schools, a position he filled until 1932. His daughter, Jean Phipps Clore, will provide a valuable service by documenting the history of the First Methodist Church in Harlingen.

Jennie Case comes to the Valley from Missouri. She is a graduate of the George Peabody College of Nashville. She and her sister, Mrs. Mattie Case (d.5/51), begin teaching in Harlingen in 1920. This First Methodist Church member dies 7/19/59 leaving a niece Jean Phipps Clore (here in1920). Her brother-in-law, the late Paul Phipps, was an early Harlingen school superintendent.

1919 Some time before 1920, the population of rural Leeland to the west of Harlingen had grown enough that a school was warranted. A frame building consisting of two large rooms to serve all grades was erected at the corner of what is now Business 83 and Altas Palmas Roads. Before 1923 this facility was being outgrown, so a one-room frame building was added to hold the first and second grades.

1920 The school enrollment at the Central Ward School and the West Ward School (formerly Alamo) is 284 pupils as the school year starts. The children of new arrivals will soon push it to 425, 90 of whom are high school students. The Central Ward School has eight real classrooms four improvised ones and two in a new framed addition constructed on the northeast side. The West Ward School has four classrooms. The student growth necessitates the successful passage of a $30,000 bond issue in addition to the $40,000 for the new high school.

In the 1920s Harlingen segregates its Mexican surnamed school children through the 4-5th grades.

When early records of high school graduate were lost in the 1933 Hurricane, Eunice Simmons Madeley (Mrs. Neil Madeley Sr.) and other early graduates took it upon themselves about 1974 to reconstruct the names of individuals. Since the number is small it is accounted for below:

1914 Roberta Chaudoin, later Mrs. Renus Snavely

Gladys Snavely, later Mrs. E. M. Bowen

Murl Snavely, later Mrs. Pletcher

Fred Osborne

1915 Doris Snavely, later Mrs. Paul Earl Phipps

Ophelia Harrington, later Mrs. Morris Chaudoin

Estelle Smith

Moody Dorough

Mary Lou Brown

Irenus Snavely, who would marry Roberta Chaudoin

1916 Vera Thompson

Roy Decker

Emmett Anglin

Arethusa Brown

1917 Pauline Snavely

Eunice Simmons, later Mrs. Neil Madeley Sr.

Frances Scarborough

Roland Ogan

(Van) Buren Sidener

1918 Mattie James, later Mrs. Hough

Willis Weaver

1919 Roscoe Witt

Joe Chaudoin, who was to marry Dallas Hartin

Mabel Waters

Opal Snavely

Corinne Verser

Mildred Gustafson

Jamie Stockton

Gladys Poteet

Gladys Smith

Lois Ogan, later Mrs.Williams

1920 Phillip Hardage Cooper

Lafayette Ferris Weaver

Martha Clarketta Griffith

Edgar S. Place Jr.

Dorothy Louise Place

Eustacia (Sunshine) Dabney Hill, later Mrs. M. Caul

Mertie Elizabeth Hill

Margaret Edna Cook

Bessie Virginia Oler

Betsy Bass

In this decade before the year 1925 the West Ward School is built in the east side of the 400 block of South F Street at 415. It is an attractive two-story brick structure. Its attendees are wholly Hispanic. By 1937 a larger facility is built at 501-2 South F and named the Alamo School. In 1970 or 1971 the school is closed. In the 1987 -88 school year Alamo Jr. High School is to open at the present site of the Harlingen High School –South.

1921 Luz Ramirez, later to be Mrs. Bennie Leal of San Benito, is the first student of Mexican origin to be graduated from Harlingen High School. In 1922 Alfred Lozano, later to be Doctor Lozano, is the first Hispanic boy to be graduated.

6/19/21 A $50,000 bond issue is voted by Stuart Place residents to construct a schoolhouse. Bob and O.E. Stuart donate 10 acres of land for its site. It is scheduled to be completed by January 1, 1922. Mrs. Hugh Fitzgerald is president of the board and Mrs. R. D. Corn secretary. The former is one of the few women in the state to hold such a position. B.A. Elwing and Roy Mulhausen, architects of San Benito and Harlingen, have submitted plans for a modern building to serve the 185 scholars presently enrolled in the district. The same architects have designed the $50,000 new Harlingen High School. The 216' x 145' structure will have two wings each holding eight classrooms and be constructed by W.T.Liston and Son.

1921-22 In this school year 534 students are enrolled.

12/12/22 The School Board of Trustees appropriates $60,000 for construction of a new senior high school. Its ornate twin-towered building is erected on the west side of the double block extending from 6th to 8th Street and between Polk and Tyler. It costs $45,452.50. Four years later on the east side of the two-block strip the main building is constructed for use as a junior high school. In the Hurricane of 1933 the first building sustains such serious structural damage that it has to be torn down. A gymnasium-auditorium is then built in the middle of the block. By 1937, the surviving structure called the Travis Junior High School operates at this place until 1949 when a new junior high school is constructed on 13th and Madison on land donated by the Minnie Gay family. The former junior high school, now turned into the Travis Elementary School, will be demolished along with the gymnasium when a new Travis Elementary School is build on the site but nearer 6th Street in the late 1970s.

1923 The Stuart Place School is dedicated. On the stone monument commemorating it are inscribed the names of the school board. They are: O.E. Stuart, president, J.J. Garrett, vice-president, Mrs. Hugh Fitzgerald, Secretary, W.H. Maupin, I.B. Corns, and H.C. West. A year later with the first graduated class comes the school's first edition of its annual, "Hoja de Palma". The school building will become the gathering place for the rural residents of the area and even be used for church activities. By 1928 the school will be fully accredited. The school building will become the gathering place for the rural residents of the area and even be used for church activities. By 1928 the school will be fully accredited.

June 1923 Seven boys and 13 girls are the first to be graduated from the Central Ward School after 11 years of instruction. Teacher Frank Brunneman has taught Richard Stout, Kenneth Macy, Raymond Rodgers, Frank Houghton, Margaret Thomason, Lucille Bobo, Roe Davenport, Velda Goldammer, Essie McLeod, Vera Letzerich, Maureen Elmore, Velma Baize, Mayme Anglin, Mary Jennings, and Gladys Word among others. There are now 140 high school students and the total number of students has jumped to 1,100. The "High School Buzz" a monthly student newspaper is now being published.

3/5/25 On this date it is announced that a bond issue for $100,000 for new school construction will be voted on 4/4. At month end, Supt. Phipps, who has been here four years, is retained. The bond issue passes. Plans are to add an auditorium to the high school (blk. 45), additions to the Mexican School (blk.109), and repair the grade school (blk.50). Total expenditures will range from $60,000 to $65,000. By July a $43,000 contract was let to H. J. Hanson and Son, Brownsville for new junior high school building (decades later referred to as the "old Travis") to be erected next to the senior high school on 6th. The cost of a 900-seat high school auditorium is put at $21,000 with R. E. Ewing its contractor. W.T. Liston received the $10,000 contract to add four classrooms, two on each side of the front of the Mexican School i.e. West Ward School on E Street. This would double its student capacity to accommodate its wholly Hispanic student body. After the renovation the school is called Ward West Junior High School. By 1937 a larger facility is built at adjacent 501-2 S. F Street and named the Alamo School. In 1970 or 1971 the school is closed but not demolished until 1975. In the 1987-88 school year Alamo Junior High School is to open at the present site of the Harlingen High School-South campus.

In 1925, newly elected to the school board of trustees are John Sanders and A.E. McLendon taking the places of John James and C.A. Bobo who do not choose to run again. Holdovers are president, B.H. Brindley, A.A. Kimmel, Paul Hill, L.M. Chaudoin, R. B. Nunally, with R. B. Hamilton, secretary. Residing in a large bungalow at 313 E. Monroe, John F. Sander's family includes John Jr., Joe G., and Bennie Ray. Joe G., a band member in 1931-32 along with brother Bennie, will distinguish himself at H.H.S. by being named All-District guard in 1935 and being elected president of the "Hy-Y" Club (1936).

5/10/25 The largest graduating high school class ever consists of 34 students.

9/25 G.W. Moothart, president, of Harlingen Business College, opens the school after obtaining a three year lease for space in the A.J. Wittenbach Building. He has operated a similar school in Brownsville.

1926 This is the year Lucy A. Phillips Gough started teaching in the Harlingen School District and which she would continue to do so for 26 years. Her specialty was 7th and 8th grade language arts. A native of Sealy, Texas from which school she was graduated in 1903, she then attended the Texas Normal School in the first year it was open. She taught eight years elsewhere before coming to Harlingen. This First Baptist Church member was an originator of the Fine Arts Club in Harlingen where she continued to live for 31 years after retirement. She was also a supporter of the Valley Baptist Academy and the library. In the 1980s she moved to Sealy where on 9/6/92 she celebrated her 107th birthday.

10/8/26 At a PTA meeting Supt. Butler of the Stuart Place School notes that the addition of four more credits this school year will bring the total to 17 ½ or 18.

10/26 E.H. and Mabel Briggs and A.W. and M.B. Coleman donate land for the construction of a public school to be known as Briggs-Coleman School for the Dishman School District No. 15 of Cameron County. In the late 1940s it would fall under the Rio Hondo School District. It operates until 1967 and is abandoned. The Country Playhouse commences using its auditorium in 1979. In this year Bob Briggs, a descendent of one of the land donors seeks to reclaim the land under its original grant stipulations.

9/23/27 The Briggs-Coleman School , on what is later to be north FM 507, opens its school year in a new building. Prof. C.O. Slaughter is principal, Miss Jewel Hudson teacher of the elementary grades and Miss Mildred Hudson, the primary grades. In the 1970s after the school has closed the Country Playhouse will use the building to host amateur theatrical productions.

1928 The Lozano Building's upper floor is remodeled by Dr. Alfredo Lozano to convert it into Harlingen's first business college.

The city brags that six schools have been completed with a $500,000 investment, and $400,000 of bonds voted for a new high school and two others. School attendance is 2,564.

This same year the South Ward School at 306 W. Lincoln is erected. It is later renamed the James Bowie Elementary School. Its unique colorful cast-concrete frieze by Luiz Lopez Sanchez provides it the nickname, La Escuela de la Vibores (the school of snakes.) The façade blends Mexican and native-American motifs. At this time at 700 E. Austin the North Ward School, later to be called Austin Elementary, is built with designs by the Meriwether and Sauers Company. The combined cost for both is $93, 258.50. Also started this year are portions of the Dishman School.

7/24/28 Several weeks earlier the school district boundaries were extended 900 acres to include Combes and a few other areas. R. B. Hamilton, board secretary, indicates the new Combes School will cost $20,000 to construct. For the token amount of $1 James Henry Dishman sells five acres of land to the HISD trustees in order for a school to be built in Combes. The trustees are O. N. Joyner, Miller Harwood, J. R. Grimes, H. J. Gostzke, A. E. McClendon, William Watterman and Frank Brunneman.

9/11/28 Schools are to open this date with an enrollment of 2,200 expected and this to rise to 2,600 later. Teachers in the system number 70. [This averages to 31.4 students per teacher.]

1/2/29 2,100 children are in school as of this mid-school year date. From 1920-21 when the school population was 816, the system gained only 305 to 1924-25 then 238 were added in 1925-26 bringing the 1926-27 start total to 1,475. This grew to 1,697 by January and 1,983 by April. The escalating growth indicates the dynamic development of the city in this period.

1/8/29 Dewitt and Washburn, Dallas are to be the architects for the new $270,000 high school expected to be completed by January 1930.

2/14/29 W.L. Lehman, proprietor of the Valley Business College, dies at age 41. He leaves his wife and three small children.

4/29 Carl S. Chilton is the principal of the Central Ward Grammar School.

6/17/29 Large ads are carried urging residents to approve a supplemental bond issue of $100,000 in order to finance the $52,000 shortfall for the construction of the new high school but also $20,000 for additions to the West Ward School, the same amount to pay off Comb School notes, and retire other indebtedness. The issue is to carry 278 to 217.

6/30 Student enrollment is put at 2,383.

9/4/30 Called "the showplace of the Valley", the new $350,000 senior high school at 125 S. 13th Street at Harrison is dedicated. It is designed by architects Dewitt and Washburn of Dallas. The former designed the east wing of the White House. At this time the superintendent of schools is Paul E. Phipps. On the board of Trustees are Mrs. J.I. Coursey, O.N. Joyner, Ira E. Eells, S.D. Grant, A.E. McClendon, and Dr. John Crockett. The last senior class to use the facility is that of 1959 which started there but finished in the new high school on Marshall Street. The Spanish Revival style facility in 1958 becomes Vernon Junior High School named in honor of Julia Vernon, a popular English teacher and librarian for years at the high school.

The West Ward School is at 415 South F Street. Its principal is Mrs. Bertha J. Traylor. The South Ward School is at 309 W. Lincoln and Mrs. Lucy A. Gough is its principal. It will later be re-named the James Bowie Elementary School.

In 1930 the Harlingen Valley Business College was located at 215 ½ W. Monroe. By 1937 the college was operating on the third floor of the Embee Building addition at 119 S. Street. When between 1938 and 1941 the Durham Business Institute took over the site, Mrs. Harman Straub moved her school to the Commerce Building at 121 W. Van Buren. She would close altogether by 1944. By 1942 the Embee school location had become the Durham Business College and was under the management of Carl A. Scott. It stayed in this location until 1958 then, after a year at 106 ½ N 1st, moved to 5621 S. F Street. In the 70s it changed its name to Durham College of the Valley. Durham was to go out of business after 1973, possibly when it experienced difficulties with defaulted government student loans.

30-31 A listing encompassing eleven years indicates the growth of the city and its student school population: school year 1920-21 816, 21-22 853, 22-23 1052, 23-24 1099,

24-25 1121, 25-26 1359, 26-27 1686, 27-28 2152, 28-29 2450, 29-30 2735, 30-31 2897.

1933 The eighth grade class is moved to the high school building on 13th Street.

9/5/33 The Labor Day Hurricane of 1933 delays the start of school initially 9/18 to 9/25 and then to 10/2. The high school on 6th Street is damaged beyond repair as is the school for Negroes in the West side of town. The North and South Ward Schools suffer only minor damage. The number of students is put at 3,430, down 147 from the previous year.

1934 The Booker T. Washington School to serve Harlingen's Negro children is erected in the 800 block of W. Filmore at H Street. As the number of blacks diminishes over the years it will be integrated. Although an addition to it will later be made, it is to be superceded. It ceases to be used as a school in 1959. It currently is being used by the school district as a Parental Involvement Center.

In the Fall of this year the Cardinal Football Field is constructed at the cost of $4,500. It is adjacent to the high school.

5/35 The School Board with Frank E. Davis as president, Dr. John Crockett vp, Ira E. Eells, secretary, and Mrs. H. C. Rader assistant secretary vote to rename the schools for the Texas Centennial to be held in 1936. The intermediate school is named for William B. Travis, Central Ward for Sam Houston, North Ward for Stephen F. Austin, South Ward for James Bowie, and the West Ward for the Alamo.

1936 The school system has 80 teachers.

1937 The new Alamo Elementary School is operating at 501-21 South F Street. By 1970 it ceases to function.

In this period E.C. Deering is superintendent of schools. He holds a BA from Baylor University and an MA from the University of Texas. D.M. Denton, who is the high school principal, holds an AB degree from Baylor University.

1940 Durham's Business College opens to train people in stenographic, secretarial, and office skills.

1940-41 It is thought that it is this school year that the Harlingen public school system added the twelfth grade . Previously only eleven grades were taught. The end of the 1941-42 school year sees the conclusion of 11 years of matriculation for grade school students to receive their high school diploma. Across Texas the school years offered are now extended through grade twelve. Some transitional scheduling for 11-12 graders is offered the next two years.

1941 The Bryne Select School of Business is at 117 ½ W. Jackson. It exists only this one year. Mrs. Harry (Ethel) Eggleston is superintendent. Her husband is the owner of the Merchants Credit Bureau.

12/31/42 The school enrollment is 3,125 with a faculty of 97. As 1943 commences the public schools are: Harlingen Senior High School (13th St.), Travis Junior High (Polk), Sam Houston, James C. Bowie, Stephen F. Austin, Alamo, Booker T. Washington, and James F. Dishman. The total investment in the physical plants was $800,000. The 75 member uniformed high school band was a proud achievement.

7/25/46 A school to be associated with St. Anthony's Catholic Church, about to be dedicated, is itself dedicated. Its first classes are held 9/1/46 with Sisters of Devine Providence from San Antonio assuming teaching assignments.

9/47 The Valley Baptist Academy gets its start in Harlingen under the sponsorship of the Rio Grande Baptist Association. Its mission is to teach grade school children primarily from Latin America areas. Its first home is an old store building on E. Madison. Here 28 are enrolled. In its second year it moves to Brownsville and remains there until 1956 when the old Valley Baptist Hospital, 613 South F Street in Harlingen becomes available. By 1962 it has 107 students, 88 of whom live in its dormitories. This same year it becomes an institution of the Valley Baptist Convention of Texas and by 1972 is a primary project of Texas Baptist Men. In 1964, 44 acres of land for a new campus, 5700 E. Harrison, are donated. When the 1972 school season starts and the Academy celebrates its 25th Anniversary it has 165 students, grades 8 to 12, from the U.S. and 11 other countries, mostly Mexico and Central America. The campus has five dormitories, classroom and administrative buildings, the president's house and four faculty houses. There is a staff of 20 teachers, administrative and maintenance personnel. At this time Dr. H.E. Gray has served as the Academy's president since 1952.

Some years after the F Street Valley Baptist structure is demolished, the multi-unit, two-story Robin Hood Apartments are constructed on the site.

1948 St. Alban's Episcopal Day School is established. Its first year sees 28 three to five year olds for the half day sessions. By 2003 this accredited school serves pre-school (age 2 through 6th grade.) The intervening years had seen numerous transitions, especially after the air base closed. By 1956-57 there were 85 students through the newly added third grade. A fourth grade was added the following school year only to see a retrenchment of both grades in 1958-59.

In this year the West Ward Elementary School is in the 600 block of South J. By 1950 it has been renamed the Thomas Jefferson Elementary School as much of it is new, having been constructed in 1946 by Bruce Ramsey construction to plans by Cocke and Bowman. E. H. Poteet is superintendent of schools this year and Dr. N.A. Davidson is president of the school board.

The Booker T. Washington School with two rooms is remodeled and the grade level goes from 8th through 10^th as two grades are added.

The St. Paul Lutheran School is established at Third and Tyler. Its goal is to educate elementary students together with Christian overtones. The school will later expand to handle kindergarten through 8th grade.

12/21/48 A site is given by R.E. Smith of Houston in memory of his mother Minnie B. Gay of Brownsville. Smith is an oil operator in Conroe. The deed is given to J. Lewis Boggus, president of the school board. Smith is cited as trustee for his daughter, Bobbie Sue Smith, 1 year old, for whom the tract had been given. Mrs. Gay came to Brownsville from Jefferson, TX in 1908. Her husband, Portes Gay, was chief of the Border Patrol at Brownsville. The 40 acre tract was acquired by Mrs. Gay in 1918 and remained in tact until the railroad cut through leaving 37 acres. Of this, 6.8 acres has been given for the school site next to Cardinal Field. Brownsville attorney Robin Pate, a family friend, is credited with generating the gift. On hand are board members Arthur Purdy, F. Earl Davis, T.D. King, J.R. Fitzgerald, Guy Leggett, and W.W. Ballard business manager.

1949 The Minnie Gay Junior High School comes into existence on 13th at Madison. Its architects are Cocke, Bowman & York and its construction is by E.J. Waitman. In the 1990s its name is changed to Memorial Middle School as a bone to "political correctness" since the word "gay" has become synonymous with homosexual.

1950 The school system has 5,662 students. This year sees the final integration of the Stuart Place School and the Wilson School of Primera into the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District.

The Fair Park Elementary at 1406 W. Jefferson will become the David Crockett Elementary School in 1952. The new Travis Elementary will open at 700 E. Taylor.

The short-lived Colonial Acres Elementary is at 500 Elm, which is near the airport.

This year 19 year old Joanne Cleckler, coming from East Texas with her husband, begins a 45 year teaching stint with the school district. She retires in June 1957 as assistant principal at Ben Milam. For many years she taught home economics studies at the junior high.

Crockett Elementary will open this year, a music building will be added to the high school, and the Booker T. Washington School will see the addition of two classrooms. Crockett was designed by Cocke, Bowman & York and built by Frank Parker while M. H. Connelly was school superintendent and J. Louis Boggus president of the school board.

1/23/50 Gay Junior High School to accommodate 630 students is set to open. It features a $365,000 ultra-modern auditorium seating 548.

1952 The city has one high school, one junior high school, and eleven elementary schools. There are 5,762 students enrolled under a faculty of 240. The high school now has a 100 member uniformed marching band. Supplementing the public school system are two Catholic parochial schools, one Episcopalian and one Lutheran school each. There are three vocational schools and Durham's Business College with its capacity of 125 students. The Dishman and Wilson School systems have been integrated into the new Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District (HCISD).

1954 8/10/53 The Lorenzo de Zavala Elementary School, 1111 North B, is projected by architect Walter Bowman to be mostly ready occupation by September or October and the Harlindale School, at what will become 2400 E. Jefferson, a little later. The latter will be renamed for James Butler Bonham, the Alamo hero, after a vote of the student body of Colonial Acres. Horace McGee is to be principal of Zavala and Don Schmidt at Harlindale. At the time C. E. Burnett is school superintendent and J.B. Chambers is president of the school board. One of Bonham's first teachers is Mrs. Lee Means who will later become president of the HCISD board. The school district is forecasting an increase of 829 students. Seventy three new teachers will include 14 additional to last season.

7/8/55 The Harlingen School Board votes to admit the city's black high school pupils now attending the Washington School to Harlingen High School. They number around 11. The sixty other grade students at Washington include 10 from Santa Rosa, La Feria, and Raymondville. The board delays a decision on their status and also that of the three black teachers under contract and surplus to the system if integration occurs. The actual integration doesn't occur until 1957 when the three teachers find employment outside the Valley.

8/8/55 A budget of $1,902,561 is approved by the school board. A real estate valuation of $1.35 per $100 is used this year.

9/21/55 First month school enrollment is up. There are 923 in the first grade classes and 4,736 overall in grades 1 through 6. In junior high are 1,470 and in high school 834 bringing overall enrollment to 7,040.

3/56 The city has one high school, one junior high school, and thirteen elementary schools. The physical plant is valued at $4,170,000. A faculty of 320 serves 10,390 children.

Lamar Elementary School comes online at 1100 McLarry Road. It was constructed in 1955 with C.E. Burnett as superintendent and L.R. Baker as president of the school board.

9/56 The School of the Sacred Heart of Mary Immaculate opens its new brick structure with seven classrooms. It would close in 1971, and the building will be used for its parish religious education program.

2/14/59 Joel Hendrix Murray of 1307 E. Filmore dies. He came to the Valley from Stephenville in 1921 and until seven years ago was building superintendent of Harlingen schools.

12/19/58 Is the date of the first occupation of the new Harlingen High School on E. Marshall. C. E. Burnett is school superintendent and Dr. Thomas La Motte is president of the school board. It costs $1,485,000 including the grounds according to Warren W. Ballard, school business manager. On 1/26/59 it is officially dedicated. Speakers are Dr. Ernest H. Poteet, president of Texas College of Arts and Industry. He was superintendent of schools here for 7 ½ years. J. Gordon Nix is to be principal of the school constructed by W. B. Uhlhorn.

2/14/59 Joel Hendrix Murray of 1307 E. Filmore dies. He came to the Valley from Stephenville in 1921 and until seven years ago was building superintendent of Harlingen schools.

9/23/59 The HISD is to put forth a $450,000 bond issue. C. M. Callihan is serving his first year as superintendent of schools, having commenced on July 1, 1959.

1960 The new Sam Houston School, an elementary one, opens at 301 E. Taft bringing the city's total to 14. The HISD this year has 10,463 students and 402 teachers.

3/1/60 The school board approves new $911,654 second junior high school to be built at Coakley Village and the submission of a bond issue to cover its cost. Last week it approved three elementary schools – one at Coakley Village, one Rangerville Road and one at 1st Street and Davis. Coakley Village is on the C.R. Jullian Coakley Estates. The school will eventually be named for Mary E. Coakley. By 6/7/60 plans are drawn for this school.

The Ben Milam Elementary School is being built at 1215 Rangerville Road.

8/23/60 The school budget of $4,715, 299 is approved. It necessitates raising the district tax rate from $1.50 to $1.70. When the schools open in September there are 8,931 registered students with the breakdown: 5,689 elementary, 2,175 Gay Jr. High, and 1,067 Harlingen High School according to Supt. C.M. Callihan.

3/61 The School Board buys out the contract of C. M. Callihan for $18,000 and lets him go. Harvey Broyles takes over as acting superintendent of schools.

3/22/61 Adams Bothers General Construction Co. of Brownsville is awarded the contract for the $602,187 cost of the Coakley Jr. High School. In 1/62 when it comes in at $700,000 the city lacks money for paving 6th Street and the Taft crossing. The school district then says it will not open Coakley this school year.

4/6/61 In view of the announced HAFB closing the school board holds in abeyance the construction of 10 new classrooms.

6/1/61 High school graduates number 257.

8/13/61 The $810/yr teacher pay raise will cost the district, which pays about 13% of the teacher's salaries, $50,000. The base minimum is presently $4,014 annually. The 400 plus teachers here received a raise of $120 last year. In 1960-61 the district received $2,215,863 from the state. About 11,500 students are expected to register for the 1961-62 school year up from 10,976 of 60-61. When a count is made in November, the number of 10,314 is actually down.

9/3/61 A shop and a 12-classroom wing have been added to the Harlingen High School.

11/2/61 The school enrollment is down for the 1961-62 school year to 10,314 from its level of 10,564 in 1960-61.

2/8/62 Twelve additional classrooms are approved for the high school.

4/20/62 Warren W. Ballard, for 30 years business manager of the Harlingen School System, resigns. He started work here in12/1/30. The dual system of management since 1920 will be abandoned and the Supt. of Schools will control all aspects.

5/18/62 John H. Morgan superintendent of the Taft School System is named superintendent of Harlingen schools. His three year contract called for a salary of $16,000 per annum and a car allowance of $100 per month.

5/27/62 The completion of the Mary E. Coakley Junior High School is one year late. Its total cost is $750,000 for the building, paving, and equipment. In September 1,000 students are expected to attend it. It was built under Harvey J. Broyles, school superintendent, and Frank N. Boggus, school board president. Its architects are Hester, Bowman & Swanson while Adams Bothers is the building contractor.

5/30/62 There are 251 graduates of Harlingen High School.

8/62 The La Motte School (T.M.R.) at 216 N. 21st is opened to handle special students. It will come to have 14 teachers and 133 students.

This year also sees the construction of Sam Houston Elementary School to the south of Coakley.

6/63 By this date the Alamo School on S. E Street had grown to have in addition to its main building to the north and two annex building to its south. Total classroom and administration area was 11,724 sq. ft. An auditorium to the northwest was an additional 4,500 sq. ft.

10/25/63 The old high school, now a junior high school is renamed in honor of Julia Vernon. Julia Shawson, the third child of Andrew Jackson and Elizabeth Ann (Ray) Shawson, was born 10/24/93 in Youngsport, Bell County, TX. She came to Harlingen in the 1920s and married Thomas Spillar Vernon of West Virginia in Brownsville on 12/22/26. They made their home at 1218 E. Harrison but had no children. She obtained a 1923 teaching degree from Southwest Texas State Teacher's College, and later added a B.A. from Texas A&I, an M.A. from her first college in 1949, and a B.A. in library science from Texas State College for Women in 1951. In Harlingen she taught elementary school children, then middle school English, and finally high school students before becoming the high school librarian. She organized the chapter of Future Teachers of America at the high school and the chapter was named after her. Her husband died of diabetes complications in 1947. This much–loved educator passed away in Waco at age 88 on 6/29/82.

1965 It is this year that Harlingen College, a business school, establishes itself at 513 E. Jackson in the Matz Building. It is started by key personnel of the San Antonio Business College in that city. O.N. Bard, who worked for them in 1964-65, moves back here and becomes its first manager in 1965.

9/65 The first classes, with 59 students, of the Marine Military Academy take place at old wartime facilities of the Air Force Navigation School at the deactivated Harlingen Air Force Base. The academy for high school students follows elements traditional to the U.S. Marine Corps. Prior to 1965 the founders of MMA planned to locate in Prescott, AZ. A Marine recruiter in Harlingen, Gunnery Sgt. John S. Allerton, read about the proposed academy in Leatherneck. He showed the article to Sam Searles, then a major in the Army Reserve and an official of the Harlingen National Bank. Searles was a former Marine Corps sergeant-major. He spoke to city officials about the academy. The organizers visited here and liked what they saw. Funding came from many sources. One major one was J.D. Stetson Coleman, a WWII Marine Corps Veteran. He bought 26 buildings and about 83 acres from the city for $55,000. He also secured a half million dollar loan and paid the interest on it for the first three years. By 1985 the academy had nearly 400 cadets, 37 teachers, and an annual budget of $3 million for its now 139 acre campus. Its 1981 class had 20 going on to the U.S. Naval Academy, and one the Air Force Academy. Sixteen others received full ROTC scholarships to attend college, with 41 others accepted at major colleges and universities.

In this year the Alamo School at 512 South E is noted as (migrant).

This year the St. Paul Lutheran School is located near the church sanctuary. Nearby is built a facility to house five classrooms, a parish hall, and a staff workroom. The educational program is to grow. In 1973 a Day Care program is initiated as part of the Early Childhood Education Center. The first year 19 children are under the care of Barbara McCaslin. In 1977 this program is integrated into developmental programs for two-year old through eighth grade. In 1981 the construction of a 4-room building allows all classes to be in separate rooms. A school library is added in 1986.

1967 O. N. Bard of Harlingen College leaves the school and together with local businessmen forms the Valley Central College (VCC). By 1968 it was located at 119 W. Van Buren where its competitor, Harlingen College (HC), had moved to in 1966. HC advertises that it offers courses in shorthand, accounting, office machines, bookkeeping, drafting, electronics, air conditioning, refrigeration, and heating. While offering similar studies VCC has both a two year plan and short course. VCC will establish satellite facilities in Brownsville by 1970 and also in McAllen. In a dispute with directors over the profitability of VCC, Bard leaves and Ray Martin becomes general manager by 1971. In 1975 VCC ceases to function while HC had closed in 1973.

7/4/67 Tom Hestand becomes principal of the high school. He was previously assistant principal of Smiley High School of the Northeast Houston ISD. A native of Denison he has a BA from Austin College and a MS from North Texas State University, Denton.

9/67 Texas State Technical Institute (later to be renamed College) –Harlingen, also known as the Rio Grande Valley Campus begins operation as an extension of the Waco Campus of the Texas State Technical Institute (also called the James Connally Technical Institute). Located at the former HAFB, it starts with two instructors and 40 students. Vice President Hubert H. Humphey is guest of honor at the official dedication ceremonies held in a former aircraft hangar on 10/23/68. In the summer of 1969 it, and the campuses at Waco and Amarillo, is separated from the Texas A&M system. Milton Schiller became the vice president of the TSTI Rio Grande Valley Campus and Archie Rosales the school's first general manager. By 9/69 it is offering classes for credit; 78 students are taking classes.

This year structural additions are made at Vernon Junior High School.

1968 The Lamar Elementary School is opened on M Street.

4/70 Students number 11,000 in Harlingen schools. The school budget is $5.6 million, $712.893 from federal sources. The monthly HCISD budget is $345,776.

9/70 TSTI has four new buildings nearly completed. They will add 83,000 square feet to the existing 114,493.

7/18/73 The School Board votes to close all elementary school campuses at the start of the school year. This means children must stay on the campus rather than going home for lunch or elsewhere.

1974 TSTI has 1,262 students.

4/74 There is a school bond issue election. Sought is approval to replace the old Travis School, create a new cafeteria at Bowie, build a new Primera School, create new toilets at Zavala, and a gym and a band hall at Gay-Vernon, all for $1.98 million; air condition all elementary and junior high schools at a cost of $2.2 million; build a Central Media Center for $150,000.

This year the new Wilson Elementary School at Primera is opened to accommodate the area's growing student population. Designed by Cline Associates it was constructed by Dan Winship, Inc. At the time the School Board of Trustees president is Johnny C. Means and the superintendent of schools is James I. Thigpen.

5/21/74 Miss Margaret Thomason retires from the HCISD with 46 years tenure, the longest of any teacher in the Harlingen district. Mrs. Mildred Pierce also retires having taught 26 of her 29 years as a teacher in the Harlingen system.

2/75 TSTI has recently spent $2 million in constructing six buildings, a cafeteria, student center, swimming pool, and dormitories. It is about to make use of two hangers adjacent to the runway.

1975 (fall) The A.O.C. Dent Building is added to help hold the increased enrollment of students at St. Alban's. Surplus military barracks purchased in the 1960s are removed. In 1983 this will be followed by the Marian Cocke Building with its eight class rooms and the main office building. Leon Daniell and Dr. Clark are to provide an activities center and paved play area in 1985. This latter year is to see the first graduation of sixth graders from the school and four years later the school will receive accreditation. The Cocke building will receive an addition in 1993. By 1999, 8,000 pupils will have gone though the school.

At this same time Calvary Baptist Church on 7th Street institutes its Cavalry Christian School. It commences with a school for the youngest children then incrementally adds grades annually until it serves 2 year olds through the eighth grade. Shirley Ashley is the school's first director. By the school year 2004-05 there are over 25 classrooms. Plans are to add 9th and 10th grade levels in 2005-06. These will be housed in two portable buildings having six rooms total. The brick classroom wing on the north side was constructed in 1984. The two story $750,000 gymnasium and six classroom structure was completed in 2003. School tuition is relatively nominal and payments are spread over an eleven month period.

10/20/75 The new $759,627 Travis Elementary School built to accommodate 720 students is dedicated. SHWC, Inc. is its architect while the Eddleblute Constuction Co. erected it. In attendance are Dr. Norma Schultz, president of the school board, J. Gordon Nix, principal, and former superintendent of schools, James I. Thigpen.

This year Allan Brumley becomes head band director at Harlingen High School. (He will have served in various band capacities at San Marcos, Edinburg and Rio Hondo for the previous seven years.) He will occupy that position until 1981 when at age 34 he resigns to go into the insurance business. In 1980 the high school band will be named by the National Band Association one of the Top Ten High School Bands in the country. In 1981 the band with over 300 members marches in the Tournament of Roses Parade on New Years Day in California. In its first appearance it is the largest marching unit in the parade.

1976 Jo Ellen Paschall, wife of Dr. Charles Paschall, founds the University Preparatory School, a four year accredited facility. By 1985 it has 47 students and 5 certified teachers. In 5/77 it bought its 6 acre campus on Breedlove Street.

The HCISD initiates the first HOSTS (Help One Student To Succeed) Program in the state. Volunteers mentor students needing extra reading and math skills. By 2003, 975 mentors coach students in each and every school.

4/76 There is a school bond issue election. Sought is approval to replace the old Travis School, create a new cafeteria at Bowie, build a new Primera School and a gym at Gay-Vernon, all for $1.98 million; air condition all schools at a cost of $2.2 million; build a Central Media Center for $150,000.

1978 Basketball coach Carl Owens comes to HHS. With the Cardinals until his resignation in February 2003, he amasses 570 wins over the 25 year span. His overall career coaching record is 809 wins and 387 losses. In his tenure the Cards win 11 district titles and make 19 playoff appearances. In 1973 he led tiny Kennard High School to a 2A State Championship.

Dr. J. Gilbert Leal becomes Texas State Technical Institute president after being on the faculty nine years. At this time the school's 44 acres have nine instructional buildings, a staff of 184, and an enrollment of 992 students.

6/78 By a large margin the $14 million school bond issue is defeated. The VMS in a series of seven editorials had opposed the measure as an extravagance. Other City bond obligations stretching to 1994 amount to $14 million.

5/11/79 Bill Borgers resigns as HHS principal to further his studies. Wally Jackson, assistant principal at Gay Jr. High takes on the assignment. Phase I of the HHS construction is accepted by the School Board.

5/27/79 The Marine Military Academy breaks ground for its Athletic Center.

8/27/79 The School Board dedicates the new 24 room Treasure Hills Elementary School.

1980-81 School district enrollment reaches 12,502 students.

1/15/81 It is proposed by Lubunski Associates that the Stuart Place School be demolished and replaced by a new 20-unit classroom building. The 57-year old structure is deemed to costly to renovate. It currently serves 503 students in overcrowded classrooms. Eventually only the old entrance to the school is retained for historical purpose.

6/24/81 Joe Gassiott, 34, is named HHS principal to replace Wally Jackson who resigned earlier in the year. Gassiott has been for two years principal at Corrigan-Camden High School near Lufkin.

4/30/81 U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice rules that Texas must provide bilingual education to non-English speaking students in grades 1-5 for the 1981-1982 school year and phase it into grades 6-12 in the next seven years. Supt. Dan Ives indicates that this will present no problem for the HCISD. It currently has 18 certified bilingual teachers for kindergarten, 37 for first graders, 33 for second and 23 for third. At present the system has 12,400 students and 700-750 teachers.

6/18/82 The School Board approves $203,150 for the purchase of portable buildings. Three will be placed at Gay Jr. High School, two at HHS, and one at Austin Elementary.

6/20/84 City permit is granted for the HCISD to build the Jane Long Elementary School at 2601 North 7th Street.

1985 TSTI has 2,359 students, 138 full time faculty, 153 non-faculty employees and an annual budget of $7,619,836.

1986 Jack Hatfield, executive with the Valley Morning Star, and others establish The Literacy Center of Harlingen. It will eventually become a Council Member of Laubach Literacy Action, one of the largest literacy providers in the U.S. By 2005 the local center provides instruction in English as a Second Language (ESL), Basic Instruction for English Speakers who need to learn how to read and write, General Equivalency Diploma (GED) training, Pre GED training, Basic Math instruction, and Citizenship Preparation.

9/1/86 The new Alamo School, a junior high, is ready to open with classes to commence 9/2.

1/1/87 The Harlingen High School Band of well over 100 members marches in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Los Angeles.

3/14/87 Larry Guilliouma, Harlingen High School band director is inducted into the National High School Band Directors' Hall of Fame. A graduate of Jackson high school, Massilon, OH he went on to receive a BA then an MS degree from the University of North Alabama by 1975. He then was employed at the University of Mississippi, and the Victoria school system before coming to Harlingen in 1981 where he would supervise seven directors. He was to submit his resignation in June 1987.

5/3/87 The Alamo School, 1701 Dixieland Road, designed by Lubunski Associates Architects is dedicated. The new junior high school opened in September in an undeveloped area west of the Municipal Golf Course. J. Glen Cleckner is its principal. Initially it serves only 9th graders, but plans are for it to accommodate 10th graders in the 1988-89 school year. This will later be the site of Harlingen High School-South.

Major General Harold Glascow, USMC (ret.) assumes the position of superintendent of the Marine Military Academy. By 1989 the enrollment is up to 375, who are offered college preparatory course, grades 8 through 12.

1990 A group of concerned business people in the community form the Harlingen Area Education Foundation. Over a twelve year period it will grow to encompass New Directions, a leadership, tutoring, and mentoring program for high school students; New Directions, a similar program for middle school students; Texas Scholars, a curriculum improvement program that requires 24 graduation credits in college entry subjects; and Technology Academies dealing with computer literacy. The Foundation is financially supported by Harlingen businesses and individuals.

This school year the three junior high schools educate 7th and 8th graders. The former Alamo Junior High School becomes Harlingen South High School.

1992 The Zavala Elementary School is remodeled and in 1997 added to.

9/91 By an act of the 72nd legislature the Texas State Institute-Harlingen becomes the Texas State Technical College-Harlingen. Its Harlingen campus library holds 16,000 books. It has a faculty of 141 for 2,623 enrolled students.

8/91 The HCISD opens the KEYS Academy on North 7th Street near Loop 499. It is a non-traditional school for at-risk students. In 1994 Yolanda Gutierrez becomes its principal.

1993 The Harlingen CISD initiates the New Pathways Center. Its motto is "Guiding One Child at a Time." At its 208 South F Street campus, it offers services to elementary students who may struggle with disciplinary problems at their regular campus. Dr. Mary Brower will be its principal and director for at least its first ten years.

The first "Bird Bowl" football game is played as the new Harlingen High School

South Hawks play the Harlingen High School Cardinals.

11/96 Texas Monthly in its cover article "Our Best Schools"(elementary) names Harlingen Long, Wilson, Treasure Hills and Stuart Place as four-star, the highest ranking.

4/26/98 At the Vernon Middle School a $1.36 million gym is going up to replace the 1939 "the Barn" gymnasium. At Zavala, Dishman, Bonham, and Milam Elementary Schools older classrooms are being renovated as part of a $5.415 million upgrading project. The district has invested $58 million in expansion and improvement projects since 1989 in order to serve the now 16,000 students coming from Harlingen and Combes, Primera, Palm Valley, and Stuart Place as well.

9/98 The Valley High School, a private charter school, opens at 2701 Breedlove Street. It crafts its mission at "high risk" students with histories of low academic scores. In November 2002 the State threatens its closure due to its poor performance and higher than allowed dropout rate for its 300 elementary, 30 middle school, and 150 high school students.

1999 The HCISD tax goes up 10 cents as voters pass an $80 million bond issue for the HCISD, but use of the monies is not implemented until 2002-03. Projects include athletic field houses, performing arts building and expansion of current and existing classrooms. Each of the two high schools will have new soccer dimension stadiums with bleachers on each side, press box, restroom facilities, and concession stands. Harlingen HS South's field will be constructed on Dixieland Road and Harlingen HS on an open field located south of Keys Academy. The new athletic field houses at each school will occupy 16,000 square feet. Approximately 42,000 square feet will be added to each school at the cost of $21 million. Boggus Stadium will also be improved.

In this year St. Paul Lutheran School has obtained the former Army Reserve Center at 1920 E. Washington. It is given the property by the Federal government as it has been declared surplus but with the stipulation that it has to be used for educational purposes for a period of 30 years. It is completely renovated and 40% new construction added along with a full-size gymnasium. It opened for school on 10/9/99. The facility has modern classrooms, fully equipped science laboratory, art room, and music room. It has been part of the educational system operated by the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

5/12/00 Cesar Morales, a Zapata native, retires after being Lamar Elementary School principal for 30 years. He attended Texas A & I College and began his teaching career in 1962 at Gay Junior High School.

5/20/00 Verna Young retires after 46 years of service in the HCISD. She began teaching math in 1953 at Gay, served as principal at Bonham Elementary 1975-1984 when she became Harlingen High School principal until this date. She was later elected to the school board.

2/25/01 Jefferson Elementary School and Memorial Middle School are having extensive work done. The jobs are worth $1.8 million and $4.5 million respectively.

4/18/01 Travis Elementary School soon will undergo a $1.8 million upgrade for its 535 students. Treasure Hill Elementary School will get $3.25 million for renovations for its 658 students. Other expenditures are $11.5million for Harlingen High School South and $9.95 million for Harlingen High School.

2002 After 55 years of existence the Rio Grande Valley Baptist Academy ceases its operation.

9/02 TSTC enrollment continues to climb year to year. On 9/00 it was 3,228, 3,841 in 9/01 and 4,217 this date.

2002 (summer) Memorial Middle School is extensively updated.

10/3/02 As the Texas State Technical College-Harlingen celebrates Pres. J. Gilbert Leal's 24 years in office, it has grown on its current 124.5 acre campus to 69 buildings, more than 500 employees, and more than 4,000 credit students. Since 1978 projects added have included 14 instructional buildings, the Student Center, the Fieldhouse, a child-care center, a service support center, and a work force center. These have been valued at more than $30 million. The property inventory has grown to almost $35 million and the annual budget exceeds $38 million. The fall 2001 enrollment was 3,842 and in 2002 was 4,618. Earlier this year TSTC Chancellor, Dr. Bill Segura, named Leal Vice-Chancellor for Border Opportunity Development.

5/03 The Valley Baptist Academy closes permanently at the end of the school year. It is then utilized as the Valley Baptist Mission Education Center.

5/25/03 Construction begins at TSTC for a new Learning Resource Center. Scheduled for completion in October, the two story facility with 35,000 sq. ft. will house the library media center, a library instructional classroom, a spacious lobby, circulation area, study rooms, as well as reference and general collection areas. It is dedicated on 1/22/04.

7/12/03 St. Anthony's Catholic Church opens a middle school for 7th and 8th graders after having closed one in the 1960s when the HAFB ceased operating. The physical plant is at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church on C Street.

2004 A partnership involving the auto industry and others contributes to the school sports infrastructure. Knapp Chevrolet and Valley Baptist Medical Center donate $250,000 each for the project while Hino Gas and Electric adds $200,000. High tech scoreboards are constructed at the Boggus Stadium and also some middle school fields.

5/12/04 Diana Walker, a third grade teacher at Calvary Christian School for eleven years, is selected as teacher of the year '04 from 18 school districts. The honor comes from Freedom Communication Newspapers in Education.

4/05/04 Clearing begins at the site of the new elementary school on FM 2994 (Wilson Road) on its north side about ¾ mile west of its intersection with Stuart Place Road. It had been a sugarcane field farmed by Frank Burns. Construction of the school designed by FRO International, architectural engineers, and erected by the Sam Corp, general contractor, and both of McAllen is two-thirds along by early August. The school will have 85,324 sq. ft. The Rodriguez Elementary School, named after the Harlingen doctor, will not be ready for a September school year opening, so the 500 students who will occupy the school are diverted to temporary quarters behind the Wilson Elementary School according to school principal, Traci Gonzalez. The greatly growing school population has put the district under a strain. Construction projects under way include: Austin and Bowie Elementary Schools, classroom renovations by 1/05; Stuart Place and Wilson Elementary schools, classroom renovations by 5/05; a new middle school, total construction by 7/05; and Harlingen High School, campus renovations and extra-curricular facilities by 11/05.

8/04 The HCISD has a teaching staff of 1,250.

9/7/04 While construction continues on some parts of the school, 27 rooms of the Rodriguez Elementary School welcome new students.

11/04 Edwin and Corinne Swaney publish their 364-page book, "Marching in Cadence: The History of MMA." Sale proceeds will go to the Marine Military Academy. Mr. Swaney volunteers at the MMA Iwo Jima Museum which he helped establish.

12/15/04 After the 15-member nomination committee recommends it, the school board votes for the name Moises V. Vela Middle School, in honor of the city judge and former county commissioner. The school, costing $13.5 million, is located off Palm Blvd., .3 mile south of Business 83. When opened in August 2005 it will serve about 684 students.

TSTC see a 19.3 % enrollment increase from its spring 2004 numbers. 4,461 are currently enrolled with 845 as new students. The percentage over 35 years in age is increasing steadily. Currently 50% are in the 18 to 24 age group; 20% between 25 to 35; and 30% 36 years or older.

3/11/05 The Dr. Hesiquio Rodriguez Elementary School is officially dedicated. This gentleman graduated as valedictorian of the Harlingen High School class of 1935, when he was 15.By the time he was 22 he was a practicing doctor, having received his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Center in 1942. While serving in the U.S. Army 1942-45 he interned in St. Louis where he met and married psychiatric nurse Annabel Alberts. He served on the Rio Hondo School Board 1948-51 before moving back to Harlingen in 1954. He died in 1977 at age 58. Among 60 Rodriguez relatives present at the ribbon cutting ceremony were the doctor's widow Ann Rodriguez Guerrero, daughter Suzanne Rodriguez Jones, and his son Charles Rodriguez.

4/8/05 The school district is considering the expenditure of $1.068 million to renovate and upgrade a deteriorating Boggus Stadium.

5/1/05 Calvary Baptist School announces that it will commence high school classes for grades 9 and 10 for the school year 2005-06. Two portable buildings have been set up to accommodate the new classes. The next phase in the school's plans is the construction of a library, expansion of the early childhood center, and making all handicapped accessible. Later a permanent high school structure will be erected and 11th and 12th grade classes added. A fundraising goal is $778,000, of which $260,000 is earmarked for the high school.

6/11/05 Nora "Coach Z" Zamarripa is inducted into the RGV Sports Hall of Fame. At this time the high school girl's basketball coach has a record of 528 wins and 223 losses in a career at Edinburg and Harlingen High Schools. This Lyford native has come a long way since hoeing cotton field on her parent's farm. She played basketball herself at Lyford going on to play at Texas A & I University in Kingsville where she changed her major from business to physical education. She then started her ongoing 25 year coaching career characterized by "an intensity that can be fierce."

2006 The Moises Vela Middle School is constructed on Palm Blvd, just south of Business 83. It required $13 million.

12/8/06 It is announced that over the next seven months the last of the $80 million 1999 school bond issue money will go toward renovations of school district-owned Boggus Stadium. The 9,000-seat facility will get enclosures under the bleachers, more restrooms, and slimmed-down light towers for an estimated $2 million.

2/2/06 A survey reveals that the HCISD salaries are in line with the state average. Serving 17,660 students Harlingen teachers start at $34,000 with the average salary for all teachers being $41,790. The latter is $76 less than the state average of $41,866. The district also pays additional supplemental stipends for attendance, and programs such as band, sports, theater.

2/4/06 TSTC Regents OK transfer of up to 48 hours credit from the school's curricular to a student moving on to a four-year university. The board also approved a $1.275 million purchase of a 42 acre tract south of Rio Hondo Road and between Loop 499 and 25th Street. This will allow for future expansion.

8/07 As the school year begins the HCISD estimates a student population of 18,000 compared to a 2006-2007 one of 17,700. In 2002 there were 16,049 students. A new elementary school is currently being constructed to relieve overcrowding at the Long and Bonham Elementary Schools.

11/28/07 Sitting on a 15.65 acre site on Loop 499 near 13^th Street are the foundations for a new 800 pupil elementary school. To cost about $10 million, it is expected to be completed by the start of the 2008-2009 school year.

12/30/07 Due for completion in the spring of 2008 is the TSTC Cultural Art Center at the corner of Raintree and Loop 499. This $2.1 million structure with 15,563 sq. ft. will be able to seat 600. Having moveable partitions and a separate conference room capable of holding 20-30 people plus a kitchen for catering, it will offer multiple uses to students and community alike. Ample parking will also be provided.

1/22/08 Linda Wade, Superintendent of Schools since 2001, announces her retirement in June. She has completed 35 years in the field of education starting with 14 years as a teacher in Missouri. Next came 21 years in various capacities in the HCISD. She leaves with an ending salary of $160,000 a year.

3/29/08 At age 59, Cheryl Card Gray, daughter of former Mayor Bill Card and Garrison Card dies after a long battle with cancer. Thirty-five years of her life were with the HCISD. She was the first director of the HOSTS Program and for 18 years principal of the Stuart Place Elementary School. Her last year here was 2004. She leaves behind her husband Harold Gray, her parents, and siblings. Her successor as principal is Vivian Bauer.

7/1/08 Steve Flores, 43, commences job as HCISD school superintendent. This San Angelo native has been involved with education for 25 years including high school and junior high school principal in that city, assistant superintendent Pflugerville ISD and Round Rock ISD, Area VI superintendent for Dallas, and acting general superintendent for the Round Rock ISD. He holds a masters of education degree in school administration from San Angelo State University and a doctorate degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 2001. His starting salary will be $189,500 plus $200/ month phone and $700/month car allowances. The previous superintendent ended her career at a $170,000 salary. He also received a $3,500 moving allowance.

8/31/08 J. Gilbert Leal, president of Texas State Technical College, retires after 39 years with this institution. His first nine years were spent as teacher, migrant counseling supervisor, director of admissions, dean of students, and general manager before becoming president. When he started the institute had 67 students and 30 employees. Today TSTC boasts an enrollment of 6,000 and more than 500 employees.

1/5/09 About 240 pupils from Long Elementary and 200 from Bonham are relocated to the newly completed $10 million Lee Means Elementary School on Loop 499. Principal Elizabeth Maldonaldo leads the staff of 43 teachers and professionals. The school adopts the name Wolverines as a symbol and hunter green as its color.

1/30/09 Texas State Technical College exceeded the 5,000 enrollment mark for the first time last year and this fall registered more than 6,000 students.

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A Harlingen Cemetery Chronology

12/10/09 Seventeen year old Robert Keen Weems is to die in an industrial accident. Town founder, Lon C. Hill, in a telegram from St. Louis designates a site along the San Benito Highway, now South F Street, for the burial.

2/1/12 Initially the Harlingen Cemetery Association, an offshoot of the Harlingen Civic Club ( a women's organization), handles burial arrangements, but upon the club's recommendation the Harlingen Land and Water Company sells 7.6 acres for one dollar to the Trustees for the Harlingen Cemetery. These were B.F. Surface, C.W. Clift, and E.W. Anglin.

2/1/21 –7/45 Sexton E.H. Pinkerton signs all burial permits under the aegis of the Harlingen Cemetery Association.

5/9/47 The Trustees deed the cemetery property to the City of Harlingen. Prior to this date the cemetery includes two major sections. F Street to E Street is the "American Section, and E Street to D Street is the "Mexican Section". Other areas were designated for blacks and for babies. After this month, grave sites may be selected regardless of ethnic or racial origin.

1962 The Tip-O-Texas Genealogical Society surveys and records graves in the cemetery.

1974 The City Commission authorizes a hurricane fence topped with barbed wire to surround the cemetery and two lockable gates. These are erected around the site to stop vandalism. Although the cemetery had a sexton or caretaker, it became neglected in appearance over time.

1981 The Harlingen Cemetery is included in the Harlingen Register of Historic Places.

1982 The Tip-O-Texas Genealogical Society updates, corrects, and alphabetizes the Harlingen Cemetery grave list.

1984 Thanks to the efforts of Mrs. Menton (Betty) Murray, who compiles a history of the cemetery among other lobbying work, a Texas Historical Commission Marker is obtained for the Harlingen Cemetery.

2000s Harlingen Proud, the city, and other organizations take a renewed interest in the cemetery, its heritage, and its maintenance.

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Adams Gardens Connections – Ballí to Berly
Revised July 2006, updated April 2009
Norman Rozeff

Some years back, PBS ran a weekly series called "Connections." In it an Englishman would commence his narration about some distant and obscure event. He would then proceed to evolve a chain of events which eventually tied into the present and some significant occurrence that few viewers could conceive having any relationship with the initial event. The VMS caption on a 1927 photograph noted a large, New York City-type sign atop the Wittenbach Building with the name of realtor Sid Berly. This name sets off an exposition of far-reaching connections.

Our story begins no less distant than the early colonization of the Lower Rio Grande Valley. In 1752 Rosa María Hinojosa de Ballí is born the sixth of nine children to Capt. Juan José de Hinojosa and María Antonia Inés Ballí de Benevides. Her parents are Spanish aristocrats who, because of their status of "Primitive Settlers", are given, among other things, the rights to extensive land grants. The family is to begin residence in Reynosa in 1767. Rosa will marry José María Ballí, a captain of the militia.

When both her father and husband die before the grants are finalized in 1790, Rosa María becomes heir to 55,000 acres. As a knowledgeable business woman she was able to obtain thirty –five leagues of the Las Mesteñas Grant for her brother Vicente. He repaid her by transferring to her 12 leagues of it, an area north of Harlingen to be known as the Ojo del Agua. The astute Doña Rosa managed her ranchlands well. She became known as La Patrona and the first "cattle queen" of Texas. This devout Catholic endowed churches in Reynosa, Camargo, and Matamoros. When she died in Reynosa in 1803, it was said that she had amassed over one million acres in what is now five South Texas counties.

Her La Feria Grant, which extended approximately 16 miles north of the river and was about five miles wide, was over time divided among family descendents, including the Trevinos. Don Anastacio Treviño took possession of parts of the La Feria Grant in 1843. Josiah Turner, who was born 8/10/1826, was one of the Valley's early Anglo pioneers. From Maryland, both he and his brother William had come to Texas as clerks in the commissary department of Gen. Taylor's army. In 1851 Josiah Turner married one of Treviño's daughters. She died in 1854, and he married the remaining daughter, Tomasa Treviño. In 1867 he took charge of the ranch and "controlled it as my own." This was the Rancho Galveston, later to be called the Galveston Ranch. The ranch abutted the east boundary of the La Feria Grant and from the river ran north its full length. When Don Anastacio died in 1874 he left the property to his daughter, who later deeded a half-interest to her husband. Turner then possessed for 39 years what was to be the Adams Gardens tract. In its August 18, 1911 issue the Brownsville Herald ran an article noting Turner's 85th birthday. In November 1913 the paper proclaimed Turner its oldest Cameron County subscriber still alive. In 1906 he sold the Adams Gardens portion of the property to three St .Louis men—Thomas W. Carter, Lemuel Carter, and Peyton T. Carr. After four years they sold it to W.T. Adams of Corinth, MI. He was a wealthy sawmill machinery manufacturer. In the year 1910, it was 14 miles long and had 9,561 acres mostly in brush.

A February 13, 1925 letter written by Adams on company stationary has been uncovered. It deals with the effects of a freeze in the Valley and in particular the limited effects it had on citrus plantings. It noted little damage to trees that were two years of age or older with the exception of the more sensitive lemon trees. The stationery letterhead has on it: W. T. Adams Machine Company, Corinth, Miss., U.S.A., established 1879, manufacturers of automatic and throttling engines, boilers, and sawmills. These are illustrated in an engraving along with an aerial view of the very large industrial manufacturing plant alongside a railroad track with a passenger train passing by. Below the illustration of the plant is a list of particular products being manufactured. These are gas engines, planers, edgers, live rolls, pulleys, shafting equalizers, rip and cut off saws, grist mills, cotton gins, presses, elevators, mill supplies. Adams closes the letter to F. P. McElwrath of Corsicana, TX with a handwritten note extolling a new fast train that leaves San Antonio and also Houston about 7 to 8 pm in the evening and arrives in Harlingen about 7:30 the next morning. Catching this train would save a half-day in the Valley, Adams relates.

In 1930 Adams decided to sell. Seventy-six miles of roads were built after a survey. Land was cleared and citrus orchards planted, however the depression in the 1930s hurt land sales.

The remainder of Galveston Ranch was of interest to other developers. With the fortunes of sugarcane in the Valley ebbing and flowing, Donna Sugar Mill entrepreneur, Jesse C. McDowell of Pittsburgh will purchase the property in late 1919. In a bullish frame of mind he plants a 100 acre seed bed on the tract. Intentions are to expand this to 1,000 acres the next season. South Texas is no longer able to compete with world sugar producers, and the Donna mill is to close forever after the winter processing season of 1921-22.

Ironically sugarcane will once again return to Galveston Ranch. In 1980 Sam Sparks of Santa Rosa will purchase 1,800 acres of the property from the heirs of the Anderson brothers (they were the northern contractors who built Falcon Dam). South of the Military Highway, Sparks will improve the undulating terrain with considerable land leveling before putting it into cane cultivation.

It is the year 1921 that Charles F.C. Ladd comes to the Valley to work for A. J. McColl as general land agent. In the irrigated area north of Laredo he had been colonization agent for the Winter Garden Farms, Inc. He sells much McAllen and mid-Valley property. In 1931 he becomes connected with Adams Gardens, Inc., the outfit which is to subdivide the former Turner Tract. This firm is successor to the Bass Lake Company which in 1929 had offices on Bass Boulevard before losing the company in the stock market crash of October 1929. The Pendletons of Harlingen may also have had a financial interest. It then fell into the hands of the Farm and Home Saving and Loan of Nevada Missouri which hired Ladd to manage the property. The Harlingen firm, of which he is president, is called the Ladd Farm Mortgage Co. For a time Lon C. Hill, Jr. works for Ladd. Ladd also utilizes V. Stambaugh, a Florida horticulturalist, to experiment with semi-tropical trees in order to find something suitable for economic development in the area. Ladd was born 8/28/83 in Miles City, Montana. He was educated at Hutchinson, KS and Kansas City, MO. This Mason married Regna D. Welch of Kansas City on 2/28/18. By 1931 they have a son, Charles, Jr.

The main north-south road of the about one-mile wide and ten mile long Adams Gardens tract is to become Bass Boulevard, the north-south section of FM 800. The parcels were laid out by surveyor Alfred Tamm of Harlingen. Every mile, and sometimes closer, along the boulevard where the cross roads are installed, the developers erect light colored stone pillars to give the appearance of a high class country estate. These were designed by a local artist. The cross street were named for lawyers and architects connected with the project. Today some of the markers still exist (from the north side running south) at Spankler Road, Johnston Lane, Hughes Road, West Business 83 with the most impressive gates at each corner of the intersection, Sherwood Road, Levin Way, Ewing Road, and finally McLelland Road. At the latter is a capricious 20' tall castle having some petrified wood stones embedded in it. Some of the other columns also have petrified wood (probably from Starr County) in them, but most of the stones in their construction appear to be sandstone. Some had semblances of faces on them. Ladd went on to beautify and civilize the tract by planting palms, bougainvillea and exotic shrubs and trees such as kapok.

A stone-veneered house for Ladd is also constructed but has since apparently disappeared. A stone-gated cottage similar to it still stands on the south side of West Business 83 just east of its intersection with Bass Blvd. It was likely the sales office which housed 10 to 12 full-time employees to handle referrals from the offices Ladd also had in Philadelphia, Chicago, Kansas City, and other locations. After the Labor Day Hurricane of 1933 which devastated the citrus plantings on the tract, Ladd went to live in the St. Anthony Hotel in San Antonio. He died in that city in 1937. After his departure Keith McKanse was named manager of the Adams Garden Land Company until Sid Berly took over.

The first home built on the tract was constructed north of the railroad tracks around 1931 by a family named Spencer. Two other longtime residents of the area were Tom and Ophelia Ashworth at ¼ S. Bass Blvd. Tom had come with his parents to La Feria on 8/20/20 from Stephenville which is near Fort Worth. Their neighbors were Frank and Mary Branson. She lived to 101, dying in late 2001. Just south of where FM 800 turns east the developers constructed about a 360 acre reservoir. A pumping plant was erected on the river on the west edge of the tract. Adams Gardens Irrigation District 19 was formed. Bass Lake just south of Business 83 and named after the first owner's wife, Reba Bass, was in the 1950s to be the venue for boat races, motor and sail, though it only averaged four feet depth. In the period 1929-1933 several tomato canning plants and a broom corn factory existed along the railroad tracks through the area.

Sid Berly was attracted to the Valley in 1920. He is a native of Mansfield, LA having been born there 8/23/96 to a father, C.J., who was a stockraiser. Berly was to marry Marion Elizabeth Walker of Lake Charles on 3/18/17. They had one daughter who was given the same name as her mother. Although he studied law for two years he never completed his studies. Instead he became a representative for the Willys-Knight Motor Co. As president and general manager of Valley Properties, Inc. located in the Reese-Wil-Mond Hotel he becomes a potent factor in the development of both agricultural and city land in the Valley, especially around Harlingen. He served as Chamber of Commerce president in 1946-47 and was a Rotary Club member. In 1952 he was president of Adams Gardens and continued to press for the exploitation of the area.

We have then come full circle in our story. What started out as a modest but progressive ranch enterprise by Doña Rosa María is, 162 years later, now experiencing a spurt of agricultural development, propelled by an entrepreneur with a vastly different makeup and goal. Berly's promotions could not have come to pass without the chain of connections that were laid over time.

By the 1990s residential housing and businesses were moving west from the Stuart Place Tract into the next large tract, that of Adams Gardens. As the area greeted the 21st Century, numerous large, expensive homes on sizeable lots were being constructed along South Bass Blvd. and somewhat less so on N. Bass Blvd. where many subdivisions featuring middle priced homes were being developed. Harlingen then annexed some of the area under its extra-jurisdictional rights. The Texas Department of Transportation was to widen Bass Boulevard in 2002 in order to handle the increase residential traffic along with that of sugarcane haul trucks.

der to handle the increase residential traffic along with that of sugarcane haul trucks.

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Biographical Information on Hugh Ramsey

Having moved to Harlingen, Texas in 1925, Hugh Ramsey is elected Mayor of the city for the first time in 1936, then re-elected for four consecutive terms, and again to serve 1948 to 1946. This native of Milford, TX was born in 1894. He joined the army in 1913 and was stationed in the Valley in 1916. He served overseas in the Great War (WWI) with the 36th before being discharged in 1919. He is a member of the First Baptist Church and the Rotary Club for over 24 years. In the late 30s he is owner of a furniture store bearing his name and is also a general contractor.

As early as 1938, air-minded city officials launch a program designed to stimulate interest in making Harlingen a commercial airport center. The European events of 9/40 awaken popular enthusiasm for defense of the U.S. Mayor Hugh Ramsey makes a definitive proposal to the War Department. City officials, along with Senators Tom Connally and Morris Sheppard, point to a number of factors which make Harlingen attractive for military training. This sets the stage for the start of a military air field here in late 1941. It will become the Harlingen Army Air Field with a mission to train aircraft gunners. Over 48,000 gunners will have been trained before the WWII ends in 1945 and the field closes. In 1952 the field reopens as the Harlingen Air Force Base. In a period of just over a decade before it is ordered closed, it will train over 13,000 officers in air navigation. The economic implications (positive, later negative, then positive again) of what Mayor Ramsey initiated and wrought were immense for the city of Harlingen.

1939 St. Alban's parish builds a more sizeable sanctuary at the corner of 11th and Van Buren. Contractor Hugh Ramsey builds the brick edifice for $8,500 and at no profit to himself. It will be enlarged and remodeled in 1946. The old church, now to be used as a parish hall, will be move behind the new one. The church's first rectory, at 718 E. Van Buren, will be purchased in 5/42.

Hugh Ramsey Nature Park is at the 1000 block of South Loop 499, a northern extension of Ed Carey Drive, where the bridge crosses the Arroyo Colorado. It is named after the former mayor of Harlingen who served from 1936 to 1946 and again 1948-1950. It was designated as a park by the city commissioners in February 1953. Amenities in this 54 acre wooded park include nature trails, an observation blind overlooking the arroyo and restrooms. At some future time it will become the home of the Harlingen Birding Center.

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Of Buildings and Business Schools

Norman Rozeff

The headline of the weekly Harlingen Star of 7/30/26 read "Harlingen Will Have 7-Story Office Building." The accompanying story went on to relate that R.W. Baxter of Dermott, AK had purchased the site (the southwest corner of A and Jackson Streets) for $17,000 cash from its owner, Domingo R. Rotge, Jr. The corner had once housed a saloon in a building which had burned down the year before. Work on the $125,000 structure was said to begin November 1. Baxter had also purchased several lots near the Central Ward School on Jackson. The architects for the building were Elwing and Mulhausen while R.P.Blythe was the contractor. By 2/15/27 it was decided to make the building nine stories. Its projected cost had risen to $160,000. Construction on what most Harlingenites were to call the Baxter Building (now Blaschka Towers) took place mainly in 1927. Mr. Baxter's Rio Grande Valley Life Insurance Building was actually Harlingen's second high-rise building. Decades later it will be purchased by entrepreneur John McKelvey and renamed the McKelvey building.

In 1923 the Wittenbachs, father C.H. and son A.J., the grocer at 115 S. A, construct a three story building on A Street to the south of the Lozano building. When a hamburger stand on a lot to the south burns down they then build the large 5-story Wittenbach Building at 119 South A Street. At first the upper floors could only be accessed by an outside stair. Later the building had Harlingen's first elevator. After several years it will take on the name the Embee Building when purchased by R.N. Jones and the Embee Corporation. In 1930 the building would house, among other occupants, Key Confectionery in its lobby, Lee Printing and Rubber Stamp, Real Silk Hosiery Mills, Inc., the American Legion office, the office of contractor Andrew Goldammer, the National Collection Agency, Burroughs Adding Machine Co., American National Insurance Company, and the office of Dr. Georgia A. Howell, a chiropractor.

In the following years numerous prominent Harlingen doctors, lawyers, and insurance agents would work in the building. The Embee Pharmacy, which was later to become (Kenneth W.) MacPherson's, was in the building. Jones himself would operate his insurance agency in the building along with another entity of his, the Farm and Home Savings and Loan Association. Dr. T.J. La Motte, the noted eye specialist, also had offices in the building.

Marvin Payton, Sr., C.H. Wittenbach's oldest living grandchild in August 2004, says the elevator operated on direct current with crude little buttons for controls. Bob Jones, son of R. N., recalls operating the building's cage elevator. For the younger readers, a cage elevator was one that had accordion-like gates rather than solid doors. It would be serviced manually by an operator who would open the inside gate for passengers then the outside gate which otherwise would be locked to keep people from opening it and falling into the elevator shaft. A lever would control the elevators movements. Floor numbers were painted in the shaft between floors to remind operators where they were. In early models the operator would require some proficiency to stop the lift exactly even with the exit floor, otherwise those exiting and entering the elevator compartment could trip. A common comment by the operator was "Watch your step." Later elevators came with buttons for each floor and were able to stop with precise alignment. Still, elevator operators were retained for many years simply to press the requested floor buttons.

By 1956 the structure took on the name the Commonwealth Building likely because of the Commonwealth Credit Corp. now owning and in it. This company may have been part of the Bentsen family investments cloaked in Lincoln Financial, a holding company operating in Houston. In the early 60s the condition of the building was such that only a few occupants were in it. One was Story's Rod and Gun Shop and a second, Hart Claims Service. By May 1984 after years of vacancy, it is scheduled for demolition as termites have devastated much of its wooden interior. The Wittenbach family, now widely dispersed, gathers in Harlingen for a reunion and to say goodbye to the building.

A 1921 business survey listed one business college in the city. In August 1927, the Valley Business College (School) was advertising itself at 1st and Jackson across from the Rialto Theater. By December of that year the Draughns Practical Business College was in operation on the 9th floor of the newly erected Baxter Building

In 1930 the Harlingen Valley Business College was located at 215 ½ W. Monroe, a location now filled by the Valley Transit Company terminal. Business schools at the time taught English grammar, short hand, typing, filing, and clerical skills. The school was owned by B.A. Griswald and his wife Lelia Jane, who also instructed in it. After being here 5-6 years, Mrs. Griswald died at age 60 on 5/6/35. When the International Business Machine Company started with its office computers, learning to punch IBM cards was another skill taught. By 1937 the college, now dropping the word Valley, was operating on the third floor of the Embee Building addition at 119 S. A Street. When in 1940 the Durham Business Institute took over the site, Mrs. Harman Straub, by then owner of the college, moved her school to the Commerce Building at 121 W. Van Buren. She would close it altogether by 1944.

And what of any school operating in the Lozano Building? Well, in 1941 for one year only, the Bryne Select School of Business did operate at 117 ½ W. Jackson. Mrs. Harry (Ethel) Eggleston was superintendent. Her husband was owner of the Merchants Credit Bureau.

By 1942 the Embee school location had altered its name to the Durham Business College and was under the management of Carl A. Scott. This educational school would remain in the building until 1958 after which it relocated to 106 ½ N 1st Street. By 1966 the school has moved to improved facilities at 5621 S. F Street. It had changed its name once again, this time to Durham College of the Valley.

Durham faced competition when in 1965 Harlingen College (HC), a business school, establishes itself at 513 E. Jackson in the Matz Building. It is started by key personnel of the San Antonio Business College in that city. O. N. Bard, who worked for them in 1964-65, moves back here and becomes its first manager in 1965. In 1967 O. N. Bard of Harlingen College leaves this school and together with local businessmen forms the Valley Central College (VCC). By 1968 it was located at 119 W. Van Buren where its competitor, Harlingen College (HC), had moved to in 1966. HC advertises that it offers courses in shorthand, accounting, office machines, bookkeeping, drafting, electronics, air conditioning, refrigeration, and heating. While offering similar studies VCC has both a two year plan and short course. VCC will establish satellite facilities in Brownsville by 1970 and also in McAllen. In a dispute with directors over the profitability of VCC, Bard leaves and Ray Martin becomes general manager by 1971. In 1975 VCC ceases to function while HC had closed in 1973. With a generous federal government loan program they had advertised "Student loans available; no payments while you are in school." They likely went out of business having accepted some poorly qualified students with sustained poor attendance. The finishing blow was difficulties experienced with defaulted government student loans.

It is in September of 1967 that the Texas State Technical Institute (later to be renamed College) –Harlingen, also known as the Rio Grande Valley Campus begins operation as an extension of the Waco Campus of the Texas State Technical Institute (also called the James Connally Technical Institute). Located at the former HAFB, it starts with two instructors and 40 students. Vice President Hubert H. Humphey is guest of honor at the official dedication ceremonies held in a former aircraft hangar on 10/23/68. In the summer of 1969 it, and the campuses at Waco and Amarillo, is separated from the Texas A&M system. Milton Schiller became the vice president of the TSTI Rio Grande Valley Campus and Archie Rosales the school's first general manager. By 9/69 it is offering classes for credit; 78 students are taking classes. No doubt this institution attracted potential students from and also put pressure on the three private business schools in Harlingen and hastened their demise.

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F. Z. Bishop, Harlingen Developer

When, how and why F. Z. Bishop became interested in Harlingen perhaps will never be known. We can surmise that Bishop found a kindred spirit in Lon C. Hill. Both were ambitious men of vision and both would be founders of communities.

Bishop had, in 1910, established the town of Bishop between Corpus Christi and Kingsville along the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railroad route. The area in 1904 was called Julia or Julia Siding when it was a cattle-loading siding on the Driscoll Ranch. Julia was the name of Robert Driscoll Sr.’s wife. Bishop had purchased over 80,000 acres of the ranchland.

He laid out a model town with all the necessary infrastructure before commencing to sell lots in the townsite at the end of May 1910. He then sold the surrounding land for farming. By 1912 more than 40,000 acres had been sold and in the next two years an amount equal to this had been marketed.

This insurance agent turned real estate developer had a sense of adventure as attested in Corpus Christi Caller articles of 8/3 and 8/4/11.

The Wright Brothers Company had come to town to conduct a public exhibition on North Beach and entice people to purchase airplanes. This was but a short eight years after the Wright brothers’ first successful flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

At the Corpus Christi demonstration, pioneer aviator, Oscar Brindley, asked for a volunteer from the audience. The volunteer who stepped forward was real estate agent F. Z. Bishop. The pilot wanted another volunteer because Bishop weighted about 230 lbs., but he finally agreed to let him fly. Bishop climbed into one of the dual cockpits of the bi-plane and said, "Real estate is going up."

The following day the Caller headlined: F. Z. Bishop Heaviest Passenger Ever Handled in Flying Machine." It noted that Brindley set a world record for taking a man of that weight up to a dizzying altitude of 2,500 feet.

Bishop was asked if he had been afraid. His reply was quoted as: "Danger?", he said, "There wasn’t any. The trip was as easy as sleeping on a feathered bed."

Real estate prices apparently did not go up fast enough nor did sales. Bishop declared bankruptcy in 1916. Somehow he had hidden reserves or was able to attract or borrow new funding.

Perhaps looking for new worlds to conquer, he saw the potential for growth in Harlingen. He purchased parcels of land within the townsite and elsewhere in the next few years. One source notes that he acquired 1100 town lots. At the time most lots had 50 feet of frontage and 160 feet depth. If service alleys are also factored in, and they were platted in the subdivisions, then Bishop bought around 240 acres. To enhance his investment in the townsite, he approached the city fathers and offered one-half the costs of grading streets and installing galvanized drains and would even furnish the engineer to lay out the work. The city agreed to take him up on his offer as reported in the Brownsville Herald of 8/23/19. After rains, quagmire conditions in the streets of Harlingen, and elsewhere in other Valley towns too, was one of the least fond memories of pioneer settlers.

On 1/17/20 the paper noted that Bishop was having constructed a $25,000 three-storied hotel. This Knight of Pythias and Elk would spend several months of each year in Chicago.

Bishop had also acquired land presently west of Hand Road and north of Roosevelt road between Harlingen and Combes. His most ambitious plans, however, were for his large parcel south of Harlingen and south of what is now FM800 and between FM1479 and FM509. He planned to establish on this 1,900 acres or nearly three square miles tract one of the world’s largest citrus groves. This did not come to pass for any number of reasons.

Bishop is still around in 1926, this time with a Harlingen office as general agent for the Amarillo Townsite and Land Company. He advertises "The safest investment in the face of the earth—they are increasing in Values DAILY. We have City Property, Irrigated and Unirrigated Lands."

Bishop moved on to other ventures. He soon was established in San Antonio as the F. Z. Bishop Land Company of San Antonio. One major promotion of this company was the establishment in 1923 of Los Angeles in La Salle County in central Texas. This town 13 miles east of Cotulla never became a sizeable entity although many of its early settlers were hardworking German transmigrants from Williamson County.

F. Z. Bishop came to Texas from Tennessee. He was born there in Mulberry Gap in June 1880 and received his education there. He was buried in his namesake city of Bishop in 1950.

Compiled by Norman Rozeff, Historical Resources Survey Committee

Harlingen Historical Preservation Society

December 2002

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Faded History Comes to Life

Norman Rozeff

Several weeks ago Cheryl LaBerge of the Chamber of Commerce alerted me to what she thought might be a bit of past Harlingen history. While removing a building façade on West Harrison construction workers had revealed a former use for the building. In large lettering, framed on either side by Hygeia Milk and Ice Cream ads, were the words Chuey's Super Market.

It is the year 1939, after their father dies, that Jesus J. Rodriguez and his brothers Tony and Joe leave the San Raphael Ranch west of Santa Rosa and come to Harlingen. Their family has been leasing 2,000 acres in the Adams Garden Tract for the depression era price of $200 per year. Besides their ranching operations they have been raising cotton. They open the Rodriguez Bothers grocery store at 403 W. Harrison. On 11/4/41, a month before Pearl Harbor, J.J. enlists in the U.S. Army, selling his share of the store to his brother Tony for $1,000 but with the stipulation he can repurchase it upon his return. His is discharged with the rank of sergeant on 11/24/45. In 1946 following his discharge he borrows $4,000 from the First National Bank as a GI loan and repurchases the store. It relocates to 407 W. Harrison by 1948. It is in 1954 that Jesus J. "Chuey" Rodriguez opens his Chuey's Red and White Grocery and Market at 222 W. Harrison in the building that once housed Harlingen's first Ford dealership. This was the Hollingsworth Motor Company which built this two story structure and then used the top floor for family housing while exhibiting cars downstairs..The company was to build the handsome art deco building across the street at 221 in 1930. No. 222 had been vacant for numerous years until the Valley Motor Mart occupied it in the years 1944-46. The Red and White refers to the large San Antonio wholesale supplier which furnishes merchandise to small grocers around the state. Chuey will occupy this site until 1962 when the business opens as Chuey's Supermarket at 607 W. Harrison. He has purchased this building from Attorney Lloyd Stiernberg. Rodriguez renames his business Chuey's Discount Center in 1968. After the store experiences a fire in 1972 Chuey's family, with knowledge of the competition from the national chain Kroeger and the increasingly aggressive H. E. Butt stores, urges him not to reopen. He then begins a long career (still continuing at age 87 in March 2005) as a real estate salesman associated with Tom Mason. In 1958 J.J. becomes the second Hispanic elected to the City Commission. When, on 12/14/60, Fred Paschall, owner of a retail store, is elected mayor, Rodriguez is reelected a commissioner as is R.W. Liston. In his peak business years, J.J. is a member, officer, and strong supporter of the Chamber of Commerce.

An equally intriguing piece of signage came to light several months ago, and once again I had been alerted by Cheryl. At 210 N. Commerce Street Bill DeBrooke's crew was blasting loose paint from the side of a brick building in preparation for a new paint job. What should be revealed but older painted signs along the top of the structure. One seemed to want to cling to life, saying "Don't let my memory fade away!" In 30" letters could be discerned "USO CLUB" overpainted with as sign possibly reading "Ayers Brothers Motor Co." USO is the abbreviation for United Service Organization. In World War II, as it continues to do today around the world, the USO provides recreational, entertainment, and other services for military personnel.

The club at this location was sponsored by the Salvation Army. With the Harlingen Army Air Field and its gunnery school gathering momentum, the club opened on 7/15/42.

A Mr. Watts served as its first director, but he was replaced three months later by William C. Block. The motto of the facility was "A home away from home." Indeed it had a lot to offer.

By August 1944, it possessed a music room, a home-like reception room with davenports and easy chairs, game tables, games, books, magazines, and papers, an information desk, typewriter, a long distance telephone, a piano and a library of music. Its rear room included a check room, free shave and shower bath facilities, snack bar, a game room fitted with table tennis and shuffleboard, bowling alley, punching bag and various other games, a dark room, sewing room, writing room, and a conference room along with easy chairs and reading material.

After two years in operation the club was proud to publicize its accomplishments. It boasted that it had distributed 5,716 brochures on religious matters; 188,952 writing pads; loaned and distributed 828 books; opened the special facilities and showers, iron and board, and photo dark room to 8,333; checked 24,513 articles; had participants in special events, trips, club movies, etc and the like totaling 34, 570; and provided accommodating services including meeting trains and busses, shipping packages to 11,912. In all club attendance had totaled 378,227 over the two year period.

Naturally the club had to adjust to an increased number of military service personnel as the HAAF grew to train more bomber gunners. It redecorated and added many new features. These included free picture shows, talent shows, radio shows, classical music and library concerts, programs by civilian talent, game nights and tournaments. Monthly attendance rose from 4,000 to 30,000. This large increase brought national USO recognition and the additional of another assistant, making the club a three-worker unit.

Its success was made possible in part by local volunteers who included both senior and junior hostesses. Saturday nights saw home-made cookies, punch, and coffee provided by the different lady organizations of Harlingen.

Part of the reason the club became a success was the fact that service personnel could ride into town on the bus service established on 9/1/41. On this date the Harlingen Airfield Bus Co. received a state permit to operate. It has been organized by State Senator Rogers Kelley, atty. J. Cullen Looney, both of Edinburg, and Vance D. Raimond of La Feria to transport military personnel and workers the four miles to and from the city to the new army airfield. Its first bus was a 1941 Ford milk delivery truck purchased from Hygeia Dairy for $350 and outfitted to seat passengers. Three months later one Ford school bus having a capacity of 28 was purchased for $2,100. On 2/24/42 the company grew when it received a permit to commence service from Moore field northwest of Edinburg to Mission, McAllen, Pharr, and Edinburg. Its name then changed to the Valley Airfield Bus Co. Fourteen years later, having changed its name in 5/48 to the Valley Transit Co. (VTC), it operated across the Valley with more than fifty coaches with 37 passenger capacity.

The club also served the men on the post by working with the chaplains, Red Cross, and the Special Services Departments on the base. While it was listed in the 1946 telephone directory it was soon to be phased out for this year William E. Ayers placed his Nash dealership in the building. By 1954 William H. Ayers was managing the business which stayed at this location until 1961.

This seemingly modest building holds many happy memories and played an important role in sustaining morale during some tough times. Perhaps some lively ghosts still dance in it to the airy, lively strains of Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, and Artie Shaw music along with the syncopated rhythms of the Andrew sisters.

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Flames Fostered Town of Palm Valley

Norman Rozeff

Deep within the archives of the Harlingen Public Library is to be found an architect's rendition of a large attractive southwest style building. The year 1928 rendition was publicized to entice individuals to become members of a new golf country club to be established along the Arroyo Colorado west of the F Street Bridge. The stock market crash of 1929 waylaid the plans which had come from an organized group of golfers called the Arroyo Country Club.

Still, the idea of establishing a golf course for Harlingen was a good one, so in 1929 the city, rather than private enterprise, picked up the concept. The Harlingen Municipal Golf Course of 168 acres was then built to the design of John Bredemus, famous golf course architect and secretary of the Texas Professional Golfers Association. The course with its 18 holes costing $127, 000 for land and $120,000 for construction was opened for play in February 1930. Its formal opening took place in September when the $10,000 Caddy House was completed. This course is located off M Street, south of Expressway 77/83. It was a par 71 course of 6,360 yards having 120 sand traps and bunkers. A city owned gravel-dirt airstrip is south of the course in a 72 acre area later designated to become Sam Botts Park but which never comes to fruition. When in 1957 Expressway 77/83 is constructed, the course loses some land but expands to the south into a 27 hole course.

And what about the current name of the golf facility—the Tony Butler Municipal Golf Course? Tony Butler first comes to Harlingen as a 25 year old in 1933. Born in Ganado, Texas 4/19/08, he grows up to be a slight to average-build young man. A protegé of the famed Austin golfer Harvey Penick, Butler is to turn professional in 1928 shortly after entering the University of Texas. He is to move to Port Arthur as a pro then return to UT as student/coach, the first golf coach at the school. In 1931 he wins the Texas PGA and a chance to play in the PGA Championship in Providence. This year he is in the money six times. In 1932 he places second in the Texas PGA Championship played in Harlingen.

Butler would leave Harlingen for a position in Beeville but was soon to return and become a fixture as golf pro here for many years. He is good and plays the 18 hole course in a record 62 strokes as verified by his August 6, 1936 score card now in the library archive. The course par at the time is 71. In 1937 he is renting a room at 713 E. Jackson at the home of J.L. Cady, a barber by trade.

When he does leave for greener pastures his devotees petition him to return. On June 20, 1973 the course is renamed the Tony Butler Municipal Golf Course in recognition of his 40 years of service. He retires in 1975 and becomes Professional Emeritus. Butler is to die in December 1979 at age 71. In 1998 he is inducted into the Rio Grande Valley Sports Hall of Fame.

Some regular patrons of the course desire more amenities and perhaps a cozy watering hole. So it is that on 8/15/49 the Harlingen Country Club is incorporated and chartered with total assets of $450.00. The incorporating directors are; J.L. Head, A.M. Jones, R. Kroeger, L.R. Baker, Dr. Phil A. Bleakney, E.G. Pink, J.D. Chambers, Jr., H.H. Young, and Karl Gibbon, Sr. By the following year it has organized with a membership of more than 350. It soon becomes the owner of a two acre $125,000 property adjacent to the municipal golf course. This facility can accommodate 300-400 people. A large swimming pool is one of its amenities.

It is in 1948 that the Municipal Golf Course holds the inaugural "Valley Open" with a $10,000 purse. The tournament lasts only four years after losing money. The noted professional golfers who were champions (in order) were Lloyd Mangrum, Cary Middlecoff, Jackie Burke, Jr., and Chuck Klein. Top notch golfer Craig Wood was also a participant. These golfers were among the best in the country at the time.

In January 1953 Lew Bray, Valley theater owner and citrus grower, will organize the "Life Begins at 40" Golf Tournament. The first tournament is held 4/53 with 79 entries. Over half a century later it has become a major sporting attraction and social event for the community.

With the reactivation of the airfield into the Harlingen Air Force Base in 1952, the city requires another municipal field to handle its growing population. A logical site is the sparsely populated farmland to the west of the city. It had been cultivated even longer than Harlingen itself. In fact, it is the year 1898 in which three families come to western Cameron County from the Indian Territory (Oklahoma). The Jesse Thomas Avery family has two small daughters and a son, Henry Avery, was to be born in the area now known as Palm Valley where the Averys constructed a home.

At a 2003 reunion Margaret Fox, a 1935 Harlingen High School graduate and descendent of the Averys relates an oral history. She recounts that 15 families were on their way to Veracruz, Mexico from Oklahoma. Their plans were to embark for Brazil where each family was to be awarded 694 acres. While camped in the Lower Rio Grande Valley the Averys were robbed, so they did not continue onward. The family patriarch, T. S. Avery (1/29/69-4/8/16), is buried in the Harlingen City Cemetery as is Catherine E. Avery (6/8/76-12/16/18), "Tender Mother and Faithful Friend."

From her obituary, a young Avery coming here in a covered wagon to what would later become the Wilson Tract area from Winnewook, OK was to be Mrs. Vernie Belle Avery Payne. Born 9/7/95 she is to die at age 66 on 3/27/62. After marriage she moved to Mercedes, but on 1/1/43 became postmistress of the Combes Post Office. This member of the First Methodist Church, Combes left two sons, one of whom was J. Paul Payne of Harlingen.

Mr. and Mrs. Jesse L. Adams and Mrs. Adams' parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ogan, are the other two families. The latter settle in the Tiocano Lake area where the Adam's daughter Carrie is soon born. Later the Ogans return to Oklahoma to be followed in1912 by the Adams.

The city does acquire the necessary acreage west of town. Charles (Cut) Washmon is Mayor (1952-56), when the Harvey Richards Field, Harlingen's municipal airport is opened in 1953 at 26.2 N/97.76 W immediately east of Stuart Place Road. After updating in 1959, the north-south runway is 4,950'; the NW-SE one 3,400'. It also has a third turf runway, taxiways, an apron, several hangars, and a terminal building. Operators at the field are Elliot Dusting Service, Elliot Aviation Company, Valley Flying Service, and Young Flying Service. By 1962 Harvey Richards Municipal Airport is operating with four arrival flights daily while six flights depart. Air travel times from Harlingen to major Texas cities are: Houston 3 hrs 22 min., San Antonio 2 hrs 32 min., and Dallas-Ft. Worth 4 hrs 50 min. It is also this year that the federal government closes the HAFB. Economic chaos envelops the city.

On 2/21/63 the City Commission in an effort to make use of valuable resources passes a resolution to establish a regional airport in Harlingen, but this immediately elicits protests from McAllen and Brownsville interests. Harlingenites, however, need an economic stimulus. By a four to one margin in August 1965, Harlingen voters approve a $1.25 million bond issue to convert the former HAFB to a major jet international airport. In 12/67 the Harvey Richards facility is to close as the airlines move to the much larger runways of the former HAFB. By January 1968 the old Air Base has become the Industrial Air Park and the commercial airline facility. Between 1/68 and 2/18/69, a total 3,000 passenger boardings occur.

It is in 1967 that disaster strikes the Harlingen Country Club; its well-utilized clubhouse burns. Some of its sharp-witted members see signs in the ashes. They have a vision, so within the year the 300 or so members of the Harlingen Country Club offer the city, actually the Harlingen Development Corp., its burned out clubhouse and 3 ½ acres next to the municipal golf course plus $133,650 for the 150 acre site of the former Harvey Richards Field. Matt F. Gorges is secretary of the club at the time and also a member of the HDC.

It is a win-win situation for all and the deal goes through. After obtaining 150 acres in what is to become Palm Valley Estates, the club in 1968 under its president Neal Bonner has contractor Frank Parker build a very stylish and enduring clubhouse. In late July 1969 with Matt Gorges as president, the club opens, and the course is inaugurated under its golf pro George McKay.

The golf course owned by the Harlingen Country Club gets its first real test when it hosts its first annual Life Begins at 40 Tournament in the period 2/1-7/70. The 6,973 yard course was almost ready as was the clubhouse.

A year later finds the Palm Valley Estates going up on 383 acres surrounding the course. The clubhouse for its 150 acres golf course has been completed. Van C. Snell leads the Harlingen Development Co. (HDC) group. On its steering committee are Newton Liddell, James Alexander, Hill Cocke, Sr., Fred Flynn, Karl Gibbons, Evan Hurst, and Frank Parker. The company was formed to develop, improve, and sell the balance of 233 acres for cottages, homes, town houses and other facilities. It already has 23 two-bedroom cottages plus 12 larger homes. Ninety of 200 home sites included in the first three units have been sold and a fourth with about 100 lots is being prepared. All have underground utilities.

With growth and development come problems and concerns which have to be resolved or ironed out. So it is that on 11/3/73 the Palm Valley Home Owners Association is formed with its first board members being Ed Marcum, Willis Jondal, Wilson Palmer, Malcolm Adams, and Eloise Goulet. Jack Funk had been chairman of the Palm Valley Estate Utility District.

The HDC is anxious to exit the home real estate business. On 4/1/76 it sells the remaining unsold lots to developer Max Jones, who then foots the bills for security, trash pickup, and street lights.

The community continues to grow with the continuing construction of upscale homes, townhouse and condominiums. Wanting to maintain its independence and possibly fearful that its neighbor, Harlingen, might absorb it, the town holds an election to incorporate itself. The vote to do so is197 in favor and 160 opposed. A general law form of government is set up. On 9/16/80 the City of Palm Valley with 383 acres, 150 which are in the golf course, is incorporated. The property values at the time are $15,124,855. By 1998 the property values will have risen to $81,356,861.The census of year 2000 shows 1,299 people in the community.

And so you now see how out of unfortunate events, the day was saved and both Palm Valley and Harlingen became beneficiaries.

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Where the Name of Harlingen, Texas Likely Derives
Norman Rozeff
Harlingen Historical Preservation Society
September 2003

Some years after it occurred, city founder Lon C. Hill in providing the background for the naming of the town may have slightly slanted the story. That is, when he provided information to Harlingen Postmaster J. F. Rodgers in August 1927 Hill may have taken the opportunity to promote the establishment of a port for the city. At that time he attributed the name selection to two coincidental factors.

Like many of us, Hill was not above embellishing a story, nor seizing an opportunistic moment. When asked once again, this time by postmaster Rodgers, why he gave the name Harlingen to his new entity, he replied in a written letter. In it he stated that because the area was crossed by canals and would one day be served by a port connected to the ocean by a canal he had thought of Holland and its cities with canals. He found Van Harlingen with its canals on a map and finding no other town with that name in the state dropped the Van and went with Harlingen. He went on to add that the railroad builder to the Valley, Uriah Lott, was of Dutch ancestry and, when asked by Hill about the proposed name, indicated that his ancestors from that city were Van Harlingens, so the use of the name would be suitable. Lott’s ties to Harlingen, Holland may have been very tentative in that in 1904 they would have gone back about 230 or more years. Here is a more plausible explanation of the naming of Harlingen.

It is highly unlikely, though not impossible, that Hill would have located or had access to a small scale map showing little Harlingen, The Netherlands, let alone its relatively tiny canal system. It is a small port and city in the Freisland region of that country. It was never Van Harlingen according to its available history. Van, in fact, means "of" or "from" in the Dutch language.

Many early Valley cities were named by and for railroad–connected people, their relatives, and various founding fathers. Some of these early names were later dropped for newer ones. Hill himself had selected Lonsboro as the name of the railroad station on his newly acquired land west of La Feria. When he sold it shortly thereafter, the site nearby eventually was named Mercedes. In 1890 after he had put a railroad through the area, Lott had already had a town named after him in Falls County. This would eliminate it for consideration for the small community growing on the north bank of the Arroyo Colorado in 1904 when the railroad arrived.

There exists in the United States an earlier Harlingen. It is to be found in central New Jersey. Bill Woodall, "an amateur dabbler in history" in that state was kind enough to furnish information on the first Harlingen in North America. Seems like the original Harlingen, now in Somerset County, New Jersey, was settled about 1675 onwards when the region was called "The Province of New Jersey." One recorded birth was that of Johannes Gulick in 1695. There were settlements throughout this area by this time, according to Woodall. The "Harlingen Tract" was sold to Dutch investors in 1710.

Woodall relates that the Harlingen Dutch Reformed Church (in the town of Belle Mead a little north of Harlingen’s location) was established around 1685 as indicated by baptismal records of entire families as would be expected at the formation of a church.

At present Harlingen, New Jersey remains a semi-rural community. It lies on the crossroad between the two historic hamlets of Dutchtown and Bridgeport. It sits on Harlingen Road just to the west of Federal Highway 206, which is also named Van Horne Road in this vicinity. At present there are a couple of stores and perhaps a dozen houses in the district. Based on architecture, at least two of the extant buildings appear to have been taverns, which would have been common at crossroads in New Jersey. Records indicate that Harlingen, NJ had a post office as early as 1895 when its population was 109. It was also served by a railroad. One New Jerseyite has communicated that he believes Harlingen's post office existed into the mid-50s at which time it was closed.

The foregoing reminds us that the Dutch were active explorers and settlers of the continent, every bit as much as the British who were to overwhelm them in numbers.

Our Uriah Lott is connected to this Harlingen. His grandfather, also Uriah Lott, was born there 2/12/1782. His grandmother, Elizabeth Van Harlingen Lott was born in this community on 2/2/1783. This couple was married there 9/22/1805. It is through genealogy information compiled by Sandra M. Lott-Burns that we learn this. It is not known by genealogists where Elizabeth’s ancestors derived from in the Netherlands though her maiden surname is strongly indicative. We do know that Lott’s paternal ancestor who immigrated to the New World was Peter Lott born 1626 in Reynerwout in Drenten, The Netherlands. Peter's wife was born in New York.

It is thus logically evident that Harlingen, Texas, through the information provided by Lott to Hill, has its name derived either from Harlingen, New Jersey, home to Lott's grandparents, or from the maiden surname of that of his grandmother Elizabeth Van Harlingen Lott or perhaps both. What we now know is that there is but a distant and round-a-bout connection between the Texas city's name and that of Harlingen, Holland. Hill, almost certainly, had taken his naming cue from a suggestion made by his friend and associate, Uriah Lott, otherwise how would the proposition "Van" enter the story at all. Over the years the origin of the name Harlingen was likely somewhat distorted with the retelling and the true details of the matter overlooked or forgotten with the passage of time.

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Good Cheer at the Harlingen Cemetery
Norman Rozeff

The title may read like an oxymoron, but knowledge of Día de los Muertos or Day of the Dead will dispel that notion. On the evening of 11/1 the normally quiet Harlingen Cemetery will perhaps be experiencing its first major Day of the Dead celebration. It is a celebration because descendents of the deceased are honoring those gone but not forgotten.

The ceremonies of November 1, All Saints Day, and November 2, All Souls Day, have their antecedents in the Mayan and Aztec cultures, later overlaid by Catholicism. A tradition of Mexico holds that one dies three times. First is the physical expiration, second is when the body is interred, and third when the deceased is no longer remembered by the living. Indeed, it is the latter that the Day of the Dead rituals are meant to postpone.

The site of the festivities, the Harlingen Cemetery, originated in a strange manner. William Zachary Weems, Sr. had come to Mercedes in 1907 to build irrigation canals, but by the following year had planted about 200 acres of sugarcane near Harlingen. Weem's son Robert had come from Houston to Harlingen in a railroad freight car with the family's possessions. Weems, together with L.F. Hathaway and Allen Barbee, then constructed a syrup mill in which to process the cane. Barbee, who had come from the cane-growing area south of Houston and had experience with it there, was to run the factory.

Years later, Robert's older sister Lillian Weems Baldridge recounted to a newspaper reporter a story about Harlingen’s first grave. Her brothers Will and Robert Kent worked in their father’s syrup mill. Robert had cleaned out a large vat used for boiling syrup. To keep from walking through it with his boots on, he attempted to walk on the adjacent ledge, then slipped and fell into a full vat of scaldingly hot syrup. He died at age 17 on 12/10/09. There was no cemetery laid out for the new town of Harlingen. Elmer Willams (E.W.) Anglin, Hill's right hand man, wired Hill, who was in St. Louis. Upon learning the circumstances, Mr. Hill wired back instructions, and a hasty survey was made, a short wagon trail was cut through the brush and a place cleared for the grave. Naturally Hill did not want a cemetery too close to the planned townsite and the lots he intended to sell. Still its location had to be accessible. The area he selected was on Mexico Street (later South F Street). This was the major route to go to San Benito via the low water crossing in the Arroyo Colorado and was a little over a mile from the center of town. Robert's grave was and is close to the existing road. W.H. Wheaton assists in the funeral as does Mrs. Weller. Young Joseph Ogan of the hotel family is soon to become the second person buried in the cemetery. Others who died earlier in the area are reburied in the cemetery.

In February 1911, the Harlingen Civic Club through the Cemetery Association, which had been formed and spearheaded by Mrs. Augustus Weller, Mrs. Andrew Goldammer, and later Mr. Brunneman, requested that the town appoint a cemetery commission. It did so by naming C.W. Clift, E.W. Anglin, and B.F.Surface as cemetery trustees. Hill, as president of the Harlingen Land and Water Company, sold 7.6 acres, adjacent to and around the area where Robert was buried, to the cemetery trustees for $1.00. The deed was signed on 2/1/12.

Some notable individuals buried in the cemetery include James Dishman (1934), pioneer rancher; James Lockhart (1947), first postmaster; Osco Morris (1931), early town official and real estate developer; and David L. Hinojosa (1952), Texas Ranger.

Even in death there was a separation of those of various ethnic origins. Graves in one section were for Hispanics and in another for Anglos. Other divisions were for blacks and for babies. This segregation remained until the cemetery property was deeded to the city in early May 1947. In 1982 the Tip of Texas Genealogy Society updated and indexed a list of those buried in the cemetery. It is to be found in the genealogy section stacks at the Harlingen Library.

It was in 1984 that the Texas Historical Commission erected a detailed marker for and in the cemetery. This came about by the thorough research and follow-through efforts of Mrs. Menton (Betty) Murray.

Colorful adornments, decorated altar, flowers, papier maché figures, music, special foods, and candles – all are part of the festivities. The Day of the Dead activities at the cemetery will allow all in the community to recognize and pay tribute to those who contributed so much to our lives and to make our city the success it now enjoys. Starting at 5:30 pm graves may be decorated, and 6:00 will mark the start of planned events at the F Street cemetery.

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Harlingen's First Hospital
Betty N. Murray and Norman Rozeff
February 2005

Part I: Its Background and Conception

Why would a doctor want to come to a wild frontier community lacking in most amenities? If we are generous we can speculate that they may have been adventurous or had a wanderlust. Others may have sought a change in climate and/or scenery. Still others may have been young and just starting their careers. On the unflattering side we could surmise a doctor may have fled more civilized areas to escape debt or an unhappy marriage or even that he was too incompetent to practice elsewhere.

While the community of Harlingen was established in 1904, it did not formally become a governmental entity until 1910. Even so, it had already attracted doctors to serve the growing population of the community and its surrounds. The physician brothers Casper W. and Alfred M. Letzerich had erected a two story office building at the corner of Commerce and Main (Jackson) Streets in 1909. The former was a general practitioner; the latter a surgeon. Dr. D. B. McGehee also came to Harlingen in 1909. Unfortunately those needing long-term or intensive care were not well-served in the town. The nearest suitable facility was the Catholic Devine Providence Hospital in Brownsville, 26 miles away over poor roads.

The second wife of Irrigation District employee Frank H. Brown was Katherine Clarey Brown, a native of Cincinnati. They had married in 1907 sometime after death of his first wife. They honeymooned and lived in Alaska for six months before returning stateside. She had been a doctor in Hopkinville, Kentucky and St. Louis, Missouri. They came to Harlingen in 1911. While not a practicing physician here she realized the need for a nursing facility and opened her spacious home at 1222 West Harrison Street to patients requiring extended care.

It was Miss Marie (Mary) Yeager of Chicago who would move to fulfill a community need. She had purchased uncleared land north of Harlingen and came south to personally view the property. Having expended her life savings to purchase the site, she was in need of funds and took employment assisting local doctors. She was rooming at the Gilbert House, a 20 room stucco building constructed in 1920 at 110 West Van Buren Street. Seeking relief for an asthmatic condition Ida Gilbert and her husband, Louis, had first come to Electra, Texas from Linn, Missouri. With a grocery store, they did well in this oil boom town just west of Wichita Falls but decided the warm climate of South Texas might be even more suitable. In 1919 they moved to McAllen and a year later to Harlingen where they erected their rooming house. While the rooms were nicely furnished the facility lacked any boarding. Mrs. Gilbert did not initiate cooking until 1933 when workmen, repairing and reconstructing the great damages of the 1933 Hurricane, had a need for eating facilities. The room and board then continued until 1943 when Mrs. Gilbert sold the structure, which by 1930 was called the Gilbert Hotel. Mr. Gilbert by 1930 was supplementing family income as a mail carrier. He was to pass on in 1938.

Having realized the great need to care for the sick in and around Harlingen, Miss Yeager sought the advice of Ida Gilbert. When she broached the subject of establishing a hospital in a rented structure, Mrs. Gilbert told her it would be better to have one which was wholly owned. The two women then formed a partnership to move forward in creating a hospital.

The Implementation

It was on 3/26/23 that the Gilberts purchased lots on the east side of Mexico (now F) Street between Tyler and Harrison Streets. The sellers were L.L. and Rose Alaniz who had only 16 days earlier had bought the property. Mrs. Gilbert then secured two former army barracks from the Rangerville area. They had been used in 1915-16 by soldiers policing the border to quell "Bandit Era" unrest and then during World War I. Once moved to the lots the three room buildings were set apart and parallel to one another with plans to connect them with a new structure in order to form a u-shaped complex.

Initially George Day and a Mr. Volkart, often working ten hours a day, were hired to do the carpentry at 50 cents per hour. Then L.E. Hawkins was contracted to do the job. He hired as carpenters and helpers J.A. Sing and his son L.E. Sing, Don Drake, and Henry Murphy. All walls were of single wall, box construction but apparently strong enough to have withstood hurricane force winds over the years. Wooden battens were nailed on the outside seams to keep out the elements. A porch was added to tie all the elements together. On each side, where the former barracks met the tie-in, was a bathroom. Each room had three windows to afford cross ventilation, an absolute necessity with the South Texas summer climate. The roof was of wooden shingles. Across the back of the building a kitchen was fabricated and attached. Here, in addition to the cooking, water was stored and boiled for sterilization. Thus came into physical existence the hospital at 315 South F Street.

The Hospital and Staff

With the erection of the facility, Miss Yeager wrote her dietician friend Miss Julia Bassart of Chicago to come join her in the new venture. Julia consented to do so. A 16' by 17' building was built on the property to house the two women. Mrs. Gilbert acted as business manager and owner of the enterprise. Miss Yeager was in charge of floor duties and Miss Bassart was household manager and also assisted in the hospital that apparently opened before the summer of 1923.

The facility had seven patient rooms for which the charge for each was five dollars a day. Two patient rooms were in each wing and three in the connecting unit. In addition there was a surgery room, reception room, and a storage and preparation room. Doctors who staffed the hospital included, among others, the Letzerich brothers, Casper and Alfred, and Noah A. (Semny) Davidson. Miss Teresa Montalvo was a nurse's aid employed by the hospital in 1924.

After a year in operation Miss Yeager told the newspaper "that it still lacks equipment and is actually an emergency hospital. The foundation stone of the institution has been a desire to help the stranger." She went on to say that the desire was to put the hospital to use as a memorial training school for young women, fitting them for better citizenship and to develop high standard mothers and wives as an affiliate of the well-known Lucy Meyer Training School in Chicago. Lucy Meyer was a Methodist deaconess renowned for her social work.

Organizations came to the aid of the under-funded hospital. The Rotarians and Kiwanis at the suggestion of C. Wunderman donated an efficient bell system for the patients. The local Ku Klux Klan, which was quickly losing political power and public approval by the mid-1920s here in Texas, donated a large roll of sheeting.

The first patient treated at the hospital was one of carpenter George Day's two sons. Robert cut his finger while his father was working there. Among better known individuals who the hospital served were E.C. Bennett, long time fire chief and manager of Harlingen utilities, M. B. (Bill ) House, and Cage Johnson. All three had appendectomies. The latter was also an earlier patient. Constable Cage Johnson while on an investigation at 1217 W. Polk in the early summer of 1923 entered a shootout with Abilano Sanchez. Both were wounded and quickly transported in honking cars to the nearby hospital where they were placed in opposite wings. While Johnson recovered Sanchez was to succumb to his wounds. Another individual who ran afoul the law was a black man, J.R. King. Shot by City Marshall Arthur Goolsby, he died in the hospital in late January 1925.

Joe Gavito, Jr., age 11 and later of La Feria, was to be treated for diphtheria in July 1924 at the hospital. He remembered his sense of isolation. Jose E. Lozano, father of Harlingen Police Captain Abe Lozano was to die in the hospital from long-lingering complications after being gassed during World War I action.

On a happier note are some births occurring at the hospital. Mrs. Winston Harwood, whose husband is retail manager for CPL's ice operations, gives birth to Cordelia Brown Harwood on 11/4/25. Dr. W. J. Vinsant attended. She is so happy with the care given that she convinces Georgiana Hill, wife of Lon C. Hill, Jr., to use the hospital. The Hills' son Owsley is born there 12/7/25. Robert Campos, later to be assistant fire chief in the city, is born there 2/1/26 to Ventura G. and Antonio J. Campos.

Part II: The Demise and Disposition of the Hospital

The little hospital, unbeknown to those striving to make a success of it, was about to face formidable competition. In competition with Brownsville for the site on which to erect a Baptist hospital, Harlingen pledges $75,000 according to a Brownsville Herald article on 1/16/20. This would allow the building of a $150,000 facility or twice the cost of the originally planned one.

Robert Hamilton, Sr., who had lived in Little Deer Creek in Falls County, TX before moving to Harlingen in 1917, and Jack Earnest Stack were among local leaders who saw a need for a hospital here. Hamilton worked as a bookkeeper in the Texas State Bank of Harlingen 1917-20 before opening an insurance office selling Home Insurance. He and others approached Lon C. Hill and the Harlingen Townsite and Improvement Company, and Hill pledged $15,000 toward the building. Short of cash, the company conveyed four lots just south of where the hospital would eventually be built. Two stipulations were that: the hospital would cost more than $50,000 and be built in three years (3/2/23). Incorporators were Dr. N.A. Davidson, G.S. Stringer, and Judge Fred Bennett of Mercedes. When the Baptist Sanitarium of Harlingen was not built within this time frame, the lots were reconveyed on 9/27/24 to the Cameron County Realty Co. based in Dallas. In return the hospital pursuers received lots on F Street without conditions.

The white stucco building, which became the Valley Baptist Hospital, is built in the 600 block of F Street by W.T. Liston and Sons to designs by local architects Elwing and Mulhausen. Birger A. Elwing was born in Linkojsing, Sweden on 6/13/67 and educated at Chalmera University in Gothenburg. He married Sigus Hedstrom on 12/16/89 and settled in the Valley in 1919. The 35 bed facility opens in part 1/22/25 and fully in May 1925. Its charter members are S.C. Tucker, Brownsville; Frank Robertson and Dr. Clarence M. Cash, San Benito; J.T. Foster, S.G. Stringer, C.S. Wroten, and Dr. N.A. Davidson of Harlingen; Dr. R.E. Utley and Fred E. Bennett of Mercedes; E.C. Couch of Weslaco; Dr. L.M. Davis of Donna; and G.T. Balch of McAllen. The capacity of the steel-framed structure is increased in 1943, and again in 1946, so that by 1956 it is equipped to care for 135 people. The facility closes in 1957 with the erection of a new hospital complex near S. Ed Carey Drive. Dr. David Nickell, who came to work in the F Street hospital in 1947, is the last of the F Street doctors to retire when he does so at age 73 on 10/29/84.

Once this major hospital came on the scene, just a few blocks away on the same street, the little, privately-funded F Street hospital was doomed. Mrs. Gilbert, sharp business woman that she was, closed the hospital sometime in 1926. She then converted the structure into a room and board facility. Three of the four center rooms were converted into a spacious dining area. When Miss Bassart left Harlingen is unknown, but she is not listed in the 1930 telephone directory. Mary Yeager was to die July 22, 1928 and is buried in the Harlingen Cemetery in a donated plot, part of the Dearing family lot.

The building which once housed the women was apparently used in 1931-32 by Tommie Gilbert. The rooming house in 1937-38 was called the Tavern Hotel but then took on the name Gilbert House No. 2 the next four years. With two locations to care for Mrs. Gilbert hired Jack Phillips in 1937 to manage the first Gilbert House and then Mrs. D.H. Schellhammer for the position in 1939. After selling her Van Buren business site in 1943, Mrs. Gilbert moved to the F Street one with her daughter Dorothy. The latter was an employee of the air base in 1945 and would marry Vance Harold Glick, a carpenter by trade. By 1946 the newlyweds were also living in the rooming house which by now had no particular name and appeared to have more or less permanent tenants by 1956. In 1958 it became Gilbert House again and carried this designation until 1962 or so. Perhaps trying to cash in on the travel business Mrs. Gilbert listed herself as owner of cabins, only to resume the Gilbert House nomenclature in 1966. While living in the house Dorothy handled S & H Green Stamp matters and later became the distributor for out-of-town newspapers. By 1967 the Glicks were to move elsewhere. Without advertising, Mrs. Gilbert, who lived at the address until1974, perhaps had some paid occupants. She had either died or moved away by March 1976.

Before the property was sold to Lewis Levine in 1978, he sought a useful way of disposing of the structures on it. He consulted Betty N. Murray who was a Harlingen contact person when it came to history. She in turn contacted the Rio Grande Museum Board to ascertain if they were interested in obtaining the historic structure, moving it to the museum complex, and restoring it. Initially the board refused the offer. Although Levine had started action in the summer of 1978 and had hoped for results in six weeks, it wasn't until December 1978 that results were manifested. The Museum Board, and Mr. Ebbage its president, reconsidered the earlier decision. They were aided by city manager Bill Synder who allowed that the city would move only the ten room section and leave the kitchen part behind. The city would pay for the movement if it would later be reimbursed. Synder was to leave shortly before the actual movement occurred, but assistant city manager Harry Savio, who would move up to the full position, followed through. Mrs. Murray spearheaded a group of civic-minded individuals who raised funds from foundation grants, individuals, and organizations to pay for the transportation then the restoration and furnishing of the structure.

C. P. "Butch" Thise helped to reattach the three sections after they arrived. With the guidance of Corpus Christi architect James G. Rome, who was recommended by the Texas Historical Commission, the center section was authentically restored to three rooms. Other restoration was made to the original appearance and state. This was accomplished by a fortuitous circumstance. The 1910-1920-era wood frame Verser Rooming House on the 100 block of W. Monroe Street had been largely abandoned. It owner, Jack Verser, assisted by realtor Bonnie Bahnman, offered the museum the house for whatever it wished to salvage. This allowed the retrieval of doors, windows, ceiling lumber, floor boards, and bathroom fixtures. This was accomplished in the nick of time, for vandals commenced setting fires in the derelict Verser house.

As momentum and enthusiasm grew, the little hospital sprang back to life with equipment and furnishings reflecting the period in which it was utilized. C. W. Phillips, a master craftsman, was to restore and refinish much of the furniture and shelving including the reception desk and its chair, a small bookcase, five fruitwood office chairs, and a library table.

Jack Skagg's donated his father L.L.'s 1920 dental equipment, sofa, two upholstered chairs a desk and filing cabinet, all having been used in San Antonio. T.H. Morrison, former chairman of the board of the Valley Baptist Hospital, supplemented this by furnishing a dentist chair and a Ritter Dental X-ray Machine.

Harry and Ann Nigro donated doctor's equipment including an operating table, washstand, examining table, two kitchen tables, an adjustable table, and bedside table. All of these were once owned by Dr. Nelson Wise Haas of San Benito.

Julie Gallagher Uhlhorn donated her father's books and her father George's complete office including diplomas and pictures. His office had been in the Baxter Building. In 1929 Dr. Gallagher had in turn acquired some of these items from the estate of Dr. A. C. McLamore who had died in 1928, the year before Gallagher arrived in Harlingen.

A former nurse, Mrs. Myra George, knew of an original bed from the hospital. It was owned by the American Legion Auxiliary of La Feria which loaned it to needy individuals. The Auxiliary donated it, and it was placed in the "birthing room" on the right side of the building. In addition, Zora Mae MacPherson's hospital bed was donated by her daughter Helen Thompson. This went into the "isolation room" on the left side of the building.

An old x-ray unit was found in the Bethel Mission in Roma and obtained. Dr. Margo of Rio Grande City furnished a period mortar, pestle and measuring glass while a pharmacist in Brownsville provided bottled items to place in the old display cabinet purchased from a Harlingen antique store.

Monetary donations, too numerous to specify individually, helped to flesh out the museum's requirements. In the spring of 1981 the hospital opened its doors to the public. It is and will remain a little treasure for the community it once served.

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Historic Harlingen

In 1902 developer Lon C. Hill purchased 2 ½ leagues or 11,070 acres of School Lands from Cameron County. He paid $13,837.50 or $1.25 per acre. This area north of the Arroyo Colorado and the Concepcion de Carricitos Spanish Land Grant to the brothers Eugenio and Bartolome Fernandez was semi-arid chaparral and of low value. Hill knew that two things could enhance his property – water to irrigate crops and a railroad to transport the commodities to market. In 1907 he commenced building a major gravity- flow canal with a pumping station at Las Rusias. It would eventually extend 14.6 miles north of the Rio Grande.

Hill encouraged his associates to invest in a railroad to the Valley and to dedicate right-of-ways for it. On 4/20/04 the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway reached "Six- Shooter Junction." In need for a station name and a soon-to-be post office, the name Harlingen was selected by Hill to honor Uriah Lott and the railroad builder's ancestral homes in Holland and New Jersey.

With the almost immediate rail spur to the west from Harlingen being constructed, the town became not only a junction but a commercial hub. The nascent cotton industry took root in its surrounding as did citrus and vegetable production. All were packed, refrigerated, and shipped from facilities within the city. The coming of the Southern Pacific railroad line in early1927 cemented the city's status as the Valley's major transportation hub.

Downtown Jackson Street retains the architectural flavor of the 1910-20s era. The variable architecture and striking beauty of homes of "Silk Stocking Row" along East Taylor Street reflect the affluence of the city's merchants and professionals as the city grew in the 1920s.

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The Location of the Providencia Ranch and Harlingen’s Early Water Supply
Norman Rozeff, Harlingen Historical Preservation Society
July 2003

The Providencia Ranch played an important role in the early days of Harlingen town. The reason was that initially Harlingen had no reliable water supply. Sweet water was brought by barrels in wagons from a productive well on the Saldana’s Providencia Ranch. The ranch’s exact location had been lost with the passage of time.

This service continued until the Harlingen Land and Water Company completed the infrastructure to bring water north from the river. In August and September 1907 the first river pumps were installed and started. At the end of the following month, as the already eleven mile canal approached the Arroyo Colorado, a large wooden flume across it was being constructed. On 3/28/08 the water reached Harlingen, but it wasn’t until three years later that Lake Harlingen, then considerably larger, as a water system reservoir was instituted in a low-lying area. It was fed by a canal running north along what would be 13^th Street then west into the lake.

An early pre-Harlingen plat map, dated likely around the year 1903, was fortuitously found by me in Hidalgo County Historical Commission files in the Weslaco Bicultural Museum. Jay Russell located another plat map of the same area but drawn with information probably a year earlier. Both indicated Saldana properties upon which Providencia Ranch was almost certainly located.

An area of approximately 170 acres is denoted "S. Saldana". It is a rectangular parcel (Survey 47) with its southern boundary directly north of today’s Lincoln Avenue. The parcel runs about 4250 feet east to west and 1750 feet north to south. To its north is a similarly-sized property (Survey 46) listed as owned by E.Contreras. A third tract, Survey 45, adjacent and to the west of these two is designated F. Saldana, and it too has a little over 170 acres.

In 1880 Francisco Saldaña filed a patent on Survey 45 and officially was granted the land after occupation and improvements in 1886. Various members of the Saldaña family likely owned a total of about 510 acres south of survey 27. They called it La Providencia Ranch. Plats of about 170 acres each were numbers 45 (F. Saldaña), 46 (E. Contreras), and 47 (S. Saldaña). The "F" may have been Francisco, who was to marry Anselma Sanchez and upon her death Josefa Abrego. The "S" was his son Secundino from his first marriage. E. Contreras was Estevan (also spelled Esteban) Contreras, who had married Librada Saldaña. Their daughter Josefa, who was baptized in the Presbyterian Mexican Church, Brownsville on 3/7/86, lived on the ranch until 1896-98. Another daughter was to be Anita Saldaña Contreras de Rosales. Herlinda Saldaña of the ranch family was to marry Joaquin S. Sanchez, have a son Jose, and live at 831 Curtis Street, Harlingen. Paulo Saldaña, Sr. and Jr. were other family members.

US 77/83 now traverses diagonally through the east one quarter of the old S. Saldana property, as it does the Contreras tract to the north. Harrison Avenue runs into the upper one eight of the Contreras tract. Survey 46 is also cut by the railroad track, Hwy 83 and Business 83. Survey 47 is currently occupied for the most part by the Valley Vista Mall. It is also transected by Dixieland Road. On the west side of Dixieland Road, Survey 47 is now occupied by numerous commercial businesses in strip malls and on its western boundary by Pletcher’s Wholesale Nursery. At the western boundary Tucker Road heads south to the Arroyo Colorado stopping short of the 2.15 mile distance by about .5 mile. It is on the west side of this .5 mile parcel that the 1903 map indicates the existence of a community named Castanas.

Survey 45 now has the Palm Gardens Mobile Estates in its south half and is cut by Expressway 83 and Loop 54 in its north half.

At the northwest corner of the Contreras tract, a road running southwest-northeast is shown on the old plat map. This heads toward the Paso Real via what is now the Briggs-Coleman area and eventually reaches the old Alice Road but does so by skirting the arroyo where it makes it turn to the east.

The area referred to by the Lon C. Hill family as "Salty Lonesome" was likely close to where present Highway 499 intersects with Harrison Avenue (HWY 106) and possibly within the area now designated as Ramsey Park. It is in this location that the arroyo is closest to Harrison Avenue. From here in 1903 Hill opened a sendero directly to the west along what is now Harrison Avenue.

From Salty Lonesome to the east end of the Contreras tract the distance would have been 4.5 miles. When the railroad came to Harlingen in July 1904, the distance from the new center of town to the east end of the Contreras parcel would have been just about one mile. Continuing south to the northeast corner of the Saldana parcel would have added another .28 mile. Therefore, the minimum water haul distance from S. Saldana property to the center of Harlingen would have been 1.28 miles, and if the ranch well were near its southwest corner, the maximum haul distance would have been 2.13 miles. If the well was in Survey 45 the minimum distance from the town center to the site would have been 1.75 mile at minimum and 2.35 miles at maximum.

Hill, under the entity Harlingen Land and Water Company, may have purchased all three properties in 1903 in order to assure a secure water supply for his town to be. More likely however, he bought the parcels in order to dedicate land for the Sam Fordyce Branch railroad right-of-way of the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway, which would eventually reach west of Mission. The plat maps already show considerable acreage had been acquired north of the arroyo by the predecessor company called the Corpus Christi, San Diego and Rio Grande Narrow Gauge Railroad Company. To indicate how interlocking and transient the railroads were in this period other parcels north of what was to be Harlingen were owned by the Houston East and West Texas and Shreveport and Houston Railway Co.; the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad; and the Georgetown Railroad Co.

A compilation of old abstracts indicates that on 6/10/03 Hill also purchased a tract from Wenceslao Saldana and his wife Felipa A. de Saldana. He paid $500 for their 160 acre lot located directly north of Combes near the Ojo De Agua Grant and adjacent to property owned by the Dishmans and the Georgetown Railroad Company. The railroad coming south from Robstown would come through this property.

Verna McKenna, a Harlingen historian, noted Jesus Saldana as being associated with the ranch. The children of the ranch hands and neighbors were taught by eighteen year old Miss Margarita Villareal, who was later to become Mrs. G. M. Lozano. Having been graduated after eleven years schooling in Brownsville she was qualified to teach. The instruction was in English. Later the school moved into the second floor of the Pioneer Building and remained there until the school district built a facility for Mexican-American students.

Near Harlingen there were various crossing sites on the Arroyo Colorado. The most famous, of course is the Paso Real. Some others are shown on the 1903 map. The community of Tasa is mapped just south of the arroyo near where the old F Street Bridge used to cross and where the US 77/83 one now does. About 3 ¼ miles to its east, and also on the south side, was Palmital. This site is now the extreme east side of the Treasure Hills subdivision. A map of the Valley drawn in 1915-16 for use by the military stationed here at the time designates the crossings as La Tasa and El Palmital. These communities as well as Castanas may have come into existence to offer travelers shelter when arroyo waters were high, and the arroyo could not be immediately traversed. The considerable acreage between the Valley International Airport and the Arroyo Colorado is designated as the Palmetal Co. Subdivision and likely gets its name from old Palmital but with one letter changed over time.

It is also likely that a crossing existed at the south end of what is now designated as Dilworth Road. At the junction of Dilworth Road and the Arroyo Colorado are cuts in the banks on both sides of the stream, and the arroyo is shallow at this point. In the late 1800s the Gutierrez family of Harlingen owned adjacent property and operated three ranches on it. This property was just north of the arroyo and straddled what is now Dilworth Road. A 1917 plat map designates the area close to the crossing as Los Indios Ranch and near the north boundary is La Cruz Ranch. According to Rosaura Gutierrez the mapmaker has erroneously designated them. They should be La India and La Crucita Ranches. The third ranch was El Gigante. A total of around 3000 acres was contained in tracts 39, 40 293, 294, and 295. A longtime wooden bridge which crossed the arroyo at this point was replaced in the 1990s by a wider concrete bridge.

Sometime prior to 1923 the Dilworth Ranch came into existence. R.S. Dilworth was already in the area by late 1908. It was located just southeast of the arroyo crossing. Dilworth Road took its name from this ranch. The 1923 Soil Conservation Service map spelling the ranch name with two "l"s is apparently a typographical error.

Connecting Dilworth south of the arroyo is Turner Road, which is caliche until it intersects with FM 800. Still further south it parallels Rangerville Road before eventually connecting with it. Turner Road is named for Josiah Turner, the pioneer rancher who owned the Galveston Ranch along the Military Road (also mapped by surveyors as the Military Telegraph Road) just west of Las Rucias. This important thoroughfare, now HWY 281 or the Military Highway, is how inhabitants north of and along the river reached Brownsville other than by steamboat.

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More Cool Stuff

Norman Rozeff, Harlingen Historical Preservation Society, May 2004

The author of the article (VMS 4/29/04) on the Valley ice industry had an interesting story of his own. James William Sweeney came to the Valley in 1919. Born in Texarkana on 10/2/98, he had, along with four siblings, been orphaned. The children were raised in the Incarnate Word Orphanage in San Antonio. Jim finished high school, went on to St, Mary's University, lettered in three sports including football where Dwight David Eisenhower was his coach, and was graduated in 1917. In WWI he was a ground crew member of the Lafayette Flying Esquadrille.

He came to work for the American Refrigerator Transit Co. (A.R.T.) in San Benito. It specialized in providing insulated railroad cars for the transportation of produce. He soon was working for the Ice Company, precursor to CP&L. In 1923 he married Mary Yeasel Greiner who, in 1919, had come to San Benito from Chicago with her grandfather. They lived in company housing next to the loading dock adjacent to Fair Park and later moved to San Benito. Sweeney worked for a division of CP&L for 45 years, finally retiring at age 70. This three pack a day smoker died of lung cancer on 4/14/69. A daughter Mary Lou Sweeney Rumbo was to be a long time school teacher and organizer and first president of the Harlingen Historical Preservation Society.

Some chronological history dealing with ice manufacture and cooling follows:

1924-25 The Valley Electric and Ice Company approaches the mark of icing 13,000 railroad cars. It handles each one twice, first for a pre-cooling, then a final icing. At the peak of the season 100 men are employed. In Harlingen the manufacturing building exists today though the lengthy docks which stretched between parallel railroad tracks and carried the ice to the refrigerated cars are long gone. In time the Central Power and Light Company divested itself of the ice making operations and under the dynamic leadership of Lon C. Hill, Jr. evolved into a major South Texas utility. The sizeable old building once utilized by the Southern Texas Ice and Service Company is reached via Wichita and Memphis Streets. "Ice Plant No. 39 Harlingen" is engraved on one wing of the building. It likely indicates that this was one of many plants operated by the American Refrigerator Transit Company to provide ice for its specialized railroad freight cars. Southwestern is no more, but its successor is Reddy Ice with its warehouse in the Industrial Park. It furnishes packaged ice to retail stores.

9/17/30 On a three acre site, Central Power and Light Company (CPL) puts into operation its cold storage plant capable of handing 100 freight cars of products such as eggs, meats, fruits, dairy, and vegetables. J.W. Sweeney will be its manager. Previously he was superintendent of car icing and the ice department for CPL in the Valley, according to F.C. Ludden, Valley District Manager for CPL. In 1930 the building is just outside the city limit on the Combes Highway. That puts it on North Commerce now just north of the Fair Park Blvd. intersection.

1946 Cecil Carruth purchases CPL's cold storage warehouse. The name is changed to Harlingen Cold Storage. Cecil had come to Harlingen in 1929. His older brother Paul will follow about four years later. Carruth in 1930 was the bookkeeper for the Grant Lumber Co. in Harlingen and a year later had worked up to manager. By 1937 Carruth's business was general insurance and loans. By 1939 he was into the partnership of Carruth and Johnson Insurance, then with his brother Paul, and still later with Grant Klopenstein as Carruth-Klopenstein, real estate and insurance. Cecil, called Happy by his friends, was somewhat of a genius or, at minimum, his mile-a-minute mind is open to new ideas. He conceived the idea of commencing a frozen juice concentrate plant in Harlingen. He went to Florida and learned what would be required, including over $1 million of stainless steel piping. He and partners, including Paul, then converted the large plant at 804 North Commerce in the late 1940s. Misfortune befell them when a severe freeze decimated the Valley's 1949 citrus crop. His Texas Frozen Food Corp., for which he was president and J.E. Barr executive vice president, then sought alternatives in watermelon and pineapple concentrates and even looked into freeze-dried foods. When Paul went on with others to found Tropical Savings and Loan, Cecil sought to utilize the plant by leasing it to shrimp and other packers. Squirt brand soda pop with its grapefruit-citrus flavor was even bottled there for a time. The large building contained cold storage vaults, a shrimp processing plant, a citrus juice extraction plant, and a citrus peel dehydration plant along with Rio Freezer, Inc., cold storage.

1954 CPL is finished with its ice-making business in its Harlingen plant. The operation is taken over by the Southern Texas Ice and Service Company, which maintains an office in the Clarke and Courts Building on East Harrison. In 1956 B.A. Majesky will be its manager at its Fair Park Extension plant, while that old ice hand, J.W. Sweeney, will manage the Clarke and Court office. By 1962 the Southeastern Public Service Company, with branches in many Valley cities and towns, will have taken over the manufacturing plant and moved its office to 423 W. Jackson.

1950-74 The Alberti Seafoods Processing Co. selling "King-O-Shrimp" and "Sea Breeze" Brands will pack products in Harlingen. Its owner Lawrence Alberti of Chicago is to die at age 67 on 10/16/60. When, in 1974, Alberti shutters its doors and a year later Western Shellfish at 708 N. Commerce does also, Cecil Carruth is left with his largely useless Harlingen Cold Storage Building.

1976 This is the last year here for the American Refrigerator Transit Co. at 825 N. Commerce. The shipment of cooled vegetables and fruit in railroad freight cars from Harlingen had declined to the point that operations here were no longer economical. Refrigerated trucks had taken most of the business from the railroads. To perpetuate the nostalgia, model train hobbyists can purchase A.R.T. models of refrigerated freight cars for their collections.

10/4/85 When Cecil Carruth dies on this date, the cold storage property is willed to the Rio Grande Children's Home in Mission according to his nephew, Tommy Carruth. The ghostly "white elephant" with its faded Harlingen Cold Storage sign still sits forlornly on Commerce as a monument to changing times.

1996 The Southeastern Public Service Company will continue its ice-manufacturing operations in Harlingen until this year. The Reddy Ice Company will then enter the picture. This Dallas-based company, formerly known as Packaged Ice before going private in 2003, is the largest U.S. maker of packaged ice. It operates in 31 states and D.C. In Harlingen its office and warehouse are in the Industrial Park at 1409 North 28th Street.

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Picture Worth a Thousand Words
Norman Rozeff
February 19, 2004

The Robert Runyon photo triggers a lot of memories. He would periodically come to the Harlingen area from his Brownsville home in order to visually document the community. Many of his more notable Harlingen pictures were taken in 1912, 1915, and for his photograph of the west side of North Commerce Street likely in 1924.

Starting from the left of the photograph we see a side door to the Ewing and Phillips Hardware Store, later to become Harlingen Hardware. It was in the year 1912 that F. Finley Ewing of Ballinger, Runnels County, TX came to San Benito. After four years there he worked for the government in border construction projects. Then, in 1919, he comes to Harlingen to enter the hardware business as half-owner of Ewing and Phillips Hardware Company, Inc at the northwest corner of Commerce and Jackson. Later he is president of the Peoples Gin Company. By 1929 he is president of the Harlingen Development Company. This is the relic of the original townsite company which was acquired by local interests from foreign capitalists in 1924. At this time in the original townsite there are1000 building lots left which this company owns and controls. He is elected Mayor on 4/6/26 and serves until 1928. His term is remembered as one with great progress for the city. His partner, Frank T. Phillips, commuted from his San Benito home and the hardware store which he owned there. By 1931 and for or at least six years the hardware company that occupies the premise goes by the name Rio Grande Hardware and Machinery Company then in 1936 becomes Harlingen Hardware. Harriette Armacost, whose family was long-time owner of Harlingen Hardware and who herself was a familiar face in the store before it was sold several years ago to Broadway Hardware, claims both Phillips and Ewing as ancestors. In its very early days the hardware store building housed the Eastern Seed Company owned by Clark Seed of Corpus Christi. When it closed, its 25' frontage was incorporated into the hardware store.

The next office is that of the Western Union Company. Before the days of reliable long- distance telephone communications, it was this company which served through its telegraph and telegram home delivery system nationwide to connect businesses and families, the latter usually in times of emergencies or to impart special news. Its 20 foot frontage and 25' depth was later absorbed by the Rhone Feed Store.

J.W. Rhone's feed and seed store is the predecessor to Jackson's. Coming from Winnsboro, TX, James Rhone was a pillar in the successful establishment of the (First) Christian Church here. About the time the photo is taken he will be serving as a City Commissioner for a two year term. Sharp readers will notice that the Rhone building has but a single story. It is only after a 1948 or so fire in the premise that the now existing second story was added. In 1937, twelve years after selling his business here, Rhone will own and operate Rhone's Man's Store in Raymondville. This is after he tried his hand at a men's clothing store in Wichita, KS. Rhone, owner of considerable property, was badly hurt by the 1930s depression. This Floresville, TX native is to die in 1975 survived by a son, Louis.

It is in 1925 that Fred G. Jackson takes up Rhone's seed and feed business at 119 N. Commerce and in 1926 sets up Jackson Wholesale Grocery Co. at 101 E. Polk. He is a native of Delta County, TX, has attended E. Texas Normal School College in Commerce, was for a time bookkeeper for an oil mill, a cashier at a bank in Enloe, and manager of the Security State Bank of Cooper, TX before coming here. For a time Jackson's son William Harold Jackson, Sr. is store manager. Later F.G. will bring Harold's twin bother Darold into the operations then daughter Freddie, but daughter Mary Frances apparently has other interests. Still later Jackson will give all the corporate stock to William (still alive in 4/04 at age 90 and living in Plano, TX), his twin, and daughter Freddie Jackson McEver. In 2002 they were to sell it to a syndicated real estate group. Mr. Jackson's wife Myrtle will die on 7/29/77 at age 84, and he will outlive her by a decade, dying at age 95 on 2/10/87. The original Rhone store had a 30' frontage and 94' depth. Behind the store was a 50' by 25' sheet metal building where Rhone's employees put together tomato crates. At the time tomatoes were shipped red ripe in four-basket flat crates made by the Cummer Graham Co. of Paris, TX. Each tomato was hand-wrapped in special tomato paper tissue.

Next in line is the Lockridge Millinery Store. Millinery is an old word meaning women's headwear, hats and notions. This store was short-lived and had disappeared by 1930. Before this 75" section was absorbed by Jackson, it had a Chrysler agency for a time.

Adjacent to it one can barely make out Edelstein's Furniture Store. What gives it away is the familiar logo and font of its sign. The style of the logo has remained unchanged for over 75 years. By 1930 Edelstein's will have moved to 217 W. Jackson and still later to larger quarters across the street at 230 W. Jackson. Over time Jackson's store will grow and encompass the old Western Union premise along with the Lockridge and the Edelstein ones to the north.

Last in line in the photo is the R. Fulton Jones Warehouse. It was in 1920 that Fulton Jones came to town. His first business is delivering ice. Two years later he starts the Fulton Jones Moving and Storage Co. when he purchases a truck with solid rubber wheels. He soon will needed larger facilities so moves to one in the 1000 block of West Harrison. He may have constructed it in 1926 but in any case is there by 1930. Allen Trucking then occupies the old building. Jones' drayage business becomes Valley-wide, and he uses the names Jones Motor Freight lines and Jones Transfer and Storage Co. for his businesses. As the Harlingen area becomes more congested and additional space is required, the now Jones Moving and Storage Co. builds a warehouse facility at 2404 Wilson Road. Living at 320 Pecan, McAllen in his later years, he dies at age 65 on 12/16/62 leaving his wife Ottie and brother George of McAllen. This Church of Christ member left no children.

Between Edelstein's and the next building a barely discernable object is what looks like a Texas Company (later to be Texaco) gas pump with its star logo atop in the lighted portion. Whether this serves the public or is for use by the Jones Company only is not known.

Beyond the photo's lens was the Crown Willmont Paper Co. with its brick structure having 150' of frontage. To its north lay Winkler's Harlingen Bottling Company.

It is obvious that this short stretch of North Commerce Street encompasses a great deal of Harlingen history. We can be thankful to Runyon for recording it for posterity.

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Lozano Building Holds Many Memories and Stories
Norman Rozeff

When in the early morning hours of July 11, 2004, the Santos Lozano Building at 117-119 West Jackson Street, Harlingen was engulfed in flames, the structure would burn spectacularly, perhaps fittingly for its proud heritage. Its aged timbers and flooring were not readily consumed but for hours fought against the efforts of firefighters to extinguish them. The gap created by the burned-out structure was made more ghostly when scorched exterior walls still retained their stateliness. Not only was a physical gap created by the building's destruction but a spiritual one as well.

Santos Lozano had come from Alice to Harlingen in 1905. In early 1906 he was to buy the second commercial lots on Main (Jackson) Street. The first lots in the townsite platted by Lon C. Hill had been purchased by Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Weller, who, in early 1906, had come up from Brownsville with their daughters. While Weller was to do exceedingly well for a time with saloons around town, Santos had more conservative ideas. In early 1906 he builds a small frame structure for a general store with living quarters upstairs. This building was removed in early 1915 and the brick, two-story, S. Lozano Building was erected. Its bricks came from Monterrey, Mexico.

Santos V. Lozano was born in Ejidos San Nicolas de los Garzas (now part of Monterrey), Nuevo Leon State, Mexico in 1863. His parents, Felipe and Otta Gracia Lozano had immigrated to Texas during the Mexican-French War and ended up in Collins, TX when Santos was two years old. In Alice, Santos would eventually operate a mercantile store for fourteen years before making his way to Harlingen. After the death of his first wife, Micaela Beasly, he would marry Tomasa Cantu. His oldest son J.B. Lozano was born in Alice 4/12/92, educated at public schools, and, in 1909, became a merchant with his father in Lozano and Son. J.B. was to marry Herlinda Hinojosa 5/12/12. His younger brother, S.V. Lozano was born in Alice on 7/27/94, and also educated in public schools. When he entered the business the store was called S. Lozano and Son Dry Goods Store. He came to Harlingen at age 11 and was to serve in WWI in a medical detachment. He later was an American Legion member and was in the Woodsman of the World. Both brothers were proud of their Irish-Mexican heritage. In the 1920s the Lozanos had placed store branches in La Feria, Donna, and Raymondville. Another Santos son, Don Guillermo Lozano, would open the first meat market west of the railroad. The family patriarch, Santos, would die at the ripe old age of 90.

The family and the building have many interesting tales to tell. It was in 1903 that the children of La Providencia Ranch hands were taught by Miss Margarita Villareal (later she becomes Mrs. G. M. (Willie) Lozano. Their son G. M. Lozano, Jr. will marry another early arrival to the Harlingen scene. This is Ida Priestly, who arrived here in 1922, as her father with ancestors from Clarksville, TX takes up tenant farming in the Rangerville area. In 2002 she is to celebrate her 86th birthday.) Having been graduated after eleven years of schooling in Brownsville, Margarita is qualified to teach. Instruction is in English. Later the school moves into the second floor of the Lozano Building. This serves some of the Hispanic children until the school district builds a facility for them.

It is in late 1910 that Santos, who is a registered voter, signs a petition which will allow Harlingen, now with a population of 1,126 individuals, to form a commission form of government and officially become a city.

In the Bandit Era centering around 1915, a strange set of circumstances occurs. The story is this. In 1874 Donna Benigna Hodges' first husband, Morgan Barclay buys the first of two tracts from the Matamoros heirs of Jose Narciso Carvazos. He is licensed by Cameron County Commissioners to operate the ferry at Paso Real. When her second husband, Mr. Hodges, dies she maintains the ferry until the coming of the railroad in 1904 ends stagecoach travel. Years later, bed-ridden in her home above the Paso Real crossing she appeals to Santos Lozano to care for her after two ranch hands are killed by bandits. The Lozanos take her to Harlingen and care for her. Having no heirs she wills her ranch to Micaela Lozano. Thus the mercantile Lozano family also becomes ranchers.

Four years after the construction of the Lozano Building, a city ordinance to ban the construction of wooden buildings in the downtown section passes, and the council moves to eliminate existing fire hazard structures. In May of this same year, 1919, Harlingen has a smallpox outbreak. Dr. Letzerich vaccinates many, but Mrs. Santos Lozano, who helps to nurse others, dies of the disease.

Harlingen "white way" is completed in late July 1921. Electric lights on ornamental poles line Main (Jackson) Street. On 8/27/21, Ku Klux Klansman, 104 strong, march down Main Street after citizens celebrate the electric street lighting inauguration with a block party. Masked and in full regalia they carry sign warning bootleggers to go and promoting "White Supremacy." On 8/31 John Myrick (father of Mrs. Jack [Elizabeth] Garrett), J. F. Seago, and T. Kingston lead an ad hoc meeting of 150 individuals in Lozano Hall. In two resolutions the body condemns the KKK as well as vice, and, importantly, supports the constituted form of government in enforcing the laws.

1920-26 Chaperonned dances take place in Lozano Hall to the music of a record player.

Not only is prohibition enforced but so are the "blue laws" wherein retail firms are suppose to be closed on Sundays. The hall serves as the gathering place for special events, and orchestras are even imported from San Antonio.

By 1930 the Lozanos close their Jackson Street business and lease it to C. E. Stone Company, which calls itself a department store. During one of its many renovations the etched sign atop the façade facing Jackson Street, S. Lozano & Son -1915, is plastered over and "Pioneer's Building" takes its place along both the Jackson Street and A Street facades. Numerous businesses are to occupy the premise over the years before Kattan's Western Wear purchased the building in 1998.

In 1970 perhaps it is fitting that a Lozano descendent, Sam Lozano, becomes mayor, for it was his pioneer ancestors who helped develop Harlingen prior to and after 1910. He was born here, is a graduate of St. Mary's University, has been a visiting teacher (truant officer) in Harlingen junior and senior high schools, and will become principal of Coakley Junior High School. He is both the first Hispanic elected to this office and the first native-born Harlingenite to fill the position.

It was in 1980 that the Santos Lozano Building, in later years better known as the Pioneer's Building, was awarded a marker designating it a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. The structure was said to have been constructed of bricks brought from Monterrey, Mexico. The text of the marker reads: Built in 1915, this commercial structure is the oldest existing brick building in Harlingen. It was designed and constructed by Baltazar Torres of Brownsville for the mercantile business of Santos Lozano. It also served as a community center, providing upstairs space for bilingual school classes and special events. A post office was included on the ground floor. Continuously owned by the Lozano descendants, the structure has housed various businesses.

Stephen Fox of Houston, who has an interest in architecture, added the following information:

VMS (7/15/04) Lozano Building Article Feedback

James Matz and others called to bring attention to the fact that the Texas Historic Landmark for the Santos Lozano Building was in error when it states "Built in 1915, this commercial structure is the oldest existing brick building in Harlingen." Matz notes that the Matz Building has an even older history. Its origins trace back to 5/14/10 when the School Board of Trustees considers a bond election. On 7/8/10 the issue is set for $40,000, payable in 40 years at 4% interest in order to construct, equip, and purchase the sites for two brick schools. Forty-six voters (51 in another account) out of the population of 1,126 participate on 11/9/10. All vote in favor. L.S. Green of Green and Briscoe, Architects, Houston is selected for the "Main School" to serve grades 1 through 11. There was no twelfth grade until the late 1930s. Abner W. Cunningham is instrumental in purchasing a whole city block between 5th and 6th Street along Main Street for the site of the school. It is purchased from Lon C. Hill for $3,500.

It is 4/25/11 when Andrew Goldammer is awarded a $25,000 contract to build a three story brick schoolhouse on the northwest corner of Main (Jackson) and 6th Streets. J.P. McDonald is to supervise its construction. Another source puts the low-bid contract at $22,800. Now called a $40,000 school, it is nearing completion by 10/26/11. The building is accepted 3/25/12.

The Central Ward School is occupied for student instruction on 4/1/12. E.W. Anglin, a school board member in 1911-12, recalls, "We gathered up all the classes scattered about town on April 1, 1912 and moved them all to the new brick building on Jackson Street. The next year was a rainy one and we had to build a board walk all the way from downtown to the school."

Robert Runyon , the famed Valley photographer takes numerous photographs of the impressive structure on a visit to Harlingen in 1912. First called the Central Ward School, it is, in 1936, renamed the Sam Houston School.

1921 Luz Ramirez, later to be Mrs. Bennie Leal of San Benito, is the first student of Mexican ethnic origin to be graduated from Harlingen High School. In 1922 Alfred Lozano, later to be Doctor Lozano, is the first Hispanic boy to be graduated. He was graduated from the University of Texas, Columbia University and Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, then went on to study in France. While he practiced four years in Harlingen, he also spent time in Alabama and in Corpus Christi, where he died at the early age of 35 in 1939. He was responsible for converting the top floor of the Lozano Building into offices and instruction rooms for Harlingen's first business college.

What was to become the Matz building serves as a school from 1912 to 1950 then several years as a community center. Before a new separate high school is built in 1925, the school is taxed for room with Harlingen's increasing school population. Two wooden classroom buildings for early graders are constructed to the north of the brick edifice. They are later moved south of the Alamo School on F Street when it too requires more classrooms. In 1952, with its name by now changed to Sam Houston School the Central Ward is purchased and renovated into an office complex named the E.O. Matz Building.

James Matz recalls working for his grandfather when much of the wooden interior was removed to reduce fire hazards. In chipping bricks for 10 cents a piece in order to reclaim them, he encountered some marked with Lon C. Hill's kiln identification. This was a bar K (K), the same as Hill used as his cattle brand. Hill's brick kiln operations were semi-commercial in that he used much of the production for his own use. The kiln and clay source were adjacent to the Arroyo Colorado, likely where the Harlingen Thicket now exists.

Runyon's 1912 photos, some taken from the high 50,000 gallon steel water tower built in mid-1912, also show the brick building occupied by the Letzerichs. It is at the northeast corner of Commerce and Jackson and now currently occupied by an antique store. In its early days it served as an office for Dr. Caspar W. Letzerich, the Harlingen Pharmacy operated by his brother Hugo L., and a dentist, who was ensconced upstairs. Some sources attribute its construction, as early as 1909, to E. H. Waterwall, who built the Verser House as well as other early Harlingen buildings. Photos labeled the year 1910 already show this building in existence.

While the legend which was on the Lozano Building may not be entirely correct the structure deserved a marker because of its importance in Harlingen history. Readers are directed to a chapter on Santos Lozano and his brothers in "Rio Grande Roundup: Story of Texas Tropical Borderland (pp.167-174). The article is authored by Minnie Gilbert, and the book is to be found in the Harlingen Library. It includes a description of and an historic photograph of the building.

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Sad End to Railroad Depot
Norman Rozeff

The response by Roberta Lee to the VMS picture (10/28/04) of soldiers boarding a train in Harlingen filled a gap in the city's history. The Robert Runyon photograph was likely taken in 1916-17, a period when regular army and state national guard units were stationed in the Valley and Harlingen to quell border cross-border disturbances. Those in Harlingen included personnel of the 6th U.S. Cavalry; the 26th Infantry with its Companies A, D, F, G, J, and L together with a band, Field Hospital #5 and Ambulance Company #5; the 3rd Texas Infantry of the Texas National Guard with its Companies C, E, F, and H plus Field Hospital # 1.

Mrs. Lee notes that in 1979 she purchased the wooden building in the background of the picture. She tells us it was the yard office of the railroad, initially the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway then later its parent company, the Missouri Pacific System. With the information available to her at the time, she is correct in making that connection. Two Robert Runyon photos taken around 1909, however, reveal the building was initially the Harlingen Depot.

In mid-1904 when the railroad first arrived, it used a boxcar as its first station. Perhaps in the latter part of this year or in 1905 the more elaborate wooden building was erected between the tracks going north and south. The photograph indicates that the building had a brick chimney likely to exhaust smoke from a wood–burning stove needed to warm the waiting room on cold winter days. A metal filigree ornament decorates the peak of the roof and is one of the few artistic architectural elements on this utilitarian structure. A ten foot tall pole topped by a light is on the south side platform to illuminate it at night. Next to the two steps leading to the platform is a small handcart to move luggage. A ladder resting on a dormer leads to the base of a semaphore signal used to communicate with the locomotive engineers. The uppermost sign on the building designates the station as "Harlingen". The eye-level sign between the windows appears to provide the time schedules for passenger trains. On the building's west side is a telegraph/telephone pole.

By the time Runyon took his two 1916 photographs of embarking soldiers some minor changes had been made in the building. The light fixture on the platform had been removed and the semaphore signal has been relocated to a taller pole alongside the building. In the background is seen the two-story wooden Ogan Hotel with its verandas. With their three children Ben Franklin and Cora L. Ogan had come to Raymondville from Sedalia, Missouri to manage the railroad hotel there. In 1908 C.S. Moore had purchased the railroad's hotel in Harlingen. This year the Ogans moved to town to manage this hotel, which would become to be known as the Mooreland. That same year however they commenced to build the 22 room wood frame structure set back at 321 W. Jackson Street. It was razed in 1945. While Mr. Ogan had died in 1922, his widow not only still owned the hotel property in 1945 but also four adjacent lots.

Use of the wooden depot for passenger service was discontinued when a larger, handsome stucco covered depot was put up at Van Buren Street where no railroad track street crossing had yet to be constructed. This depot construction took place in the 1909 or early 1910. This is confirmed by the presence of the building in a Runyon photo but the absence of the city hall structure started in March 1910. The brick Lozano Building has also yet to be erected when the photo was taken. Various Runyon pictures of the new depot show it being landscaped and later when it is in use. The former depot was then put to use as a yard office.

Mrs. Lee moved the old yard office to a location on South Palm Drive 2.4 miles south of Business 83. Together with an old railroad passenger car and an old baggage/mail car, both set upon tracks, the complex was called Arroyo Express and served as a restaurant/gift shop. When arsonists, who had earlier burned out the two rail cars, then burned the depot building in August 2003, they destroyed what was likely Harlingen's oldest extant wooden building once used for commerce. This was a sad commentary for our community.

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Silk Stocking Row
Norman Rozeff
March 2004

It was in the period 1920 to 1939 that, as the professional people of Harlingen became more affluent, the city's first suburb develops just southeast of the business district. Substantial and beautiful houses are constructed on East Taylor Street along the so-called "silk stocking row." In general order of their appearance, these include: The pink-colored Southern Colonial brick with the steeply pitched roof is built by L.W. Hoskins in 1921 at 614 E. Taylor. It is the first house built on the street which was previously occupied by cotton fields. In 1926 the house was occupied by attorney Emory Polk Hornaway and his wife, who was principal of Austin School. He is at one point in the State house of Representatives, and his son Emery is state mascot for one year. A daughter would marry the famous magician, Harry Blackstone, Jr.

It is in 1925 that Miller Harwood arrives in Harlingen. He was born in Gonzales TX 12/18/87. He attended the U. of Virginia and UT, marrying Clair Leverton 11/24/09. He served as city treasurer, was Rotary Club president, and a member of the First Presbyterian Church. Together with L.W. Hoskins he will develop the East Taylor Street area.

In 1925 Dr. and Mrs. J.M. Green construct the two-story Colonial Revival house at 822 E. Taylor. They have been here two years. Born in Weimar, TX 11/19/87, he was educated at Northwestern U. in Chicago. He married Ruth Rylander 1/5/14. He is in investments and real estate. This Baptist is also a Rotarian, city commissioner of streets, and will have an office in the lobby of the Reese-Wil-Mond Hotel.

The Wyricks are by 1945 to own the 1925 Prairie style home on 822 E. Taylor. It was in 1923 that Otha Alton Wyrick, around 18 years old, arrives here. This native of Emerson, AK is to become a citrus grower and cotton farmer. Over the years he is deeply involved in civic endeavors including boy scouting, serving on boards, and with the Church of Christ. When he dies in April 1986 at age 81 he leaves his wife Anna Mote, son Michael of Harlingen, and two daughters.

The Italian villa style home built by W.T. Liston at 613 E. Taylor is for Oscar Nathan Joyner and his wife Anne Evelyn. The house was built in late 1925 and early 1926 for the Joyners who had come to Harlingen in 7/26/19 from Rosdale, TX. He became the first Valley agent for the Texas Co. (Texaco). This Presbyterian member was also a Mason and Shriner.The house was modeled on Boca Raton, FL homes designed by Addison Mizner, a famous architect of the day. The Joyner family owned it to the early 1980s when the new owner completely restored it. O.N. Joyner was born in Rockdale, TX 9/1/91 and attended high school there. He married Annie E. McCalla on 7/15/13. Training under C.W. Blackwell she is one of the first women in Texas to obtain an aviation license. Her husband purchases a plane for her.

At 902 is the 1926 Spanish Colonial Revival home of Mr. and Mrs. B. Manning Holland. He is the executive vice president of the Valley State Bank.

At 617 E. Taylor is the Georgian style 1927 home of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Franklin Johnson. He is vice president and cashier for the First National Bank of Harlingen but by 1937 he will have left his wife, who is a Spanish teacher, a widow.

The first Harlingen Ford automobile dealer Bob Hollingsworth and his wife own the 1927 Georgian brick mansion at 701 Taylor. It boasted Harlingen's first private swimming pool. In 1935 it was purchased by real estate developer Sid Berly and his wife. Berly is attracted to the Valley in the year 1920. He is a native of Mansfield, LA having been born there 8/23/96 to a father, C.J., who was a stockraiser. Berley was to marry Marion Elizabeth Walker of Lake Charles on 3/18/17. They had one daughter, who was given the same name as her mother. Although he studied law for two years he never completed his studies. Instead he became a representative for the Willys-Knight Motor Co. As president and general manager of Valley Properties, Inc. located in the Reese-Wil-Mond Hotel he becomes a potent factor in the development of both agricultural and city land in the Valley, especially around Harlingen. He serves as Chamber of Commerce president in 1946-47 and is a Rotary member. In 1952 he is president of Adams Garden.

Around 1928 William L. (Bill) Trammel moves into the English stone house at 1022. He was owner, president and general manager of the Valley Baking Company with its Rainbo brand and later was in top management with the Holsum Baking Company here.

At 618 Mr. and Mrs. Hoskins own their own two story timber frame Georgian style house which they build in 1929. In the 1940s the home is purchased by Mr. and Mrs. McHenry Tichenor. This radio pioneer is to go on to establish a huge radio-television empire founded on Spanish language programming.

At 717 E. Taylor Josephine and Fred Flynn own the 1929 Spanish stucco house until 1957. The latter, who is a principal in the Rio Grande Saving and Loan Company as well as in insurance, will go on to build a beautiful home in the newly developing Parkwood area.

At 917 E. Taylor John and Anne Morris live in their 1930 two story Spanish Colonial stucco house. It has solid wood-hewn beams in its living room. He is a produce buyer, packer, and shipper. It remained in the family until 1968. The house is now owned by Attorney Graham McCullough and his wife Anne.

In the early 30s Mr. and Mrs. Grafton Burdette live in a two story Southern Colonial frame home at 905 E. Taylor. He is a mortician and owner of Kriedler-Ashcraft Funeral home.

Under construction for R.L. and Ola Hill as the Hurricane of 1933 strikes is a Spanish Colonial Revival home at 1102 Taylor. It has notable architectural elements including arched doorways, and windows and a hand-carved front door. The panels of the mesquite door show brush as the explorers found it here, ranch scenes, brush clearing and the introduction of water, and citrus and palm trees. The Hills had come to town in 1928, he from Indiana and she from Oklahoma. He ran the ice plant partnership with Mr. Martin, and they have prosperous branches across the Valley. He is also to be a partner with H. E. Butt in constructing the huge food processing plant at F Street and West Jackson. Eleanor Roosevelt was entertained here as was Gov. W. Lee O'Daniel.

Added in 1933 or 34 is J.L. and Maude Teas' 602 E. Taylor Mexican hacienda style home. He is a salesman with the Washmon Motor Company.

It was in 1935 that the home at 721 was built by William E. Armstrong for Thomas Read Williams, Sr.and his wife Jimmie Davis Williams. It is a Georgian style frame house. Williams, who came here in 1925, was a pharmacist and opened the Rio Grande Pharmacy on the ground floor of the Baxter Building in 1929. He was the first pharmacist in Harlingen to possess a college degree, his from the University of North Carolina. The Williams' son Thomas Read Williams, Jr. became a well-known children's dentist in Harlingen while their daughter, Patricia Williams Speer, followed in her father's footsteps and for many years in Harlingen was a pharmacist.

At 702 E. Taylor, J. Lewis and Maude Boggus construct a Southern Colonial frame house for $9,000 in 1939. Boggus had come to the Valley in 1917. Here he owned and operated Ford and Lincoln-Mercury dealerships, was president of the Chamber of Commerce, and promoted highways and schools. The city's largest stadium, east of Memorial Middle School, is named in his honor. The house was sold in the late 1940s. Forrest Runnels, one of the founders of Tropical Savings and Loan Co. and the Valley Beverage Co. is later to own it.

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Soldiers Stationed in Harlingen, 1915-1916, and Some of Their Actions

Norman Rozeff

In contending with non-conformist combatants in Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. Military is in confrontations paralleling those the military faced in the Rio Grande Valley in the second decade of the 20th century. In that period those contending went by numerous names and acted for various ideologies.  Some were poorly-regulated militia involved in the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920).  Others were seditionists (Sediciosos) fomenting a rebellion with the goal of creating a new republic north of the U.S.–Mexico border. Still others were local residents, primarily ranchers, trying to protect themselves and their properties from loosely-controlled Texas Rangers, unscrupulous Valley lawmen, and others involved in vigilantism. Still more were simply thieves, robbers, and brigands. 

When on October 19, 1915 the U.S. government under President Woodrow Wilson officially recognized Carranza as the head of Mexico it believed cross-border disturbances would cease. They didn't.  Fortunately Gen. Frederick W. Funston, upon request, had in early August begun to receive sufficient military help to supplement his 300 troops at Fort Brown. Soon Funston dispersed 14,000 troops along the South Texas border. Additional National Guard units from various states would supplement these soldiers.

Briefly here is some information concerning the troops in Harlingen:

4/14  By this date troops are already being stationed in Harlingen, since Texas Governor Oscar Branch Colquitt has sent national guard units to the Valley to ease border tensions which have escalated. 

1/19/15  With the area still fairly quiet servicemen were able to arrange for an inter-service football match.  The 12^th Cavalry at Harlingen played the Coast Artillery contingent from Brownsville to a 13:13 tie. Lt. Burwell was the Harlingen's team captain and quarterback. He played well as did W. Largent and lineman Gee.

5/18/16  It is reported in the newspapers that Brig. Gen. James Parker is to establish his headquarters in Brownsville.  He is to command the three regiments of Texas militia being sent to the Valley.  Two of these regiments will remain in the lower Valley.

1915-17  Soldiers of the 6th U.S. Cavalry, 26th Infantry, and the  3rd Texas National Guard are stationed in Harlingen as part of efforts to quell border unrest. They even have several field hospitals for the minimum of 12 companies involved here. The muster of Texas National Guard officers (158) and enlisted men (3,572) had begun on May 16, 1916 after which they were mobilized at Fort Wilson near San Antonio.  It is now Fort Sam Houston.  Second and Third Regiments of Infantry and Field Hospital were stationed all along the lower Rio Grande Valley from Harlingen to Roma. On 8/3/16 on the orders of Major A.R. Sholars, Companies K and L of the Third Texas Infantry are moved by truck from San Benito into Harlingen as the first step in consolidating all Texas troops into Harlingen.  On August 6 the City Council orders a committee of three to consult with Texas State Adjutant General Hulen for plans of cooperation between the general and the City Council and the City Health Officer regarding the camp site. [Brigadier General John Augustus Hulen was later to organize and command the 36th Division in World War I. His profession was a railroad executive, but since joining the Third Texas Volunteer Infantry as a private in1887 he had frequently been called back to active duty.  He held the position of adjutant general from 1902 until his retirement in 1907.  He was recalled in 1916 as commander of the Sixth Separate Brigade.] This month the city appoints a City Health Officer to overlook the soldiers.  The city provides the camp with free water and lights.

The Sixth Cavalry Camp site covered what would now be several city blocks.  It approximately encompassed the area between 3rd and 4th Streets and ran north to south between Jefferson Street at the edge of City Lake to Monroe Street. A goodly number of tents are lined up in orderly fashion. A large corral area bordered by what are now Madison and Monroe and 2nd and 3rd Streets serves to pen the horses. 

One Robert Runyon photo is labeled "The Twelfth Cavalry Camp."  It shows a modest number of tents adjacent to and on the west side of the rail tracks between where Adams and Washington Streets meet Commerce. This may have been only a temporary bivouac for this unit.

South Texas Lumber Company account records of early 1916-17 provide a record of some of the units stationed in Harlingen.  These include Companies A, D, F, G, J, and L of the 26th Infantry and Companies C, E, F, and H of the 3rd Texas National Guard (and later K and L). These are supported by Field Hospital #5, Field Hospital #1 Texas National Guard, and Ambulance Company #5.  In addition to the 6th U. S. Cavalry, there is also the 26th Infantry Band.  The officers of the 26th Infantry have organized an Officers' Club.

In the greater Harlingen area, matters would be quite unsettled for a three month period in mid-1915.  The same held true for the remainder of the lower Valley.  Frank Cushman Pierce, in his Texas Last Frontier was, among others, to document a list of unlawful incidents. Those that were in the surrounds of Harlingen included the following:

It was 7/17/15 that a band of riders, previously reported in the vicinity of the north county line, killed Bernard Boley, a young man.  On 7/25/15 persons unknown set fire and burned a St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway railroad bridge just south of Sebastian.  On July 31, 1915 a bandit raid on the Los Indios Ranch had resulted in the death of one person, Joe Maria Benavides.  On August 3, 1915 rangers and deputy sheriffs attacked a ranch near Paso Real and, because they were alleged to be bandits, killed unarmed Desiderio Flores, and one son who came to his defense.  Returning the next day, the vengeful and errant lawmen killed a second son whom his eighteen year old sister, Josefina tried to hide. Two days later on 8/6, fourteen armed men robbed the Alexander Store in Sebastian, then at a nearby granary picked up A.L. Austin and his son Charlie.  They were taken to their house which was then robbed.  After assuring Mrs. Austin that her men would be safe, the robbers drove them away in a wagon manned by a young man named Elmer Millard. The Austins were then shot to death, but Millard was released. A day later Charles Jensen, a night watchman at the Lyford gin, is wounded by a band of Mexicans.

Caesar Kleburg, manager of the King Ranch, was becoming leery of the ranch being targeted despite its distance from the border. After a report of up to a party of 60 outlaws, later said to be led by Luis de la Rosa, being in the vicinity of the Las Norias station along the railroad line in the King Ranch, Adj. Gen. of Texas Henry Hutchings, State Ranger Captains J.M. Fox and Henry Ransom, other State Rangers, and Captain George J. Head were dispatched north from Brownsville in a special train to overtake them. The date was August 8, 1915. With their arms and ammunition D.P. Gay, Marcus Hinds and Joe Taylor, mounted Custom Inspectors, and Gordon Hill, Deputy Sheriff of Cameron County, boarded the next regular train headed north.  Eight U.S. Soldiers, who were stationed in Harlingen with the cavalry, were posted at the Las Norias division headquarters while the remainder of the first party took off toward Sauz Ranch in a search operation. At the ranch house were two Mexican cowboys, the Mexican ranch carpenter and his wife, the Negro ranch cook and his wife and two Mexican women. After their evening meal most of the defenders had positioned themselves behind the railroad embankment in anticipation of any bandits.  They were soon in a confrontation, for the bandits approached the premise unaware that it was manned. In this action 70 miles north of Brownsville, some of the bandits slipped into the house where one older woman was soon killed by the bandits after an angry confrontation.  Ranch foreman Frank Martin, an old ranger, was badly wounded in the 2 1/2 hour battle, but Lauro Cavazos, another ranch hand escaped injury. The ranch carpenter was shot through a lung and one of the soldiers, who had been wounded and taken out of action, was again shot, this time in a leg as he lay on a cot. Five attackers were killed in the firefight and later two others who were badly wounded were captured.  Unbeknownst to one another, both sides were running low on ammunition. The wounding of a bandit leader may also have dampened the morale of the attackers and precipitated their withdrawal. After midnight two dozen dismounted cavalrymen, several civilian officers, Sheriffs Vann and Baker, Lamar Gill, and Lon C. Hill arrived at the scene long after the action with the Sediciosos had concluded. Striking photos were taken the next day.  They showed mounted lawmen lauding it over the dead bodies of the bandits. The bodies were lassoed and appeared to be ready to be dragged to a burial site. Six more said to have died after crossing into Mexico. A later report put the number of bandits at 79.  They were well armed, some with 7mm Mousers, and had good ammunition.

After an army contingent of 16 was attacked on October 21, 1915 at Ojo de Agua near Mission, three killed and eight wounded, Major General Frederick Funston, Commanding General Southern Department, "asked for another regiment of infantry to be placed in Harlingen to act as a guard so that the size of each cavalry patrol could be increased.  The War Department complied by sending the 28th Infantry from Dallas.", this according to historian Charles Cumberland.

 2/19/15  Captain A.O.P. Anderson commanding Troop B of the 12^th Cavalry thanks Lon C. Hill for suggesting willow poles for erection of a corral and then permitting the cutting of them from his property.

On 6/30/16 army engineers of the 2^nd Division of the US Engineer Corps sent from Washington DC arrived in Harlingen together with a trainload of pontoons. These could be used to forge the Rio Grande should a large military expedition force cross into Mexico.

Although major actions tapered off, incidents still took place into September.  It was 9/2 when a raider band clashed with cavalry near Harlingen. On 9/10 residents near Lyford were attacked but repulsed the raiders, killing two of them.  On 9/13 just before daybreak, the Galveston Ranch southwest of Harlingen was surrounded.  Nine sleeping soldiers were fired upon.  In the skirmish Pvt. Anthony Kraft of the 3rd U.S. Cavalry was killed and two other soldiers wounded, but the attackers were driven off.  Later that day the soldiers apprehended five Mexican ethnics living at the ranch and arrested them.  They were taken to San Benito and turned over to the deputy sheriff who jailed them.  That night at about 9:30 pm the deputy sheriffs took three of the prisoners and started out on the road to Harlingen.  The next morning the three Mexicans were found dead, having been summarily executed.  The encompassing word for this is "lynched". At the end of the month on 9/28 a woman living near Harlingen was attacked by two and wounded in her forearm.

As time passed, the individuals responsible for the disturbances were greatly outnumbered by U. S. soldiers, therefore no set battles were instigated by raiding forces, which could range in size up to 60 to 80 men. The Federal military frowned upon vigilantism and eventually brought a semblance of order and moderation to the chaotic situation.

Historian Benjamin Heber Johnson tells us in his Revolution in Texas".  "Although the identities of most raiders were usually completely unknown, army officers sometimes suspected former Sediciosos.  This was the case in a December 1917 incident, when a cavalry unit near Harlingen shot at five men attempting to cross the Rio Grande.  They killed one of the men who, an officer stated, 'may be one Mariano Casarez, wanted by civil authorities for charges of banditry…connected with de la Rosa and Pizaña in their raids of 1915.' "

One of the major area losses said to be perpetrated by bandits was that of Lon C. Hill's sugar mill.  Located in what is now Lon C. Hill Park and the present site of the baseball stadium, the uninsured wooden-clad mill and adjacent warehouse were burned to the ground on July 17, 1917. It had cost at least $125,000 to erect in 1911.

The 26th U.S. Infantry was under the command of Col. R.L. Bullard.  The 3rd U.S. Cavalry was under the command of Col. A. P. Blocksom who had been commanding officer of the LRGV from June 1914.  By the end of July 1916 the 2nd Texas Infantry in Harlingen was under the command of Col. B. F. Delameter and the 3rd Texas Infantry in Harlingen under Col. George P. Rains. One early AZO photo postcard shows a crude wooden structure about 16' by 12'. This appears to be the quarters for officers.  Next to it is a tent of similar size with a fly to divert rain. In front of these is an open convertible car with an enlisted man driver.  Standing beside it, as the label indicates, is Col. Gaston, 6th Cav., Harlingen, Tex. He is not otherwise noted in any records found to-date.

Accounts with the South Texas Lumber Company indicate the names of some of the soldiers stationed in Harlingen during the Border Trouble period.  These include:

Major A.R. Sholars                                          Lieutenant Purcell

Major J.G. Jenning                                           Lieutenant J.L. Redmond

Captain O.P. Storm of Dallas                           Lieutenant W.R. Wheeler

Captain John B. Chambers                               Lieutenant Malony

Captain W. B. Breedlove                                  Sergeant Furman

Captain B. Compton                                         Sergeant Vincent

Captain Everett Hughes                                    Sergeant G.M. Roper

When the U.S. began to prepare for its entrance into the Great War (World War II) troops stationed in the Valley began to be withdrawn.  This accelerated when the country joined the war in April 1917.  Even so the border remained in an unsettled state of fear and suspicion.

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Summary History of the Harlingen Army Airfield and Harlingen Air Force Base

With the depressed U. S. economy still lingering into the late 1930s, the city fathers of Harlingen, Texas sought to attract federal funds to the area in 1938.

By 1940, and with war on the horizon in 1941, defense concerns escalated. On May 3, 1941 the War Department then accepted Harlingen’s invitation to establish a military airfield on the 960 acres being offered. The following month the lease was approved, and authorization was made for construction of a flexible gunnery school at the field. The initial allocation for the project was $3,770,295. The facility would reach nearly 1,600 acres in size by 1944.

The facility eventually accommodated 6,500 trainees, and at peak operation carried a maximum load of 9,000.

The Harlingen Army Gunnery School received its first assigned cadre in August 1941. Its primary mission, with an initial student load of 600, was that of training aerial gunnery students in a five week (extended to six weeks in 1943) training program. Thousands were trained until the school, one of three such types in the country, closed in 1945. During its existence, expansion of its facilities, such as barracks and technical installations, regularly continued. Graduates served on B17s, B24s, B25s, and B29s among other aircraft. In the 3 ½ years it operated the school trained over 48,000 airmen.

Upon the closure of the field in February 1946 numerous surplus buildings were sold and then transported to other parts of the Valley to be put to good use by civilians.

The initiation of the Korean War in June 1950 brought new priorities to the military. By April 1, 1952 the field was re-activated to serve the U.S. Air Force. The primary mission of the now Harlingen Air Force Base was to train navigators. Course time was initially 28 weeks, later extended to 32 weeks, and finally in 1960 to 38 weeks for Aviation Cadets.

On 3/30/61 it was announced that the Base with its 245 buildings would be closed and phased out by the end of 1962. By the time of the last graduating class in June 1962, 13,355 students had been graduated by the Navigation School.

The impact of the military installations on Harlingen’s economy is told by the statistics. From a city with a population of 13,235 in 1941 it had grown to 41,000 by 1960. At this point the Base had 2,300 military personnel and 801 civilian employees. The payroll was approximately $25 million a year, and a total expenditure of $15 million more being made in the lower Rio Grande Valley.

The loss of the Base severely impacted Harlingen. By 1972 its population had dipped to 33,603. The sale of 1,400 houses in 1963 depressed the real estate market for years to follow. It took a period of years before the former Base’s facilities were fully utilized by an industrial air park, Valley International Airport, Texas State Technical Institute, the Marine Military Academy, and other uses.

In a little over 14 combined years that the military facilities were in operation, they were a source of pride and joy to the city of Harlingen. The interaction between the military and the citizens of the area was one of mutual admiration and regard. All deserve to be remembered.

Norman Rozeff, Harlingen Historical Preservation Society, January 2003

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The Art of Naming Streets
Norman Rozeff

With Harlingen rapidly growing in every direction, subdivision and city officials are challenged to come up with names for streets, avenues, drives, boulevards, circles, lanes, and roads. When the new 1910 Harlingen township was relatively compact, a systematic plan for naming could be instituted. The very first street was in essence a trail. This was the three mile long sendero which Lon C. Hill had cut to access his lands. It ran from what is now Loop 499 to what is currently the Valley Vista Mall. This east-west thoroughfare became Harrison Avenue and has remained one of the city's main arteries.

When the edge of town ended just north of City Lake, the east-west streets commenced there and continued to the south. The choice of names was easy. The city fathers began with U.S. presidents in their order of taking office. Washington was first, of course, and in time the list reached the name of Calvin Coolidge before the Arroyo Colorado intervened. A few presidents were short-changed. John Adams and John Quincy Adams had to share one avenue as did William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison, and Theodore and Franklin Delano as well. The sometimes controversial Rutherford B. Hayes receives shortshrift here. His name is misspelled as "Hays" on street signs as well as on street maps.

Politicians and those in public service always get their share of recognition. So it is that Texas governors Pat Neff, Sul Ross, and Jim Hogg have street names here as do former Harlingen mayors Woods ( this is a misspelling; it should be Wood for Mayor C. Worth Wood), Hode, Washmon, Kroeger, Botts, Roberts and Parker. The streets named for mayors are in northwestern Harlingen near Palm Valley.

In late 1922 or early 1923 E.C. Bennett, manager of utilities and in charge of city equipment including that for fire fighting, authorized street name changes. East of the intersection of Harrison and Commerce the north-south streets were assigned consecutive numbers and west of this intersection alphabet letters in order from "A". At this time existing street names were lost. These were Mexico Street which became F Street and moving east Matamoros, Hidalgo, Winchell, Bell, Hill, Fordyce, Brookings, Van Arsdale, Beggs, Vanderbilt, Bennett, Whitaker (7th), Bryan (9th) and Regin (10th). Bell was named after Dr.S. H. Bell, who was Hill's best friend. Fordyce, Brookings, and Whitaker were backers of the Valley railroads. Brookings went on to fame for his philantropy and the founding of the Brookings Institute. Van Arsdale was another railroad man though with no known Valley connections. Vanderbilt was William K. Vanderbilt, an eastern capitalist who visited the Valley and whom Lon. C. Hill may have been trying to entice to invest here. He was the second son of Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt, the shipping and railroad tycoon. William occupied a famous mansion in Newport, RI and was the father of the famed beauty, Consuelo. Bryan was possible William Jennings Bryan, a friend of Lon C. Hill, several time presidential candidate on the Democratic ticket, and whom Hill had interested in buying land near Mission. The connections for the other names, other than Bennett, are not known. The correct numbering of houses was also accomplished thereby paving the way for home delivery of mail.

Lettered streets now extend west to V Street. It is doubtful that anyone would want to live on "X" Street should it come into being. The numbered streets would eventually move from the city boundary at 13th Street east now to 32nd Street, however 18, 20, 22, 30, and 31 are non-existing. One day when farm land is subdivided they may come into existence.

When John McKelvey laid out his Laurel Park Subdivision in the early 1950s it was one of the first indications of expanded growth. Streets in this area were named after native trees and shrubs such as cenizo, lantana, ebony, mesquite, and elm(wood). Out-of-state tree names were used in the subdivision north of Pendleton Park and also in Treasure Hills.

The Citrus Terrace-WhiteHouse Circle Subdivision selected names of Texas patriots such as Austin, Crockett, and Bowie, then resorted to women's names, often those related to the developer. The latter was also favored in other subdivisions. Fannin, Travis, Lamar, and Sam Houston are other Texas patriots recognized by street names elsewhere in the city.

When the area south of Expressway 77/83 and around Rangerville Road belatedly came into being, the names assigned were those of states and in alphabetical order west to east. Some states were favored; other omitted. When Ed Carey was reached the thought was to rename it Pennsylvania, but history and public opinion overrode this change.

It was in 1919 that Wiley Edgar and Adella Carey had arrived in Harlingen with their 20 year old son James Edmond (Ed) Carey. The following year Ed returned to Throckmorton, TX to marry and bring his bride, Monterey McCay, to Harlingen. He then builds and furnishes for her a two story California style house where Ed Carey Drive now meets Expressway 77/83. He plants 200 acres of citrus in the area and later also grows cotton and vegetables. His first attempt to operate a service station located at North Commerce near the old jail ends in failure. Later however he will successfully own and operate two or three service stations around Harlingen. This First Baptist Church member will support the Boy Scouts and be very active with the Kiwanis Club. His strong faith will encourage his young brother-in-law, L.B. McCay to take up the ministry. He and Monterey have two children, Isla Lou (later Mrs. Wallace C. Athey) and son James Edmond Carey, Jr. After recovering miraculously from a cerebral hemorrhage and semi-paralysis in 1950, Ed, a native of Caddo, TX, will die in late November 1951 at age 52. When the expressway is constructed in the 1950s, the Carey homestead is demolished. Mrs. Carey then builds a smaller residence on her property to the south. She will die in 1978.

Similar to Ed Carey, every street name has a history or story to tell but many have been lost over time. Markowsky is near where the family of that name once farmed. Despite its Polish-sounding name, the family is of German ethnicity. Matz Avenue is named for that family. They lived on the west end where the street intersects with Business 77. When the latter was widened in the early 50s, the Matz home had to be moved several lots east. Morgan Blvd. is named for Col. John R. Morgan. He was the first base commander at the Harlingen Army Airfield and later retired in Harlingen. The construction of the boulevard greatly shortened the travel time from downtown to the base. Dilworth Road is named after the R.S. Dilworth Ranch which existed across the Arroyo Colorado at the very south end of the present road. Mr. Dilworth was ranching here by 1908.

Other streets in Harlingen and the vicinity were named after prominent business people and others of accomplishment. These include Pittman, Davis, Flynn, Ferree, Lozano, Baker-Potts, Brazil, Garrett, Pendleton, (Dr. Pierre) Wilson, Rodgers, Simmons, and Stuart. Grimes may be named after J.R. Grimes, who was vice-president of the Cameron County Water District in 1928 but may have been deceased by 1930.

The city will continue to expand, at least in three directions. As a result new street construction will offer opportunities for imaginative, creative naming.

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The Broadway Theatre League of Harlingen and Its Successors
Some brief historic notes compiled by Norman Rozeff, Harlingen Historical Preservation Society, May 2004.

6/21/59 The Broadway Theater League, a project of the Harlingen Junior Chamber of Commerce (Jaycees), announces a season offering four productions in an effort to expose local audiences to exciting Broadway productions. Charles Feldman is co-chairman of the League. His family owns a chain of alcoholic beverage retail stores in the Valley. For the 1959-60 season apparently only two works, both serious, are booked. They are "Odd Man In" and "Dark Angel".

"The Andersonville Trials", another serious drama is presented on 11/7/60. This is followed by lighter fair as the season continues. First, on 12/15/60, comes the musical "Fiorello" about the colorful New York City mayor, Fiorello Laguardia. On 2/2/61 "The Pleasure of His Company" is put on, and this is followed on 3/15/61 by "Once Upon a Mattress." Season tickets range in price from $8.00 to $17.00, depending upon the attractiveness of seating.

"Thurbers Carnival", light-hearted fare, is presented on 4/7/62. The following season sees "The Sound of Music" being performed on 1/28/63. This followed a special presentation by the radio commentator and raconteur, Paul Harvey. This took place 9/12/62 at the Casa de Sol.

In the 1963-64 season, the very popular musical "Camelot" is staged at a cost of $16,000.

On 6/19/04 Henry Guettel Productions of New York confirmed the English musical "Oliver" for 1/8/65. This production is based on Charles Dicken's "Oliver Twist." Jules Munshin took the lead role. The profits on Oliver were split with the first $3,500 going to the production company, the next $1,500 to the Jaycees, and the remainder being a 70-30 split between the producers and the Jaycees respectively.

An earlier production on 11/24/64 is to be "Never Too Late" starring Penny Singleton and Lyle Talbot. Miss Singleton is the Hollywood actress who, together with Arthur Lake, played in the movie series "Blondie" based on Cy Young's comic strip of the same name.

Tickets this season ranged from $2.00 to $5.95 for individual performances to $4.50 to $10.90 for both attractions.

The 1965-66 saw the comedy "The Odd Couple" being performed on 1/25/66. Later either "Luv" or "Generation" was presented. In 1966 the League began working with American Theatre Productions, Inc. of New York City.

On 4/21/66 saw the performance by Victor Borge, world-renowned Danish comedian and pianist. The Performing Arts, Inc. of New York, Chicago, and elsewhere book him from Dancia Enterprises, Inc. His act required a Steinway piano, which had to be rented from Bledsoe Music of Corpus Christi and transported to and from Harlingen. This instrument is valued at $7,355 and costs $100 to tune. Mr. Borge's fee was $3,000 against 65% of the total box office receipts less taxes. Potential gross was put at $10,100 for a potential seating of 2,026.

The endeavor has its ups and downs. By the 1980s the C of C takes over the handling of this enterprise with the production of "Chorus Line" being its first show. After the revamping of the Municipal Auditorium in the 1990s, the City Parks Dept. assumes responsibilities for the booking and scheduling of productions. These are expanded to encompass productions suitable for children in addition to those presented for an adult audience.

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The Butt House on East Taylor Street
Norman Rozeff
March 2004

In January a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark plaque was erected in front of the home at 718 East Taylor Street. It was authorized by the Texas State Historical Commission in 2000. The legend on the marker reads:

Howard E. and Mary Butt House

John D. Townsend, who had the house built, was an agent for the Kansas Life Insurance Co. The two story brick house originally had a blue tile roof and still retains Austrian glass chandeliers, ornate plaster moldings, a stained glass window, spiral entry columns, and parquet and oak floors. The Butts added the tennis courts on the west side.

Brief histories of both Howard and his wife Mary are worth recounting. He was born in Tennessee in 1895. His father was a pharmacist, who because he suffered from tuberculosis, moved the family to Kerrville where the climate was thought to be drier. Howard's mother, Florence, opened a small grocery store there in 1905 in order to support the family of five. By age sixteen Howard, the youngest of three boys, began to manage the store. He was a smart young man and was valedictorian of Tivy High School when he was graduated in 1914.

He gave himself the middle name Edward before enlisting in the U. S. Navy in World War I. Howard served in the years 1917-19 and for part of his service was an aide to the commandant of the Great Lakes Naval Station. Returning to Kerrville he joined his mother in managing the store which in 1921 he converted to cash and carry, then a risky venture when his competitors were still offering credit.

He attempted to expand into other towns and even into animal feed, but all his enterprises failed. His marriage to Mary Elizabeth Holdsworth of Kerrville in late 1924 appeared to change his luck. In 1926 he opened a successful store in Del Rio. Borrowing $38,000 he purchased three small stores in the Rio Grande Valley. By 1935 he began calling them the H. E. Butt Grocery Company but by then had already begun expanding, such as entering Corpus Christi in 1931. It was in 1946 that the stores began to carry the H.E.B. sign, later updating the logo to H-E-B.

In Harlingen he teamed with R. L. Hill, the ice manufacturer here, and together in 1928 they built the giant canning factory of several hundred thousand square feet. It still stands at Jackson and F Streets. This factory served the company well for it produced over 55 products and was especially valuable in the World War II food effort. It employed over 1,500 people during its peak periods. Van Snell, who served the city in numerous civic capacities, was cannery manager for decades.

As early as 1933, Mr. Butt who was a Mason and devout Baptist, established the H.E. Butt Foundation which helped pioneer philanthropic foundations in Texas. Together with his wife Mary, who had been born in Loma Vista, TX into a large family, they began projects that would address the health and educational needs of South Texas families.

They provided seed money for libraries, tennis courts, and swimming pools for smaller South Texas communities. Later he would serve on several college boards.

Mr. Butt assisted greatly in developing the new Valley Baptist Hospital, the Harlingen Public Library, boy scouting, in the establishment of the TB Hospital here, and donated the original building housing the RGV Museum. He died at age ninety-five on March 12,1991.

Mary Butt, when living in the Valley, worked vigorously to promote programs dealing with crippled children and child welfare as well as pushing tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment. She brought the first equipment to the Valley to evaluate hearing and vision for elementary school children. After moving to Corpus Christi she continued with numerous charitable and civic endeavors. Her work was recognized with honorary doctorate degrees and many awards. She died October 6, 1993 at age 90.

How did this and other beautiful Taylor Street houses come to be? Learn more next week about Silk Stocking Row.

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A History of the Harlingen Army Airfield
and
Harlingen Air Force Base
Norman Rozeff
Harlingen Historical and Preservation Society
January 2003

Summary

With the depressed U. S. economy still lingering into the late 1930s, the city fathers of Harlingen, Texas sought to attract federal funds to the area in 1938.

By 1940, and with war on the horizon in 1941, defense concerns escalated. On May 3, 1941 the War Department then accepted Harlingen’s invitation to establish a military airfield on the 960 acres being offered. The following month the lease was approved, and authorization was made for construction of a flexible gunnery school at the field. The initial allocation for the project was $3,770,295. The facility would reach nearly 1,600 acres in size by 1944.

The facility eventually accommodated 6,500 trainees, and at peak operation carried a maximum load of 9,000.

The Harlingen Army Gunnery School received its first assigned cadre in August 1941. Its primary mission, with an initial student load of 600, was that of training aerial gunnery students in a five week (extended to six weeks in 1943) training program. Over 48,000 soldiers were trained until the school, one of three such types in the country, closed in 1945. During its existence, expansion of its facilities, such as barracks and technical installations, regularly continued. Graduates served on B17s, B24s, B25s, and B29s among other aircraft.

Upon the closure of the field numerous surplus buildings were sold and then transported to other parts of the Valley to be put to good use by civilians.

The initiation of the Korean War in June 1950 brought new priorities to the military. By April 1, 1952 the field was re-activated to serve the U.S. Air Force. The primary mission of the now Harlingen Air Force Base was to train navigators. Course time was initially 28 weeks, later extended to 32 weeks, and finally in 1960 to 38 weeks for Aviation Cadets.

On 3/30/61 it was announced that the Base with its 245 buildings would be closed and phased out by the end of 1962. By the time of the last graduating class in June 1962, 13,355 students had been graduated by the Navigation School.

The impact of the military installations on Harlingen’s economy is told by the statistics. From a city with a population of 13,235 in 1941 it had grown to 41,000 by 1960. At this point the Base had 2,300 military personnel and 801 civilian employees. The payroll was approximately $25 million a year, and a total expenditure of $15 million more being made in the lower Rio Grande Valley.

The loss of the Base severely impacted Harlingen. By 1972 its population had dipped to 33,603. The sale of 1,400 houses in 1963 depressed the real estate market for years to follow. It took a period of years before the former Base’s facilities were fully utilized by an industrial air park, Valley International Airport, Texas State Technical Institute, the Marine Military Academy, and other uses.

In a little over 14 combined years that the military facilities were in operation, they were a source of pride and joy to the city of Harlingen. The interaction between the military and the citizens of the area was one of mutual admiration and regard. All deserve to be remembered.

The History

During World War II and the Korean Conflict, the sixty five military air bases in Texas played a significant role. The air base in Harlingen, Texas was no exception.

As the poor economy wrought by the early 1930s depression persisted to the end of the decade, Harlingen suffered along with the rest of the nation. When wars in Europe and the Far East commenced at this time, the city fathers expedited their efforts, which had begun in 1938, to improve the area’s economic climate. U. S. defense concerns by 1940 made the location of a military training facility at Harlingen a real option. The relatively flat terrain was not suitable for armor units but would be ideal for air training.

The story of what transpired at the field’s formation and subsequently is best told by Harlingen’s unofficial historian emeritus, Verna Jackson McKenna, as she relates it in the Harlingen Golden Anniversary Celebration April 24-30 [1960], Official Program (Appendix 1, excerpt pp.39-44; see also Appendix 2). Mrs. McKenna was intimately involved with the Harlingen Army Airfield, since she served as librarian at the field from 1943 to 1946. See a short biography of her in Appendix 3. Her exposition, which should be read at this point, forms a detailed chronicle of the military operations at the airfield, and later Base, in the years 1940 through early 1960. The following information is both complementary to and supplementary to Mrs. McKenna’s history.

The Army Air Corps became the Army Air Forces on 20 June 1941 and obtained quasi autonomy in March 1942. Its bases were designated as army airfields, but later usage termed them air fields, two words rather than one.

Early in the base’s creation individuals assigned to it often referred to the facility as the B-26 Flexible Gunnery School. In 1993 documents of the Department of Army Southwest Division Corps of Engineers relating to the closure and remediation of the Base, the physical plant and nature of some of the training activities are spelled out.

The War Department acquired 992.52 leased acres from the City of Harlingen in 1941 and an acquisition of 583.80 acres fee during 1943 and 1944. To quote from the document:

The Harlingen Army Airfield was used for gunnery training in World War II. Students learned to fire the .30-caliber machine gun. This weapon was hand-held and fired by the student from the rear cockpit of an AT-6 aircraft (See picture of this aircraft in Appendix 4). The base later received B-34 aircraft. This twin engine plane, known as the Ventura, was generally utilized for bombardment training and patrol duty. With its arrival students will be taught to fire the twin .30 caliber machine gun from the turret mount on the plane.

Gunnery practice was carried out by having the student fire at a sleeve target which was towed by an AT-6. Students were also taught strafing techniques. A series of shop silhouettes were installed offshore near South Padre Island, and students fired at these water targets from B-34 and AT-6 aircraft.

Former cotton and grain sorghum fields on the Harlingen clay soil series with its relatively flat terrain were gradually transformed into a major airstrip facility. By 1943 the base had five runways, the longest of which was 6,000 feet or over one mile in length. (See some overall base photographs in Appendix 5).

As part of the logistical support for the facility there were twelve underground storage tanks (UST). Six had 25,000 gallon capacities, five 2,000 gallons and one 5,000 gallons. In addition there was one 6,500 steel UST for gasoline as well as a 2,000 gallon above-ground one.

One of the field’s earliest contractors was Ready Mix Concrete, which was to grow greatly from its modest July 1941 sales. At that time, founder Hill Cocke was furnishing the base using two small mixer trucks with a total capacity of less than 100 cubic yards a day.

In the WWII period the planes utilized for training and transportation at the Harlingen Army Airfield were the Vultee BT-13 Valiant, Bell P-39 Airacobra, Bell P-63 Kingcobra, Beech C-45H Expeditor, Lockheed A-29 Hudson, Lockheed B-34 Ventura, Martin B-26 Marauder, North American B-25 Mitchell, Douglas C-47 Skytrain, North American AT-6 Texan Trainer, and Consolidated B-24 Liberator. Photos and specifications for these planes are presented in Appendix 6.

One first-hand account of the training comes from gunnery school graduate Forrest S. Clark. It was related in a Justin Family website with family biographies. Clark who went on to attain a rate of T/Sgt, 67^th Squadron 44^th Bomb Group, 8^th Air Force, participated as tail gunner in a B-24 combat crew in England in 1944 and1945. He tells us:

I went to gunnery school at Harlingen, Texas in early 1943, and we used AT-6 for gunnery practice over the Gulf of Mexico. A few times I got into trouble firing, but most of the time we were so taken with the skeet shooting which was a standard part of practice. We used old rattler infested trap holes to fire the targets, and many times we would flush out rattlers before we got into the holes. We took turns releasing the target pigeons.

I also remember my first practice flight. The pilot took me on a stunt maneuver, and I nearly got dumped out of the rear when he went into a power dive. I went to back Harlingen after returning from Europe in 1945 and was a gunnery and flight director assistant.

Harlingen in 1943 was also the station for Francis "Frank" E. Tucher, who rose to T/Sgt. He was a Martin upper turret gunner. After 18 weeks of Airplane Mechanics School at Keesler Field, Biloxi, Mississippi where he learned to maintain B-24s, he relates:

"From there to Harlingen, Texas for Aerial Gunnery School – we practiced shooting moving targets from the cockpit of an AT-6, first plane I was ever in, in my life. That’s when I got my silver wings as a gunner and my Buck Sgt. Stripes."

This Indiana native went on to participate in 46 B-24 missions in the South Pacific and was awarded seven battle stars.

Edward Markowsky, now of La Feria, Texas, gave me a first hand account (12/02) of his experience at the field. He was in the army by 12/30/41. After a shortened period of basic training he was assigned in March of 1942 to the field in Harlingen, his home town. He was greatly disappointed at this turn of events. His duties over an eleven month period here included flying in the rear seat of an AT-6 Texan. It had a swivel seat. His job was to release the cable- pulled target at which the students of the Harlingen Flexible Gunnery School practiced their marksmanship. The targets were of two types. One was simply a sleeve and the second was a pipe from which hung a fine wire mesh. This latter was termed a barn door or screen door. Although the cable extended 750 feet behind the AT-6 and the missiles were only plastic ones, Markowsky often felt that the shells were coming much too close to his craft for comfort.

Toward the end of the war the P-63E Kingcobra was developed from the P-39. It was not used by US forces in combat, but its RP-63A and RP-63C versions were used in gunnery training. One hundred were produced for this specific use. To quote from the US Air Force Museum information available on the internet: "These manned target aircraft were fired upon by aerial gunnery students using .30 caliber lead and plastic frangible bullets which disintegrated harmlessly against the target’s extreme skin of Duralumin armor plating. Special instruments sent impulses to red lights in the nose of the "pinball" aircraft causing them to blink when bullets struck the plane."

Gerald Menegay, a retiree in Harlingen, was a pilot at the field in 1943 and until his transfer in October 1945. He flew P-39s and P-63s. He recalls the latter plane seldom being hit by gunnery trainees.

One distinguished gunnery school graduate was Technical Sergeant Forrest L. Vosler. The Harlingen Army Gunnery School was his first unit. He received a Congressional Medal of Honor citation for action occurring in the European Theater. The citation is so dramatic and moving I quote it in its entirety:

For conspicuous gallantry in action against the enemy above and beyond the call of duty while serving in a mission over Bremen, Germany, on 20 December 1943. After bombing the target, the aircraft in which Sergeant Vosler was serving was severely damaged by antiaircraft fire, forced out of formation, and immediately subjected to repeated vicious attacks by enemy fighters. Early in the engagement a 20-mm cannon shell exploded in the radio compartment, painfully wounding Sergeant Vosler in the legs and thighs. At about the same time a direct hit on the tail of the ship seriously wounded the tail gunner and rendered the tail guns inoperative. Realizing the great need for firepower in protecting the vulnerable tail of the ship, Sergeant Vosler, with grim determination, kept up a steady stream of deadly fire. Shortly thereafter another 20-mm enemy shell exploded, wounding Sergeant Vosler in the chest and about his face. Pieces of metal lodged in both eyes, impairing his vision to such an extent that he could only distinguish blurred shape. Displaying remarkable tenacity and courage, he kept firing his guns and declined to take first-aid treatment. The radio equipment had been rendered inoperative during the battle, and when the pilot announced that he would have to ditch, although unable to see, Sergeant Vosler finally got the set operating and sent out distress signals despite several lapses into unconsciousness. When the ship ditched, Sergeant Vosler managed to get out on the wing by himself and hold the wounded tail gunner from slipping off until other crew members could help them into a dinghy. Sergeant Vosler’s actions on this occasion were an inspiration to all serving with him. The extraordinary courage, coolness, and skill he displayed in the face of great odds, when handicapped by injuries that would have incapacitated the average crew member, were outstanding.

The Air Force in May 1984 established a Professional Military Education Center for non-commissioned officers. The facility at the Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado Springs, Colorado is named the Forrest L.Vosler NCO Academy. The Academy has a heraldic shield. On its right upper half is a purple background symbolic of Vosler’s first unit, the Harlingen Army Gunnery School. We know there must be thousands of other dramatic episodes experienced by the gunnery school graduates; their many stories will be lost with age and the passage of time.

The field was serviced by the 623^rd Army Air Force Band. Edward A. Schirmer was one of the members of the band. He later rose to Chief Master Sgt. and was such an accomplished musician that the band hall at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois was named in his honor.

While men were in combat, support roles to release able bodied men for active participation were being conducted by patriotic women. They played a part by ferrying planes where and when needed. One famous WWII photograph was shot in Harlingen in 1943. It shows Elizabeth L. Gardner of Rockford, Illinois. She was a pilot of the WASP (Women’s Airforce Service Pilot organization). The photo of this beautiful spirited woman was shown around the world. Its caption, datelined Harlingen Army Airfield, reads "takes a look around before sending her plane streaking down the runway at the air base." (See Appendix 7.) WASP pilots were qualified to fly B26s and often did so in training exercises over the Gulf of Mexico.

The work of the women was serious business as attested to by the sad incident that befell one of the WASP pilots servicing Harlingen. On June 29, 1944 Bonnie Jean Alloway Welz was en route to Laredo, Texas from Harlingen. She was piloting a fixed-wheel BT-13 with Major Robert B. Stringfellow as a passenger. As the craft neared Randado, Texas, a small community about 30 miles east of Laredo but no longer mapped, the craft experienced problems of an unknown nature. She attempted to land in whatever clearing she could find in the mesquite-covered prairie. As the plane taxied one of its wheels may have struck a gopher hole causing the craft to flip and catch fire. The canopy was open, and the seriously injured passenger had been thrown clear about 50 yards from where the plane came to rest. Hearing the craft low in his neighborhood, a 19 year old man named Skaggs drove up in his truck and commenced to aid the officer as the major kept shouting about the pilot whom it was impossible to rescue from the flaming wreckage. Bonnie Jean perished. She left a small daughter without a mother.

In the Valley, additional fatalities of WASP pilots occurred, one each, at Brownsville and at Mission. In all, 38 WASP pilots died in service of their country.

Another woman serving with distinction at the gunnery school was Captain Helen Morris Deblinger. This Pawtucket, Rhode Island native was graduated as a certified registered nurse in 1933 then went on to obtain in 1936 a graduate degree in the teaching of nursing from the Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C. She joined the service in 1936. When the war commenced she applied to serve overseas, but her expertise was needed at home as instructor and chief of nurses. After serving in Harlingen she went on to Maxwell Field, Montgomery, Alabama. In her honor, her son Jay L. Deblinger donated $100,000 to establish The Helen Morris Deblinger Scholarship Fund for student nurses attending CUA.

It was in 1943 that the Harlingen Chamber of Commerce published a small brochure titled "Brief Facts about Harlingen". On its cover was the motto "Birth Place of Uncle Sam’s Aerial Gunners." Under the section titled Gunnery School Information we learn in a question and answer format:

What is the Harlingen Army Gunnery School? Answer: It is one of the Nation’s three main Aerial Gunnery Schools for training men who protect bombers with fire-power in the air.

What is the location of H A G S, as it is called? Answer: It is 3 1/2 miles northeast of the city on the Rio Hondo Road.

Is there an auxiliary portion of the School? Answer: Yes. 22 miles east of the school itself, its ground range begins. It covers more than 30,000 acres. Students spend one week of their five week training period there, learning to fire various types of machine guns and turrets. It is bordered on the east by the Laguna Madre, across from which is Padre Island.

Why was Harlingen selected as the site for the school? Answer: Because of its year ‘round weather conditions that permit more than 300 days of flying each year. In fact, one motion picture company selected it as a "location" for January-February film work after visiting nearly every other air field in the south part of the country. Another film company made a complete feature picture, "Aerial Gunner" during October-November, and lost less than two days work because of cloudy weather.

Has the Air Base contributed to the National Fame of Harlingen? Answer: Very definitely. Scarcely no large newspaper in the country has not run several pictures and stories of its efforts, with full credit to its location. More than 35,000 landings and take-offs were accomplished in 1942 without a single fatality to a pilot or gunnery student.

Have Harlingen civilians rallied to the support of this school? Answer: Yes. The Chamber of Commerce Military Affairs Committee has organized a city-wide entertainment composed of representatives from all Service Organizations and Churches.

Is there a U. S. O. Club in Harlingen? Answer: Yes. It is operated by the Salvation Army.

What is the health record of the Gunnery School? Answer: The Harlingen Gunnery School holds the record of lowest percentage of diseases.

In early April 1961 members of the original cadre reunited in Harlingen. The Valley Morning Star issue of 4/6 interviewed some of the reunion participants. The information provided is of interest.

The official opening of the Harlingen Army Airfield was Christmas Eve 1941. Lt. Col. John L. Kottal, who had entered the army in July, was in 1942 stationed at the field as a senior gunnery instructor for the five week aerial gunnery course. He was one of a group of five enlisted men and five officers under Major W. L. Kennedy, now Major General. He remembered helping to assemble the machine guns when the group worked seven days a week for two months. He also recalled gunnery practice along the Laguna Madre when the guns were mounted on sleds pulled by trucks. Also vivid in his mind was mounting guard at the base. Armed security guards walked posts around the outer perimeter of the field. His was near what in the 1950s became the Base hospital area but was then a grapefruit orchard. He remembered picking fruit and passing it on to another post sentry until around the whole field perimeter all guards had received all they could eat. Then came word to "Stop the flow." At that point he knew it wouldn’t be long before his relief showed up. "This was one of the ways we passed the time and supplying each of the guards with grapefruit usually took about eight hours."

Other memories recounted included the fact that Morgan Blvd. had yet to be constructed, and there was no direct route to town. A strict curfew was in place. Men had to be in their quarters by 11 p.m. On Saturday this was extended, but all had to off Harlingen streets by 1 a.m.

Those gathered stated that, initially, gunnery programs at Laredo, Las Vegas, and Harlingen differed until a standardized program was adopted.

During the last full year of its operations the HAAF had the following highlights in its activities:

 1/7/45  HAAF places second in the National Gunners Meet held at the field but on 3/16 wins another National Meet held at Buckingham Field;

4/12/45  Mourns the death of Commander in Chief, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt;

4/13/45  Col. Louis R. Hughes named deputy commanding officer of the base;

5/11/45  Women's Army Corps (WAC) detachment celebrates 3rd anniversary of the corps;

5/21/45  The first B-29 gunnery training class starts at HAAF;

6/23/45  This class graduates 55 gunners;

6/25  The first full size class of 500 men start their B-29 gunnery training;

7/8/45  The second class of 175 gunner trainees is graduated;

8/1/45  HAAF celebrates its third birthday.  2,500 Valley residents visit the base in an open house;

9/2/45  With Japan's signing of an unconditional surrender document on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, World War II was brought to a conclusion;

9/17/45  Col. Roy T. Wright, commanding officer of the base, receives overseas orders;

9/24/45  Col. Hughes succeeds him;

10/5/45  Col. John R. Morgan commanding officer of the 79th Flying Training Wing with headquarters at HAAF is ordered to assume command of Keesler Field, Mississippi;

10/12/45  HAAF becomes a temporary separation center for the men stationed here;

10/19/45  Col. Hughes announces that the gunnery training mission of training incoming basic soldiers is ended;

10/27/45  A reenlistment drive among personnel at the field is begun.

 An Associated Press (AP) story of 1/5/46 stated that the HAAF would be declared surplus.  As such it would be the fourth and last of such bases in this area to be deactivated.  Moore Field, the Brownsville Army Air Base, and the Laguna Madre Sub-Base of the HAAF had already been listed for deactivation. At his time HAAF has a total of 5,000 men split almost evenly between trainees and permanent personnel.

On 2/5/46  HAAF is officially declared surplus property.

Also alter the first sentence in the next paragraph to read: The combat of World War II ended in August 1945.

Between these two insert this:

 A human interest story probably worthy of Hollywood treatment took place at the HAAF Laguna Madre Sub-Base.  Written up by Valley Morning Star reporter Minnie Gilbert in January 1946 the essence of her story is this:  Mrs. Edmund T. (Dorothy) Carter lived at the Laguna Madre Sub-Base of the HAAF, one woman among a post of 17,000 soldiers.  She went there in early 1943 where her husband was superintendent of construction. She made her home on a reservation in the Eighth Corps Area.  In her 40s this witty, motherly, and entertaining lady immediately "adopted all the men at the sub-base."  Not only did she do their mending, write letters to their mothers, and listen to confidences, but she brought pressure to bear to have a chaplain conduct religious services, to provide transportation to and from the isolated base (other than when men were being assigned and transferred), and inaugurated the custom of "birthday parties."  These parties were her own idea and were carried out regularly under her supervision until they were incorporated into the program later introduced by the United Service Organization (USO).

 Mom was instrumental in staging the first wedding at the range July 25, 1943.  She not only arranged for the attendants, refreshments, and reception and altar decorations but, when the bride arrived without the traditional white satin costume which the groom wished to see her wear, sat up to 3:30 am to complete the wedding gown.

 Because her trailer was so small and the boys taxed its small space, they built a small house nearby for her that served as a recreation center.  Here a piano was placed, and Mom was busy much of the time as an accompanist, a role that she fills capably.  She always had several pupils whom she taught piano.  She organized amateur shows and obtained permission to take the boys to the nearby seacoast for outings and melon feasts.

It was her custom to wear a range helmet and whenever a short, stubby figure topped by a helmet appeared about the camp, the boys said they knew "Mom" was around. She attended mail call with the boys and knew how they felt when there were no letters for them.  She did KP (kitchen police—a term, which for the younger set,—means working in the kitchen washing dishes, pots and pans, peeling potatoes, and doing any other menial work the cooks assigned) and helped the baker.  She was assistant to Chaplain Rex and later to Chaplain Fertz, and played the piano for chapel services.  It was the latter who was to perform the marriage ceremony for her son Bruce and Miss Theda Edwards of Ohio.

 Every Friday she received a detail of men instructed to help her prepare the chapel for the Sunday service.  Every Saturday she brought delicacies and gifts for the boys from the Range who were in the HAAF hospital.

 Mrs. Carter stood in the chow line with the men.  At first they ate under a big tent, being served food that was brought out from HAAF by truck.  Only twelve buildings had been built when she first went to Laguna Madre; eight were under construction. The place was "like a wilderness" she recalls and still doesn't like the memory of the time she stepped from her trailer onto a snake.  The coyotes would return to the reservation after dark and their howls are about the only music Mom has no enthusiasm for.

 After leaving Laguna Madre, Mom Carter spent six months at Camp Swift (opening in June 1942, this was a completely new military site of 52,000 acres 28 miles due east of Austin in Bastrop County) where she immediately found herself in exactly the same role except there were many more men.  Elected as "Queen Mother" by 6,500 men at Camp Swift, Mom Carter regards this as the peak of her career as a "service mother". Although the coronation was carried out in a mock ceremony, it was impressively done and provided a superb tribute from the camp personnel to Mrs. Carter.

 Many of the letters and autographed photos now treasured in her bungalow scrapbook are from men who later gave their lives to bring victory to the United States.

Mr. and Mrs. Carter now live comfortably in a small house on N. Grimes Road.  Son Bruce and his wife are building a cottage a few feet away. Bruce was in the army in WW II and shipped overseas with the 102nd (Ozark) Division Band and toured Germany with a circus troop. Another son Bob is employed as a city bus driver.

World War II ended in August 1945. The need for gunners no longer existed. By this time an estimated 48,000 men could call the gunnery school their alma mater. The school and field were soon phased out. Some of the well-constructed barracks were sold or donated. The Citrus Center of Texas A & I University acquired and moved some of them to its Weslaco campus in 1947. A one-story barracks was sold to the Hansen family in Weslaco and was transformed into their home at 801 Oklahoma Street. The Grace Lutheran Church of Harlingen took two of them and moved them to the corner of Jackson and Tenth Streets. One became the sanctuary and the second one the parish hall. In 1948 one two-storied barracks was purchased by the Molder family who trucked it to North Business 77. Here it was transformed into the very popular Green Gables Restaurant and Lounge, famed for its steaks. After 18 years as a gathering place it became an antique store. The building is located at 1910 N. 77 Sunshine Strip. The Valley Baptist Academy secured a number of buildings and relocated them to its campus on East Harrison Street, Harlingen. They exist today but are hardly recognizable with their brick veneer.

Were it not for the availability and economic cost of the surplus buildings, the success story of John and Betty Rugaart might not have been written. A surveyor named Simpson purchased half of a two storied barracks, this being 70 feet in length. He moved it in 1956 to 2415 East Harrison, Harlingen at the intersection with 25^th Street. It was purchased by the Rugaarts, who lived in the top floor with their family, then established a very needed service for the community, the Valley Rehabilitation and Treatment Center, Inc. In this period polio vaccinations had just been initiated; numerous victims of the disease still required physical therapy as did individuals with physical incapacities of a different nature. In late 1966 the Rugaarts purchased an adjacent one story former air force base building. This served as a facility for occupational therapy and speech. After over fifty years of use these two buildings were not yet ready to give up the ghost. The bottom floor of the two storied one and the one story building were both moved in the late 1990s to the town of Combes, immediately north of Harlingen.

In 1947 the War Department became the National Military Establishment. Two years later this name was amended to the Department of Defense. It was on 18 September 1947 that the United States Air Force was established as a separate service.

With the outbreak of the Korean War on 25 June 1950 the city fathers of Harlingen looked to utilize the mostly mothballed field facilities. The direction that the on-going "Cold War" would take was also unknown and of nagging concern. A comprehensive paper was drawn up for submission to Federal authorities. It was titled:

Physical Characteristics
Former Harlingen Army Air Field, Harlingen, Texas
Civic, Cultural, Commercial and Recreational Survey of Harlingen, Texas
City of Harlingen, Texas Chamber of Commerce, Harlingen, Texas
Hugh Ramsey, Mayor Roy Self, President

Its introduction read: "The enclosed data and information is submitted to the department of the Air Force in the interest of reactivating the Harlingen Army Air Field facility as an integral unit in support of the current National emergency." The report then went on to describe what was available at the former base.

It notes that the Southern Pacific Railroad has a direct switch track alongside the brick fire-proof Air Corps Supply Building of 100 x 120 feet, with switch trackage to spot three cars.

Going on it states that the Main West Entrance is approached by concrete highway known as Air Base or Rio Hondo Road. Also a concrete county road parallels the south property line of the Air Field. All streets inside reservation paved with concrete, intact and in good condition.

Details of the Sewage Disposal Plant and Drainage infrastructure are provided. Under Geography it states "field is rectangular 1500 acre area of exceptionally level nature." Also that "An auxiliary air field is the Auxiliary Laguna Madre Air Field [currently the Cameron County Airport]of approximately 13,000 acres including hangars and runway, located 24 air miles southeast of Harlingen.", and that fee simple title to the 1500 acres of land is held by the city.

It was pointed out that the former Harlingen Army Air Field and facility was designed to accommodate 6,500 trainees and at peak operation carried a maximum load of 9,000 trainees. In addition 200 Federal Housing Units, all still intact and livable, had been constructed adjacent to the base’s main entrance.

The report went on to state that the field itself was equipped with five concrete runways, each over one mile in length. All were intact and in useable condition including runway lights as were the control tower, landing lights, three large hangar buildings and a machine shop building.

As for the recreational facilities still extant, these included two swimming pools, tennis courts, a theater building, baseball field, football field, polo grounds, outdoor patio, and beer garden.

Another selling point concerned gasoline and storage. Complete gasoline and storage distribution was furnished by Aqua Systems, Inc. These were located on a railroad siding complete with an eight tank car unloading capacity, 10 underground storage tanks of 23,000 gallons capacity each, together with four air craft lubricating oil storage tanks with a capacity of 10,000 gallons each. For fire protection there existed one fire station (crash) with two 500 gpm fire trucks manned 24 hour per day with personnel on duty.

The remainder of the booklet dealt with the city of Harlingen’s infrastructure, amenities businesses, transportation, schools, hospitals, social and club organizations, climate, etc.

When U.S. forces became fully engaged in the Korean War, the House Armed Services Committee, acting under the National Defense Program, appropriated $15 million for the reactivation of the Harlingen Air Field. Later a $12 million price tag was attached to the field’s rehabilitation. Work started in early 1952. By 1 April 1952 the Base was once more in service.

The Base was projected to have at its peak a complement of 3,500 military personnel, 600 civilians, and a payroll of $15 million annually. Students fell into two categories. One consisted of aviation cadets who would work to obtain their wings along with navigational skills. The second group consisted of student officers, those already commissioned who would be trained as navigators. In numbers the ratio of the former over the latter was about three to one.

Sun Lines, the Base newspaper, drew up a list of some of its top stories as it concluded its press run in 1962. The following information is gleaned from that story and other sources.

The first cadet to report for the twenty- eight week program was Edmund F. Nevirauskas. He, along with 34 others, was in the first class to be graduated on 22 January 1953.

By September 1952 the Base Exchange opened. One old timer who was at the Base relates this anecdote. "Back in the late 50s the Department of the Air Force was still attempting to enforce a strict dress code for civilians as well as military. A large sign over the door of the Harlingen Air Force Base Exchange displayed "Women will not enter this building wearing shorts." Every time I saw it, I would think to myself, they are foolish to think they know what women will do. However, they must have had some insight to the female intellect that I lacked. I never saw a woman inside the building wearing shorts." In October 1952 the first of many Kiwanis Kids’ Day programs was conducted as part of the Base’s community relations efforts. In October the Service Club also opened its doors.

In January 1953, the training course was renamed the Basic Observer Navigator Training Program and was lengthened from 28 to 32 weeks. A $5 million expansion program was planned and contracts were let for the construction of more than 20 new buildings including the chapel, dental clinic, and nine barracks buildings.

A truce in the Korean War came about on 7/27/53, and all belligerency ceased. In September of that year President Dwight D. Eisenhower toured both the Base and the Valley. This was the only time in a decade that a Commander-in-Chief had visited the area.

In February 1954 the NCO Academy was put into operation at the Base. June saw the first wedding ceremony in the new chapel.

AFROTC Summer Encampments were conducted at the base. Later to be Chief Master Sgt. Major, Donald L. Harlow( the second such enlisted man in the Air Force ever to reach this highest rank)led detachments from Southern Methodist University while NCO in charge of cadet training July 1954 through May 1955.

By January 1955 Texas Southmost College offered the first on-base college courses. In September, Hurricane Hilda, with winds up to 125 mph, forced evacuation of all aircraft. It was in this month that the first training flights over the Caribbean took place. Also pleasing to personnel this month was the fact that they received a pay raise. Aviation cadets would also receive flying pay for the first time.

The new $1.3 million Base hospital would open in October 1955.

Tragedy struck in March 1956 when the first fatal accident involving a Base aircraft occurred. Three crewmen were killed in a crash near Robbins Air Force Base, Georgia. In May of that year the Base hosted the largest crowd ever seen here for an Armed Forces Day when more than 35,000 people turned out for the annual event. As the year drew to a close, the NCO Club moved into the building formerly occupied by the old hospital. The cafeteria was remodeled at a cost of $12,000. The 5,000^th student was graduated and the word "observer" was dropped from the course designation.

April 1957 saw the fifth anniversary of the Base for which an open house was held. It was also this month that saw an aviation cadet graduate his whole training program without a single gig. This was an achievement that was never equaled. In June of this year the golf driving range opened. More importantly KP (kitchen police) duty ended forever in July 1957.

The Base’s first commander, Col. James F. Olive Jr., retired in 1958. He was replaced by Col. Norman L. Callish. In September of this year twelve of the Base’s NCOs became the first to be promoted to the new super grades.

One necessary individual who served at the Base from July 1959 to September 1962 was Richard D. Edwards. This career officer retired as a colonel in January 1984. While assigned to the 3610^th Maintenance and Supply Group at HAFB, he was officer-in-charge of various activities involving material control, supplies and logistics.

In 1959 the Base nursery opened; foot printing for all personnel on flying status was commenced; the hospital added a new wing; a credit union opened; and personnel services opened a new recreation camp on the Arroyo Colorado. In July of this year Col. Callish was promoted to brigadier general, and the Base was selected to represent ATC in the Hennessy Trophy competition. This same month saw the arrival here of Col. James W. Newsome, who would later become Base CO.

The Base opened 1960 with the announcement of the third straight accident-free Operation Homesafe. In late January it had received a certificate of achievement for the participation rate in the suggestion awards program. The next month the Base was rated excellent by the ATC Standardization Board, and for the first time military personnel became eligible for cash awards in the suggestion program. It was in March of this year that the Base adopted a new motto—Where Aerospace Navigation Begins. The following month the first class to undergo 38 weeks of training (versus the previous 32 week program) commenced.

May 1960 saw the skeet range opened. The Base Exchange reopened in new quarters in July. The new gymnasium opened in November followed by the December opening of the consolidated arts and craft hobby shop. The Base hosted the Spitz Planetarium traveling show. Seventy performances of "The Star of David" were attended by 3,000 individuals.

As 1961 opened, the Base hosted a first-of-its-kind conference to revise training standards for the navigation training program. The 1/17-20/61 Course Training Standard and Syllabus Conference was attended by officers from the Strategic Air Command (SAC), Military Air Transport Service (MATS), Tactical Air Command (TAC), and the Air Training Command (ATC). Immediately thereafter, navigation electronics with advanced aerospace material was added to the 38 week program thereby lengthening it by six weeks.

In March 1961 the announcement was made concerning the Base’s deactivation and that the Arroyo Colorado recreation camp would close. Still the remodeled NCO Club opened in August 1961. That same month Aviation Cadet Roger Bauman became the first here to receive the Daughters of American Colonists silver bowl award. It was in this month that the Base hosted its last Explorer Boy Scout air encampment.

Hurricane Carla in September forced the precautionary evacuation of all aircraft from the Base. [The movement to Waco was a wise decision, for, as an indication of the storm’s ferocity, the Valley citrus industry suffered an estimated $1,183,000 in losses with an estimated 50% of the fruit lost] Things were back to normal when the Base hosted the second annual Spitz Planetarium show, "A Trip to the Moon and Back."

Ground safety officials opened 1962 on an optimistic note by announcing another accident-free Operation Homesafe. In February, motor pool operators passed the two million miles mark in accident-free miles, the management school was discontinued, and recognition was made of an accident-free year of aircraft operation in 1961.

In March the dining halls were consolidated as Base manning diminished, and the hospital announced its change to dispensary status. The Base hosted its last conference, a corrosion control meeting, in April as the gym, library, and clothing sales store closed their doors. In May the Harlingen civic clubs hosted an Armed Forces Day luncheon at the Casa del Sol with Maj. Gen. C.W. Childe, USAF Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Programming as principal speaker.

(Returning to my own narrative) The history of the Harlingen Air Force Base would not be complete without mention of the reactions of some Harlingen citizens upon learning that the Base would be deactivated. In attempts to rationalize this decision, there soon arose a strong, but not provable, theory about what had transpired to bring about the closure. This theory has become a lasting part of Harlingen’s oral history. It revolves around Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and his supposed vindictiveness toward the city.

The story is as follows: Texas Senator LBJ was campaigning in l959 for the election of Texas democrats. The campaign was nearly concluded when LBJ flew into Harlingen with his wife Lady Bird on November 6, l959. They landed at Harvey Richards Field, which is now the community of Palm Valley. A sizeable crowd of about l500 people greeted him. Among them were an estimated 200 Republicans and "Democrats for Nixon." These two contingents displayed placards which raised the controversial subject of LBJ’s 1948 narrow election margin, possibly abetted by vote fraud. The placards read, "Enjoy Yourself; Scratch Lyndon Twice", "Free Cheese in Every Rat Trap", "I CameVoluntarily, Did You?", "Welcome??", "Landslide Lyndon by 87 Votes", "Double

Trouble – Lyndon Twice", and "L (lacks) B (best) J (judgment)." Several black boxes with "Box l3" lettered on each side were waved above the crowd. These referred to the purported stuffed precinct ballot boxes of the earlier LBJ election.

The Anti-Johnson group had also brought in a hearse with this message lettered on both sides: "I died in l938, voted in l948, and may vote again in l960." The plan was to have six pallbearers remove the coffin from the hearse and march it around the airport tarmac.

Local police, however, had gotten wind of this charade and nipped it in the bud. The anti-Johnsonites were ordered to drive the hearse off the airport grounds.

Johnson was well aware of the dissenters in the audience. He addressed the crowd with sarcastic remarks about his disgruntled opponents. When he concluded his remarks, and he and Lady Bird moved to the red convertible which was to transport them to the city, a 14 or 15 year old boy tagged closely alongside. He bore a placard reading "LBJ, Go Away." This must have raised LBJ’s blood pressure and ire. LBJ and his wife then rode to Lon C. Hill Park where a crowd of 5,000 or so awaited him. He was warmly greeted at this gathering. In the November election, the Republicans carried Harlingen, the only city to go their way in South Texas. To add insult to injury, Texas had elected its first Republican U. S. Senator, John Tower, since reconstruction. To make matters worse, the Congressional Representative of the district was Joe M. Kilgore, a conservative McAllen Democrat and no favorite of LBJ.

In 1960 LBJ was nominated by the Democratic Party to run for Vice President as the running mate of John F. Kennedy. They were elected and took office in January 1961. Two months later on 3/30/61 the Base was ordered phased out along with five other Texas bases. JFK’s order characterized them as "unneeded facilities" as was the Port Isabel U.S. Naval Auxiliary Air Station.

LBJ critics attributed the reason for the Air Base closure to him, the result of retribution for Harlingen’s unfriendly treatment in his earlier visit to the city. Some anecdotal stories even carry the story further. They relate that when the printed closure list came across his desk, Harlingen’s name was not on it and that Johnson then wrote it in himself. Whether any of this is true or merely apocryphal will never be known, but nevertheless the stories have been incorporated into Harlingen folklore.

In its own press release, the Air Force announced that "Navigation training at Harlingen Air Force Base will be discontinued, starting early in 1962 and the base will be deactivated by June l962." This announcement came three weeks after the school had graduated 170 students, the largest class in its nine-year history. The politicians then jumped in to assuage local concerns. Rep. Joe M. Kilgore said that 73 military installations were being closed as part of the administration’s program to revamp the country’s military services. He stated, perhaps erroneously, "Runways at Harlingen are not built with the stress to care for bombers of the Strategic Air Command, so its use is limited." He added that he would ask for a re-evaluation of the "outstanding physical plant at Harlingen." Joining in were Texas U. S. Senators William A. Blakley and Ralph Yarborough. Both requested re-approval of the decision by the Kennedy administration.

At this point, the Base had 2,300 military personnel and 800 civilian employees. The pay-roll was approximately $25 million, and a total expenditure of $l5 million more a year was being made in the Valley.

On 2 April 1961, the Valley Morning Star headlined "Kilgore Holds Little Hope Harlingen AFB Can Be Retained." He denied the closing was political retaliation, although he had voted against the administration on certain measures in Congress. In addressing business leader, Kilgore told them that the Vice President told him personally of his great interest in the Valley area and of his sympathy if there is an economic impact from the government action. Shortly thereafter, Kilgore received word from Air Force Secretary Zackert that a grace period of six months would delay the closure until December 1962. This was not to be.

In the usual flurry of activity after such a significant and momentous decision, a government task force came to town on May 9^th. Its mission was to find ways to alleviate the economic impact on the community. It failed to take any meaningful action.

In early May the HAFB announced the time table for closure. It stated the Base’s complement at 700 officers, l500 airmen, 800 civilians and nearly l000 students. By 12/31/61 the student load would be 600; by 3/31/62 it would shrink to 400; and all navigation training would end by June l962. In the following three months the Base strength would drop to 200, and by l2/3l/62 only 30 civilians would be on the Base manned by 60 airmen and eight officers. The Base’s mission would move to the James Connally Air Force Base, Waco, Texas.

Although the U. S. by now (May l961) was pledging increased aid to Vietnam, Defense

Agency spokesman Clyde Bothiner of the U. S. Department of Commerce said there was no military use for the HAFB. At this point the local citizenry was asked to write

5,000 letters seeking to have the Base retained. 500 letters per day for ten days were to be mailed in batches to Senators, Representatives, the President and Vice President.

The task force of 25 from ten departments and agencies pledged aid to the city. The real property at the base was valued at $l7,343,000, aircraft at $70,605,000, base supplies and tool fund $3,24l,000, and equipment $8,389,000 for a total of $99,578,000. Local expenditures of all kinds amounted to $25,035,04l for 1961 and an estimated $l2,755,l30 for

l962. This helped to put Harlingen’s effective buying power at $49 million, 29.23% of which was from Base employees according to Realtor H. W. Bahnman. Frank Boggus, HCISD Chairman, noted that l237 children of Base employees attended Harlingen schools and that $4 million had been spent in the last few years for new schools. Taxes had in fact been raised 20% to cover this cost. Van Snell of the Harlingen Housing Authority told the task force that Le Moyne Gardens (adjacent to the Base) with 208 units was filled with Base personnel and a trailer park with 77 spaces had recently been installed. He indicated that it would be difficult for the city to keep these facilities open. Similar sad stories were offered regarding unemployment, water supply developments, airport expansion, expenditures for military entertainment, reduction in construction trades, etc.

The Air Force continued to offer excuses for the closure. In mid-June, it contended the principal reason for the closure was the decline in manned aircraft forces, navigator training requirements having dropped 60 percent since l956 and pilot training by 75 percent. In the fiscal year l956 3,000 navigators had been trained, in l96l l700 and l962 plans were for l200. The high overhead to keep the Base up was also cited.

With some foresight, investment banker Fred Flynn suggested (l) a campaign to publicize the city as a tourist center, and (2) construction of a bridge across the Rio Grande in the vicinity of Los Indios in order to get more business from Mexico-- both to offset Base closing losses.

Kilgore was still making an effort to reverse the decision to close the Base. In mid-July he requested that the Department of Defense come up with an economic and military justification for its decision to close the Base. A month later he admitted a reversal was unlikely despite the military build up over the confrontation in Germany with the Soviets.

On 8/20/61 the last cadets registered for the class to graduate 6/2l/62. At this time, the Base gave out a press release outlining the curriculum for the students. In the initial six weeks the trainee first completes preflight courses then becomes a full fledged Aviation Cadet. The first two weeks of this period is known as "The Green Tux" since the students’ daily dress is the green flying suit. He then receives a complete uniform issue and starts to become both an officer and a navigator. Before the bars of a 2^nd Lieutenant are pinned on the student, he must have (l) flown 32 training missions in the T-29 flying classroom – approximately l60 hours in the air, (2) completed 555 hours of academic training subjects, and (3) completed 315 hours of officer’s training subjects.

A typical day consisted of reveille at 4:45 a.m.; l5 minutes of calisthenics, breakfast at

5:l5, set aside 75 minutes for cleaning the barracks and cadet areas; pre-class inspection at 7:l5. Academic and military classes then occupied the morning from 7:30 to 11:30. Following lunch, students returned to the classrooms until 4:30 p.m. Extra curricular activities included band and glee club practice, night classes, night study hall, and honor training. The day officially ended at l0 p.m. unless the student was scheduled for a night

training mission. Upon commissioning, graduates might go on to advanced training, electronic warfare training or direct to SAC, TAC, MATS or ADC.

In late August rumors were afloat that the Base site would be considered for the NASA space laboratory. It ended up in Pasadena, south of Houston.

In mid-September the Deputy Wing Commander Col. Travis Hoover, here since l959, was reassigned to Command Group, Turkey. He had been a pilot in Doolittle’s famous raid over Tokyo. Hoover was only age 23 when he took part in the 4/18/42 raid at the controls of a B-25. He was second to take off from the aircraft carrier Hornet. Later he piloted a B-24 over the Ploesti oil fields in Romania and participated in the initial bombing over Rome. At the end of September the Base held its last open house. That had been a regular event over a period of years. Aided by Kiwanis members, the Base hosted l600 children brought in l8 school buses among other conveyances.

At this time the HAFB sports programs came to an end. In the period l954-57 the HAFB Hustlers baseball team had played in the Rio Grande Valley Semi –pro League. In l959 through l96l the team played in the military’s Southern District compiling a 37-2l record in l96l.

With faint glimmers of hope, rumors flew that the Base would be used by the Department of Defense for an Officers Candidate School. By mid-November, Kilgore had to squelch any such status for the facilities.

The city fathers soon established an advisory board to work politically on the disposition of the Base. Jack Skaggs, a Harlingen lawyer and Cameron County Democratic Party Chairman was appointed to head the Board. Its mission was "to enable it to establish and carry out a coordinated program for securing and insuring the continued use of the HAFB for military purposes and to advise and recommend to the Mayor and City Commissioners as to such action which may be expedient in effecting such purpose." Shortly thereafter Skaggs and City Manager Marshall Bingham were delegated to go to Washington to talk to Department of Defense people to get something going. Robert Steadman of D of D in turn urged the Chamber of Commerce to find non-military uses for the Base.

Both the Valley Baptist Hospital and the Seventh Day Adventist Church considered utilizing the Base hospital, the latter for a geriatrics center. Upon examination of the facility, however, it was discovered that half of the beds and some operating equipment, supposedly badly in need of repair, had been shipped out. The word "plundered" came to the minds of some, and the church and other groups questioned the freeze order placed on the remaining equipment. Despite this Valley Baptist officials remained interested.

As the first month of l962 drew to a close the Base civilian publication Sun Lines which had been published for l0 years by the San Benito News, was to be discontinued. The office of public relations would continue to publish a smaller version in a different format until July. At this point, the Base manning was slightly under 450 students, l500 military personnel, and 500 civilian employees.

Inexorably the wheels were grinding to a stop. April 29 saw the closure of the Base library and clothing store. A day later the two boats, Falcon Wun and Falcon Two, which had been operated out of Port Harlingen for off base fishing, were taken out of service. On May 4 a C-l24 Globemaster cargo aircraft arrived from Travis Air Force Base to transport Ground Controlled Approach (GCA) equipment to Schilling AFB, Kansas. There were at this time only four more classes to go. The manning had diminished to l72 officers, 523 enlisted men, l43 students, and 300 civilians. Of nearly 250 buildings, l00 had been closed with l5 more scheduled in the following two weeks. On May 3lst the NCO (non-commissioned officers) Club was closed.

The community recognized that not only would the losses sustained be economical but also those in human terms. The Rev. D. Williams McClarken, rector of St. Alban’s Episcopal Church echoed the sentiments of the community when he stated, "The de-activation of the Base is a great loss to this community and to our church, quite apart from any economic considerations. The character, spirit, intelligence, and energy that Air Force personnel have contributed to us in this community have been a great inspiration to all of us and me personally."

The worst tragedy in its history was to befall the Base on 16 May l962. A T-29 with a crew of five plus four scanners had departed the Base on a search and rescue mission in northern Mexico. A small Cessna plane piloted by an American had been reported missing. Contact was lost with the search craft during the day. A four engine SC 54 was sent to locate either missing plane. Other aircraft soon joined the search including five T-29s from Harlingen and four other planes from Corpus Christi and elsewhere.

At l0 p.m. on May l7th the Base Commander, Col. James E. Newcombe confirmed the worst fears. He made it official that their investigation had precluded the possibility of any survivors. Wreckage had been spotted in the remote central mountains of Mexico at Jalpan near Arroyo Seco, Queretaro State. Apparently experiencing engine trouble, the plane had circled once before attempting to land on a 600 foot long mesa atop a mountain. It lost power, clipped tree tops, and failed to reach its intended destination l00 yards ahead. Peasants working in relays brought the bodies to the village of Rio Verde, the first area accessible by four wheel drive vehicles.

On May 23^rd, the community memorial service was conducted at the HAFB chapel. The sad irony of this whole episode was that the missing Cessna pilot, Marcus Hooks of Donna, had landed safely, had had his plane impounded by Mexico authorities, and was imprisoned on suspicion of smuggling. He had apparently soon escaped and made his way back to north of the border but without communicating his plight to U. S. authorities.

On May 30 the Base’s three year commander, Newcombe, was reassigned to the Departmental Command, Korea Base Command. At the same time, the Baptist Convention approved the purchase of 60 acres of land the building in the southwest corner of the Base for Valley Baptist Hospital use. The approved appropriation for $60,000 included the hospital building and thirty smaller buildings in the area. This initiative did not advance.

The solicitation was premature for any disposal would first have to go through the General Services Administration and in the case of the hospital, possibly through the Health, Education and Welfare Department as well.

In early May another interested group had voiced interest. This was the American Association of Emeriti. This organization of 12,000 retired college professors thought of establishing Emeriti Village at the site. They wished to reserve 120 acres, the old officers’quarters, BOQ barracks, and the Base administration building. To move things along an outlay of $60,000 of local funds would be needed. This was soon underwritten by the non-profit Harlingen Senior Citizens organization. Nothing came of this overture although talks went on until August.

On 6 June l962 the final two classes were graduated in a joint ceremony. The last cadet to receive his wings was Richard E. Young. His class included two Vietnamese Air Force officers. Over its ten year history the school had graduated about 50 foreign students from fourteen countries.

In all, l3,355 students had been graduated from the Navigation School. From June of l952 when the first training began to March, l960 when the l0,000^th navigator was graduated the Base averaged l,290 graduates per year. From March l960 to June l962 it graduated an average of l525 cadets per year.

Although the great majority of navigation school graduates fulfilled their military obligations and returned to civilian life, others chose to become career officers. Following is brief information of some individuals of note connected to the HAFB.

El Paso native Wellington J. Pindar, after receiving a master’s degree in physiology, intended to go directly to medical school but was diverted by the start of the Korean War. "I signed up for a three-year tour of duty with the Air Force but ended serving for four years putting my physiology skills to work as an instructor in aviation physiology at the HAFB in Texas." This Albany Medical College graduate (Class of ’59) went on to a distinguished career and, sharing in his success, created an endowment for his alma mater.

General John L. Piotrowski was a July 1953 graduate. He retired as Commander-in-Chief, North American Aerospace Defense Command, Peterson AFB, Colorado Springs. He retired 3/31/90 and with his vast knowledge served as a consultant to industry and government.

Also graduating in 1953 was Christopher S. Adams, Jr. He retired on 3/1/83 as a major general and Chief of Staff, SAC, Offut AFB, Nebraska.

From a website we learn that David Steiner, a 1957 graduate at HAFB, obtained a PhD in the 60s, flew numerous weather missions into typhoons and later classified Air Weather Service missions in Laos. Before retiring as a Lt.-Col. on 7/1/83, he amassed 6,200 hours of flying time, including 706 hours of combat time. He was awarded eleven Air Medals and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Another 1957 graduate was Major General Larry N. Tibbetts who retired 4/90. His last assignment was as Commanding Officer, Air Force Military Training Center, Lackland AFB,Texas.

May 1957 graduate Ralph E. Spraker was another major general before retiring 6/1/89. His last post was Vice Commanding Officer USAF Space Command, Colorado.

Graduating 9/57, James G. Jones also rose in rank to major general. He was Chief of Staff, Tactical Air Command Headquarters and before retirement Commanding Officer of Keesler Technical Training Center, Keesler AFB, Mississippi.

Brigadier General Marion F. Tidwell, who retired 7/1/84, was a distinguished graduate of the 2/55 class. He rose to assume the position of Deputy Director Logistic and Security Assistance, Headquarters of the US European Command, Germany.

Major General Ralph E. Spraker retired on 6/1/89. He attended school in Harlingen in 1956-57. His last assignment was as Vice Commander USAF Space Command, Peterson AFB, Colorado.

A 3/90 retiree was Maj. Gen. James D. Kellim, who trained at HAFB 11/58-7/59. He completed his tour of duty as Deputy Chief of Operations, Headquarters Military Airlift Command, Scotts AFB, Illinois.

Brig. Gen. Ralph D. Townsend, an 11/59 graduate, retired 1/12/98 after completing service as Adj. General Idaho Air National Guard.

Robert I. Biss was commissioned in Harlingen 3/60. With the rank of captain and while piloting a F4C he was shot down and taken prisoner by the North Vietnamese on 11/11/66. He was not released until 3/4/73. He possessed innate determination. He is quoted: "I never had any doubts about coming out of it. This is not to say that things weren’t bleak and desperate at times after the tortuous moments, but I always knew I was coming home."

In one of the last classes (1961), Maj.Gen. James J. LeCleir retired 7/92, relinquishing his post as Director, Latin America Defense College, Fort Lesley, Washington, D.C.

Harlingen hopes were ignited in early July when the Navion Aircraft Co., a subsidiary of the Tubular Service and Engineering Corp.(TUSCO) , announced plans to consolidate its Galveston and Phoenix manufacturing operations in Harlingen. This company fabricated the single-engine, five-seater plane named the Rangemaster. It announced plans to occupy five hangars, employ 275 before a year was up, and produce 25 planes per month. While about 50 of the company’s families did move to Harlingen in the months to follow, by December the company was having major financial problems. It filed for reorganization. The company changed hand several times between 1964 and 1976 resulting in sporadic production of 50-60 of the 285 hp H Model Rangemaster.

As the air went out of the balloon in December, Sen. Yarborough let it be known that a helicopter base was being considered for Harlingen. This came to naught.

It took several years before permanent uses were found for the HAFB facilities. First to make major use of the Base’s support facilities was the Marine Military Academy (MMA), a nonprofit educational institution incorporated in April 1963. Its first classes commenced September 1965. It offers a college preparatory course, grades eight through twelve with elements traditional to the US Marine Corps. Enrollment has grown to over 400. While initially occupying the vacant barracks and other support buildings, the school over the years has upgraded and modernized nearly all the old structures and erected numerous new ones. It is the site of a full size replica of the renowned Iwo Jima Memorial portraying Marines and a navy corpsman raising the American flag over Mt. Suribachi. Nearby is the Iwo Jima Memorial Museum.

In November 1967 the Texas State Technical Institute began operations at the old HAFB as an extension of the Waco campus. Later becoming the Texas State Technical College, it as did MMA, used some of the older buildings and demolished others to make room for new structures. Numerous old two storied barracks are currently being used by the school for student dormitories and one story ones for storage and maintenance operations.

In 1968 the Confederate Air Force, presently the Commemorative Air Force, moved from Mercedes to the northwest side of the field and called this area Rebel Field. There it maintained its headquarters, museum and World War II aircraft collection in three large buildings and several small ones. It conducted well-attended annual air shows for many years at the field. In 1991 the CAF relocated to Midland, Texas.

Before commercial aviation came to the site the field was given the name Harlingen Industrial Airport. In late 1970 the field became the Rio Grande Valley International Airport and later was renamed the Valley International Airport. The city’s airport, Harvey Richards Field at what is now Palm Valley, then was closed. The Valley International Airport has long handled more passenger traffic than any other Valley airport. It strikingly beautiful passenger terminal sits between former military hangars 41 and 38.

Part of the southwest portion of the HAFB was used by the city to establish the Rio Grande Valley Regional Museum. Initially the museum’s collection was housed solely in what has been the old Base brig, a building purchased by Howard E. Butts and later donated to the city.

In 1971 Spartan Aviation would utilize over 150,000 sq ft of hangar space and other buildings. It would employ 500 people for its business of overhauling airplane engines.

In 1972 EMAIR, builders of giant agricultural applicator planes, located in Harlingen at Hangar 38 and has been there ever since.

The Base hospital was in March 1972 occupied by the Rio Grande State Center as a 20 bed unit for treatment of drug addiction and alcoholism.

The horrendous number of 1,400 houses for sale in the city in 1963 and the years to follow alone indicates the magnitude of the closure. Homes were being put on the market for $10 a square foot, a bargain basement price. A typical story of what ensued is that related to the author by Mrs. Lois Weatherell Kinney Lynch. She and her Tech. Sgt. husband Charles Kinney had moved to Harlingen upon his assignment to the Base in March 1953. With a girl of five years and a boy of three at the time, they had waited four years before purchasing a modest home on the corner of Massachusetts and old F Street. When her now Master Sgt. husband was reassigned in August 1961 they were unable to find a buyer for the house. Belatedly they secured a renter. Upon the death of her husband Mrs. Kinney moved back to another home in Harlingen but was unable to sell her original house until February 1974.

Over time many homes were sold to retirees, primarily from the upper Midwest. A Valley Morning Star (8/11/02) re-run article notes that the city’s population had jumped from 23,000 in 1950 to 41,000 by 1960. Upon the Base’s closure the population dropped to 33,603 by 1972. Bob Hansen, a native of Manistique, Michigan, was working as a salesman for Bush Supply Co. when he heard the shocking news of the Base’s fate. He had enlisted in the US Army Air Corps in July 1940 and spent four months at the gunnery school in Harlingen while serving a five year hitch. He is quoted as reflecting "In those days, people in this community enjoyed life, the economy was thriving, and it appeared the happiness would continue. I couldn’t believe it closed; it was so suitable for an air base. I came back from having lunch and one of the workers told me he heard it on the radio."

What formerly comprised the Harlingen Air Force Base is now being put to excellent use. One major current occupant of the field is Lockheed Martin, fabricating, among other things, sections of the Atlas V rocket. The whole area is now an attractive asset to the community that suffered traumatic consequences when the HAFB ceased to exist in1963.

In the little over 14 combined years that the Harlingen Army Airfield and the Harlingen Air Force Base were in operation they were a pride and a joy to the city of Harlingen. The interaction between the military and the citizens of the area was one of mutual admiration and regard. Every one was well served. All deserve to be remembered.

References

The major references utilized in compiling this history are attributed within the text as they are used. They are to be found in the Archive Room of the Harlingen Public Library.

Additional, but generally minor, resources were obtained from perusal of the microfilm files of the daily issues of the Valley Morning Star (Harlingen, Texas) newspaper, 1/1/59 through 12/31/62.

Biographical information on various individuals was gleaned from the google.com search engine under the subjects Harlingen Army Airfield and Harlingen Air Force Base.

Bibliography

Commander,USACE, memorandum of; subject: DERP-FUDS Inventory Project Report for Valley International Airport, former Harlingen Air Force Base, Harlingen, Texas August 1993.

Harlingen Chamber of Commerce, Brief Facts about Harlingen, 1943.

Harlingen, City of, and Chamber of Commerce, Harlingen Physical Characteristics—Former Harlingen Army Air Field, Harlingen, Texas—Civil, Cultural, Commercial and Recreational Survey [1950].

McKenna, Verna Jackson, compiler, writer, editor, Official Program Harlingen Golden Anniversary April 24-30 [1960].

Rozeff, Norman, Harlingen Historical Preservation Society Resource Survey: Hangar 38 (EMAIR), March 2002.

Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) www.wasp-wwii.org

The Handbook of Texas Online (www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles):

Confederate Air Force, Art Leatherwood

Marine Military Academy, W. A. Gary

McKenna, Verna Jackson, Minnie Gilbert

Texas State Technical College-Harlingen, Nancy Beck

Adams Jr., Christopher S. www.af.mil/lib/bio

Biss, Robert Irvin www.pownetwork.org/bios

Clark, Forrest S. www.member.aol.com/unclesarchives

Deblinger,Helen Morris http://www.publicaffairs.cua.edu/cuamag

Edwards, Richard D. www.webspawner.com

Gardner, Elizabeth L. www.veteranshour.com/womenarchive

Harlow, Donald L. www.af.mil/news/biographies

Jones, James G. www.af.mil/lib/bio

Kellim, James D. www.af.mil/lib/bio

LeCleir, James J. www.af.mil/lib/bio

Pindar, Dr. Wellington J. www.amc.edu/resources/PillarFall2000

Piotrowski, John L. www.af.mil/lib/bio

Schirmer, Edward A. www.bandofmid-America.com/spotlight

Spraker, Ralph E. www.af.mil/lib/bio

Steiner, David www.stripe.colorado.edu

Tidwell, Marion F. www.af.mil/lib/bio

Tibbetts, Larry N. www.www.af.mil/lib/bio

Townsend, Ralph D. www.af.mil/lib/bio

Tucher, Francis "Frank" E. www.kensmen.com

Vosler, Forrest L. www.spacecom.af.mil

Welz, Bonnie Jean Alloway www.home.swbell.net

Hoffman, Clarence on 2 January 2003, Harlingen, TX

Lynch, Jean Kinney on 22 January 2003, Harlingen, TX

Markowsky, Edward on 22 December 2002

Menegay, Gerald on 7 January 2003, Harlingen, TX

Rugaart, John and Betty on 27 January 2003, Port Isabel, TX

Newspapers

Valley Morning Star (Harlingen, TX), 1 January 1959 –31 December 1962

Valley Morning Star Series "Bye-Bye, Air Force Base", 11 August 2002

U.S. Air Force Museum, Wright-Patterson Field, Ohio http://www.wpafb.afmil/museum/research 

Appendices

Vultee BT-13B "Valiant"

Bell P-39Q "Airacobra"

North American T-6G "Texan"

Lockheed A-29 "Hudson"

Bell P-63 "Kingcobra"

Martin B-26 "Marauder"

Martin B-26B to B-26 B4 "Marauder"

Beech C45H "Expeditor"

Douglas C47D "Skytrain"

Lockheed B-34 "Ventura"

Consolidated B-24D "Liberator"

North American B-25J "Mitchell"

Convair C-131D "Samaritan"

7. Photograph of WASP pilot Elizabeth L. Gardner.

8. Citation and photograph of Bonnie Jean Alloway Welz.

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The Harlingen Connection
Norman Rozeff, Harlingen Historical Preservation Society
July 2003

One of Harlingen’s oldest houses sits at 301 E. Madison across 3^rd Street from the Casa del Sol. This two-story structure was built in 1917 and occupied on 1/2/18 by the family of Elmer William Anglin. Mr. and Mrs. Anglin, together with their four small children, had come to Harlingen in 1907 after having lived in Alpine for seven years. The Anglins had married in Gonzales County on March 8,1898. Upon arriving in Harlingen they resided near the Lon C. Hill complex, now the park. Around 1911 they built their first house, a two-storied wooden-framed building north of the newly-created Lake Harlingen. The site, on today’s Woodland Drive, has a newer house currently owned by Mike Powers.

Mr. Anglin managed the properties and business ventures, including land clearing, of Hill. In this job he was closely connected to the growing young town which came into official being in April 1910. He served on the first cemetery committee as a trustee, served as a school trustee prior to 1920, and after 1910 he performed as police chief for 16 years. From 1939 through 1959 he was a justice of the peace.

Anglin’s brother, Everett, originally from Gonzales County, Texas, came to the Valley in 1905 to serve as a Texas Ranger. Several years later and as the revolution in Mexico began to heat up, Everett became a mounted customs inspector along the border. In one hairy incident he rode into Gen. Lucio Blanco’s camp at Rio Bravo in an attempt to reclaim horses belonging to two Texans who had their horses at a ranch south of the river. Not only did Blanco refuse Anglin’s request, but he directed him to a hanging site where, among others, he viewed the body of an acquaintance, Juan Alamia. Alamia, who had served in the Spanish-American War as one of Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, had refused to be conscripted into Blanco’s forces.

As banditry incidents escalated north of the border, Everett, two years later in January 1915, was to play a more important role. A tipster from Mexico named Dr. Andres Villareal had alerted him to some suspicious activities. Anglin, in turn, notified Hidalgo County deputy sheriff Tom S. Mayfield. Anglin and the doctor had set a trap to snare the alleged plotter whom the physician had identified. At the McAllen store of Deodoro Guerra, Anglin and Mayfield confronted one Bacilio Ramos Jr. In his satchel they discovered a document which was to be known as the Plan de San Diego. After the contents revealed it to be a revolutionary manifesto, Ramos was arrested and imprisoned in Edinburg. This story and more are documented by testimony Anglin provided US Sen. Albert Fall’s committee and which was published as "Investigation of Mexican Affairs, Preliminary Report of Hearings of the Committee on Foreign Relations, 66^th Congress, 1920."

Revelation of the Plan shocked those Americans who knew of it. It heightened suspicions of those who already felt a conspiracy was in effect and planted seeds of distrust in those who were neutral in regards the intentions of Mexico’s revolutionaries.

The origins of the Plan are foggy, but the manifesto was supposedly written in the town of San Diego, Duval County on January 6,1915. Probably drafted in Monterey by imprisoned Huerta supporters, it sought to foment a revolution by the formation of a "Liberating Army of Race and People", these being Mexican Americans, African Americans, and Japanese, who would "free" the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and California from US control. In an all out race war all white males over age 16 were to be executed. A second version envisioned Indians being brought into the cause, and a third called for the establishment of a "Republic of Texas" to encompass an area considerably larger than the state’s present size.

Venustiano Carranza and his ally Blanco were fighting first to overthrown the Huerta regime and later to reign in the independent Pancho Villa. When north-of-the-border damages escalated and the number of raids from individuals under the territorial controls of Gen. Carranza and Villa increased, the Federal government belatedly responded by sending thousands of Army and various state National Guard units to the border. Unfortunately the disturbances generated extreme repercussions, repressions, and the deterioration of relations between Valley Anglos and Mexican Americans. Excesses by Texas Rangers were not held in check. Only later, through the strong efforts of Valley legislator, Jose T. Canales, were the Rangers called to task. Then the state legislature reorganized them into a considerably smaller and more accountable organization.

Anglin’s discovery of the Plan of San Diego led to the nadir of Anglo-Mexican American relations in the area but also brought about the eventual restoration of order that would allow the valley to grow and prosper in the early 20^th century.

When World War I started Everett raised a troop of cavalry, received a commission of captain, and served at Camp Stanley before being discharged. From that time on, the family called him by the nickname "Cap." In 1926 he went into the real estate business with an office in Harlingen. The firm of Anglin Brothers and Berley promoted farm land and offered excursions to potential buyers.

In March 1959 the Valley Morning Star carried a story about the Elmer Anglin’s 61^st wedding anniversary celebration at their Madison Street home. In attendance were their children Emmett, Lawson and Charles of Harlingen, Everett of Dallas, and daughter Mrs. Mamie Konze of Corpus Christi. The 1920 U.S. Census indicated that 20 year old Emmett O. was working as an assistant bank cashier and already married toVesta L. His eighteen year old brother D. Ross was acting as a foreman for canal grading and seventeen year old Andrew L. was a hardware salesman. Lawson would later follow his father into law enforcement by becoming a Cameron County motor patrolman.

Youngest son Everett, named after his uncle, gained some fame in his own right. On 4/18/43 then twenty seven year old Lt. Anglin of the 339^th Fighter Squadron –the Jungle Air Force- flew one of sixteen P-38s that destroyed the bomber carrying Adm. Isoruku Yamamoto, commander of the Japanese fleet and the planner of the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. Several accompanying Japanese planes were also shot down.

Anglin descendents still residing in Harlingen include Lawson’s daughter, Mardelle Anglin Ayers and her two children, William H. Ayers Jr. and Vickie Ayers Gonzales.

The  photograph above is provided courtesy of Vickie Ayers Gonzales. It shows Valley law enforcement officers A. C. Dow, Marcos Hines, Hidalgo Deputy Sheriff Tom Mayfield, and Harlingen police chief E.(Elmer) W. Anglin.  See also: "Unusual Photograph Explained" article below.

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The Railroad Bridges of Harlingen
Norman Rozeff
Harlingen Historical Preservation Society
September 2003

Bridges you write? Most would say, "I know of only one." There is only one now, but it is actually the third one to be erected across the Arroyo Colorado. Here is the story.

The laying of track for Uriah Lott's railroad as financed by B.F. Yoakum and his associates, had reached Harlingen by 4/22/04. Its run to Brownsville awaited completion of a bridge across the Arroyo Colorado. This was accomplished by 5/2/04. Undoubtedly this bridge was a wooden trestle which was to be used temporarily until a more substantial steel one could be constructed. When the first freight/passenger train reached Harlingen on July 4,1904, there may have been a minor celebration in the scantily-populated community as the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway train paused en route to Brownsville. We are not sure, for there was yet to be a Harlingen newspaper to record the event.

Sam Robertson, railroad subcontractor for the Johnston Brothers, surveyor, and engineer, and later founder of San Benito, years afterward reminisced about what occurred two months later. He recounted:

The original wooden bridge gave way in part on September 21, 1904 as continued high arroyo flows worked to undermine it. This then disrupted service to Brownsville for 28 days until repairs could be made.

Because the wooden trestle was to be temporary, it is unlikely that it resembled the often monumental wooden structures to be found crossing the numerous canyons of the west. More likely it was intermediate in height. Since railroad grades are almost always kept below 2% because anything steeper would create traction and power problems, the builders would have had to select an arroyo crossing with a gentler slope then where the present bridge crosses. This site could have been just to the west of the present bridge. Here the banks of the stream gradually descend to the floor of the arroyo. An alternative would have been to cut the banks to allow for a more gradual descent and ascent across the arroyo. There is, in fact, a deep cut on the north side immediately adjacent to the current bridge.

The present bridge owned and maintained by the Union Pacific System is the longest span on the railroad line running from Corpus Christi to Brownsville. Its construction was completed in late September 1905. A small badly rusted plate affixed upside down to the diagonal girder at the southeast side of the bridge has the barely discernable date 1905 on it.

The bridge has a design characteristic of its construction period. It is simple, strong, unadorned, and utilitarian. It is of simple truss design and rests on two cast concrete piers straddling the stream within the banks of the arroyo. At ground level each pier measures 31' 8" wide and 9'2" deep. The piers taper to about 21' at their top platforms. The steel pier to pier portion of the bridge is approximately 228' with an additional steel span of 40' on its north end. A wooden trestle of about 224' completes the traverse on the south side. The total length spanned is then about 492'. The bridge is fifteen feet wide with an inside clearance of eleven feet. The height above the stream to the bottom of the bridge is about 38' and to its top about 81'.

This black painted bridge, now oxidized to a cinnamon-colored patina, has played an important role in the Valley's 20th Century commerce and allowed for its growth and development. Now, with the passage of the recent bond issue, its 21st Century future may be limited.

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Southern Hospitality in Harlingen -- The Verser House
Betty Murray and Norman Rozeff
Harlingen Historical Preservation Society,
September 2003

Times were hard in those early years in the Valley. The Versers had been married in Riley, Tennessee and had started their family when Mr. Verser became ill and was given six months to live. He arrived first by himself to see if the Valley climate would help him to get well. He thrived in South Texas and lived forty more years working as a farmer.

Huron's wife, who was also his first cousin, Lucy Verser followed with the little ones. After they purchased the sizeable house from Mr. C.W. Waterwall, who had built and run it as a boarding house, she had one more child, making six in all. Jack H. Verser, the baby of the family, was born in this house in l916 or 1917. Family records are not clear on this point though his social security record says 1917.

What was to be the Verser House was initially the Chaudoin House. A series of pictures taken from atop the Hill Building in 1911 form a panoramic view of early Harlingen. It shows the L or T-shaped wood frame house in pristine condition. It must have been constructed in late1910 or 1911, for Robert Runyon pictures, including Monroe Street, taken earlier in 1910 do not show it. Lily Chaudoin Cleary (R.W. Liston's mother) recalls her family move to the Valley where they first settled on Dilworth Road. Mr. R.L. Chaudoin came to Harlingen with R.S. Dilworth and Winston Harwood. Dilworth had a ranch west of town and south of the Arroyo Colorado. Hard times drove the Chaudoins into town where they rented what was later to be called the Verser House, and Lily's mother offered room and board. When they rented it and lived there, it was known as the Chaudoin House. Lily waited tables for her mother, and it was there she met her husband to be, Osie Liston.

The Verser family lived in the big house which they had purchased, and there were always several people who rented rooms. The main attraction was Lucy's wonderful home-cooked meals, served family style. It was great southern cooking. Many Harlingen people ate there on Sundays. Weekdays, men who worked downtown, chose the delicious Verser food for fifty cents a meal. Also, out-of-town businessmen soon learned the best place to go was to the Verser House on the one hundred block of West Monroe. The address was 114 W. Monroe. The site now across the street from New York Deli is a landscaped vacant lot with large trees.

The rented rooms were comfortable with a washstand, pitcher and bowl and nice furniture. The dining room was dominated by a square oak table which could expand to seat twelve people. This table remains in the possession of Jack's daughter Kathryn Hearn, who lives in McAllen. After the dwelling ceased to be a boarding house the dining area became a combination dining/living area for the family. On its east side was a living room with low built-in bookshelves and some antique furniture. There were seventeen rooms altogether, including the dining room, which was 20' by 40', and the kitchen. All the rooms had a view of the courtyard. The Verser family used the master bedroom on the second floor east side as the sitting room for the family. There was no sitting room as such for the boarders.

Young Maxine Shaddix lived in one of the rooms with her mother after they arrived in Harlingen in April 1920. Later, she became Mrs. Flint Harris of San Benito and fondly remembers this place as home while she and Flint were courting and until she married and went to San Benito to live. Her mother paid Mrs. Verser $100.00 a month for a room and three meals a day for both of them.

Numerous, later prominent, Harlingenites stayed at the Verser House before becoming established in the community. John Myrick and his wife lived there as he began to practice law in 1915 as Harlingen's first attorney. In late 1926 and part of 1927 Ned Sondock, who would found the Delta Office Furniture Company predecessor to Delta Office Supply, lived there while waiting for his wife, Tillye, and their baby son to move to the Valley from Houston. Jim Sweeney, father of Mary Lou Rumbo, also lived there prior to his marriage and while working for the Ice Company which would evolve into CP&L.

The 1930 Harlingen telephone directory lists H.J. and Lucy Verser still living there along with several of their children. These were Annie Conner Verser, who taught school in Mercedes; Corrine Verser, who taught at the Harlingen Senior High School; Bessie Verser; and Murrell Verser, the oldest of the six siblings. He was a packer working at the Snavely Packing Company.

In 1966, eighty-eight year old Mrs. Verser followed her husband in death. The daughters continued to live there for a number of years. A series of fires took place in late summer of 1979. It was not occupied at that time, though it was still in the Verser name. Jack Verser offered any of its contents which could be re-cycled to the Harlingen Hospital Restoration Project. Doors, windows, plumbing, ceiling and floor boards were used to complete the Museum project. What were left over, unused, were the floor boards that were sold as fund raising souvenirs.

Four sisters, who are Lucy and Huron's grandchildren by Jack, and eight great grandchildren are the descendents now alive. Debby Verser Rektorik, one of the sisters, is Chief Special Services Officer at the Knapp Medical Center. Her father Jack passed away in 1998.

Regretfully the Verser House was lost by fire and the ravishment of time, but its memory lives on through this little story, the charitable mementoes purchased by generous citizens, and the fixtures of the house still serving the old F Street Hospital now at the Rio Grande Valley Museum.

Betty Murray's 1980 article was transcribed and annotated by Norman Rozeff, Harlingen Historical Preservation Society, September 2003.

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Thomas F. Lee and Leeland

By 1917 Thomas F. Lee is heavily promoting sales of his farm land west of Harlingen. His Lee Land Company has offices in what he calls Leeland (now the Stuart Place area south of West Business 83), Dallas, Oklahoma City, and St. Louis. He is utilizing excursions to generate sales. One brochure exclaims "Our luxurious private steel Pullman car leaves the Union Station, St. Louis, the first and third Tuesdays of each month for the Home of the Golden Fruit--Leeland--the heart of the Rio Grande Valley." His brochure titles are "The Magic Valley", "Telephone for Rain", "Golden Fruit", Harvest at Christmas Time", and "My Southern Home."

Lee is to construct a substantial attractive two story building on his property. (It still exists several miles from Harlingen at 7901 West Business 83.) It is a sales draw and termed a community clubhouse. When Lee later sells his holdings to the Stuarts, this piece of the property, now termed the Stuart Place Community Center, is used for many years by community residents.

It is in 1912 that Robert Terry Stuart of Kaufman County, TX first comes to the Valley. His development work starts in 1916 with investments near Harlingen, Brownsville, Edcouch, and tracts near Mercedes and Mission. He was born near Terrill in Kaufman County, TX on 1/24/80. His parents are Texas born, his grandparents having come here from Scotland when Texas was a republic. He is educated at the Sam Houston School in Huntsville and the M&F Institute, Chicago. In Oklahoma City he becomes president of the Mid-Continental Life Insurance Co. and the Robert T. Stuart and Co. Investment Banks. He married Maude Elizabeth McKebbons 6/30/04.

1916 Otis E. Stuart comes to the Valley. He and his brother, R.T. Stuart, who as noted, had acquainted himself with the Valley as early as 1912, later develop and promote Stuart Place with its 10,000 acres, probably the largest individually owned agricultural and citrus fruit property in South Texas. Brand names are Stuart's Premium and Stuart's Tree Ripened. Its two packing sheds handling products have a total of 10,000 square feet. R.T. is a resident of Oklahoma City and president of the Mid-Continental Life Insurance Co. (of Oklahoma.)

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Unusual Photograph Explained
Norman Rozeff

In the Our Heritage page of 12/11/03 an article ran on Harlingen's Anglin family. Accompanying it was an unusual photograph (repeated at right) furnished by Vickie Ayers Gonzales, an Anglin descendent. The photograph showed four Texas lawmen, two of whom appeared in unusual headgear. An explanation of the photograph has come to light. In the April 1985 issue of Fiesta, a monthly magazine printed in McAllen at the time and directed at tourists, the same picture is reproduced and a short account of it is made.

The border law officers in the picture (left to right) are: V.C. Dow, deputy sheriff from El Paso; Marcus Hines, U.S. Customs Officer; Tom Mayfield of Donna; and E.W. Anglin police chief of Harlingen. The photo was courtesy of Lawson Anglin, one of E.W.'s sons and himself later a lawman as Cameron County motor patrolman.

Tom Mayfield, who once worked as a supervisor on John Closner's San Juan Plantation, became a Hidalgo County deputy sheriff and, as readers may recall, played a major role in uncovering the Plan of San Diego, an insurrectionist manifesto conceived in 1915.

Elmer William Anglin managed the properties and business ventures, including land clearing, of Hill. In this job he was closely connected to the growing young town which came into official being in April 1910. He served on the first cemetery committee as a trustee, served as a school trustee prior to 1920, and after 1910 he performed as police chief for 16 years. From 1939 through 1959 he was a justice of the peace.

Surprisingly the picture was not taken in Texas, but in Lansing, Michigan. This is how it came about. After serious border incidents began to occur along the U.S.-Mexico border and the turmoil related to the Mexican revolutionists added to unsettled conditions, the federal government sent army troops (nearly 50% of the total number in the ranks) to the border then had to supplement them even more with National Guard troops. Henry Ford, fearing the loss of some of his automobile factory workers to guard call up duty, voiced opposition to government plans. Opposing Ford was the equally vehement Chicago Tribune. When the newspaper labeled him "an anarchist", he found reason to sue it for a million dollars.

The border lawmen were called north to testify in the trial which ensued. They provided accounts of the border disorders and banditry. According to the Fiesta article Lawson Anglin recalls his father spending thirty-eight days in Michigan. The judgment ran against Ford; his claim was thrown out. It was after the trial that this group picture was taken. In a jovial mood Hines and Dow donned Mexican sombreros rather than their own usual hats, possibly Stetsons.

National Guard units did indeed come south. One of the largest encampments was Camp Llano Grande occupied in 1916-17. This was located near the present day Texas A & M Experiment Station at the intersection of FM 1015 and Business 83. Units from Indiana, Nebraska, Minnesota, and North Dakota were stationed here on an area occupying over 200 acres. The camp included a headquarters building, commissary, and recreational facilities. Wither's lodging house was transformed into the camp hospital. South of the railroad tracks were parade grounds, tent encampments, and stock pens. Once U.S. involvement into the Great War was imminent, the camp was abandoned in March 1917, one month prior to U.S entry into the war. The troops stationed there were then called to war service in France.

Over the period, there were stationed at the camp Indiana National Guard troops totaling 3,702 in an artillery battalion, field hospitals, infantry regiments, ambulance companies, sanitary company, and signal company. Nebraska troops numbered 2,153 who, in addition to the above units, had a machine gun company. Minnesota guardsmen numbered 5,117 and consisted of infantry and field artillery regiments. The North Dakota National Guard contingent numbering 1,007 members was also headquartered there though its camp was in Mercedes.

Soldiers of the 6th U.S. Cavalry, 26th Infantry and the 3rd Texas National Guard are stationed in Harlingen as part of efforts to quell border unrest. They even have several field hospitals for the minimum of 10 companies involved here. On 8/3/16 on the orders of Major A.R. Sholars, Companies K and L of the Third Texas Infantry are moved by truck from San Benito into Harlingen as the first step in consolidating all Texas troops into Harlingen. On August 6 the City Council orders a committee of three to consult with Texas State Adjutant General Hulen for plans of cooperation between the general and the City Council and the City Health Officer regarding the camp site. This month the city appoints a City Health Officer to overlook the soldiers. The city provides the camp with free water and lights. Various Robert Runyon photographs of the period show tent camps around Fourth Street, east of Harrison and also along the train tracks on Commerce near where it meets Madison. Runyon also portrays soldiers preparing to embark on a military train near the first depot in Harlingen.

As some troops in the Valley were sent home, some possibly to handle the impending nationwide railroad strike, the cost of maintaining troops on the border had added to the federal government’s budget deficit of $50 million. This was one of the reasons Congress had approved a federal income tax to take effect on 1/1/17. Unmarried people earning $3,000 or more would be taxed 2%, married above $4,000 the same, and those $20,000 or above on a graduated scale 1 to 13%. Corporations with a capital stock value of $75,000 or more would pay a 2% tax.

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Valley Morning Star and Print Media Chronology

Compiled by Norman Rozeff, Harlingen Historical Preservation Society, 5/07

1909 According to a later Harlingen Star article by its owners in 1925, the newspaper had been started this year.

7/30/10 Harlingen Star printer is shot according to a brief Brownsville Herald article.

11/25/13 H. A. Gibbs is editor of the Harlingen Star newspaper. He and his wife may have taken over the weekly as early as 1909. He also serves on the City Commission 4/12 through 11/16.

1915 Gregorio Garcia, who came to Harlingen in 1910, publishes El Precurso, the first Spanish language newspaper in town.

10/29/18 S. A. Pipes is publishing the Harlingen Star.

1/7/20 V. P DuBose and T. C. Claypool purchase the Harlingen Star from T. G. Locke.

7/27/21 Dubose sells Harlingen Star to F. M. Allen of Austin. On 11/2/21 G. K. Shearer is named to be its editor. The paper soon upgrades to a linotype machine that provides fresh type for each issue and a uniform style.

Sometime after the above date, George Stout, a contractor who came with his wife to Harlingen in 1921, is to buy and own the Star until July 1925. Stout, a Presbyterian was to marry Anna M. born in Indianapolis on 4/12/61. They married 9/19/91 and she is to die on 11/20/25. The paper is published every Friday by the Harlingen Star Publishing Company. The annual subscription rate is $2.00.

July 1925 In the third week of this month new owners begin publication of the paper. They are granted a state charter to incorporate. The name of the new firm is the Star Printing Company. The stock is held in the names of R. M. Gillmore, president, W. J. Baldwin, secretary-treasurer, and their wives. They announce that the purchase has been self-financed, that they are experienced in publishing, and that a larger investment is to be made to improve the equipment and increase volume.

12/25 A news item states that the Star is about to install new machinery and office equipment as the current setup is inadequate.

1926 W. J. Baldwin is manager of the Harlingen Star, which also takes in commercial printing. The paper, published on Tuesday and Friday, has E. O. Arnold as its editor and George Cowan as advertising manager. Around this same time Cowan and Sons become proprietors of the semi-weekly (Tues. & Fri.) Harlingen Star. George Cowan is the advertising manager and E. O. Arnold is editor. The latter is replaced by Otto A. Vinke in late August 1926. Vinke has had experience as editor of the Fort Worth Record and with the San Antonio Express. His parents live in Rio Hondo.

8/21/28 Howard Barrett and his wife arrive from Abilene. He is the new owner of the Star Publishing Company which he purchased several weeks ago. He has had publishing experience with the Abilene Reporter and the Abilene Daily News. One new change will be that subscribers of the paper will get home delivery of the paper by newsboys rather than by mail, this to commence 8/24. George W. McDaniel of Abilene comes down also on a temporary basis to iron out circulation problems. On 9/25 the paper's new 28,000 lb. Duplex Press is publicized in a front page picture. It is capable of printing and folding 6,000 copies an hour.

9/28/28 It is announced that the tri-weekly Harlingen Star is to become a five day weekly plus Sunday newspaper under its new ownership. This change takes place on 12/1. The very nature of the paper then changes with the insertion of considerable Associated Press (AP) newswire items. National and international news now dominate the lineage. The headlines take on the look of sensational/disaster grabbers. A Sunday supplement and comics are added. Obituaries are seldom run on local people unless they are of some prominence.

6/2/29 The paper commences a joint advertising venture with Harlingen radio station KRGV.

6/27/30 In a CPL survey the Harlingen Star reports that it has 48 employees. This likely includes delivery people.

This year the paper is purchased by two entities. One is Marsh and Fentress which is publisher of papers in Austin, Waco, Port Arthur and elsewhere. Co-owner is Harte and Hanks which own papers in San Angelo, Abilene, and Corpus Christi. In 1931 the former entity will obtain 100% ownership.

1931 It is this year that the Harlingen Star becomes the Valley Morning Star. The Valley Morning Star's plant and office is located at 118 North A Street, a site later occupied by Luby's New England Cafeteria. A small photographer's studio stands between the VMS and Junkin's Furniture to the north. The VMS is owned by the March-Fentress Group but in 1933 is sold to McHenry Tichenor, who came to the Valley from Oklahoma. Tichenor, who came to the Valley in 1930, served as an administrator for the VBH and was a member of the Elks and Rotary. It was his purchase of a radio station here from Judge Hofheinz of Houston that sent him on the road to becoming a multi-millionaire. Several years later Hubert Hudson, father of the 1930s state senator from the area, purchases the VMS along with the Brownsville Herald and McAllen Monitor. Tichenor is said to have paid $50,000 for the VMS and sold it five years later for $125,000. Soon after Hudson builds a new newspaper plant at 213 South 2nd Street and installs an efficient rotary press to supersede the flatbed one.

3/1/36 The Valley Morning Star's circulation is touted at 3,677 home deliveries, 1,274 motor routes, 1,370 via Valley mail (142 out of the area), and 190 hotel sales for a total 6,653 paid circulation.

1937 Ownership of the Valley Morning Star shifts to H. R. Hudson who also obtains the (McAllen) Evening Monitor and the Brownsville Herald.

1942 (spring) Leo E. Owens who owns papers in Minnesota and California becomes proprietor of the three city papers.

1942/43 In addition to the Valley Morning Star with its 10,000 circulation, Harlingen is the publishing site of Texas Farming and Citriculture Magazine. This 10,000 circulation publication is devoted to the development of agriculture in South Texas and was established in 1924.

1944/45 The Valley Morning Star circulation is 10,000.

10/1/51 Raymond Cyrus Hoiles and his Freedom Newspapers, Inc. purchase the Valley Morning Star, the Brownsville Herald, and the McAllen Monitor for $2 million. The VMS has 70 employees, $270,000 payroll, 140 carriers, and 18,000 square feet in its new plant. It was this year that Hoiles founded Freedom Communications long after his 1935 purchase of the Santa Ana Register in Orange County, CA. In 1999 the newspaper group was to acquire the Mid-Valley Town Crier (Weslaco). By 2003 the Freedom group was the country's 11th largest newspaper company. It owned 28 dailies, 37 weeklies, and 8 television stations, all having an estimated value of $1.3 to 2 billion. This is when Freedom Communications, Inc. solicited bids for the sale or merger of the family-owned company. CEO Alan Bell noted that the board of directors authorized investment banker Morgan Stanley to seek offers. This would establish a market value for the company. This was done and allowed some family members to be bought out without sacrificing the company.

8/26/55 Johnny Martin who came to the Valley in 1926 and worked for the Valley Morning Star for over 12 years is to die at age 51. Under 5' in stature, this colorful news photographer had a sixth sense for smelling out news stories. He leaves his wife Louise and a daughter here.

4/12/59 T. N. Gaines succeeds the ailing Frank Ragsdale as editor of the Valley Morning Star. Gaines has been with the Freedom Newspapers for 17 years and at the McAllen Evening Monitor the last eight.

5/10/59 General manager Ralph Julliard starts new plant and presses of the Valley Morning Star on South 77 Sunshine Strip near the bridge. The plant features a high capacity 9-unit Unitubular Press.

10/31/61 The Valley Morning Star commences its annual editions of Saludos Amigos.

10/30/70 Raymond Cyrus Hoiles, Newspaper publisher and founder of the Freedom Press dies. Born in Alliance, Ohio on 1/24, 1878, he began his newspaper career with his brother Frank who published the Alliance Review. At the time of his death the chain published twenty newspapers with a circulation of 500,000 in eight states.

1/4/81 V. Lyle Debolt, publisher of the VMS, announces a change in the paper's front page format.

5/21/82 Nellie Wobschall of the paper is recognized by the Junior Service League of Harlingen for her many years of service to the community via her editing of the Viewpoint column.

8/22/82 The VMS initiates its satellite antenna to receive direct AP service communications via space.

1/3/99 Minnie Carpenter Gilbert celebrates her 99th birthday. As a nine year old she came with her parents from Oklahoma to Runn, south of Donna. After the flooding of 1909 the family moved to San Benito in 1910. She attended UT in the 1920s. Minnie then began her newspaper career working for the San Benito News, Brownsville Herald and the Harlingen Star which became the Valley Morning Star. During WWII she was city editor of the latter. She retired in 1971 but devoted herself to preserving Valley history. She authored/edited Gift of the Rio, Roots by the River, and Rio Grande Round-up. She was founder and first president of the Valley By-Liners.

1999 Douglas Hardie becomes publisher of the VMS. In August 2007, at age 60, he will retire after 28 years of newspaper work in the Valley. He had worked for the Freedom chain for nearly 50 years having started as a paperboy for his grandfather's media company. In 2003 he helped put together the package which would allow the family to retain 51% of the company, the 11^th largest such chain in the U.S. Upon being graduated from the University of Denver he commenced employment in the Freedom chain and worked in numerous locations. Hardie worked as publisher of the Brownsville Herald from 1979 to 1998.

10/2/02 The Valley Morning Star has a paid circulation of 27,183.

5/11/04 Freedom Communications Inc., parent company of the Valley Morning Star, moved the corporation partly out of sole Hoiles family hands thereby resolving a twenty year feud. In a two billion dollar deal 58% of the stock was sold to the Blackwell Group of New York and Rhode Island-based Providence Equity Partners. Family members who wanted out sold the outstanding shares, however the buyout group can only own a maximum of 49.9% of the voting stock, so the family will remain in control. Tim Hoiles, grandson of the founder, Raymond C. Hoiles, sold his shares, estimated at more than $100 million.

By May 2006 the Freedom Press chain includes the following publications and cities:

Journal-Courier, Jacksonville, IL The Lima News, Lima, OH

Appeal Democrat, Maryville, CA Brownsville Herald, Brownsville, TX

Gaston Gazette, Gastonia, NC Daily Press, Victorville, CA

Free Press, Kinston, NC The Sun, Yuma, AZ

Times-News, Burlington, NC The Monitor, McAllen, TX

Shelby Star, Shelby, NC Quay County Star, Tucumari, NM

The Daily News, Fort Walton Beach, FL Panama City Herald, Panama City, FL

Clovis News Journal, Clovis, NM Daily Press, Victorville, CA

Sedalia Democrat, Sedalia, MO Portales News Tribune, Portales, NM

Recorder, Porterville, CA Desert Dispatch, Barstow, CA

Valley Morning Star, Harlingen, TX

6/9/06 The Freedom Communication Inc. acquires the free-distribution weekly The Coastal Current. The latter, conceived 14 years ago and owned by Jim and Melissa Goller, concentrates on entertainment and South Padre Island. It will be consolidated with Island Breeze, a Freedom publication.

8/15/06 Paul Binz, 51, veteran newspaperman, becomes managing editor of the Valley Morning Star. He has been managing editor at The Monitor in McAllen since 1993 and worked there and at the Brownsville Herald since 1989. He replaces George Cox who is now general manager for the Coastal Current and Island Breeze, recently acquired by Freedom Communications. Binz is a Little Rock native who was raised in Houston.

4/12/07 The Texas Historical Foundation recognizes the VMS as tops among all Texas print media when it gives it "The Journalistic Achievement Award of Merit for Excellence in Print Media."

5/07 After 23 years of covering Valley sports, VMS Buddy Green retires. A native of Mount Vernon, NY he came to Texas in the early 1980s to attend Texas A&I University. He joined the VMS in 1984 and in 1999 was named its sports editor. His coverage was well received over the years.

9/1/07 Tyler Patton, 42, becomes the publisher of the VMS. This Midland native earned a degree in financial management from Hardin-Simmons University and in 1990 began employment with the Abilene Reporter News. He joined Freedom Communications, the parent of the VMS, when, in 1994, he took employment with the Odessa American. In 2004 he became general manager of the Valley Morning Star.

10/1/07 The circulation of the newspaper reaches 23, 919 average over the last 12 months.

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When Giants Roared in Hanger 38
Norman Rozeff
January 2004

As people drive into the Valley International Airport they may spot a large hanger building set back from the road. Even with its fading paint job, this corrugated metal structure stands out because of its somewhat faded international orange paint job, which it has likely sported for 27 years. The logo spelling "EMAIR" in large white letters on its front side adds a sense of puzzlement to most passing by. This is Hanger 38. It was constructed in 1942 when the Harlingen Army Airfield was being developed to train over 48,000 soldiers in its aerial gunnery school, termed "HAGS" for short. It was used the military until late 1945 when the base was phased out upon the end of World War II. Two years after the Korean War commenced in June 1950 and was to be followed by the "Cold War", the field was reactivated as the Harlingen Air Force Base with a mission to train navigators. It did so for over 13,350 officers.

When the military used the black and white checkerboard-painted hanger, it was used to maintain such aircraft as P-39s, BT-13s (a basic trainer), and two seater AT-6s. The latter would either tow a target or fitted with a Browning machine gun in the rear of the cockpit fire at them. Still later B-24s and P-63s would be used in training. The Air Force when it later reoccupied the field used the hanger to maintain such larger aircraft as C-45s, C-47s, and T-29s.

Hanger 38 was one of several of nearly identical design to be found at the base. On its east side facing the runways it had sixteen sliding doors on six tracks. These would be pushed eight to each side to provided access to its 200' wide and 120' deep interior with 20' height clearance to the girder work. On north and south sides of the hanger additional 17' wide spaces had been constructed to hold machining, working, and storage areas. The west side held 19' wide office spaces.

When the base was closed in 1962 the field was turned back to the City of Harlingen. The city then tried to turn it into an industrial airpark and therefore sought to find tenants and businesses to utilize the available infrastructures. By 1967 the Texas State Technical Institute was on the scene using barracks, former administration, and other buildings for classrooms and other uses. Hanger 38, now painted in neutral colors, was used by students studying aircraft maintenance. In 1970 the city decided to move its municipal airport from Harvey Richards Field, where the town of Palm Valley and the Harlingen Country Club now stand, to the larger field closer to the city.

In 1972 the hanger was to see an unusual occupant. EMAIR, a subsidiary of Murray Air of Hawaii, was looking for a mainland site in which to fabricate a new type of agricultural airplane. A Dallas firm suggested Harlingen as a centrally located site with labor in the area not being highly organized. In addition the facility was reasonably priced for lease. The Chamber of Commerce then conducted much of the legwork to ease EMAIR's occupancy.

EMROTH Company doing business as EMAIR was organized by Bill Murray of Hilo, Hawaii and George Roth of Oahu, Hawaii to build a high capacity bi-wing agricultural plane similar to but much larger than the existing bi-wing Stearman aircraft being flown in the 1950s and 60s for agricultural dusting. The Boeing-built Stearmans had served as training planes at the start of WWII. After the war many were converted for aerial agricultural uses. Originally having 220 hp engines, some were upgraded to 330 hp.

The prototype designed by Roth was built in New Zealand over nine month period. It was tested there, dismantled, and shipped to Hawaii. It had the load capacity to apply 2,800 lbs. of fertilizer for Hawaii's sugarcane and pineapple fields as well as convertibility to apply liquid herbicides. The Stearmans then in use had only a 1,200 lb. capacity. Five more super-sized planes were built on Oahu for use in the islands. These were powered by Pratt and Whitney R1340 600 hp engines.

It was 7/30/73 when EMAIR rolled out the first aircraft manufactured in Harlingen. The company had begun operations here in January 1973. The plane could reach a speed of 118 mph and carry 6,250 lbs in its 62 ½ cubic ft. hopper.  This is the equivalent of 450 gallons. The upper wing of the MA-1 Paymaster was 41ft. 8 in. and the lower one 35'.

After manufacturing commenced in Harlingen, 46 aircraft were fabricated. While the initial models were designated MA-1, later ones, with Wright R1820 1200 hp engines, were designated MA-1B. As the cane industry wound down in Hawaii and competitors came out with new, more powerful applicators, manufacturing ceased here. The last aircraft was built December 1986.

As of this time EMAIR does some aircraft engine maintenance work but mostly cares for fabric-covered planes of aerial applicators, hobbyists, and collectors. Long-time owner/manager and Harlingen resident George Roth has retired to the Lake Livingston area. One unsold giant has sat forlornly in Hanger 38 for some years. It now seems that it will soon find a home in Louisiana with an owner who has a sister craft.

Lyle Chipps, supervisor for EMAIR, has been selling off the remaining inventory and plant equipment as the company will soon shutter its doors forever. The fate of Hanger 38 will then be in the hands of the Airport Authority. Whether its event-filled life of 62 years will continue or it will fall to the wrecking ball is anyone's guess.

In January 2008, except for its foundation, Hanger 38 was demolished to make added space for air operations of the adjacent Federal Express Company.

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Famed Sculptor, Lincoln Borglum, Farmed in Area

Norman Rozeff

The name Borglum is hardly a household word to most Americans, but Mt. Rushmore with its famous patriotic monument is certainly known to most. It was the Borglums, father John Gutzon de la Mothe and his son James Lincoln de la Mothe, who were responsible for conceiving and executing the giant heads of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt comprising the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, South Dakota. The initial idea was brought to Gutzon by South Dakota state historian Doane Robinson. The Black Hills site on the 5,725 foot mountain named in 1885 after New York lawyer Edward E. Rushmore was dedicated on August 10, 1927 by President Calvin Coolidge. Completion of the work was not until 1941 when World War II suspended any further refinements. While the completion took 14 years all told due to financial limitations, the actual carving took 6 ½ years.

Gutzon Borglum, who was born in Idaho in March 1867, was the son of Danish immigrant parents. His father was a physician and rancher. Gutzon studied art in California and while there executed the large painting Stagecoach, now in the Menger Hotel, San Antonio. In his early 20s he studied in Paris for two years and then a year in Spain. He was awarded M.A. and L.L.D. degrees. After returning to the U.S, he painted and illustrating but began to concentrate on sculpting. Although he studied with and was influenced by the famed French sculptor Rodin, some say that Gutzon went into sculpture to compete with his talented younger brother Solon Hannibal, a sculptor of western art. Gutzon completed a head of Lincoln (1908) now at the Capitol Rotunda in Washington among other commemorative work to follow. He moved to Texas in 1925 to work on a monument to trail drivers. Its casting was delayed until 1940 and then was only a fourth the size of its original conception. It stands today near the Witte Museum in San Antonio. While in Texas, Borglum planned the redevelopment of the Corpus Christi waterfront but this project was never brought to fruition. A model of Christ intended for the waterfront was later modified by his son Lincoln and erected on a South Dakota mountaintop. Lincoln, born April 9, 1912, was Borglum's son by his second wife, Mary Montgomery, a PhD. In 1908 after a nine year marriage, Gutzon had divorced his first wife, Elizabeth (Lisa) Putnam, who was twenty two years his senior.

Gutzon had started to execute the Confederate Memorial on Stone Mountain, Georgia in 1916, a work interrupted by World War I but resumed in 1924. The smooth granite face would feature a frieze of Generals Lee and Jackson, Jefferson Davis and Confederate troops. Characterized by a temper, perfectionism, tremendous vitality, and being fiercely opinionated, Gutzon fell out with the work's sponsors, the Confederate Monumental Association, and destroyed his models. Augustus Lukeman was to take up the reins and complete this project.

At Rushmore and now 60 years of age, Gutzon sculpted five foot models of the presidents' heads. These had to be transformed into 60 foot heads 500' above the valley floor. If each of the figures was carved full-size, its length would be 465'. After surgery in Chicago, Gutzon was to die of an embolism on 3/6/41. Seven months later under the direction of Lincoln and with a final cost of just under $1 million and the removal of 500,000 tons of rock the work ended on 10/31/41. World War II loomed and the last of the $50,000 appropriated had been spent.

Lincoln had joined his father in 1932 and worked for several years without pay. In time he was to become his father's right hand man. Between 1934 and 1938 he was in charge of measurements and enlarging the models as "pointer's" work superintendent; in 1938 he was made superintendent of the memorial. Initially resented by some as possibly being the privileged son of the boss, Lincoln with his quiet demeanor, friendly personality, and strong work ethic soon won everyone over. Four hundred workmen carved the smooth-grained granite. A one point Lincoln hired back workmen his father had fired in a pique of anger. In recognition of his significant contributions to the monument, the government named its visitors center museum, the Lincoln Borglum Museum.

Lincoln Borglum was in his late 50s when, in 1970, he came to the Valley from Hermosa, South Dakota and purchased a citrus grove at 8/10 Mile South Bass Blvd. in the Adams Gardens Subdivision. His former residence still stands on the southeast corner of the intersection of Hoss Lane and Bass Blvd. While operating the grove he continued to create, but much more modest works. He and his wife Mary Ann Bellsworth Borglum enjoyed the Valley and its people. They hosted numerous parties. Mrs. Borglum, born February 16, 1917 in South Dakota, was to die in August 1985. Though residing here, he was to die on 1/27/86 after an illness in Corpus Christi, where his daughter Robin Carter and son Robert lived. This Episcopalian and Freemason also left behind sons Paul, Dick, and James together with his younger sister, Mrs. David Vhary of Reno. Both Borglums are interred in City Cemetery No.1, San Antonio. At the time of his death Lincoln was working on a bust of Lloyd P. Nolen, Confederate Air Force co-founder. Harlingen's Bob Scoggins was a pallbearer at both funerals. He and his wife Marybelle fondly remember the Borglums every time they view their small bronze statue of Lincoln's "The Branding" portraying three cowboys branding a calf and the miniature of the Mt. Rushmore monument Lincoln made for them. Additional works of Lincoln are to be founding the Simon Michael Art Gallery, Rockport, TX. The painter Michael was a lifelong fiend of Lincoln.

Readers will find more detailed information in Lincoln's 1966 book titled My Father's Mountain: Mt. Rushmore and How It Was Carved. He himself is the subject of T. D. Griffith's book, A Sculptor's Son: Lincoln Borglum and Mt. Rushmore.

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Upon the March 6, 2005 Dedication of the Texas Historical Commission Events Marker Commemorating the Harlingen Army Air Field and Harlingen Air Force Base.

Norman Rozeff
Harlingen Historical Preservation Society

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. It is long overdue that we gather here today to remember certain important events in Harlingen history. It was sixty three and a half years ago that Col. John R. Morgan arrived in this city and in this location to assume command of the new Harlingen Army Air Field. Those, mostly military but many also civilians, who served here in the 1940s, and still survive, would now be in their 80s or older. Belatedly we recognize their contributions, thank them, and recognize those who are deceased. Others who passed through the Base gates in the 1950s are in their 70s. To them we also extend our gratitude.

To put into proper prospective their contributions, we must reflect on the history that transpired both here and thousands of miles from this peaceful place.

With the depressed U. S. economy still lingering into the late 1930s, the city fathers of Harlingen, Texas lead by Mayor Hugh Ramsey sought to attract federal funds to the area in 1938.

By 1940, and with war on the horizon in 1941, defense concerns escalated. On May 3, 1941 the War Department then accepted Harlingen’s invitation to establish a military airfield on the 960 acres being offered. The following month the lease was approved, and authorization was made for construction of a flexible gunnery school at the field. The initial allocation for the project was $3,770,295. The facility would reach nearly 1,600 acres in size by 1944. The facility eventually accommodated 6,500 trainees, and at peak operation carried a maximum load of 9,000.

The Harlingen Army Gunnery School received its first assigned cadre in August 1941. Its primary mission, with an initial student load of 600, was that of training aerial gunnery students in a five week (extended to six weeks in 1943) training program. Over 48,000 soldiers were trained until the school, one of three such types in the country, closed in 1945. During its existence, expansion of its facilities, such as barracks and technical installations, regularly continued. Graduates served on B17s, B24s, B25s, and B29s among other aircraft.

Crews on B17 Flying Fortress and B24 Liberator aircraft consisted of ten crewmen. These were pilot, co-pilot, navigator, bombardier, and radio man. From the gunnery schools came tail, nose, ball, waist, and top gunners, some operating in turrets.

The casualty rates sustained by these airmen in the years 1943 until 1945 provide horrendous statistics. One out of three B17s built was lost, 4,750 aircraft all told. In the European Theater of war 340,000 persons were in the 8th Air Force of whom 135,000 were combat crewmen. Of this 135,000, 26,000 were killed and 28,000 became prisoners of war, a loss ratio of 40%. If we extrapolate these figures to the more than 48,000 gunnery school graduates who walked, played and laughed on these very grounds, upwards of 9,200 may have been killed in action and 10,000 could have become POWs.

Two Harlingen Gunnery School graduates especially distinguished themselves and were awarded our nation's highest military honor, the (Congressional) Medal of Honor. The first was Maynard Harrison "Snuffy" Smith. As a 5'6", 130 lb. ball gunner in the belly of a B17, Smith became the first enlisted airman ever to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor, from Secretary of War Stinson no less. Thanks to war correspondent Andy Rooney, Smith received considerable publicity for his heroics. His citation reads as follows:

From this action in southern France, the plane managed to limp back to the nearest landing strip in England whereupon it split in two after setting down. Smith had fought the flames with extinguishers, drinking water, and finally urine in collection containers. Smith's heroic efforts had saved the crew as well as himself. He flew four more combat missions before experiencing combat fatigue, a condition which resulted in his being demoted to the rank of private.

The other very distinguished gunnery school graduate was Technical Sergeant Forrest L. Vosler. The Harlingen Army Gunnery School was his first unit. He received a Congressional Medal of Honor citation for action occurring in the European Theater. His citation is dramatic and moving. It reads:

The Air Force in May 1984 established a Professional Military Education Center for non-commissioned officers. The facility at the Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado Springs, Colorado is named the Forrest L. Vosler NCO Academy. The Academy has a heraldic shield. On its right upper half is a purple background symbolic of Vosler’s first unit, the Harlingen Army Gunnery School.

We know there must be thousands of other dramatic episodes experienced by the gunnery school graduates; their many stories will be lost with age and the passage of time.

The contribution of women to the war effort should not be overlooked. By 1943 there was a contingent of ninety Women's Army Corps (WAC) personnel dong twenty-one jobs at the base. The Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) ferried planes between bases and performed other duties thereby relieving male pilots to other assignments. In Harlingen the WASPs flew over the Gulf in B26s towing targets upon which B24 gunners could practice. The work of the women was serious business as attested to by the sad incident that befell one of the WASP pilots servicing Harlingen. On June 29, 1944 Bonnie Jean Alloway Welz was en route to Laredo, Texas from Harlingen. She was piloting a fixed-wheel BT-13 with Major Robert B. Stringfellow as a passenger. As the craft neared Randado, Texas, a small community about 30 miles east of Laredo but no longer mapped, the craft experienced problems of an unknown nature. She attempted to land in whatever clearing she could find in the mesquite-covered prairie. As the plane taxied one of its wheels may have struck a gopher hole causing the craft to flip and catch fire. The canopy was open, and the seriously injured passenger had been thrown clear about 50 yards from where the plane came to rest. Hearing the craft low in his neighborhood, a 19 year old man named Skaggs drove up in his truck and commenced to aid the officer as the major kept shouting about the pilot whom it was impossible to rescue from the flaming wreckage. Bonnie Jean perished. She left a small daughter without a mother.

In the Valley, additional fatalities of WASP pilots occurred, one each, at Brownsville and at Mission. In all, 38 WASP pilots died in the service of their country.

Another woman serving with distinction at the gunnery school was Captain Helen Morris Deblinger. This Pawtucket, Rhode Island native was graduated as a certified registered nurse in 1933 then went on to obtain in 1936 a graduate degree in the teaching of nursing from the Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C. She joined the service in 1936. When the war commenced, she applied to serve overseas, but her expertise was needed at home as instructor and chief of nurses. Four officer nurses served under her at the HAAF. After serving in Harlingen she went on to Maxwell Field, Montgomery, Alabama.

The Harlingen Army Air Field closed within six months after the cessation of World War II in August 1945.

The initiation of the Korean War in June 1950 brought new priorities to the military. By April 1, 1952 the field was re-activated to serve the U.S. Air Force. The primary mission of the now Harlingen Air Force Base was to train navigators. Course time was initially 28 weeks, later extended to 32 weeks, and finally in 1960 to 38 weeks for Aviation Cadets.

When U.S. forces became fully engaged in the Korean War, the House Armed Services Committee, acting under the National Defense Program, appropriated $15 million for the reactivation of the Harlingen Air Field. Later a $12 million price tag was attached to the field’s rehabilitation. Work started in early 1952. By 1 April 1952 the Base was once more in service.

The Base was projected to have at its peak a complement of 3,500 military personnel, 600 civilians, and a payroll of $15 million annually. Students fell into two categories. One consisted of aviation cadets who would work to obtain their wings along with navigational skills. The second group consisted of student officers, those already commissioned who would be trained as navigators. In numbers the ratio of the former over the latter was about three to one.

In January 1953, the training course was renamed the Basic Observer Navigator Training Program and was lengthened from 28 to 32 weeks. A $5 million expansion program was planned and contracts were let for the construction of more than 20 new buildings including the chapel, dental clinic, and nine barracks buildings.

A truce in the Korean War came about on 7/27/53, and all belligerency ceased. In September of that year President Dwight D. Eisenhower toured both the Base and the Valley. This was the only time in a decade that a Commander-in-Chief had visited the area.

In its own press release, the Air Force announced that "Navigation training at Harlingen Air Force Base will be discontinued, starting early in 1962 and the base will be deactivated by June l962." This announcement came three weeks after the school had graduated 170 students, the largest class in its nine-year history.

In all, l3,355 students had been graduated from the Navigation School. From June of l952 when the first training began to March, l960 when the l0,000^th navigator was graduated the Base averaged l,290 graduates per year. From March l960 to June l962 it graduated an average of l,525 cadets per year. Numerous graduates became career officers and rose in rank over time to assume important commanding positions.

The astounding number of 1,400 houses for sale in the city in 1963 and the years to follow alone indicates the magnitude of the closure. Homes were being put on the market for $10 a square foot, a bargain basement price.

In the little over 14 combined years that the Harlingen Army Airfield and the Harlingen Air Force Base were in operation they were a pride and a joy to the city of Harlingen. The interaction between the military and the citizens of the area was one of mutual admiration and regard. Every one was well served. All deserve to be remembered. That is why the unveiling of this historical marker today in this place is in itself a significant event.

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Characterizing Harlingen Eccentricities

The following humorous compilation is being circulated via the internet in October 2005. It is at least the second version, the first having been both added to and revised. Its original author is unknown but obviously someone very knowledgeable about Harlingen and its society. Despite its humor and exaggeration it does reflect a truth, that is, Harlingen for all of its 60,000 population is in many ways still small town rural in nature, and somewhat provincial to boot. It is an historic item because it documents some aspects of the social scene prevailing at this point in time in the community.

Some Harlingen parents, and not necessarily limited only to the close-familial Latinos, find it difficult to "cut the apron strings" and allow their children to sink or swim on their own. In other instances the grown children, who have moved away, find it too challenging to survive outside the calm environs of Harlingen and their tight-knit loving families of the Lower Rio Grande Valley and readily return.

1. Some people call it "Arlington."

2. Combes is considered another town.

3. La Feria is considered "out of town."

4. People remember hurricanes fondly.

5. A big concert for us is some dude playing at McKelvey Park. (And everybody goes.)

6. We get excited if a new restaurant opens in town, even if it's an IHOP.

7. You spend 5 years at TSTC.

8. Going for a cruise means driving down Harrison and Tyler.

9. You know what a #1 or a #7 is at Whataburger.

10. You remember fondly when the Cardinals won Regionals and still talk about it.

11. You consider yourself a "Cardinal"…. regardless.

12. Olive Garden and Applebee's are considered upscale restaurants.

13. You camp out with your family at Boggus Stadium for high school playoff tickets.

14. There's a difference between the HEBs.

15. You claim you want to leave, but you never do.

16. You have Whataburger and Pizza Hut on speed dial.

17. You grew up watching Larry James and Rogelio.

18. The burning sugarcane doesn't bother you.

19. You secretly love it but won't admit it.

20. "Meeting a celebrity" means standing in line at HEB next to the local weatherman.

21. Your idea of a traffic jam is five cars waiting to pass a Winter Texan on 77 Sunshine Strip.

22. The morning commute is aggravated by "heavy traffic" between 7:55 and 8:05 AM.

23. "Vacation" means driving to South Padre Island.

24. You still wear your letterman jacket --10 years after high school.

25. Your work or classes are canceled because of "dangerous" 30 degree weather.

26. You see people wear tank tops and flip flops at funerals.

27. You think of the major food groups as fajitas, tortillas, and beer.

28. When it rains it's the talk of the town.

29. When it snows it's a national disaster. (Snow?)

30. During the summer, the car trunk doubles as an oven for your groceries.

31. You consider McAllen a metropolis.

32. The Valley Morning Star covers national and international headlines on one page but requires 6 pages for high school football.

33. You've had to switch from Heat to A/C in the same day.

34. You only own 3 spices: salt, pepper, and picante.

35. You think that opening weekend for white wing and deer are national holidays.

36. You find 98 degrees "a little warm" and 60 degrees downright freezing.

37. You think the only seasons are hot, damn hot, and winter.

38. You know if another person is from out of town the second he or she walks in the door.

39. "Overachievers" go to A&M or UT-Austin; the rest must chose between TSTC, UTB, or UT PanAm.

40. You've had several friends move off and move back within a couple of months.

41. All the streets have President's names, numbers, or letters of the alphabet.

42. RioFest, Jackson Street Jubilee, and Blues on the Hill are the major social events for the year.

43. You're old if you remember Six Shooter Junction.

44. Honeymoon means "San Antonio."

45. You get this e-mail and send it to all of your Harlingen friends. (And a few choice others too that don't know what they are missing.)

46. You're sweating on the back porch at midnight.

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The Harlingen Cemetery
Betty N. Murray
1984

[The following is a transcript of a document submitted to the Texas Historical Commission in application to obtain an historical marker for the Harlingen Cemetery.  Thanks to Mrs. Murray's research efforts and documentation, a marker was obtained in 1984 and erected in the middle of the cemetery.] 

Turn off F Street into Harlingen's only cemetery and drive to the center of the cemetery, turn left at the E Street entrance.  All along this newly paved road (the only road in the cemetery) are many gravestones which tell much of the history of Harlingen.

The first person to be buried here was a teenager, Robert Keen Weems, born April 18, 1893 and died December 10, 1909.(1)  Lillian Weems Baldridge wrote "My brother Robert had come down from Houston in a freight car with our household goods.  Bob called it coming to the Valley in his side door Pullman. Robert's grave is the first in Harlingen. [He was scolded to death after accidentally falling into a boiling vat of sugarcane syrup in his father's factory.]  The result of a tragic venture in sugar cane, like rice, was a crop unfitted for the soil. [This is a mistaken interpretation for the early 20th century demise of the sugarcane industry in the Valley.] My father, Mr. James Hathaway, and Mr. Barbee put in a syrup mill, but we were too far away from a market and that too failed.(2) [Actually it failed 10 years before the last sugar mill closed.]" Mrs. Lillian Weems Baldridge came to the Valley in 1907 with her parents.(3)  Others who died earlier were moved to the Harlingen Cemetery.  George Dorough, born October 12, 1868; died February 5, 1904, was one such grave.  The Weems' lot and Dorough lot lie adjacent to one another.(4) [along the F Street fence line]

Having a need for a cemetery with Robert Weems' tragic death, the Harlingen Cemetery came into existence legally when Lon C. Hill, Harlingen's founder, as president of the Harlingen Land and Water Company, sold to B. F. Surface, C. W. Clift, and E. W. Anglin, Trustees for the Harlingen Cemetery for the sum of one dollar, seven point six acres to be used for a cemetery only.  This deed was signed on February 1, 1912 and was duly recorded in the County Clerk's office in Brownsville, Texas on the tenth day of February, 1920.

The description in the deed is "a parcel of land lying and being in the County of Cameron, State of Texas, and being all Farm Block 164, containing 7.6 acres of land, Harlingen Land and Water Company Subdivision, as the same appears upon the official map of said subdivision of record in the Map Records of Cameron County, Texas to which map and its record reference is made for all purposes, said Block 164 described by metes and bounds as follows: Beginning at a stake the Southwest corner of Block 160 of said Subdivision; Thence South 0° 23' East along the West line of Block 164 and East line of main road 541.4' to a stake in north line of main canal right of way 764.3' to a stake. This stake being S.W. corner of Block 161. . Thence N. 0° 23' W. along West line of Block 161, 284.7' to stake. This stake being the S.E. corner of Block 160.  Thence S. 89° 37' W. along South line of Block No. 160 to point of beginning.  Being Farm Block No. 164 containing 7.6 acre, as surveyed and subdivided by the Harlingen Land and Water Company." (5)

The legal description does not do justice to the beauty of the area.  Mesquite trees and other native trees abound.  The grave markers in the different sections vary as to the ethnic background of those interred.  There are many large stones, beautifully crafted and some small headstones, in sections one and two which are to the right and left of the road leading from F Street.  According to the early map of the cemetery these two sections included the "American Section" to E Street.  And the map indicated the land east of the E Street road to D Street included the "Mexican Section."(6) ("American" and "Mexican" are not the author's verbage.) This was the division until April 2, 1947.  The two remaining Trustees, C. W. Clift and E. W. Anglin, deeded the cemetery property to the City of Harlingen.  This document was recorded on May 9, 1947. (7)

The "Mexican" Section is also beautiful.  The markers of this section are plain white crosses made out of cement, markers with the Blessed Mother on them, or possibly a crucifix, on some a rosary, on others a picture of the deceased affixed to the monument.  Many of this section have a curbing around their family plots, setting them apart from others.  Blacks are few in number, but here is a special section for them as well as a section for babies.

San Benito, Texas, about six miles from Harlingen, had a cemetery of its own which was located north of San Benito on the road to Rio Hondo.  This "old" cemetery served a purpose until 1928, when Mont Meta came into existence.  Mont Meta was located several miles north on the Rio Hondo Road.  Then Mont Meta grew rapidly, and some who had lots in the earlier cemeteries bought lots in Mont Meta.  Records both from St. Benedict's Catholic Church in San Benito and from Sacred Heart of Mary Catholic Church on C Street in Harlingen show a steadily increasing number of burials in Mont Meta and Restlawn Cemetery which came into existence in 1930 near La Feria.

Sacred Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Harlingen was a mission church of St. Benedict's.  The bridge across the Arroyo Colorado between the towns of San Benito and Harlingen was located a few blocks south of the Harlingen Cemetery. On the early cemetery map, F Street was shown as the "San Benito Highway." [Before becoming F Street it was also named Mexico Street.] Coming from San Benito approaching Harlingen was first the bridge, next the cemetery, and then about ten blocks closer to town was Harlingen's (first) Hospital, then the "Four Corners" which was an intersection [Harrison] with a filling station on each of its corners and a true crossroads. Then right several blocks east to the Missouri Pacific Railway tracks and the center of Harlingen not more than two blocks north. Sacred Heart of Mary Church was roughly twelve blocks away from the Harlingen Cemetery, and it was customary in those days to walk from the church following the wooden casket as it was carried to the cemetery for burial.

Located then just off a main thoroughfare between the two towns, the cemetery had an important location.  It was never remote; however, there was a time when it was neglected.  A sexton or caretaker took care of the cemetery for many years, however, when vandalism and wrecking of small white crosses took place, the city commission authorized, in 1974, the money for a barbed wire topped fence to be constructed around the cemetery with two entrance gates that could be locked at night. This took care of the vandalism, but tall grass was allowed to grow and the cemetery looked at times uncared for.

Mrs. A. H. Weller is credited with organizing the Harlingen Cemetery Association.  In an article written in 1960 in the Valley Morning Star the caption under the picture of Mrs. Weller and her daughters read "She organized the Harlingen Cemetery Association in 1906 and was (its) president and instrumental in its maintenance until her death in 1944."(8) During Mrs. Weller's years of service, Mr. A. Goldammer and Mr. Brunneman also served on the Cemetery Board of the Association.  Mrs. Goldammer served as its secretary-treasurer for some years. The Harlingen Cemetery Association records reflect that E. H. Pinkerton was sexton, and as such, signed all burial permits from February1, 1932 until July 1945. After that he dug graves only for a short while. His sexton's salary was twenty-five dollars a month.  Mrs. Goldammer as treasurer received five dollars a month until July 1945 and the ten dollars. Then Mr. Pinkerton signed more records, on and off and on, until 1957. The last burial permit that Mr. Pinkerton signed was numbered 7917.(9)  On July 5, 1917, the book begins with Louis Czar, buried in the "Mexican" Section with A. Goldammer as mortician.

Some familiar old family names on the first page were Mrs. John Morris – October 10, 1917, William Frank – December 10, 1917, and Thomas Verser –December 18, 1917, also a Denton and a Wilhite. (10)  Martien Olivarez –February 16, 1918 and Luz Anna Rodriguez –February 23, 1918 were among those listed the next year. (11) The Tip of Texas Genealogical Society recorded in 1962 the graves in the Harlingen Cemetery, and these findings were indexed, corrected, and alphabetized in 1982.  In the 1982 edition, of the total number recorded, there were forty persons buried in recognizable graves from the first grave through 1919, however these included those buried in Sections One and Two only. (12)

Apoplexy, old age, gunshot wound causing death, pneumonia, cancer, tuberculosis, and peritonitis were some of the causes of death listed in the church records, but the cause of death was not noted in the Association records. (13) Only those buried in the Harlingen Cemetery were considered in this history.  Eufrasia Ibarra was listed as being 118 years of age when he died on March 11, 1938 and was buried the following day.  Two of the blacks listed were Emile Sayon, sixty-seven years old, having died 9-29-35 and buried two days later, and Emile Sayon, an eighty-one year old diabetic who died 9-18-36.  Both were born in Louisiana and were listed in the death register by two different priests' signatures. (14) The Sacred Heart of Mary Death Record from January 1927 to July 6, 1952 listed many old family names.  There is no record of the total number of persons buried in the cemetery, but the author counted those listed in the year 1938 in the death records of the Sacred Heart Church.  The total number for that one year was 77l.  It interested the author to see that the largest group age-wise to die that year were the infants to ten years, with 278 falling in that category.  The next largest group was the other end of the spectrum of ages, 70-80 and more.  There were 96 of those with three living past one hundred.  Next was the 50 to 70 group with 85 total.  The remaining four ten year groups were so close together that they hardly varied, with the last group being from l0-20 years. (15)

 Two people who were buried in the Harlingen Cemetery whose names appeared in the Marker History for the first Harlingen Hospital were the nurse who thought of the idea for the hospital and was able to carry out her plans.  Marie Yeager, who died

July 22, l928, two years after the doors were closed on the little hospital.  Her burial

permit was #l25, and she was buried in the family lot of Burt Dearing alongside  Mrs. N. J. Dearing.  The other was Atilano Sanchez who died in the summer of l923. He died in the Harlingen Hospital of a gunshot wound inflicted by a peace officer.

Other familiar names found in the Harlingen Cemetery were James Lockhart, the

first postmaster of Harlingen, the infant son and daughter of Sam Botts, who was mayor

of Harlingen when the cemetery was deeded to the City in l947. (16) Perry Ray Liston, son

of W. O. Liston, died November 2l, l923.  He was brother to R. W. Liston.  Cameron

County Deputy Sheriff Horace Johnson, who was also with the Texas Corps III

Engineers, died June 9, l928 and was another person of note.  Just last March 25, l983,

the obituary column in the Valley Morning Star carried the death of his widow, Ella

Maude Johnson, who was to be buried that day beside her husband in the Harlingen

City Cemetery.  (17) She was survived by Maxine Harris, a niece, of San Benito and who lived in Harlingen as a young lady.  Another important person was Lupe F. Rodriguez, who died June l7, l968.  He played professional baseball for the Cincinnati Reds.  His tombstone is unique in that it has a baseball glove and a baseball incised upon its surface.  David L. Hinojosa, Texas Ranger, died on August 11, l932 at the age of fifty four.  His tombstone has set in the headstone a photograph of the deceased with a rifle held across his knees.  J. A. Robbins, who died March 20, l949, will be remembered by many as the janitor and custodian at Harlingen High School for many years.  Sam P. Nicholson, a blacksmith in Harlingen, died on April 24, l926.

 The major American wars and conflicts had casualties or veterans of those wars buried in the little cemetery on F Street.  Augustus O. Coleman, who died September 22, l926 at the age of eighty nine years, was a Civil War veteran.  Ralph M. McCraney, who died June 2, l929, was a veteran of the Spanish American War.

 World War I veterans included:

      Samuel Dickinson, Corporal in Cavalry, died l956

Wm. Horace Johnson, Texas Engineers died June 9, l928

Harry D. Yates, Private in Army, died March 26, l959

R. L. Philabaum, died December l9, l939

Lawrence McFarland, U. S. Army, Texas, died December 26, l958

John J. Ryan, Cpl, South Dakota, died September l4, l943

Lee Roy Johnson, Private, Texas, November l9, l945 (negro) date of death

Manuel Olivares, Jr., Texas Private, September 25, l9l8 date of death

Michael P. Sieger, Texas Private, February l7, l959 date of death

Leonard I. Smith, Sgt., Texas, July l5, l935 date of death

Wm. F. Teddlie, Louisiana Sgt., l89l-l928

Merle H. Brunem, Texas Private U. S. Army, February l4, l942 date of death

Blas Leal, Texas, Private, August 28, l933

Ralph Emerson Utley, Texas, lst Lt. Medical Corps, December l9, l946

      Veterans of World War II interred in the Harlingen Cemetery include:

Charles E. La Turno, U. S.A. Corps, Lt., died June 23, l944

Guadalupe Garcia, PFC, AAF, died May l, l949

Gustavo Bustamente, Pvt., Texas, Cav. died March 22, l944

Carlos C. Cavio, Texas, Pvt., Inf., died September l2, l944

Filiberto C. Atkinson, Tex., PFC, Eng., Inf., died August l3, l944

Marcos C. Burke, Tex., PFC Bomb Sq. AAF, died Feburary 27, l959 and is buried at                           the foot of the grave of Marcos Burke, born October 2l, l88l, died Mary 24, l938

Thomas M. Yelvington, Geo., Staff Sgt., Bomb Sq., died February l0, l944

David Owen died June l0, l944, Ensign Pilot USN Air Corp

Pvt. Ramiro Delgado, died in France, July 11, l944

Sam Ed Simmons, Sgt., USAA Corps, died October 2, l944

Joe Lionel Blakeney, Tex., Sgt. AAF, died July 2, l957

John B. Richardson, Tex., PFC Pioneer Mar. Div., died April 30, l950

Phillip Slayden, Tex., SRUS Navy, July 3, l95l

Arturo Bermea, Tex. Pvt., Inf., died November l4, l944

Murry E. Eddings, Tex., S. Sgt. Cavalry, died June l, l949

Guadalupe Escobedo, Jr., Tex., PFC US Army died November 4, l96l

Emilio Avila, Tex., Pvt., AAF, GRO TNO, Inst'l, died February l2, l95l

Antonio Rodriguez Silva, Tex., Pvt., Inf., died April 26, l945

Alfredo B. Nava, Tex., S. Sgt., Labor Supv., died December 3, l947

Veterans of the Korean Conflict include:

Ralph Garcia, Tex., PFC Marines, died February 22, l952

Birdie Lee McFarland, Tex., U.S. Air Force died December 7, l958

Florencio Gomez Flores, PFC, Tex, U. S. Marine Corps, November 2l, l95l

Luis Pedraza Martinez, Tex., PFC ABN – no burial date given

An Emma Lena Dix, Illinois, Army Nurse Corps, with a death date of August l6,      l950, had no Information as to what conflict or war. Clarence Jackson, Louisiana, Pvt. lst Class, Pioneer Inf., died March 9, l939, "negro" section, with no other information given as to what war or conflict. (18)

The Harlingen Cemetery is the only cemetery in modern times to have existed within the boundaries of Harlingen.  It is referred to in the church records and the sexton's

records as the Harlingen Cemetery and has been known by that name as long as Emmett Anglin (son of E. W. Anglin, an original Trustee) can remember.  Emmett Anglin never remembers it being called by a Spanish name. (19) However, in an interview with Henry Thomae, Fred Elizondo, Jr. and Vicente Delgado, all morticians of the Thomae-Garza  Funeral Home, Mr. Thomae remembers four or five old timers  referring to the cemetery and calling it "El Campo de los Santos".  In the same interview, Mr. Delgado recalled that his own grandfather, Francisco Martinez, who was killed on the Harding Ranch, was buried in the Harlingen Cemetery. (20)  And so it goes, many people remember with nostalgia their own or other's loved ones who lie in the quiet little seven acres of ground along or not far from the little road that could tell so much.  It is not just a place in history that is closed forever to memories.  People who have lots can still have their loved ones buried there.  It is true that the purchase of lots is impossible today, however, like Emmett Anglin who had a place for four, buried his two and a half year old daughter there and a sister-in-law and expects to use the two remaining lots for himself and his wife when that time comes. (21)

The Harlingen Cemetery was included in the Harlingen Register of Historic Places in a resolution of the Harlingen Museum Board on the first day of September, l98l.  The City Commissioners in regular meeting approved this resolution at their next regular meeting.  The Community Development Advisory Board voted to approve funding for the renovation of Harlingen Cemetery in their eighth year project.  The City Commission  approved this project and the renovation work began.  A grant from HUD up to $47,550 has been approved and the little road has been paved, two new beautiful gates, designed in keeping with the age of the cemetery, have been built.  Dead trees have been removed and the grounds are being leveled at this time and work is being done by the son of the long time sexton, Mr. Pinkerton, to use his skill in resetting the headstones in dire need of restoration.

Some records have been lost but much interest has been generated in recent months by many people in this renovation project.  It is proof that there are many who care.  Soon the work will be complete; however, the jewel that is the cemetery will be polished and will shine in the hearts of many for many years to come.  In applying for a state marker  we hope to bring attention to the visitor and the passer by who drops in to browse, that even though it has a short life as cemeteries go, almost eighty years, that we have progressed in that time.  No longer are the sections divided between the Anglo, the Hispanic, the Black and the babies, for in recent years there is a mingling just as God intended-- as we are all one, here and hereafter.  In the stillness of the cemetery, it is beautiful to reflect on these things while at the same time we are telling the world that our cemetery is rich in heritage.

                                                      APPENDIX

                                              TITLE RECORD

  John Ireland, Governor of the State of Texas, issued Patent No. l5, Volume 90, to Richard King, Assignee on September l2, l985; this covered 640 acres of land in Cameron County, Texas, including the site of Harlingen Cemetery.

     The last Will and Testament of Richard King, probated January 2, l886, recorded in Supl. "C", Page 3l3, Real Estate Records, Cameron County, Texas, left all of his property, including site of Harlingen Cemetery, to his wife, Henrietta M. King.

     By Warranty Deed, dated March 11, l904, recorded in Vol, "M", Page 557, Deed Records, Cameron County, Texas, Henrietta M. King (H.M.) King deeded the 640 acres patented to Richard King, above, to Lon C. Hill of Cameron County, Texas.

     By Warranty Deed, dated September 20, l907, recorded in Volume "V", Page l65, Deed Records, Cameron County, Texas, Lon C. Hill conveyed the land including the site of Harlingen Cemetery to the Harlingen Land and Water Company.

                                                        Footnotes

(l)  Cemetery Records, Harlingen, Cameron County, Texas, Tip-O-Texas Genealogical Society, Harlingen, Texas l982, Page 32.

(2)  Weems, Lillian, Blood, Brawn, Sweat and Tears in the Valley Morning Star, Sunday, April 24, l960 – "Woman's Viewpoint", Section D 7.

(3)  Ibid, Star, Section D 2.

(4)  Pinkerton, E. H., "Record of Lots and Blocks Sold in Harlingen Cemetery", unpublished.

(5)  County Records, Cameron County Book of Deeds, Book 78, pages 4l0 and 4ll.

(6)  Map of Cemetery – old but undated and unsigned.  (Found in Memorabilia in city files).

(7)  Op. Cit., County Records, Volume 4l4, Pages 297 and 298.

(8)  Ibid, Star, Section D 2.

(9)  City Records as recorded by the Cemetery Association, an official book of recording burial permits from July 5, l9l7.

(10)  Ibid.

(11)  St. Benedict's Records, San Benito, Texas, when Harlingen Sacred Heart Church
was a mission church until l927.  The records were dated from l9l4 to l94l.

(l2)  Op. cit., Cemetery Records, Tip-O-Texas Genealogical Society

(l3)  Op. cit., St. Benedict's Records.

(14)  Ibid.

(15)  Death Register, Sacred Heart of Mary Church, Harlingen, January l927 to
July 6, l952.

(16)  Op. cit., Star, Section D 2.

(17)  Op. cit., Star, Section A, Page 2, Friday, March 25, l983.

(18)  City Records, an official book of recording burial permits.  (later edition).

(19)  Interview with Emmett Anglin by Betty N. Murray on January 6, l984.

(20)  Interview with Henry Thomae, Fred Elizondo, Jr., and Vincente Delgado by
Betty N. Murray on January 9, l984.

(2l)  Op. cit., Emmett Anglin.

                                                     BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cameron County Book of Deeds, Book 78, pages 4l0 and 4ll, Volume 4l4, pages 297 and 298

Cemetery Records, Harlingen, Cameron County, Texas, Tip-O-Texas Genealogical Society, Harlingen, Texas.

City Records as recorded by the Cemetery Association, an official book of burial    permits from July 5, l9l7.

City Records, an official book of recording burial permits (later edition)

Death Register, Sacred Heart of Mary Church, Harlingen, January l927 to July 6, l952.

Map of Cemetery, old but undated and unsigned.

Pinkerton, E. H., Record of Lots and Blocks Sold in Harlingen Cemetery, Unpublished.

Valley Morning Star, Sunday, April 24, 1960 –"Woman's Viewpoint", Section D, pages 2, 7.

Ibid., Friday, March 25, 1983, Section A, page 2.

Interviews with: Emmett Anglin, January 6, 1984

                           Vincente Delgado, January 9, 1984

                           Fred Elizondo, Jr., January 9, 1984

                           Henry Thomae, January 8, 1984

                           J. E. "Jake" Kroger, January 24, 1984.

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Memories of Harlingen's Five and Ten Cent Stores
Norman Rozeff,
 December 2005

"I found a million dollar baby (in a five and ten cent store)". That's the name and part of the lyrics of a popular 1931 song. It was composed by Harry Warner for Billy Rose's Broadway show, "Crazy Quilt." The million dollar baby was selling china. The song reflects the attachment held at the time for this American institution. Five and ten cent stores are no more, but their present-day equivalents arose in the 1990s in the form of "dollar" stores.

It was in the 1920s that chain retail stores began to sweep the country. They were established in both large and moderate size cities and towns. As Wal-Mart does today, these stores also benefited from volume purchases and uniform marketing. They had evolved from modest beginnings in the late 1870s onward. The antecedents for the 5 and 10¢ stocks may well have been the low cost little items sold by itinerant Eastern European Jewish immigrant peddlers. These traveling salesmen filled the housewife needs in relatively isolated farms and communities prior to paved roads. Improved roads and mass produced automobiles offered people more mobility and promoted the growth of chain stores across the country.

The Butler Bothers began operations in 1877. They founded the Ben Franklin chain in 1920 and became in 1927 the first retailer to put into place a franchise system in which the store was owned by individual proprietors. Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, got his start by 1962 by owning 15 Ben Franklin Stores.

J. G. McCrory, born John Graham McCrorey, dropped the final "e" in his surname to save money by not paying the cost of the extra letter in his store signs. At its height the company he founded would grow to operate 1,300 stores under its own name as well as T G & Y, McLellands, J. J. Newberry, etc. outlets.

Sebastian S. Kresge commenced the S. S. Kresge chain of stores which would later transform itself into K-Mart and recently merge with Sears, Roebuck and Company.

W. T. Grant was sort of an upscale five and dime or possibly a downscale department store. Its founder William Thomas Grant (1876-1972) brought it to its height of 1,200 department stores, second only to Sears and second largest in the world. Slower to expand than Kresge, it failed by 1975 in one of the largest bankruptcies of its type.

S. H. Kress and Company started in 1896. Samuel Kress's stores were noted for their fine architecture. Even today the stores, which closed as the chain did in 1981, are being restored and put to other uses in many cities.

Frank and Charles Woolworth began in 1911 with the merging of six chains of existing 5 and 10¢ stores. They succeeded under the F. W. Woolworth Company name by offering discounted merchandise at fixed prices. In fact all of the previously noted companies obtained some degree of critical mass in the 1920s, had uniformity of layout and size, and offered inter-city familiarity similar to fast food chains today. Most also had lunch counters.

It was March 11, 1927 when F. W. Woolworth held its grand opening at 113 W. Jackson Street in downtown Harlingen. It portrayed itself as a 5, 10 and 15¢ store advertising "Nothing sold in this store for more than 15¢." Nine months later (12/7/27) Watters Variety Store, operated by Harlingen residents, was to close its doors.

Competition between the five and dimes would be fierce, so it wasn't long before Woolworth had to contend with look-alikes. In fact, by 1930, when it abandoned its initial location for one at 111 W. Jackson, J. G. McCrory, originally located at 221 North A Street moved in 1931 to 113-115 W. Jackson but was soon to withdraw from the local scene. McLelland Stores Company, possibly already a subsidiary of McCrory, then moved into this location. In 1937 Woolworth would have moved again, this time to 105-107 W. Jackson.

While S. H. Kress had, by 1936, opened a store on Elizabeth Street, Brownsville to compete with the nearby Woolworth and W. T. Grant Stores, it was slow to establish itself in Harlingen. Finally in 1942 after the Harlingen Army Airfield became a going entity, it opened a store at 120-121 E. Jackson in order to go head to head with Woolworth and McLelland here. An independent, F. G. Pena, which had a store at 205 South C Street opened at 321 W. Van Buren this same year. Pena hung in for a decade but by 1954 shrank itself to just being a drug store. It took until 1954 before W. T. Grant started building its store here at 110-116 W. Jackson.

Jackson Street was and continued to be to be the locale for "musical chairs" for the stores. In business until 1980 McLelland's Dime Store was to open at 106-108 E. Jackson in its new store in 1958. It had disappeared from its old site in 1955 only to see the site occupied the following year by (F.A. and Jack) Hanshaw's, which had its start in San Benito. Three years later (1959) the brothers opened up what they termed a Super 5¢ and 10¢ store at the new Coronado Village Shopping Mall. By 1966 this had become Weaver's Variety Store while the Hanshaws still retained the downtown store. It began to handle the Ben Franklin line of goods but was closed by 1971.

As the 1970s commenced the 5 and 10¢ stores were under pressure to upgrade their merchandise and expand into a wider range of goods. They were being pushed by "discount" stores. The Gibson Discount Center arrived on the scene on North 77 Sunshine in 1969. In 1971 Diskay Discount Mart opened at 110W. Jackson and Price's Variety Store at 115 W. Jackson. This same year W. T. Grant left the Harlingen scene forever.

T G & Y Family center opened in the new Sun Valley Shopping Center. Also in the same mall F. W. Woolworth, in an effort to keep abreast of the times, opened one of its numerous Woolco Department Stores. It then closed its downtown store.

In 1980 Winn's (No. 133) was operating in the Treasure Hills Mall at 1514 S. 77 Sunshine Strip. Store No. 7077 K-Mart was erected at 1129 Morgan; a branch of H-E-B was to be constructed next to it. This foretold the closing of Kress downtown by 1981.

Additional pressures were put on retailers when supermarkets broadened their inventory from foods, toiletries, and cleaning products to a wide range of items. By 1986 those, such as Krogers, started to become "Family Centers."

Those readers 50 years or older will have fond memories of saving their pennies, so they could purchase something special at the five and dime for their mothers, a favorite teacher, or beau. They will recall such high class (not!) fragrances as "Evening in Paris", notions, handkerchiefs of the lacey kind, and glittery costume jewelry.

The stores had their own unique odors, a mixture of scents from soap to soups, popcorn to peanuts. The red, black and gold enameled signs on the facades were the first invitation to something exotic for youngsters. The large shiny brass cash registers were impressive for their looks and intricacies. If nothing else a few pennies could buy a small brown paper bag of loose, assorted candy. How patient were the sales ladies as little ones pondered the myriad choices available behind the glass case windows.

Other items to be found were holiday specialties, pencils, paper, ink, blotters, crayons, calendars, loose cookies in large glass containers, kitchen utensils, canisters, salt and pepper sets, fabric, hair pins and barrettes, combs and brushes, cheap dishes and flatware, cosmetics, tinny toys, thread, buttons on light cardboard, and much more—all displayed on long rectangle tables. Some stores had a pianist who would play the latest popular hits to entice customers to purchase the sheet music. Equally enticing and fun was the booth where you could take your own picture, usually with a buddy and with resultant silly facial expressions.

While the many 5 and 10¢ stores along Jackson street are now long gone, the facades of the buildings they once occupied give fleeting hints of what they once housed as do the ceiling treatments within. They bring back happy memories of a simpler and slower paced period.

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Sorrento to Lone Star, a History of Good Eating
Norman Rozeff, Harlingen Historical Preservation Society

In November 2005 someone using e-Bay offered for sale a matchbook cover for The Sorrento Restaurant—Italian and American Food. Printed on it were the names of F. Pecora and P. Gounod.

The first indication in the Harlingen telephone directory of either of these two surnames occurs in 1952 when Gounod's Apparel and Bridal Salon at 312 E. Jackson appears with Mrs. Rose L. Gounod as proprietor.

It is in the 1956 directory that one finds Sorrento Restaurant Frank Pecora, Pete Gounod, co-owners, Italian and American Food, 1 ¾ mi W St Hwy 83. This appears to indicate that this business was Harlingen's first restaurant offering a wide range of Italian food items on its menu. Craig Grover of Harlingen possesses a rare advertising post card dating back to about 1952.  It shows the Sorrento Restaurant of F. Pecora and P. Gounod surrounded by 1940s and 1950s cars. It is a modest white frame building with a porch overhang. On the reverse of the card is printed The Sorrento Restaurant  FIRST and FINEST ITALIAN and AMERICAN FOOD  WHERE FRIENDS MEET  SEVEN KINDS OF ITALIAN "PIZZA" (PIE)  6:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. NICK TRIMARK, MGR. (Nick was a former major league baseball player). Under this is printed HACIENDA MOTEL - 60 Modern Cabins – Swimming Pool and Shuffle Board of Course.

In all the subsequent years until the restaurant closed by 1982 there is never any Harlingen residential listing for Frank or any other Pecora.. Hemay have lived in the second story of the next Sorrento location.

The 1956-57 directory calls the business "Sorrento Café" and puts its address at 2 ½ mi 83. The addresses vary somewhat from year to year depending where Business 83 was said to start. Generally its beginning is put at the intersections of Harrison and Tyler Streets with Expressway 77.

For whatever reason the restaurant is not listed anywhere in the 1958, 1959, nor 1959-60 directories. Possibly because of its rural site it was omitted.

The building at 2 ½ Miles West Business 83 which currently houses the Lone Star Restaurant and once was the Sorrento Restaurant is an historic one. Initially likely a large white- painted stucco two story, it was constructed in 1923 for Hesta Stuart Christian, a daughter of Champ Terry Stuart and sister of Robert Terry Stuart, the principle in the development of the Stuart Tract. She married Woods Christian that year. The property extended all the way south to the arroyo and was mostly brush.  Cattle were run on it.

Some time after the Gounods acquire the frontage building they paint it pink to give it a Mediterranean flavor. This ambiance is added to when, over the years, vines are allowed to spread over most of the exterior. Upstair rooms are reserved for private parties.

In 1959 Pete and Rose Gounod give Hwy 83 and Palm Blvd. as their home address. They live across the road from the restaurant.

Sorrento The Restaurant Pete Gounod, Virginia Pecora, and Tina Florio, partners is the listing in the 1961 and 1962 directories. Its address is 2 mi W St Hwy. Tina is Pete's sister. The 1965 listing has changed to Sorrento Restaurant, Tina Florio and Peter Gounod, partners.

1966 finds it The Sorrento under the regular listings but not in the separate paid business advertising section for restaurants. In the 1969 listing The Sorrento is again an entry in both sections.

Some time around 1973-74 Lucy Johnson is to buy the business from the Gounods. It continues to be listed through 1979 then is gone from the directory listing. In 1980 neither the restaurant not Mrs. Gounod's Shop are listed. Even her home listing ceases after 1981. In its latter years her bridal/dress shop was somewhat gloomy and rundown with outdated stock.

In the 1960s and 70s the Italian fare was delicious and Sorrento was one of the few places in the area that a pizza could be obtained. This was, of course, before the numerous chain pizza restaurants become ubiquitous and competitive. The pizza was excellent, perhaps in part, because it was prepared in an authentic brick oven located in the false basement of the building. The service at Sorrento was notoriously slow in this period. Customers will recall the two elderly women, likely Rose and Tina, who presided as maitre d'. Pete was kind-hearted but somewhat eccentric in insisting customers imbibe wine prior to and during the consumption of the Italian dishes. This even extended on occasion to serving minors a small glass of vino.

The year 1981 finds it re-opened by new owner Buck Hunter as Sorrento's Vineyard Restaurant, however it is no more by 1982. He could not make a go of it.

In 1983 the building's new owners are Don and Barbara Waters and her brother Joel Brown. The latter, a Texan A&I grad in business, has had by this time experience at the King's Inn south of Kingsville and 13 years with his then father-in-law, Phil Edie, at the famed Highway Inn at Four Corners. They initiate a remarkable transformation on the time-worn structure. Abetted by the 1983 freeze which killed all the vine vegetation, though they still labored mightily to remove clinging tendril, they painted the exterior a sandy beige color thereby providing the structure a southwest appearance. Room spaces are opened up to facilitate traffic flow and provide an airier atmosphere to the facility. Private party rooms are added as well as spacious parking lots both front and rear. The latter necessitated the purchase of additional property. The original entrance and parking lot on the Palm Blvd. side are expanded into a patio-like private dining room. Italian fare is no more as the new owners change the name to The Lone Star Restaurant and Lounge featuring "American" food. Starting slowly the hand printed menu offers barbecue and chicken fried steak and then expands into a complete menu.

Upon retirement the Waters and partner Brown sell the business to the Waters' son and daughter-in-law, Brent and Stephanie Waters, and their married daughter and son-in-law Terra and Jerry Hoff. Still later the latter two buy out their partners.

The restaurant remains popular for its diverse cuisine ranging from Tex-Mex to steaks, barbecues, 1015 onion loaves, and what you will. The building itself is a recycling success story, but old timers still relish the memories and tastes of Harlingen's first Italian eatery and the straw-covered bottles of chianti wine creating a glow before the food was finally served.

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Harlingen 1910 Poll Tax Payers

Norman Rozeff, January 2006

In the year 1910 Harlingen became an incorporated community. In order to vote citizens had to pay a poll tax to the town coffers. This was a uniform fixed amount per individual. The word poll is an English word meaning "head". The expression "going to the polls" derives from voting involving "head counts" and has become an idiom for voting.

Poll tax was also referred to as soul tax, head tax, and capitation tax. Although it was a source of income for a community, it was more often used in the United States as a method to disenfranchise certain elements of the citizenry.

The Harlingen Poll Tax List for 1910 is a valuable reference because it denotes the established citizens (only males) of the community at that time and becomes an historic document of who were here. The list has the following seventy individuals:

Abrego, Joe
Alvarez, Francisco
Anglin, E. W.

Baker, J. B.
Barry, H.
Botts, Sam
Bowyer, T. S.
Brown, Frank
Brown, W. F.
Bullard, J. E.

Card, J. A.
Chambers, Fred
Chambers, R. S.
Clark, Perry
Clayton, A. W.

Denison, N.
Denison, W. W.
Eaton, Seymour P., Jr.
Eaton, Seymour P., Sr.
Ellis, J. D.
Elmore, A. W.
Ernest, A. D.
Ewing, James
Ewing, James H.

Feather, E. J.

Gagan, R. F.
Garcia, Pancho

Harding, W. L.
Hill, John D.
Hill, Lon C.
Hoffman, William
Hollingsworth, W. E.
Holm, Walter

Jones, Buster
Jones, W. H.

Kilgore, W. H.
Koons, Cecil

Letzerich, A. M.
Letzerich, Hugo
Lockhart, James
Lockhart, O. B.
Lozano, G. M.
Lozano, S.

Masrie, J. E.
McCauley, W. D.
McFarland, Ike,
McGee, Dr.
Miller, Jacob
Moncus, J. G.
Moore, S. C.
Morris, Osco
Morrow, H. E.
Morrow, H. N.

Osborn, M. M.

Perry, C. F.

Ramirez, D.
Ritter, C. H.
Roach, N. F.
Rodriguez, C. C.
Ryan, C. T.

Seago, H. D.
Spencer, L.

Villareal, J.

Waite, Tom
Waterwall, P. S.
Weller, A. H.
Wellman, H. J.
Wellman, W. H.
Wild, Dr. Mount C.
Wood, C. W. Hage

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Liberty's Belle Lived in Harlingen

Norman Rozeff

Almost to a person those of the "baby boomer" generation will fondly remember the popular TV series, "Little House on the Prairie." Few, however, will have known of Rose Wilder Lane, her connection to this series, to Harlingen, and more importantly her accomplishments.

Rose Wilder Lane was born December 5, 1886 in De Smet, Dakota Territory. She was the first child of Almanzo and Laura Ingalls Wilder. Aha, this stirs a memory; isn't the latter the author of the "Little House on the Prairie" book series for children? Yes, indeed.

Rose also lived the hardship life, similar to her mother's as portrayed on television. Before the age of two she was sent away to her mother's parents for several months after her parents contracted diphtheria, then a deadly disease. In August 1889 she became a sister but only for the short period that her baby brother survived without ever being given a name. Rose was to have no other siblings. When a fire destroyed their home soon after the baby's death and repeated crop failures compounded the Wilder family miseries, the Wilders moved from the Dakotas to his parent's home in Spring Valley, Minnesota. In their search for a settled life and livelihood, the Wilders in 1891 went south to Westville, Florida to live with Laura's cousin Peter. Still unhappy in these surroundings, the family returned to De Smet in 1892 and lived in a rented house.

Here Grandma Ingalls took care of Rose while Laura and Almanzo worked. Rose began to attend school and was a quick study. After only two years here, the Wilders embarked in 1894 with their friends, the Cooleys, in a horse-drawn hack to Mansfield in the Missouri Ozarks. Rose, who was bored with her school work because of its ease, was allowed to study at home. With the Mansfield school system going only to the 10th grade, Rose at age 16 journeyed to Crowley, Louisiana to live with her father's sister Eliza Jane to complete high school.

Upon being graduated in 1904, the now independent young woman learned telegraphy and took employment with the Western Union Company in Kansas City, moving three years later to Mount Vernon, Indiana. Rose obviously had a strong wanderlust which stayed with her the whole of her life, for in 1908 she moved to San Francisco. There she met and fell in love with Claire Gillette Lane, who lived in the same apartment building He was a salesman and sometime newspaper man. They married in March 1909 and moved to Kansas City where Rose worked for the Kansas City Post. The next summer she gave birth to a baby boy, who died shortly afterward.

Once again on the move, the couple lived in several cities before returning to San Francisco. Here they successfully entered the real estate field. She was one of the first woman real estate agents in California. While her career flourished the couple drew apart. Upon the depressed real estate market at the cessation of the Great War, Rose returned to writing.

Even before the war Rose was writing serial stories for major magazines including Sunset, The Ladies Home Journal, Harper's Monthly, The Saturday Evening Post, and Country Gentleman. By 1915 she was a featured reporter for the San Francisco Bulletin. Her first book was to be "Henry Ford's Own Story" published in 1917. Her increased independence may have contributed to her divorce from Gillette in 1918. She gave a fictionalized treatment of it in her novel "Diverging Roads." In the following two decades her works would be nominated for O. Henry and other literary honors and be included in anthologies.

With the urge to travel, she moved to Greenwich Village, New York where she flirted with "radical socialism." Here she ghost wrote the non-fiction travel book "White Shadows on the South Seas" for Frederick O'Brien and under her own name in 1920 "The Making of Herbert Hoover", his first biography. This made her a lifelong friend of the future president. She also wrote an early biography of Charlie Chaplin, and biographies of Art Smith and Jack London.

Upon the conclusion of the war Rose fell into a job perfectively suited to her character. She became a reporter for the American Red Cross publicity bureau, writing about the poor post-war conditions in Europe. She traveled extensively on the continent, and in this period she became close friends with the to-be famed columnist Dorothy Thompson and with Helen "Troub" Boylston, author of the "Sue Barton" nurse series for girls. Albania, no less, became her favorite country. She portrayed it in "The Peaks of Shala." An Albanian boy, Rexh Meta, was to save her life here. In return she informally adopted him and provided him an American college education.

It was in 1924 that Rose returned to Rocky Ridge Farm in the Ozarks. Here this prolific writer compiled two of her most enjoyable novels, "Hill Billy" (1925) and "Cindy" (1928). Discontent with the quiet rural life lead Rose to visit Albania once again, this time with her friend Laura Boylston. Jointly they published their experiences in "Travels in Zenobia", but this area's instability, including a revolution no less, forced them to return to Missouri in 1928. Somewhere along the line Rose refused a proposal of marriage from Ahmet Zogu, the future King Zog I of Albania.

Rose and Helen moved into the Rocky Ridge Farmhouse as Rose, now financially secure, had a modern rock house built on the farm for her parents. In the stock market crash of 1929 Rose was to lose most of her money and be driven back to writing to earn a living.

While in Missouri, Rose, remembering fondly the stories her mother had related of her own childhood in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, encouraged her mother to record the many autobiographical stories. She also felt in might become a source of income for Laura. Laura did compile her stories in a collection which she called "Pioneer Girl", but no publisher was to be found until the manuscript was reworked into a children's book titled "Little House in the Big Woods." Its success propelled Laura to continue writing the series. Rose herself wrote "Let the Hurricane Roar" in 1932 and "Free Land" in 1938 basically telling the Ingalls and Wilder family stories in an adult format. These novels were her most commercially successful. In "Old Home Town" (1935) she wrote of her childhood years in Mansfield.

With two headstrong women involved, it is not unusual that a controversy would arise over the roles of mother and daughter in the formulation of the famed "Little House" series. Where Laura Ingalls Wilder's work ended and Rose Wilder Lane's began is hard to establish. Likely Rose was able to edit her mother's rough drafts to an extent rendering them publishable. One reference states "The conclusion can be made that Wilder's strengths as a compelling storyteller and Lane's considerable skills as in dramatic pacing, literary structure, and characterization contributed to an occasionally tense, but remarkable collaboration between two talented women." Rose's biographer, William V. Holtz, in his "The Ghost in the Little House: A Life of Rose Wilder Lane" points out "that Lane's libertarian ideas caused her to make some changes to her mother's stories as she "ran then through her typewriter" to ensure the Ingalls family were true libertarian heroes." The last work of Laura's classic nine volume series was "These Happy Golden Years" published in 1943. She was to die at age 90 in Mansfield in February 1957.

In the 1930s Rose described her experiences for a Federal Writers Project. She wrote: "I have been office clerk, telegrapher, newspaper reporter, feature writer, advertising writer, farmland salesman. I have seen all of the United States and something of Canada and the Caribbean; all of Europe except Spain; Turkey, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Iraq as far east as Baghdad, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan." She went on to write: "In 1917 I became a convinced, though not practicing Communist…I am now a fundamentalist American; give me time and I will tell you why individualism, laissez faire and the slightly restrained anarchy of capitalism offer the best opportunities for the development of the human spirit. Also I will tell you why the relative freedom of human spirit is better—and more productive, even in material ways—than the Communist, Fascist, or any other rigidity organized for material ends."

Rose, at the age of 52, moved to New York City in 1938. It was there that she was to see her pioneer novel and last fiction effort published. Its royalties allowed her to purchase a house in Danbury Connecticut. One might surmise that she began a second career when she became one of "the 20th century's most important popularizers of the ideas of liberty." Actually her views were being formulated over a lifetime. In 1921, she had covered events in the Soviet Union and became at that time a "devoted opponent of Communism." In a 1936 Saturday Evening Post essay title "Credo" she contrasted abuses in Europe with the American Constitutional order that protected personal liberties and disavowed her youthful involvement with socialism. It was reprinted as a pamphlet called "Give Me Liberty." She was a critic of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal policies, especially for vastly increasing the size of government.

In 1943, in an unusual coincidence, three women authors were to help ignite the modern libertarian movement. In "white heat" Rose Lane was to write her most famous book, "The Discovery of Freedom: Man's Struggle Against Authority." Ayn Rand would publish "The Fountainhead" and Isabel Paterson "The God of the Machine." A correspondence between Lane and Rand that lasted several years began after Lane wrote a favorable review of Rand's book.

Rose's book traces political and economic liberty from the earliest stages of human history to the 20th century. One chapter could well be translated into Arabic and distributed in Iraq at this time. It deals with Islam and praises the early Arab caliphate in Baghdad "as a place where people enjoyed a degree of personal liberty unknown in the contemporaneous medieval European principalities." Recently this portion has been extracted from the larger book and reprinted in a 96 page paperback as "Islam and the Discovery of Freedom."

In this same year (1943) Roger Lea MacBride, teenage son of one of her editors, met her. She took him under her wing as a mentor and exposed the young man to her beliefs. Roger was later to attend Harvard University, become a lawyer by profession, a political figure, and television producer. In 1962 he was elected to the Vermont legislature as a Republican. Ten years later and now in Virginia he jumped ship and by casting his electoral college vote for Libertarian Party candidates John Hospers for President and Theodora Nathan for Vice President became the first presidential elector to cast a vote for a woman. In the 1980s he supported the Republican Liberty Caucus, a group of libertarians working within the Republican Party.

As the adopted grandson of Rose he inherited the substantial Ingalls-Wilder literary estate including the "Little House on the Prairie" franchise. He went on to co-produce the 1970s television series of the same name. His control and use of those and Rose's finances when she was alive were questioned by some. When MacBride died in 1995 the Laura Ingalls Wilder Library in Mansfield contended that Wilder's original will gave her daughter ownership of the literary estate for her lifetime only, all rights to revert to the library after her death. After a court case, an undisclosed settlement was made, but MacBride heirs retained the rights.

Rose acted on her beliefs. She was not only a theorist but an activist too. Opposed to creeping socialism and taxation, she turned away from highly-paid commercial fiction in the 1940s in order to avoid paying income taxes. In 1945 and 1946 in Danbury she "led a campaign against the introduction of zoning, which she saw as a violation of individual property rights…" Her experiences had taught her that central planning was incompatible with both prosperity and individual freedom. During World War II she grew her own food to avoid wartime rationing and later quit her editorial job with the National Economics Council, so as not to pay Social Security taxes. Throughout the 1950s she characterized Social Security as unstable and a "Ponzi fraud." She predicted it would collapse catastrophically.

"On the Way Home", a biography/autobiography of Rose was published in 1962. In 1963 she put together the "Woman's Day Book of American Needlework." Still a ball of energy at age 78, she went to South Vietnam in 1965 as a war correspondent for Woman's Day. By the following year she was to retire (?) in relatively sedate Harlingen. Why she chose this town is unknown but possibly she had knowledge of Raymond Hoiles and his Freedom Press chain of newspapers or just wanted to spend her winters away from icy New England. For three years she lived at 435 Woodland Drive north of City Lake. It was the former home of J. H. Barnes, owner of Valley Laundry and Dry Cleaners.

While living here she became friends with the Giffens, who lived at 425 Woodland. Rose befriended and mentored young college graduate E. Don Giffen, currently owner and manager of Grimsell's Seed Store. She offered 24-year old Giffen a chance of a lifetime. It was to accompany her on a three year tour of the world during which she would be a correspondent. They commenced their journey with a trip to Mississippi then went on to Danbury. Too tired and heavy to ascend the stairs to the second floor, this borderline diabetic bid "Goodnight" and turned in. The next morning, 10/30/68, Giffen found his 81 year old mentor had died in the night.

The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library in West Branch, Iowa houses the Rose Wilder Lane Collection and documents her extraordinary life. In the end it could be said of her "She was opinionated and prickly, with a complicated personal and family life. She was an admirable woman and should be well-known for her many own accomplishments." A quote from Rose reflects a truth: "The longest lives are short; our work lasts longer." Harlingen needs to remember this remarkable woman who lived within our midst.

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Matz Family History

The Matz Family has played an important role in both Harlingen and Cameron County history. The following items document some of its contributions.

Presentation About
E.O. and Eleanor Matz

To
Harlingen Historical Preservation Society
General Public Meeting
Harlingen Public Library
November 11, 2005

By
James R. Matz

I’d like to begin by commending Mary (Torres)– you and everybody else who is associated with the Harlingen Historical Preservation Society. What you do is something that is so really very important. I had a chance to visit with Rafael for a little bit while we were setting things up. That you are able to attract people like Rafael to become members of your group I think is really great. I also would like to congratulate you folks for what you did at the Harlingen Museum. We became aware of the Dia de los Muertos "the Day of the Dead" exhibits from Mary Lou. The exhibits were outstanding. I just hope that each year more and more people will come and have a chance to see those because it’s obvious that an awful lot time and effort went into what was done. I would like to mention that we have some friends of ours here today, Joan and Rod Olson. They spend four or five months up north where it’s a little bit cooler in the summer and then come down here in the winter time just like the ducks and the geese. So, we’re glad you’re here as well as Lynn Lerberg, their daughter.

That having been said, I guess what I’d like to do today is talk a little bit about both Mom and Dad. To begin this, since it is Veteran’s Day, could we just have a moment of silence to remember all the men and women who have gone before and who are serving today and made it possible for us to live in this great country. Thank you.

I’m going to begin this discussion of my mother by sharing with you part of the minutes from the Harlingen City Commission Meeting of June 3, 1987.

QUOTE "Eleanor Matz told Mayor Card he had forgotten Citizen Communication. Citizen Communication is ordinarily the very first item on the agenda of a commission meeting, and evidently that had been overlooked." (And here comes my Aunt Fern who was married to my Dad’s brother, Martin.. We are so glad you’re here.) "Eleanor said she had been waiting here all through the meeting to address the Commission. She came to thank the Commission for getting a job done and just found out it had not been done yet. She commented on the condition of Commerce Street, one of the main streets leading into Harlingen. She said it is a disgrace. There is a building at Fair Park that has three sides standing and rubble all inside it, something needs to be done on that. She told the Commission about calling City Hall to find out who owns it. There was a problem about the legal description as the Tax Office said there is no such block number. She noted the Harry Day parking lot downtown needs caring for. There are rusted pipes and it looks terrible. It needs sweeping. She said she has been talking to people, giving them instructions on how to get to the Cultural Arts Center by using the Library as a reference point. The old bicycle rack is terrible right there in front of the Library. She walked out of the Library with a lady from McAllen who commented she should see the McAllen Library. She said she is tired of the unfavorable comparison. Why can’t Harlingen shape up? Mrs. Matz said she is proud of the oak trees in town, but they need to be pruned. She had talked with the City Manager, Gavino Sotelo about the front of this building. He suggested getting someone who really knows what he is doing to care for the trees. She said she does that at Liberty Garden. Another thing is the city should write the Wendy’s people and get them to do something about their property. The grounds need attention. Mayor Card said he wished all the citizens of Harlingen were as conscientious as Mrs. Matz. He said a number of those things are in the range of private citizens. He agreed with her about the bicycle rack, but the city does have a Library Board who has never made a recommendation. Commissioner Bonner said they have. Mayor Card said a lot of the property along North Commerce is private property. Mrs. Matz said some of it is also right of way. She said there are two dead palms on Commerce. She asked why a garbage truck driver could not jot down these things that need attention. That would be a good way for Ruben to know about these problems.

Commissioner Vittitoe commented on Mrs. Matz’s diligence and said he appreciated her efforts. Mrs. Matz said she had talked with the City Manager, asking if someone bought the paint, could the city would do the work?

Mayor Card thanked Mrs. Matz and said that lot would be cleaned up tomorrow. He asked for an executive session to discuss lease of property at Valley International Airport. Commissioner Vittitoe moved to go into executive session. Commissioner Menchaca seconded the motion and it carried unanimously. Mayor Card recessed the meeting." UNQUOTE

That gives you a flavor of Mom. Now, if anybody here knew Mom they have at least one "Eleanor Matz" story, I’m sure because I still hear them. There was nothing that was sacred. Anything that she saw that needed some attention, she did not hesitate in bringing it to people’s attention. I see Blas Cantu is nodding his head also.

So how did Eleanor Matz, who was born March 1, 1914, in West New York, New York, come to be a resident of the Rio Grande Valley? I guess it began with her mom and dad, Charles and Anna Frieda Ochsner, who immigrated from Switzerland, legally, through Ellis Island in about1910. They ended up in New Jersey living at Palisades on the Hudson where she attended Fort Lee High School. I have brought a number of pictures here. If you haven’t had a chance to look at them, maybe you would like to afterward. There is a picture of the home they left in Palisades and there’s a picture of the family - the father, mother, the three daughters Mom, Alice, and Frieda, and the dog, Teddy. In New Jersey Grandpa Ochsner had a lace factory and here are some pieces of lace that came from his factory. He also imported marble and did the finishing of the marble in New Jersey and sent it out from there. They moved to La Feria in 1929, the first year of the Great Depression . Here you have a picture of the Parker Mann Land Party. Land promoters like Parker Mann would bring folks in special train cars from the east coast and mid west to this area, they would show them the orchards with the fruit, convince them that money did grow on trees, and sell them a piece of property. Then it was up to them to fend for themselves. Mom graduated as Salutatorian from La Feria High School.

Grandpa had a small orchard, but what he ended up doing was opening up a café in La Feria called The Snappy Café. There is a picture of that here as well. In 1932 the family moved from La Feria to Harlingen and opened the Swiss Chalet Restaurant. I don’t know if there is anyone here who remembers that, but it was located about where Boggus Ford was located on West Harrison before it moved out to the expressway. I’ve got some memories of the Swiss Chalet Restaurant, particularly going into the kitchen where Grandpa had a big round table. He would import Swiss cheese from Switzerland, the big round, and he would cut it off slice by slice. Fern, I don’t know if there is any of this you are going to remember, but at some point, if there is something you think is important, don’t hesitate to speak up. The other thing that I remembered well about the Swiss Chalet Restaurant was in the back on the outside there was a beer garden just like you would find in Germany or Switzerland. As a kid, when I was five or six years old, Grandpa would ask me to sing "God Bless America" for the people who were there. That’s still a very strong memory. In addition to the restaurant, Grandpa Ochsner put in the first bowling alley, very small, but the first bowling alley I guess in all of South Texas. Grandma passed away in the late 60’s, he passed away in the late 40’s. Both of them are buried in Mont Meta cemetery.

E.O. and Eleanor Matz married in 1937, had four children - Brant, Joyce, Susan and myself. There is a picture of a Christmas card that Mom and Dad put out every year so they could share with the community the fact that the family was growing in numbers and also just growing.

Mom and Dad were from the very beginning, partners in their business. I guess you could probably say Mom was a very liberated kind of woman. She believed in being involved in exactly the same way anybody else would be in the business so she usually ended up handling the front end of the Matz Electric Gift and Radio store, while Dad handled the back part which was the electrical contracting business. Over here you’ll see pictures of the opening of the second location of Matz Electric and Gift and Radio at 214 E. Jackson Street. The first location was on Commerce next to where the old Ridgeways used to be in that very narrow building across from Pueblo Tires. That’s where Mr. Miller also had his bicycle shop right next to Matz Electric. They moved from Commerce St. to Jackson St. and then to the Matz Building at 513 E. Jackson.

Mom and Dad also got involved in considerable real estate development. He would buy property, find a tenant, do a lease, and then he would build a building. The first one he did like that was a building for the Rio Grande Valley Gas Company which was at the corner of 4^th and Jackson Street. It was later sold to Al Padilla and became the McDonald’s business office. Next to that he built the building for Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. I’ll never forget one time we were working on the plans and negotiating with them. They sent down drawings of what they thought they wanted here and we showed it to a local architect. He said "you don’t need to build the roof that way." So we got on the phone and called Metropolitan Life in New York. The guy said "yes you do because if you don’t do it, it will never take the snow load." We tried to explain to him where we were, and that maybe once every 50 years it snowed just enough to hit the ground and then melt. That was the second building. The third was for Butte Paint Company, and then ultimately of course they purchased the Sam Houston School Building, renovated it and turned it into what is known as the Matz Building today. And in all of these ventures Mom and Dad were partners. In addition to the commercial development, they did residential development with the Matz Subdivision in the Lake Drive area. When they bought the property it was an abandoned orchard whose trees had been killed by the freeze, in I think, 1950. They turned that into one of the first major up-scale residential development areas in Harlingen.

Mom got very involved in community activities. I’m not sure if you’re aware but the land we’re standing on right now used to be part of City Lake. I remember as a kid we used to fish and swim here. At one point the City decided it was going to half the size of City Lake and they were going to sell this land to developers to put in a housing project. Mom and Dad, in particular Mom, got very involved in going to City Commission meetings, enlisted the aid of other people to convince the City Commission that this land should be kept for public use. And as a result, we have today Liberty Garden, which she was very involved in developing. There’s a picture of her and some of the other ladies that were involved in that initially. They transplanted something like 400 or so daisy plants from our home, planted those around the center rotunda area. Then of course the Cultural Arts Center, she was very involved in the construction and the organization of that. I guess the story was that way back when there used to be a Woman’s Club here in Harlingen. They had the Woman’s Club building over where the Harlingen Community Center is now on Madison Street. In the early 1950’s the City built the Casa del Sol building and told the Woman’s Club that they were going to tear down that building but they would build them another one right away. They tore down the building, built the community center, but nobody bothered to build the new woman’s club building. It took a major city election, I think about 1984 thereabouts, when some people didn’t win elections because they were not supportive of building that cultural arts center. As a result people were elected who were supportive and the building was finally built. She was also very involved in development of the walking path around City Lake.

Other things she became very involved in were as a founding member of the Child’s Study Club, the Well Baby Clinic here in Harlingen in the late 1930’s. She’s the one who decided that rather than have a PTA (Parent Teacher Association), they really needed a SPTA (Student Parent Teacher Association) and students should be part of the decision making process. She became very involved in the Harlingen Youth Conference. For years and years she was the leader in bringing together the youngsters in the community, putting them through a leadership program, with emphasis on volunteerism, and then taking them to Austin to the Texas Youth Conference Meetings. For probably 30 years she worked as a volunteer for the Cancer Society, she was a member of the Harlingen Traffic Safety Board, the Harlingen Parks and Recreation Board, Cultural Arts Center Board, President and long time member of the Harlingen Garden Club. She was very involved when we began the Harlingen Proud project. She was one of the persons responsible at the very beginning for establishing the annual Festival of Faith program. The Easter Sunrise service was something she was very instrumental in getting started and keeping going for many years. One of the things she was particularly proud of was the Christmas Tree Lighting in front of the Cultural Arts Center, and a live nativity scene that took a major, major effort to get put together every year.

I’d like to share with you at this point a letter that was written to her by Amos Gonzalez. Amos Gonzalez was a fellow that lived in the Las Palmas Colonia. I don’t know how many of you folks are aware, but we have two major colonias near Harlingen city limits. Both of them are on the west side of town near Wilson Road. One is Las Palmas and the other is Colonia Juarez. Those are tough neighborhoods, both of them. Amos is a fellow who decided he was going to try to turn things around for the youth in the Colonia Las Palmas. He established what was called the Las Palmas Thunderbolts Youth Club. Among other things he worked with me through Harlingen Proud to do major cleanups in Las Palmas. Well, evidently, at some point Mom talked to him about the nativity scene and the Christmas Tree Lighting. This is what Amos wrote. This is in November of 1995.

QUOTE "The Las Palmas Thunderbolts Club is a non-profit organization. Our purpose is to help the people of Las Palmas to beautify the colonia. Our goal is for everyone to participate in positive activities. Also to help the children and youth to succeed in their education, and for their parents to give them positive reinforcement in their parent skills. Our second goal is for the youth to participate in activities within the city and otherwise. We are going to try to help them get financial grants for their education.

Mrs. Matz, we are going to help you in your Christmas event on December 5, 1995. We are going to sing a song in Spanish for the people who may want to hear a Spanish song. Once again, thank you for your generous invitation for this event." Amos Gonzalez UNQUOTE

To me, this tells an awful lot about Mom. Here she was 81 years old reaching out every opportunity she had to the youth and the disadvantaged in this community to try to bring them in and have them make a positive contribution. The other thing she did that she was particularly proud of was to, through Harlingen Proud, initiate the production of the Children’s Theater at the auditorium at Christmas time. Dan Nedermeyer came here from Connecticut and put together the scripts. He put together the music, he then did the directing, and each year he had hundreds and hundreds of youngsters participating. Over time it touched the lives of thousands and thousands of kids, which had been their only opportunity, I’m sure, to participate in live theater. She was also a member of, first, Grace Lutheran Church with Dad, and later, the First United Methodist Church.

I’ve got a list of about fifteen major forms of recognition that she received and some of these are shown over there, including the Proclamation for Eleanor Matz Day on November 2, 1995. Should you go into Liberty Garden on the back part, you would see a very nice piece of signage talking about what Mom and Dad had done contributing to the betterment of Harlingen. I think what really made her happier than anything else was when Harlingen earned first place in the Keep Texas Beautiful Community Service Award Competition activity and, even more importantly, in 1992 earned the All America City Award. That was really a very important event.

She passed away at her home on Christmas Day 1995. Both she and Dad are buried at Mont Meta. I would like to close my comments on Mom with something else here that I think is pretty relevant. This is written by Charlie Deal, that’s a Ms. Charlie Deal. She was a student at that time, a junior at Harlingen High School South. She wrote a column called "Teen Scene". This was published five days after Mom passed away, on December 30, 1995.

QUOTE"Much has been said and printed about Eleanor Matz since her death Christmas Day, but I would like to add something.

Although she was 81 years old, Eleanor was a true friend to young people.

That is evident because of her interest in the theater for young people.

If she had not been such a pusher, it’s doubtful that the Christmas and other plays by teens and younger children would have been so successful.

I first met her several months ago while I was in my dad’s (Jerry Deal-Editor) office at the Valley Morning Star. She was looking for him, no doubt to tell him about one of her projects, and we had a long talk.

She was very interested in the fact I was writing a teen column. Later, she even offered some ideas for columns.

It’s been told before, but I’d like to tell a story on her.

A few years ago, there was a teen-age girl who dropped out of high school and was working in a local restaurant. Eleanor Matz came into the restaurant occasionally and one time asked the girl why she was not in school.

"I dropped out and they (school officials) won’t let me back in," was the reply.

Well Mrs. Matz went to the next school board meeting and the result was that girl got back into high school.

The teen-ager, now in her 30’s, is a deputy county clerk in Galveston. She also is my stepsister, Kim Marquez.

Eleanor Matz last talked with my dad on the Thursday before she died, Dec. 21.

She was making certain the Star knew about a live nativity scene at Liberty Garden, involving a Los Fresnos family. The last thing she said to Dad after making her pitch was, "How’s my Charlie doing?"

To me, that is very moving. We, the young people of the community, will miss you, Eleanor Matz."UNQUOTE

Now, we’re going to talk about Dad a little bit. E.O. Matz – his parents were Ernest Matz and Anna Lehman. His parents came to the U.S. about 1875, also legally, via Galveston, Texas. I’ve got a picture of Anna Lehman, Anna Marie is actually what her full name was. She was the only daughter of the Lehman family. This picture was taken in LaGrange, Texas. Grandma and Grandpa Matz married. Dad was born on April 5, 1903, in Warda, Texas, the second oldest of a dozen children. His nickname was "Red." Somehow, someway, he ended up with red hair. In 1905 Ernest Matz made his first trip on what was probably one of the first trains into the Rio Grande Valley. In 1907 he moved the family here. He was a farmer and ended up being a sharecropper on the Landrum and the Hicks property just east of Los Indios on the Rio Grande. They moved into a five room mud, log home. There is a picture of that with the family here. Since they didn’t have any lumber, Dad said that for the roof they used reeds and they tied them very closely together. That’s how that house was built. Unfortunately, when you have a hurricane as they did in 1912, you lose most of your house. You have wind and you have rain and that takes the mud off. That house was reduced from five rooms to about two and one-half rooms. They then moved in with the Landrum family for awhile.

We have to think about what it was like back in the 19 teens around here, especially if you lived in the country, especially if you lived along the Rio Grande. You didn’t have electricity, you didn’t have any grocery stores. If you didn’t have electricity, you didn’t have refrigerators. If you didn’t have electricity you were cooking all your meals on open fire in the stove. There were twelve kids in that family. Can you imagine what it was like to prepare three meals a day for fourteen people from scratch? Of course, that’s just one part of it. You had to grow most of the food that you ate. That’s what they did. They had corn, cotton, maize, sugar cane, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers. They grew alfalfa to keep the cattle growing, and then they grew sugar beets for the pigs. In addition, they grew watermelons, and they constantly fought the coyotes. Coyotes just seemed to love watermelons while the raccoons loved cantaloupes. What the coons and the coyotes didn’t get, the bandits did. So it was a pretty challenging time around here.

I guess Grandpa Matz is best known because he produced numerous first bales of cotton including the earliest bale that’s ever been grown in the United States, and probably the world. This was 1911. Here is a picture of him at the Cotton Exchange in Houston. I think the date on that picture is May 23, 1921. Norman (Rozeff), do you remember the date in 1911? It was the earliest bale that was ever produced in the United States. To achieve that, think about this also, they had to pick the cotton by hand, they had to put it on a wagon and take it from wherever they grew it along the river to a gin in San Benito. They had to gin it, they had to compress it, they had to put it on the train and take it to Houston, then put it on a truck and take it over to the cotton exchange. That’s what it took to produce and deliver the first bale. There is a very, very good account of that that I have if anybody’s interested in reading it. That particular bale ended up selling for $1,015.00. Again, if you stop and think about that, that was an awful lot of money in 1911. From there the bale was then shipped on to New York and it was auctioned again. But Grandpa Matz had the first bale for many years.

Unfortunately, both Grandpa Matz (9/16/27) and Grandma Matz (8/6/33) passed away before I was born, so I never really had a chance to sit down and talk with them. Both of them are buried in the Harlingen cemetery. The twelve children were: Arthur, E.O., Elizabeth, Frank, Johnny, Martin, Minnie, Malinda, Charlie, Bill, Alex. Fern was married to Martin. They lived at different places after coming here from Warda, Texas. First on the Landrum property, then they moved to the Stillwell property, a place on the Moore property, and then finally here to Harlingen. I guess they probably ended up here because, as they farmed, the way they made a little bit of money was selling food to the hotel, in particular the Moore Hotel, where Dad mentioned they delivered regularly eggs, butter, buttermilk and vegetables for use in the restaurant.

Education – can you imagine again what it was like about 1910 or so? Dad said they had a one room school that was twelve feet by sixteen feet. Mrs. Landrum was the teacher. There were seven students. She didn’t call them by name, she just said, "one, two, three, four, five, six, seven", expected them to raise their hand. Dad made it very clear that when you went to school you were there to learn and not to mess around. Have you seen the picture of the kids sitting in the corner with the dunce hat on? Evidently that happened. He talked about that if people didn’t do their lesson, they were put on a chair in a corner with their lesson book and they were not allowed to leave that corner until they had done their lesson. They never worried so much about being disciplined at school even though the teacher had a paddle and used it often. If Mom and Daddy heard that there were any problems at school, that’s when things got really serious. Unfortunately, Dad had to drop out of school in the sixth grade to work and help provide for the family. In spite of the lack of formal education, he was fluent in three languages - English, Spanish and German. He was also a very accomplished musician. He played the guitar, the accordion, violin and harmonica. And, of course, he was self taught.

He told me stories about picking cotton. I tried it for a week once. Now I know why he decided he didn’t want to be a farmer. He said during cotton season they were expected to pick cotton six days a week. They were expected to pick a minimum of one thousand pounds each, and if they picked that thousand pounds, they got a dollar. That dollar went to Mom and Dad to help take care of the family. He did decide that he wanted to become an electrician. He worked at a cotton gin in order to pay for a correspondence course which he took from the University of Chicago. In 1922 he opened an electrical business in partnership with a Mr. Barth and later went on his own.

What did they do for recreation and sports? Well, they went fishing. There were a lot of catfish in the river. But they also chased snakes. Evidently snakes were a big, big problem here. He said "we had black snakes, we had rattlesnakes, we had moccasin, and we had a water snake and then the bull snake." I want to share with something that came out of his presentation to the Tip of Texas Genealogical Society in 1983.

QUOTE"As far as the snakes are concerned, well, we pretty well took care of them. We used to go out in the brush and we’d see those big wooden piles of sticks where the rats stayed in, hatched in, breeded in. They were all over. For sport on Sunday afternoon we used to set those on fire and wait for the snakes to come running out and hit them in the head with a stick. Sometimes big snakes would come out. After doing that for several years we finally decided one Christmas that we were going to do something special. We decided that we would take all these snakes and some twine, and decorate a big tree with snakes just like a Christmas tree. One whole afternoon we did nothing but kill snakes and we hung them up. I would give anything in the world for a picture of that. So that was just one of our sports, the other was fishing." UNQUOTE

Mom and Dad married in 1937. I mentioned the children, what they did together working in business, the real estate and residential. I’ve also brought a copy of the program we used when we dedicated the historical marker in front of the Matz Building. There’s also a replica of the signage that is there. Dad was very active in the Grace Lutheran Church, as were all the Matz’s. He was a very religious person, and was a biblical scholar. I never ceased to be amazed as a kid the way he could quote scripture. One day it occurred to me why he was able to do that. When you are dirt poor and you live in the country and you don’t have electricity, you don’t have a radio, you don’t have a library to go to. The one thing every family had was a bible. So when you had time, and you weren’t worn out from working, you would sit down and read the bible. As a result of that, he could quote you line and verse of just about any scripture you might have an interest in. He was very proud to be a Kiwanian. He had forty-five years of perfect attendance. There’s a sign over here that he would hang on his office door every Tuesday saying "This is not my time, this is the community’s time, and I’m going to Kiwanis. I’ll see you when I get back." He did a lot of things there to try to help the club raise money, particularly to help youth. He managed a gum ball machine collection program for decades, was there at the pancake breakfast every year, and was very instrumental in establishing the Key Club at Harlingen High School.

He was a very patriotic person. Once they built Liberty Garden they put a flagpole in the middle. There’s an American flag that flew there every day. Do you want to know who put that flag up every morning and took it down every evening? Dad. Every day. When I came back to Harlingen in 1982 we decided we were going to go snapper fishing. Well, to do that you have to get up pretty early in the morning, drive over to South Padre Island, get on the boat usually before dawn. I think we needed to be over there something like 6:30 a.m. So I said, "Dad why don’t I pick you up around 5:30". He said, "No, you better come by about 5:15." I said, "Why?" He said, "Because we have to go to Liberty Garden and put up the flag before we go fishing." And we did. And, yes, the first stop we made when we got back from the fishing trip was to go to Liberty Garden and take the flag down. And he did that every day until he passed away.

I jotted down some of quotes he was fond of.

"Waste not, want not."

"It’s not what you make, it’s what you save."

"If you watch after the nickels and dimes, the dollars will take care of themselves."

"If you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything."

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding"

I think that’s pretty good advice.

Some of the memories I have:

We had a swing on our front porch at 810 E. Madison Street. We would sit out there in the evenings, if he got home in time, and play the accordion or guitar and sing "You Are My Sunshine". I can still remember the first time I ever caught a fish in the drainage ditch just north of here by Briggs Coleman. Then on Sunday afternoons one of the big sports for the Matz Brothers (You can see a picture of them. They are pretty good sized guys.) was to go seining in the canals. Then generally what you were looking for were catfish. That was the desired food to eat. But you would catch a lot of other things. You would catch snapping turtles, you would catch gasper goo, you would catch big perch and then, every once in awhile, an alligator gar. There’s one time I’ll never forget. The brothers heard that the fellow was washing his dishes in a canal over near Rio Hondo. The next thing he knew he had lost his arm from the elbow down. A big Alligator gar had come up while he was doing that and just took his arm right off. So they decided they were going to get in that canal and try to find that gar. They did it, and I was there. We took chicken wire and doubled it and put the steel posts on the ends. They set up a block on one end and then dredged toward it. That gar put his snoot through that chicken wire about that far, but they got that gar. That was fun, folks. When you didn’t know any better, and you really didn’t have many other things that you could do. Then we had the drought around 1950 or thereabouts and all the canals dried up. What we ended up doing was getting "hickeys" (they were pipe benders that electricians used) and we’d climb into those canals with mud up to our knees and chase fish out of those potholes where they were. That was a lot of fun too.

I guess I must mention again that Mom and Dad were partners, and Dad’s role was always to provide and make it possible for Mom to do a lot of the things that she was able to do.

Dad passed away on October 23, 1984. Both he and Mom are in crypts at Mont Meta Cemetery.

In closing, I’d like to share two things with you. The first is Dad’s Credo. He kept this on the wall over his desk. It goes:

QUOTE "Therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live." DEUT. 30:19.

I choose life and to live abundantly, fully and joyfully, knowing that in every activity of my life, the expression of that which is whole, successful, healthful, and healing is my rightful spiritual inheritance.

I know that living and having the breath of life is a privilege which God has given me solely in order to express the divine nature through me.

I am an instrument, a tool for good, and I am enabled, when I flow with the stream of God consciousness, to accomplish any task, overcome any problem, express creatively, joyfully, and masterfully of myself.

I give to life the fullest of myself, and life returns in even fuller measure that which I need and want to make of myself, the perfect reality of what I am, a unique and individualized expression of God.

I choose to live my own life, not living through others, or conforming to another’s idea of how I shall live, knowing that only through the expression of my own way of life and God’s will, can I be truly me. AND THAT ALL OTHERS HAVE THIS SAME RIGHT." UNQUOTE

I’ll close my comments on Dad with something I added to his comments to the Genealogical Society. I’ve got a copy of that too here. This was a presentation that he made on April 19, 1983 to the Genealogical Society where he talked about the early days in the Valley.

QUOTE E. O. Matz was a simple man, a deeply religious man, a great man and my father. He was a living example of the Golden Rule – "Do unto others as you would have them to unto you".

Uncle Remus said, "If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all". Dad agreed completely. Someone else said, "A father gives his children two things, roots and wings." Yes, he gave me both – confidence and the ability to dream.

The son of a sharecropper who, as the second oldest of twelve children, dropped out of school in the sixth grade to help support the family, and yet became a Master Electrician, was in business for sixty-two years, was fluent in three languages and an accomplished musician. He taught me by example many things including the value of hard work and of the inherent worth of each person regardless of race, creed or color. He taught me that all men are created equal and should be respected and treated accordingly. He taught me how to plant, grow and care for a garden, and that a green thumb is nothing more than common sense and sweat.

There is a saying which always reminded me of Dad – "The Kiss of the Sun for Pardon, the Song of the Birds for Myrth; One is nearer God’s Heart in a Garden, than anywhere else on Earth."

A man should not be remembered by how he dies. No. He should be remembered by how he lived. There is a poem:

The Bridge Builder

An old man going along the highway

Came at the evening, cold and gray,

To a chasm vast and deep and wide;

The old man crossed in the twilight dim,

The sullen stream had no fear for him;

But he turned when safe on the other side,

And built a bridge to span the tide.

"Old man" said a fellow pilgrim near,

"You are wasting your strength with building here’

Your journey will cease with the ending day,

you never again will pass this way;

You’ve crossed the stream deep and wide,

why build you this bridge at evening tide?"

The builder lifted his old gray head –

"Good friend, in the path I come," he said,

"There followeth after me today,

a youth whose feet must pass this way;

This chasm that has been nought to me,

to that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be;

He, too must cross the twilight dim –

good friend I build this bridge for him."

E. O. Matz was a bridge builder, a man who believed in mankind and his community. His legacy will live forever."UNQUOTE

Matz Family Tidbits

A feather in San Benito’s cap and a generator of favorable news was its production of the first bale of cotton in the U.S. on June 11, 1911. Producer Ernest Matz broke the Texas record by 10 days. The bale was rushed to the Houston Cotton Exchange and sold to New York buyer Jesse Jones for $1,015 – an unheard of price, breaking all world records. Matz also received an additional $125 bonus from Gohlman, Lester and Co. Matz was reported to have produced 60 bales on 40 acres in 1910.

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The Old Valley Baptist Hospital on F Street and Its Doctors

Norman Rozeff, March 2006

The first widely disseminated information concerning a Baptist health facility for the Valley appears on 1/16/20. We learn that in competition with Brownsville for a site for the erection of a Baptist hospital, Harlingen pledges $75,000 according to a Brownsville Herald article on this date. This would allow the building of a $150,000 facility or twice the cost of the originally planned one. Lon C. Hill was partly instrumental in promoting this offer. It was attractive to the Baptist facilitators as it would provide a much larger hospital than that originally conceived.

Robert Hamilton, Sr., who had lived in Little Deer Creek in Falls County, TX before moving to Harlingen in 1917, and Jack Earnest Stack were among local leaders who saw a need for a hospital here. Hamilton worked as a bookkeeper in the Texas State Bank of Harlingen 1917-20 before opening an insurance office selling Home Insurance. He and others approached Lon C. Hill and the Harlingen Townsite and Improvement Company, and Hill pledged $15,000 toward the building. Short of cash, the company conveyed four lots just south of where the hospital would eventually be built. Two stipulations were that: the hospital would cost more than $50,000 and be built in three years (3/2/23). Incorporators were Dr. N.A. Davidson, G.S. Stringer, and Judge Fred Bennett of Mercedes. When the Baptist Sanitarium of Harlingen was not built within this time frame, the lots were reconveyed on 9/27/24 to the Cameron County Realty Co. based in Dallas. In return the hospital pursuers received lots on F Street without conditions.

The 1920s are a decade when Harlingen realtors are fiercely competitive. With much real estate to offer, some lots do not move rapidly. In 1925 the Harlingen Development Company with Osco Morris as president, J.R. Roberts, vice president and S. Finley Ewing secretary-treasurer advertises it capital stock at over $100,000. More importantly it is trying to unload numerous unsold city lots. It offers 300 homesite lots east of the concrete highway with 50 foot frontages at $500 for a corner lot and $450 for an inside one. All are part of the Original Townsite of Harlingen. On 3/27/25 more than 50 lots are sold at auction by the company. Prices paid range from $271 for a lot to $675. They are located on F Street next to the new hospital being erected. The fact is that the donation of the hospital site lots may have been made in order to make adjacent property more attractive to prospective buyers. It was also a good move because the site was on the highway to San Benito and offered easy access to citizens of that city to come to Harlingen for treatment.

Under the auspices of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Baptist Association, the white stucco building, which became the Valley Baptist Hospital, is built in the 600 block of F Street (formerly Mexico Street) by W.T. Liston and Sons to designs by local leading architects Elwing and Mulhausen. Birger A. Elwing was born in Linkojsing, Sweden on 6/13/1867 and educated at Chalmera University in Gothenburg. He married Sigus Hedstrom on 12/16/1889 and settled in the Valley in 1919.

In an October 1924 report to the Association it was noted that the Harlingen building was "very incomplete, not having much more than just the outside walls and the roof." It was further stated that "After consulting the contractor as to what it would cost to complete the building the board decided to borrow $25,000 in order to complete and furnish the hospital." This loan was received from the Southern Life Insurance Company at 7% interest and as a condition it was necessary to incorporate as the Valley Baptist Hospital. The governing board soon discovered that the loan amount was still not enough to cover all expenses, so the board members gave personal notes to secure additional loan monies. By October 1925, $30,770 was owed to banks and suppliers.

The 35 bed facility opens in part 1/22/25 and fully in May 1925. Its charter members are S.C. Tucker, Brownsville; Frank Robertson and Dr. Clarence M. Cash, San Benito; J.T. Foster, S.G. Stringer, C.S. Wroten, and Dr. N.A. Davidson of Harlingen; Dr. R.E. Utley and Fred E. Bennett of Mercedes; E.C. Couch of Weslaco; Dr. L.M. Davis of Donna; and G.T. Balch of McAllen.

It is on 7/24/25 that the Valley Baptist Hospital has its formal opening. The ground floor is partially subsurface. Two additional floors rise above it with a very small fourth floor in the middle front added for aesthetic reasons. At this time it has 19 rooms in two wards and its costs to-date are $75,000, exclusive of grounds.

Just a few days over two months later (9/30/25), the School of Nursing is established at the Valley Baptist Hospital. Unfortunately the hospital lacks adequate housing for the student nurses. They occupy a ward in the basement of the facility. Eventually a large two story wooden barrack-like building will be erected next to the hospital to house nurses.

For its first full year of operation the hospital and S.G. Strugh , president of VBH (trustees), report that 564 patients, of which 65 are charity cases, were treated. The breakdown has 285 surgical patients, 165 medical, 35 obstetrics, 35 infants, and 70 accidents. By October 1926 patients are being turned away for lack of rooms. Especially in short supply are private rooms.

The bottom line of the hospital's finances improves year-to-year. By the end of the fiscal year 8/31/27, the property is valued at $105,078. The following fiscal year receipts are $26,661 and expenses $25,415, so a modest amount remains banked. The number of treated patients has risen to 713, fully 106 above the prior fiscal year. The hospital commences keeping statistics on "hospital day service." For the period 4/1/27 through 8/31/27 this figure was 2,437.

The salaries and payroll of certain employees in 1927 indicate how far a dollar would go at that time. The superintendent in charge of all the hospital operations received $175 a month, the nursing superintendent $135, the night supervisor, $110, student nurses $6 to $8 per month, and the cook $52 per month. Hourly wages included $1.50/day for servant-dishwasher and $2.50/day for a porter.

Before this hospital came into being, doctors were moving to Harlingen. It was a rapidly growing city. In 1920 the official U. S. Census put the town's population at only 1,784, but in February 1925 a special census to change the city governmental structure put it at 5,400. By 1930 the Federal Census put the population at 12,124.

Dr. Noah Albert (Semny) Davidson and his wife Dorris Drury Davidson established themselves in the community during the year 1920. Tragedy is later to strike them when their five year old son N.A. (Sonny) born here 4/7/31 is to die after being scalded. They had daughters Barbara Davidson (Boyett) and Lella Joyce "Joy" Davidson (Judin). The latter born 11/24/29 will go on to be Harlingen High School valedictorian and be graduated from Baylor University, later to volunteer in many community activities in the Valley. She is to die 2/5/06 at age 76 leaving five children and her sister. Her mother died in November 1999 at age 96. Dr. Davidson, who was chief of surgery at the Valley Baptist Hospital, was a Rotarian and served on the school board.

Around 1920 R.E. Utley, a physician arrived in the Valley. He was born in Neevah, Wisconsin 7/29/74 and had been graduated from Loyola University. After serving in the medical corps in WWI he married Bernice Smith of Topeka, KS on 6/13/19. In Harlingen he had a general practice, and also conducted surgery, x-ray diagnoses, and therapy. He was a Mason, Elk, and a Baptist Church member. He served as City Commissioner 12/37-12/39. Their home was at 401 E. Harrison.

It is 1923 when Dr. A.C. McLamore, a physician and surgeon, comes to town where he becomes a partner in McLamore and Utley. Born in Montgomery AL on 7/27/77, he was educated in Natchitoches with an MD degree. He married Alice Worsham of Atlanta, LA on 4/16/03. This Baptist is also a Mason. At their 420 E. Harrison home is daughter Mary Lou. He is to die in 1928.

Dr. J.C. Watkins arrives with his wife Daisy in 1925. He is to become Harlingen's first Public Health Officer and retain that position for 20 years. He had been married in 1904 in Huntsville, AL. This First Christian Church member worked in Oklahoma 1918-24 before coming here.

The Gallahers, George and Blanch Tudor, move to Harlingen in 1929. He had been graduated from the U. of Iowa in 1925, then went on to medical school in Arkansas while his wife supported them as a dietician in a veteran's hospital. Once here he became a partner with Dr. Noah Davidson. Their offices were on the 10th floor of the Baxter Building. A year later he opened his own practice with an office on the 7th floor, staying there until his death in 1971. Their daughter is Julie Gallaher Uhlhorn.

These and out-of-Valley doctors from San Antonio, Houston, Kingsville, and Austin saw yeoman service after the Labor Day Hurricane of 1933. Harlingen and San Benito sustained the worst devastation in the storm; numerous injuries had to be treated. The hospital put triage into practice and soon the less seriously injured patients were place onto cots under two large tents erected on the landscape area in front of the hospital. Other doctors offered first aid at a makeshift facility in the Reese-Wil-Mond Hotel, where many had sought refuge because of the structure's strength.

When the staff of the Valley Baptist Hospital put together the first yearbook which would be published, it came to fruition in early 1946. The name selected was The Valley Samaritan. Frances Hennessee, secretary to Superintendent K. P. Waller, was the editor of the publication. It was dedicated to 82 year old Dr. Clarence M. Cash of San Benito.

Proudly the hospital noted that its records showed an average of $6,000 annually in charitable work had been donated.

The year 1943 had been an important one for the institution, for in this year its size was doubled in capacity in order to serve a greater number of patients. The new construction increased the bed capacity from 36 to 82 and the infant services went from ten bassinets to twenty-nine. The following year its owners, the Lower Rio Grande Valley Baptist Association voted that the institution be given to the Texas Baptist General Convention. This offer was accepted in 1945.

In 1945 the hospital had twenty-three doctors on its staff. It boasted of modern operating rooms, a very complete genitourinary section, diagnostic x-ray service, an orthopedic department, isolation facilities, iron lung for treatment of infantile paralysis (polio), and a maternity department.

The male doctors serving in 1945 were:

Allen, G. E. La Motte, T. J.

Amidon, Charles (chief of staff) Letzerich, A. M.

Ashcraft, E. J. Lyle, C. F.

Bleakney, Phil Pilmer, Gordon A.

Caldeira, F. D. Pollard, A. J.

Cash, C. M. Shafer, Troy A.

Davidson, N. A. (chief of surgery) Sprinkle, D. L.

Dawson, C. D. Utley, R. E.

Gallaher, G. L. Vinsant, J. C.

Lamm, Heinrich Watkins, J. C.

The two female doctors on the staff were V. M. Amidor and Annie T. Lamm. The latter is an anesthetist and also delivers children. Dr. Stout was a consultant for the laboratory. With the U.S. Army Airfield still in wartime operation the yearbook also recognized four Army doctors handling obstetrics for military dependents. These were: Col. Pearson, Major Barsard, and Captains Smith and Selles. The publication also recognized two staff members who died during 1945. These were Doctors George D. Beech (3/1868-7/45) and E. T. Morris (3/1887-11/45).

Upon being discharged from the service after 1945, Dr. Hesiquio Rodriguez becomes the first Hispanic physician to join the VBH staff. He may also be the first home-grown doctor on the staff. This gentleman graduated as valedictorian of the Harlingen High School class of 1935, when he was 15.By the time he was 22 he was a practicing doctor, having received his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Center in 1942. While serving in the U.S. Army 1942-45 he interned in St. Louis where he met and married psychiatric nurse Annabel Alberts. His early mentor was Dr. Heinrich Lamm, a man he greatly admired. Hesiquio served on the Rio Hondo School Board 1948-51 before moving back to Harlingen in 1954. He died in 1977 at age 58. On 3/11/05 the Dr. Hesiquio Rodriguez Elementary School on Wilson Road is officially dedicated. Among 60 Rodriguez relatives present at the ribbon cutting ceremony were the doctor's widow Ann Rodriguez Guerrero, daughter Suzanne Rodriguez Jones, and his son Charles Rodriguez.

Each of these doctors obviously has a story worth telling, but space limitations prevent that here.  One interesting story however deals with husband and wife doctors, the Lamms. In addition to their hospital work they had a general practice for years in La Feria. Heinrich and Annie Lamm were German Jews, who as Hitler became increasingly oppressive, fled to the United States in the 1930s.  After settling in New Jersey where their ship landed, they went to Kansas City in 1937 then later came to the Valley in 1939 and made their home in La Feria.

La Feria's Joe Tucker while visiting the Corning Glass Museum in New York chanced upon an item connected with Heinrich. Heinrich's son had contributed a newspaper article concerning a discovery his father had made as a medical student in Germany in 1930. Doctors were searching for a non-intrusive way to examine parts of the human body. Heinrich had put together a packet of thin flexible glass rods which could bend and go around sensitive organs. These could conduct light and images thereby providing the physician a view of body conditions heretofore inaccessible. He had, in effect, created one of the first fiber optic devices if not the first.

The support staff was modest compared to today's vast manning. There were three laboratory technicians, five employed in the x-ray department, and four dieticians. The general hospital nursing staff consisted of one nursing director, two nursing supervisors, sixteen registered nurses and nineteen practical nurses. The operating rooms had two supervisory nurses over five registered nurses. In the maternity department were one supervisor, three registered nurses, and seven practical nurses.

In addition there were eleven office staff, one medical librarian and one hospital missionary. Other support came from twenty-five Red Cross nurses aids. In early 1946 there were sixty student nurses now residing in a frame structure with small rooms. There were fifteen maids and orderlies, six of whom were from Harlingen's small and nearby black community. Dr. W. W. Melton was executive secretary and Mr. W. W. Quick of Lyford was chairman and member of the 13 person governing board.

The capacity of the steel-framed structure is increased again in 1946, so that by 1956 it is equipped to care for 135 people. The facility closes in 1957 with the erection of a new hospital complex near S. Ed Carey Drive. Dr. David Nickell, who came to work in the F Street hospital in 1947, is the last of the F Street doctors to retire when he does so at age 73 on 10/29/84.

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The Letzerich Building, Likely Harlingen's Oldest Existing Commercial Structure
Norman Rozeff, Harlingen Historical Preservation Society
June 2006

This building located on the northeast corner of Jackson and Commerce Streets is likely among the three oldest extant commercial buildings, if not the oldest, in Harlingen.

1909 This year sees the arrival in the five-year-old town of Harlingen of the Levi E. and Ed E. Snavely families, the Earl Wetmores, the McDonalds, "Captain" Patterson, Dr. D. B. McGehee, and Drs. C. W. and A. M. Letzerich, physician and surgeon.

While the community of Harlingen was established in 1904, it did not formally become a governmental entity until 1910. Even so, it had already attracted doctors to serve the growing population of the community and its surrounds. The physician brothers Casper W. and Alfred M. Letzerich had erected a two story office building at the corner of Commerce and Main (Jackson) Streets in 1909. Another source says Charles H. Waterwall erected the brick building at 216 W. Jackson on the northeast corner of Jackson and Commerce. It is likely that Waterwall, a builder, was the contractor for the Letzerichs.

The initial property is located in Survey 289 in the Harlingen Land and Water Company's subdivision and the south half of Block 45 on lots 20 and 21. Later the triangular-shaped lot 22 will see the erection of an addition. Lot 20 is the standard 140' by 25' in size but the southwest side of lot 21 is cut at an angle where East Commerce Street dissects the property. Together 20 and 21 comprise 6,375 sq. ft. or .146 acre. Lot 22 has about 2,375 sq. ft. or .05 acre. The eventual totals property size is then 8,750 sq. ft. or .20 acre.

The construction is solid with three layers thick of yellow brickwork. The original building is approximately 95 feet long and 30 ½ feet wide with a 5 ½ foot alley on its east side. It roof slopes gently to the north to provide natural drainage. The ground floor has a ceiling over fifteen feet high. This height was designed to keep the building cool before the days of air conditioning. The ceiling is the original embossed tin panels. Five equally- spaced steel upright pillars are placed in the middle of the building along its longest axis. These support the second floor since there are no interior walls or rooms in the first floor. The north sidewall of the original structure had two wooden double doors to accommodate freight or large items. These were on either side of a third door for people to use. Normal second story access was by an external wooden staircase on the east side of the building and accessible from an entrance opening from the alleyway. An internal stairwell juxtaposed it within the building. The former was demolished as it deteriorated over time.

Substantial and continuing billing of the South Texas Lumber Co., 10/15/09 through 4/1/10, to Dr. Letzerich likely indicates the building being erected in this period. It will later house the Harlingen Pharmacy owned by Hugo L. Letzerich on its first floor and the offices of his brothers, Dr. Casper W. Letzerich, and Dr. Alfred M. upstairs. One of them may even conduct some dental work as a building sign and two upper window legends indicate.

Hugo Letzerich first saw Harlingen as a mail clerk on the first train through the community in 1904. When the post office was in the Letzerich Building he was its postmaster. After his official appointment by the Federal government as postmaster in 1911, he was renominated for another four years in 1915.

Hugo will marry in 1916 when his fiancée Alma, who was born in Oakland, TX, arrives here. She is a dedicated Methodist whose work for the church will be recognized on Alma Letzerich Day in April 1977. Hugo, who was born in Warrentown, TX 1/6/81, will die in 1936 at age 55.

Casper, age 59, will die 9/5/35 of a heart attack while his wife Maude Weller Letzerich will die 7/7/50 of a heart attack. This First Presbyterian member was residing at 202 E. Tyler at the time of her death and had been for numerous years. His brother Alfred and Alfred's wife Myrtle apparently died in 1951 or thereabouts.

In 1905Andrew Henry Goldammer of Fayette County, Texas comes to the Valley and first locates in Brownsville but then comes to Harlingen. Early on he constructs two buildings for the Letzerichs, four for Weller, and the home, which is removed in 1960, of Dr. C.W. Letzerich at 2nd and Tyler. He is estimated to have built 50% of the modern structures in Harlingen in the late teens and in the decade of the 1920s.

Dr. A.M. Letzerich is appointed (1/24/10) as the town's first health officer but he resigns by July.

4/4/11 In its second municipal election, 44 votes are cast in the office of Cunningham and Ernst. For this election Cunningham was presiding judge; James H. Ewing and Hubert Barry were judges; and S.P. Eaton and R.I. Dudley, clerks. John D. Hill receives all the votes for Mayor as does Dr. C.W. Letzerich for Commissioner. R.S. Chambers receives 42 votes. 1911 With the town population now 1,126, this makes it eligible under state law to change to the city council form of government. Presiding Judge H.D. Seago certifies that the 26 votes were cast in favor of such a change. E.L. Fender, Jacob Miller, J.M. Denton, and Dr. C.W. Letzerich along with Mayor Cunningham constitute Harlingen's first City Council.

In 1923 Harlingen's first hospital, a modest frame building facility on F Street, opened. Doctors who staffed the hospital included, among others, the Letzerich brothers, Casper and Alfred, and Noah A. (Semny) Davidson.

It is on 7/24/25 that the new Valley Baptist Hospital on F Street has its formal opening. One of its attending physicians is Dr. A. M. Letzerich.

The famed Valley photographer Robert Runyon took photographs of the Letzerich Building on his periodic trips to Harlingen. The first appears to have been taken in late 1909 or early 1910. The upstairs windows advertise "Dentist" while on the ground floor in its larger windows are advertised Hugo's "Harlingen Pharmacy". Canvas awnings are visible to be dropped in order to shade these large windows. To the rear of the building on its Commerce Street side is a non-legible sign, perhaps indicating the post office. Other Runyon photos were taken in 1915 and in 1917 or thereafter. Not only do they reveal the Letzerich Building but how Harlingen's main thoroughfare and commercial center grew over the decade. One change evident is the permanent solid overhang erected in the front of the building and also its neighbor. These afforded not only protection from the rain but also the hot South Texas sun.

In the first Harlingen telephone directory available in the Harlingen Library Archive Room, that of 1930, both physician bothers are listed at 216 ½ W. Jackson. This reveals a second floor site for their offices. 216 W. Jackson is noted to be vacant. The following year 1931 will see the Hicks Rubber Co. occupying the ground floor premise.

By 1930 a triangular-shaped addition has been added to the west side of the original building. This addition has been made to take advantage of the building's excellent commercial location and to utilize an odd-shaped but potentially valuable piece of real estate. It too retains its tin embossed ceiling. By 1930, this addition, numbered 218 W. Jackson, has a tenant, the New York Store, which sells dry goods and clothing and is managed by Mrs. A. Adolphs. This firm will stay here for several years but by 1936 will have moved to 110 E. Jackson and later to 212 W. Jackson, each time pursuing larger quarters. Hugo has apparently sold his pharmacy (there to at least 1926 as an old photograph indicates). In July 1928 a newspaper ad lists Clarence B. Meyers as manager. By 1930 it is owned by J. B. Symonds who has moved it to 202 W. Jackson where it is managed by W. T. Garrison. Within five years the Harlingen Pharmacy is no more as both local and national chain drug stores offer increasing competition.

Over the following years the building will house an ever changing variety of renters.

Alfred will remain upstairs until 1939 when he will have removed to the nine-story Rio Grande National Life Insurance Building down the street. This same building will house many of the City's professionals. Following his brother's death in 1935 Alfred will by 1937 rent out Casper's former office to a Mrs. Margaret Hancock, possibly as a low-cost residence. Alfred will retire in 1949.

In 1936 Hicks has gone and been replaced by Stevens Stores. The latter is managed by R. R. Jackson, and it sells radios to a wholesale market. This is just a transitory tenant, for in 1937 the Magnolia Finance Co. is in the site at 216. The neighboring 218 still attracts no occupant and remains vacant.

In 1939 Texas Plumbing and Heating takes over 216 when Magnolia seeks larger office space at 122 W. Van Buren. Household Furniture is to be found at 218 this year, and the upstairs rooms are not being utilized.

Continuing the trend of short-term rotating tenants, Jarrett's Hat Shop takes over 216. This is operated by hatter Lon Jarrett, who with his wife Opal resides at 210 W. Madison.

By 1941 the Sherwin Williams Co. of Texas, the well-known paint company, moves into 218 and apparently splits the property with a depression-era federal creation, the WPA or Works Project Administration's Sewing Room at 220 W. Jackson.

220 finally gains a steady tenant in Sherwin Williams. The outlet is under the supervision of J. C. Norris, the local manager, until in 1944 when Larry D. Best takes over. This same year, when wartime housing is tight in the city, Shirley Slade, a Women's Air Service Pilot (WASP) takes up living quarters upstairs for a short time. T. E. and Lena C. Baker will move in by 1950. Sherwin Williams will stay put in 220 through 1948 after which time the premise will be vacant for two or three year.

W. Vernon Walsh and his wife Mildred will run their real estate office out of 218 in 1948. Two year later, in 1950, 218 will once again be gathering dust as it sits unused for two years. 220 will by 1951, however, find an occupant in the Firestone Stores with H. W. Engstrom as local manager.

A firm which got its start in Brownsville in 1906, Edelstein's Furniture, and has had a branch in Harlingen from the early 1920s is by 1960 to occupy 218-220 for one of its subsidiaries while its regular store is across the street at 207. In 1954, with Olen Little as manager, it is listed as Edelstein's Used Furniture. This latter designation likely covers repossessed items, display goods, or damaged furniture. It later uses the name Edelstein's Bargain Outlet Store for several years, first when Norbert Betz is manager in 1961. He is succeeded by Raul Mendoza the following year. A. G. Velaquez is its last manager before it closes its doors in 1967. Edelstein was likely responsible for knocking out the wall which separated the one story triangular 220 structure from the adjacent two-story 216 premise. It also added the one story cinder block storage structure to the building's north. This generated a sprawling interior.

During its tenure in the building Edelstein had tried to modernize the exterior by placing plywood panels over the upstairs windows, replacing the downstairs windows with larger plate glass ones, and painting the whole brick structure a creamy beige color to give it a newer and unifying appearance.

Throughout the whole decade of the 1970s there were no commercial listings for any part of the building. At minimum it may have been used for storage. It was in 1980 that The Pereion Antiques, later The Pereion, Inc., came to occupy the site now listed as 218 W. Jackson. It did so from this year until 1985. This firm was likely the first of its category (antiques) to come to Jackson and would later set the stage for many more.

Again vacant for several years, in 1988 Joe Cano Gonzalez moved in with Joe and Jesse's Cabinets, Joe's Cabinets, and Occasions Framing. Several years later (1987) space was let for Little D's Bouquet.

In 1990, video rental entrepreneur Bill DeBrooke was to purchase the property. It was a miracle that it had survived destruction since it was essentially a "white elephant." Once again the site entered a long fallow period in the first half of the 1990s. DeBrooke was a hands-on, energetic personality, who was later to purchase numerous run-down downtown Harlingen properties and restore them to a useful life. At 218 he removed the extraneous architectural elements which had changed the very nature of the building over time. Façade elements and the parapet were painted to reflect an earlier period. The results were dramatic and a handsome and attractive structure emerged form its non-descript recent past. The windows in the front of the building were restored to their original appearance. Plywood was removed from the other windows, and they were given a more permanent and tasteful covering. In 1998 Downtown Antiques was to occupy the site (numbered 218) and currently Jackson Street Antiques, owned and operated by Carmen and Leo Garza, continues to do so.

Upon entering the spacious store patrons are taken back in history by the high ceilings faced in embossed tin paneling. High on the east wall are a series of mural panels painted by famed Harlingen artist Normah Knight. They originally were commissioned for the new Holsum Bakery Building but were removed here when the old bakery site was being refurbished. The nostalgic building is a perfect complement to its present use to display antiques.

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The Weller Family in Harlingen

Norman Rozeff, June 2006 (Revised 3/07)

In an era when temperance and prohibition were gaining strength, being the proprietor of a saloon may not have met with great respect. This proved to be no impediment for August H. Weller. Weller and his family were early Anglo settlers to the area.

The family had lived in the small crossroads community of Sublime in the Port Lavaca area. Mr. Weller was in farming, but several years of drought in the area combined with poor soils with which to start led him to sell out for about $80,000 and take a chance on what might be "greener pastures."

One account mentions that they arrived with furniture and other possessions by work train and were unceremoniously deposited at Olmito where the line ended in the spring of 1904. Sam Robertson was not above sneaking settlers into the Valley on the nascent rail line before passenger service was offered. The Wellers then moved into Brownsville. Their other possessions and perhaps livestock were to follow by wagon.

It is in1906 that the railroad company feels confident enough of Harlingen's future that it constructs a two-story, u-shaped, frame hotel having 10 rooms with two baths and verandas on both floors. Its location is the center of town, Hill (now First) Street and Harrison. Its first manager is Mrs. August H. Weller. [Mrs. Weller's father, Charles Bock, Sr. (also spelled in the original German, Boch), has the distinction of being the first Texas Ranger.] She is followed in management by Mr. and Mrs. B. F. Ogan. This hotel will later be called the Mooreland. In 1906 the Weller family is only the fourth family to have settled in Harlingen.

On 9/5/06 Weller buys the three lots at Tyler and Commerce and two lots at Commerce and Jackson. These are the first lots conveyed by the Harlingen Town and Improvement Company. Ten days later Santos Lozano buys two lots at Jackson and "A" Streets. Across from the railroad depot Weller is to build his restaurant /saloon. Sales recorded 10/21/07 in Hill's lumber company ledger indicate local activities and individuals in the community. These include lumber for A. H. Weller's restaurant. This is but one of a series of his saloons around town. The large one is on the south side of Jackson a short distance east of Commerce Street. It has a large false front second story upon which it advertises "Saloon." It looks straight out of a Hollywood western. In time he is reported to have run or leased the premises for thirteen "watering holes." While this may be exaggerated there is no question that he quickly amassed enough capital to move into more acceptable businesses and soon become a pillar of the community.

The first major brick building in Harlingen was Lon C. Hill's large two-story one on Van Buren. When finished in 1909, one of building's first floor occupants, besides the general merchandise store operated by Sam Botts and Fred Chambers, is Harlingen's first bank. It is the Harlingen State Bank. Searcy Chambers is president and M.V. Pendleton, cashier and general manager. Later A. H. Weller purchases the bank and moves it to the Weller Building at "A" and Jackson Streets. This two-story, brick structure may have been built by Andrew Goldammer, who was to put up four structures for Weller. The building exists in a Robert Runyon photo taken in late 1911. In Runyon's 1915 photos of the building a new sign saying "Harlingen State Bank" sits on the ground on the north side and awaits hanging. As its new president Weller hires Bailey Dunlap of La Feria as supervisor and Hoyte Hicks Burchard as manager.

Mrs. Weller in 1906 steps in to fill a community need when she organizes the Harlingen Cemetery Association. She is active in cemetery affairs for many years. The Wellers in 1908 have moved into their newly constructed residence at the corner of Commerce and Tyler, the site of the current City Hall. Mary Augusta Bock Weller was born 5/26/62. In 1942 she will celebrate her 80th birthday. One daughter, Selma, is to marry Andrew Goldammer, the builder; Kathryne will marry H. D. (Herbert) Seago, who will become County Clerk; Maude will become the wife of Dr. C.W. Letzerich; and Agnes, Mrs. H. B. Verhelle. When the Seagos are married 6/18/12 in the First Presbyterian Church they are the first to be married in the sanctuary.

In a September 1909 school board election for seven trustees, Weller comes in last in eighth place. With the town population now 1,126 in the year 1911, this makes it eligible under state law to change to the city council form of government. Presiding Judge H .D. Seago certifies that the 26 votes were cast in favor of such a change. E.L. Fender, Jacob Miller, J. M. Denton, and Dr. C. W. Letzerich along with Mayor Cunningham constitute Harlingen's first City Council. The Council, along with five alderman elected in place, meet twice a month. Members of the first Equalization Board to adjust the tax valuation of property are A. W. Weller, Gordon Hill, C. F. Perry, C. W. Hoot, and R. S. Chambers. Weller keeps his hand in politics and in 4/12 is elected aldermen together with J. M. Denton, M. V. Pendleton, who was formerly city clerk, H. A.Gibbs, and R. L. Chaudoin.

In April 1912 L. S. Ross, son of former Texas Governor Sul Ross who was a famous Texas Ranger, is elected Mayor. He was the president of the Harlingen Commercial Club, treasurer of the Rio Grande Construction Association, school board trustee and farmed. He is also president of the Harlingen State Bank in which he is provided a private office for the conduct of city business. He is authorized to purchase office furniture and provide stationery. The bank is the depository for city funds. Mayor Ross and three aldermen are re-elected in 1914. In October Ross dies and Miller V. Pendleton, who works at the bank with Ross, is named to fill the unexpired term.

9/13 Hoyte Hicks Burchard and Luallee Pendleton Burchard come to Harlingen by train from Gonzales, TX at the urging of her brother Miller Pendleton. Their daughter Kate Dorothy Burchard, later Mrs. Charles Washmon, is two years old. H.H. takes the position of executive director of the Harlingen State Bank. In 1915 when the Pioneer Building is inaugurated he opens the Burchard Pharmacy in a corner of the building, for he is a graduate of the University of Texas and its School of Pharmacy.

Planters State Bank goes into operation at southeast corner of Commerce and Jackson in the year 1917. A two-story brick building is erected where Mack Crenshaw once ran his barbershop in a small frame building. About this time the Harlingen State Bank had deposits of $78,919.81 and the Planters State and Guaranty Bank $22,516.84. The Planters State Bank organized by B.F. Johnson takes over the assets of the Harlingen State Bank and is later purchased itself by S.A. Thompson on 1/1/19. In 1923 it closes its doors. Its assets are taken over by the Valley State Bank, organized by B.M. Holland, a former bank examiner. John T. Lomax of San Benito becomes president and Tyre H. Brown vice-president. The Valley State Bank fails in 1931 after occupying the ground floor of the building 1924-1927.

It is on 4/1/18 that R.B. Hamilton comes from Bishop, Texas to become manager of the First National Bank, whose capital stock stands at $15,000. He increases that to $25,000 in 1919. This bank apparently closes within a few years and Mr. Hamilton goes into the insurance business. He is to serve on the City Commission 4/23-12/31 and on other city boards.

The First National Bank of Harlingen, the same in the photo (VMS, 6/22/06), was opened 3/1/22 in the west half of Neil Madeley's grocery store at 117W. Jackson. A. B. Hoffman was its first president, H. M. Barton, cashier, and John Nance Garner, the longtime Congressman and eventually Vice President under Franklin Roosevelt, was a stockholder. On 7/1/22 it held $44,468 in deposits; in 1937 more than $1 million when it was in124 W. Jackson. On 3/26/51 it moved to 202 E. Van Buren. By 1959 its deposits were more than $30 million. After April 1982 and a merger, its name changed to Inter First Bank with 1985 assets of $223 million, later Nations Bank, and today it is Bank of America.

A last mention of Weller arises on 3/16/53 when the newspaper reports a $250,000 fire around the 103 address of W. Jackson. The major blaze destroys or damages seven businesses. The A. H. Weller Estate had leased in what was known as the "Weller Block" space to Rogers Studio, Wilson Sporting Goods Store, Valley Sewing Machine Service, Anderson's Jewelry Store, Palace Barber, Pate Bros. Men's Furnishings, and Max's Shoe Repair Store.

Could beer and whiskey guzzling cowboys, farmhands, and workmen ever visualize back in 1907 that their nickels and dimes could finance banks, businesses, and a large community? Probably not, but foresighted August H. Weller in doing well for himself also did well for the City of Harlingen. This is called free enterprise and entrepreneurship.

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Two Famous Architects of Harlingen

Norman Rozeff, October 2006

For a small to medium-sized city that Harlingen was to possess two outstanding architects at the same time was and is unusual. Yet it occurred in the 1950-60s when John Garth York and Alan Y. Taniguchi lived and practiced in the city.

First to arrive on the scene was York, a native of Gainesville, Alabama, having been born there on May 5, 1914. His parents moved to Fort Worth in 1923. This later set the stage for him to attend North Texas Agricultural College between 1933 and 1935 then transfer to UT, Austin where he was to receive a B.S. in architecture in 1940. He then obtained on-the-job experience in Austin and Houston before serving in the US Army Air Corps 1943-1946. The next two years were spent in Colorado where he was an assistant professor of architecture at the University of Denver and also did design work for a Denver architectural firm. It was in 1948 that York moved to Harlingen to form the partnership of Cocke, Bowman and York, one which would last from 1949 to 1954. Bartlett Cocke was a noted San Antonio architect, 13 years his senior, and Bowman was architect Walter C. Bowman who came to Harlingen around 1946 to form the partnership of Cocke and Bowman with an office at 1220 W. Harrison.

York's achievements are best summarized by Stephen Fox who writes "York quickly established a reputation for the firm, designing inventive modern buildings that responded lyrically to the climatic conditions of the Lower Rio Grande Valley and made a virtue of the generally meager building budgets with which the firm had to work. The exposition of lightweight structural members and technologically produced building components, accented with brilliant color combinations, was the hallmark of York's style."

A partial list of the firm's best known buildings in this area include the Casey Clinic, San Benito (1950); Crockett Elementary School, Harlingen (1950); the Lon C. Hill Memorial Library, Harlingen (1951); Clarke and Courts Building[now Dillons], Harlingen (1951]; Ed Downs Elementary School, San Benito (1951); Bonham Elementary School, Harlingen (1953); and the Ebony Heights Elementary School, Brownsville (1953).

When go-getter John McKelvey commenced to develop the Laurel Park subdivision along the west bank of the Arroyo Colorado, it was York who laid it out. In it York was to design a series of "dramatic modern houses". These include the McKelvey House (1948); the W. P. Uhlhorn residence, termed the "House Designed for Living", (1949); the C. P. Thise House (1950) and York's own house (1952). For the design of the Uhlhorn home, York won a national merit award from the American Institute of Architects in 1951.

With the dissolution of the partnership York practiced by himself both in Harlingen and Corpus Christi until 1960. In this period he is recognized locally for the houses of Bernard Whitman and Antonio Cisneros, Jr. in Brownsville (1955); the Fairway Motor Hotel, McAllen (1956); and the Narro-Sanchez Clinic, McAllen (1958). He also did industrial designs and those for the US Government including the US Border Station, Brownsville (1960).

In 1960 he was appointed to the faculty of the School of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. Four years later he became a professor and was director of the school from 1962 to 1969. He taught at the university until his death on 2/7/80. His numerous papers were deposited in the Architectural Drawings Collection of UT, Austin.

York was married three times, having two sons and a daughter by second wife, Tacia Catsinas of Houston.

Fox ably characterizes York in writing that "York had a charismatic personality that intensely affected his professional associates and clients. The compelling power of his enthusiasm and charm made it possible for him to produce radical modern buildings in an area with no prior history of vanguard architectural patronage."

Alan Y. Taniguchi came to the Valley in concern for his parents. It was in 1945 at the invitation of Kumazo Tanamachi that Izamu Taniguchi, his father, had come to the Valley after his release from internment in the camp at Crystal City, Texas. At age 17 in 1915 this native of Okayama (near Osaka, Japan) located in Stockton, CA and later commenced farming in the Brentwood area near San Francisco. During WWII he had been incarcerated solely because he was a Japanese ethnic and a community leader. After a brief post-war return to Brentwood and a cold reception there, he and his wife Sadayo moved to the Valley where Izamu would take up vegetable and cotton farming near Los Indios. Valuing education he had encouraged Alan to attend college which Alan was doing as a freshman at the University of California when Pearl Harbor was bombed. He too was sent to Crystal City. After a year however and under the sponsorship of a Quaker program in Detroit, he was allowed to work and to continue his education. After the war he returned to Berkley and received his architectural degree. Here too he met his future wife Leslie Etsuko Honnami, who with her family had been incarcerated in Utah during the war.

Upon being graduated Alan worked for a San Francisco architectural firm and with his wife was to settle in the Valley in 1950 and eventually Harlingen. Their son Evan, eventually to become an architect himself, was born in Harlingen in 1952 and brother Keith 14 months later. Alan and Leslie, perhaps because of their adverse experiences, "spent the rest of their lives fighting for causes that that served marginalized groups and the underprivileged."

Along the Military Highway east of Bluetown, Alan designed a California style house for his parents and in doing so brought the style to South Texas. Along side York's houses in Laurel Park were soon to be Alan's mid-century modern house or as his son Evan put it "the real deal."

His work became so popular that in 1959 he was offered a part time job teaching at UT's School of Architecture in Austin. For several years he commuted before taking a permanent teaching job there in 1961. He was the school's dean from 1969 to 1972. Taniguchi resigned after his political activism brought him in conflict with equally vocal Board of Regents head Frank Erwin. Alan was then immediately hired to head the School of Architecture at Rice University in Houston.

Public recognition of Alan Taniguchi comes with a major design award. It is 7/22/60 and The Woman's Club is evicted from the Woman's Building at 201 E. Madison. They have used it for 30 years, but now it will be turned over to the Harlingen Tourist Club which commences to use it 11/16/60. In November architect Taniguchi is employed to design a tourist clubhouse for $100,000 or less to be in the southeast corner of Bowie Park. This will become the Casa del Sol.

On 6/61 W.B. Uhlhorn is named the low bidder at $91,290 for the new tourist center, but when heating and air conditioning are factored in the cost rises to $134,368. The Girl Scouts using the frame building at the planned site are moved to the northwest side barracks currently used by the tourists. The round domed, thin-shelled concrete roof spans 120', giving it a seating capacity of 1,200. It has a stage and catering style kitchen. The Chamber of Commerce has a contest to name the new facility. Casa del Sol, submitted by Mrs. Charles Binny, is selected over Easterling Hall and El Rondondo. When this events, tourist and recreation center at 221 E. Madison is dedicated on 2/11/62, Finis Easterling, a City Commissioner at the time of its conception, is recognized. Carl Searle and the 85 piece HHS band are in attendance.

Taniguchi's talents are further recognized. On 8/27/61 he is one of five architects honored in 1961 with an award by the Texas Society of Architects. The firm of Taniguchi and Croft was awarded the design for the upcoming Harlingen Police and Courts Building on S. Commerce Street. In September the firm's Pharr-San Juan-Alamo High School would be completed and become the first and only air conditioned school in South Texas. In Austin, the firm of Alan Y. Taniguchi Architects and Associates is soon formed. It is still going strong in 2006.

His father's story has an unusual ending. In 1967 Isamu and his wife will retire to Austin to be nearer family. As industrious as ever, Isamu seeks to utilize his time in a creative way. With his own funds and labor over a 14 month period he carves out the three acre oriental gardens in Austin's Zilker Park. In recognition of his efforts it was dedicated as the Isamu Taniguchi Oriental Gardens in 1969. In the early 1970s Isamu at age 89, will be honored by the Austin Board of Realtors as Austin's Outstanding Citizen. In 1972 Lady Bird Johnson lobbied the Japanese Government and the American Institute of Architects to grant Isamu an award. Her efforts resulted in the Rising Sun Medal for "furthering "good will and understanding among the peoples of Japan and the United States" and a visit with the future emperor and empress of Japan.

After years of activism in progressive politics Leslie Taniguchi died of a stroke in 1994. In New Orleans in late 1997 Evan and his brother Keith witnessed their father receiving the Whitney M. Young Jr. Award for his advocacy of the underprivileged and efforts against inequality. He had fought to bring in the first female and black faculty at the UT School of Architecture. Alan was to die four months later in February 1998. As one reporter put it the saga of the Taniguchis was "from victims to champions."

York designed structures may be seen at 504 E. Tyler; 217-219 E. Jackson; 115, 1601 E. Harrison; 1801 Elmwood; 1802, 1909, 1913, 2002 and 2114 S. Parkwood; and his own home at 1802 Laurel Drive. Some Taniguchi buildings are at 1618 S. Houston; 1709 Little Creek; 538, 542 Lake Drive; 1030, 1031 Ferguson; 2017 S. Parkwood; and 1009 E. Parkwood. Harlingen takes well-deserved pride in having two creative architects in its midst and in their legacy.

Taniguchi:

1215 Rangerville Road, Ben Milam School, 1961,Taniguchi & Croft

215 E. Madison, Casa del Sol, 1961, Taniguchi & Croft

1602 E. Taylor Avenue, Wynn T. Burton House, 1952, Alan Y. Taniguchi

613 S. 16^th Street, J. F. Weed House, 1952, Alan Y. Taniguchi

622 S. 16^th Street, Alan Y. Taniguchi House, 1952, Alan Y. Taniguchi

614 S. 16^th Street, Grace E. Neff House, 1952, Alan Y. Taniguchi

617 S. 16^th Street, Gary Roggenbuck House, 1953, Alan Y. Taniguchi

1706 Elmwood Drive, J. L. Mayer House, btw. 1954-1958, Alan Y. Taniguchi

1717 Little Creek Drive, Walter Clore House, 195_, Alan Y. Taniguchi

1709 Little Creek Drive, M. H. Connelly House, c. 1956 Alan Y. Taniguchi, 1970 additions by others

2017 S. Parkwood Drive, Harold Hansen House, 195_, Alan Y. Taniguchi

1019 E. Parkwood Drive, Dr. George Willeford House, 1957, Alan Y. Taniguchi

1009 E. Parkwood Drive, Dr. Charles Binney II House, 1957, Alan Y. Taniguchi

1618 Sam Houston Drive, Lewis Levine House, 195_, Alan Y. Taniguchi

2321 Riverside Drive, Dr. James C. Burkholder House, 1956, Alan Y. Taniguchi

1720 Ed Carey Drive, The Children's Clinic of Harlingen, 195_, Alan Y. Taniguchi

542 Lake Drive, William A. Black House, 1953, Alan Y. Taniguchi

820 Carroll Street, Jean Kirkland House, c.1952, Alan Y. Taniguchi

2322 Riverside Drive, John D. Owens House, c. 1955, Alan Y. Taniguchi

Wilson Road & 77 Frontage, Valco Office Building, Taniguchi & Croft

John York:

702 S. M Street, Los Vecinos Public Housing Complex, 1953, Cocke, Bowman & York

504 E. Tyler Avenue, Lon C. Hill Memorial Library, 1951, Cocke, Bowman & York

1220 W. Harrison, Cocke, Bowman & York Studio Bldg., 1950, Cocke, Bowman & York

1405 W. Jefferson Avenue, David Crockett Elementary School, 1950, Cocke, Bowman & York

115. E. Harrison, Clarke and Courts Building, 1953, Cocke, Bowman & York

217-219 E. Jackson Street, Harlingen National Bank, 1958, John G. York & Associates

300 N. 13^th Street, Minnie B. Gay Junior High School, 1949, Cocke, Bowman & York, (altered)

1301 E. Taylor, Valley Girls Home, 195_, John G. York & Associates (altered)

1601 E. Harrison Avenue, Owens & Shepard Medical Building, c. 1960, John G. York & Associates

1902 N. Parkwood Drive, Judge Roy Hofeinz/ Luther Bookout House, 1946, Cocke, Bowman & York

1906 N. Parkwood Drive, Richard Brackett/Segal House, c. 1949, Cocke, Bowman & York

1914 Laurel Drive, Alfred R. Beck House, 195_, John G,. York & Associates (extensively altered)

1728 Laurel Drive, P. H. Motheral House, pre-1952, Cocke, Bowman & York

1801 Elmwood Drive, Bruce Reeves House, 1956, John G. York & Associates

1618 S. Parkwood Drive, Harry J. Feldman House, 195_, Cocke, Bowman & York (altered)

1801 S. Parkwood Drive, Cornelius P. Thise House, 1950, Cocke, Bowman & York

1909 S. Parkwood, John W. McKelvey House, 1949, Cocke, Bowman & York

1910 S. Parkwood Drive, Wilson R. Palmer House, 1950, Cocke, Bowman & York

1913 S. Parkwood Drive, c. Gayle, Van Tyne House, c. 1953, Cocke, Bowman & York (altered)

2002 S. Parkwood Drive, Frank G. Parker House,, 1949, Cocke, Bowman & York

2010 S. Parkwood Drive, Walter C. Bowman House, 1949, Cocke, Bowman &York

2108 S. Parkwood Drive, Fed L. Paschall House, 195_, Cocke, Bowman & York

2102 S. Parkwood Drive, E. L. Young House, 1959, John G. York & Associates (altered and refaced)

1637 Hamilton Drive, Horace C. Dismukes House, 195_, John G. York & Associates

1642 Hamilton Drive, Ross G. McCready House, 19__, John G. York & Associates

2400 E. Jefferson Avenue, Bonham Elementary School, 1953, Cocke, Bowman & York

2045 N. 77 Sunshine, Mio Tile Company, c.1955, John G. York & Associates

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A 1930s Harlingen Teenager Coming of Age and
Her Uncle’s Reese-Wil-Mond Hotel
[See also following article, "Reese-Wil-Mond and Heritage Manor History"]

Edited by Norman Rozeff, November 2006

(Remember, pictures are thumbnails, click to enlarge)

Thanks to the wonder of search engines and feedback from former Harlingenite Marty Zayco we now have considerably more information on the Reese-Wil-Mond Hotel, its builders and operators. This hotel, readers will recall, was later transformed into Heritage Manor.

Sometime in her fifties or later Mrs. Luvenia Frances Bloss Pace set down a 40-page journal of her early life. It was posted on the website Rootsweb. In it we learn of a teenage girl in Harlingen in the late 20s and through the 30s. I have excerpted the journal to reflect mainly on Luvenia’s Harlingen, Valley, and Texas experiences. Luvenia was the daughter of Thomas J. and Eva Burk Bloss. Her birth date is January 22, 1917 in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

It was the Burk family that was responsible for the construction and running of the hotel. Mrs. Pace’s mother Eva was a Burk who had married mechanical engineer Thomas J. Bloss. They had met while he was staying at the Burk Hotel in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was run by Grandmother Burk. It was here that John Burke, Luvenia’s uncle, received his first hotel experiences that later would stand him in good stead.

Luvenia relates an adventure as a ten-year old in 1927:

Luvenia in her young mind may have confused the actual situation which she encountered. In reality what she may have seen was the preparation for a vertical burial, customary in Northern Mexico.

A year or so later Luvenia and her family took another trip to Texas to visit Uncle John.

She recounts:

Luvenia’s father, Thomas J. Bloss sold his hardware store before the Stock Market Crash of ’29, but was later to lose most of his savings in a bank failure, one of many, in the early 30s. His brother-in-law John offered him a position at the hotel in Harlingen. Luvenia tells us:

Earlier in Tennessee Luvenia had taken piano lessons then switched to the violin. She also took elocution lessons for several years. She relates about a South Texas storm she experienced. This is likely the June24-28, 1931 storm that left upwards of 8 inches rain across the area.

In June 1931 Luvenia’s brother Alba got married and motored to Harlingen from Tennessee for a honeymoon with his bride Virginia. A short time later the family decided to return to Tennessee, however before the school year started that fall, Uncle John wanted the family back in Texas. Luvenia tells us:

There followed a summer trip back to Tennessee and the Chicago Worlds Fair where she saw Sally Rand, the Fan Dance with her very large feather fans. Time spent in a beauty shop as a "gopher" taught her how to shampoo, trim, and set her own hair. The family had resettled in So. Pittsburg where Luvenia would be graduated from high school in 1934, and her parent were to build the Courtesy Court Motel. However, her Texas experiences were not quite over yet. That summer before she started at the University of Chattanooga, Luvenia was to drive her father back to Texas to see his doctor in Harlingen. She relates that the surgery her father had had never healed properly. In 1937 her Uncle John became ill and was taken to Temple, Texas. John’s wife Bessie asked Luvenia to room in Temple while her uncle was undergoing treatment for tuberculosis which in a rare case had developed in one lung but no place else. Luvenia did so. Her journal then recounts:

Luvenia then writes of joining her brother who lived in Tyler and going on to Galveston before returning to Harlingen. Here she was to meet vacationing relatives from Aunt Bessie’s side. She exposed them to Padre Island, Old Mexico, and tennis as she drove them around over a several week period. Together with her Aunt Bessie she then went back to Tennessee before accompanying Raymond back to school, the Peacock Military Academy in San Antonio.

Luvenia’s account concludes with a new housekeeper taking over in the San Antonio house, chores reverting to her, and a diminution of the great cooking. It ends with her Aunt Bessie inviting her, after the school year ends, to drive her on a trip to the west.

Auntie’s new car has automatic shift which Luvenia has never experienced, however with her usual self-confidence when asked if she can handle it she answers "Sure I can!"

Although the physical things have changed over the decades, what comes abundantly clear through the Journal is that teenagers are still basically the same.

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Reese-Wil-Mond Hotel and Heritage Manor History
[See also previous article: "A Teenager Comes of Age."]

Norman Rozeff
Harlingen Historical Preservation Society
Updated November, 2006

On 7/13/25 it is announced in the Morning Star that work is to start on the $100,000 hotel of Mr. and Mrs. John J. Burk, formerly of Decatur, Alabama where in 1912 he had opened an automobile agency. He has had experience with a tourist hotel in Chattanooga, Tennessee.[Actually Burk was gleaning knowledge from his mother who owned and ran the hotel] Two of the three lots upon which it will be sited were donated by the Harlingen Development Co., and the Chamber of Commerce put forth a $5,000 cash bonus. After reviewing bids, Mr. Burk decided to take on the construction himself. The hotel to be built would become the Reese-Wil-Mond. The name is derived from that of three of his sons, John Reese, William Edwin, and Charles Raymond.

On 11/18/27 the Reese-Wil-Mond opens its first unit of 65 rooms, an additional wing of 65 to open later. It is 1928 when the five story fireproof Reese-Wil-Mond Hotel is completed by hotel operator and owner, J. J. Burk. It also has a roof garden and a finished floor for dancing along with a moveable stage for vaudeville presentations. The hotel's location is on First Street, corner of Van Buren. Early on it bills itself as the "Traveling Man's and Convention Headquarters of the Valley." It features large sample rooms for salesmen to show off their wares. Its room rates are $2.50/day down.

The quality of the building's construction is high. There is reinforced concrete, brick exterior, high ceilings, and quality Hunter Fans. Some dropdown ceiling fans taken from the hotel when it closed are still in operation in Grimsell's Seed Store. The hotel advertises itself as the only fireproof hotel in town. When it was built it was the only fireproof hotel south of San Antonio.

On the block to its east a competitor opens at the same time. The first unit of 84 rooms of the eventual 150-room Moore Hotel opens (7/17/28). The three-story Moore Hotel (renamed the Madison in late 1930) is erected at 121 Van Buren to the immediate north side the old two story wooden Mooreland Hotel soon scheduled for demolition. The Mooreland was the town's first hotel. It was in 1906 that the railroad company felt confident enough of Harlingen's future that it constructed a two-story, u-shaped, frame hotel having 10 rooms with two baths and verandas on both floors. Its location was the center of town, Hill (now First) Street and Harrison. Its first manager is Mrs. A.H. Weller. [Mrs. Weller's father, Charles Bock, Sr. (also spelled in the original German, Boch), has the distinction of being the first Texas Ranger.] In the fall of 1908 C.S. Moore purchases the hotel from the railroad company. It becomes known as the Moorland Hotel. Mr. Moore was an avid fisherman and held the honor of landing the first summer tarpon at Port Isabel from 1906 through 1909. Benjamin Franklin and Cora L. Ogan, who have managed the railroad hotel in Raymondville, come to manage the Mooreland. They soon built a two-story frame hotel with 22 rooms at 321 W. Jackson, west of the tracks. It is razed in 1945 at which time Mrs. Ogan still owned it and four adjacent lots. Mr. Ogan had died in 1922.

The Madison's first manager is J.V. Murphy, who will also later oversee the Plaza Hotel. The Madison proclaims "Where traveling men covering Southwest Texas stay because of the hospitality shown them and the service rendered." Each of its 150 rooms has a bath; daily rates range from $1.50 to $3.00 and monthly rates $25-60. In 1955 the Madison itself will be torn down to make way for construction of an office building whose primary occupant is Tropical Savings and Loan, which earlier had set up its first offices in the Madison.

The well known and popular Mr. Burk, who has done so much for the city by erecting a first class hotel, will serve as a City Finance Commissioner December 1933 to January 1936. His wife Bessie M. Burk takes an active role in the hotel management. As early as 1930 she is listed as assistant manager of the complex, which also includes a cafe. This same year son John R. Burk is a student while his brother William Edwin Burk fills in as day clerk. The family resides in the hotel. By the time the enterprise is incorporated by 1937 as the Burk Hotel Co., Inc., J.J. is president and Mrs. Burk is manager. Unfortunately he is to die in April 1937 at age 57 after a long bout with tuberculosis. His widow Bessie M. Brooks Burk, whom he had married in 1908, then becomes president of the corporation. Burk and his wife had come to Weslaco in 1923 where they spent several years.

Burk was born 1/4/1880 in Jasper, TN but four years later moved with his family to Chattanooga where his mother Nannie Bradley Burk operated the Burk Hotel from 1885 to 1920. At the time of his death Burk also owned an apartment building in Dallas. He was a 32^nd degree Mason, a Shriner, a member of the Harlingen Kiwanis Club, a member of the Valley Mid-Winter Fair Board of Directors, and of the First Baptist Church. He was preceded in death by sons John Reese, who died of a football-sustained kidney ailment, and William Edwin, who died in an automobile accident, both deaths in 1930. Burk’s April 20, 1937 front-page obituary notes that he was "possessed of a mechanical inventiveness which he applied in the operation of the hotel here and as a spare time hobby."

He was buried in a San Benito cemetery beside his two sons.

In 1937 during the extended economic depression both hotels advertise the same rates, ranging from $1.50 to $4.00 a day. A competitor, the 80-room Plaza Hotel has rates of $1 to $2 a day.

The hotel premises act as a key business and social focal point for the community. Club conventions, conferences, and meeting are held in it, but more importantly for the younger set, rooftop dancing is what entices them. Many of today's oldsters will fondly remember learning ballroom dancing in their youth under the tutelage of the area's leading dance instructor, Markaleta Elstner (Mrs. Bert Epstein). The banquet facilities and catering were superior for the area. Still others will recall twirling lessons conducted in the roof top terrace by Griff O'Neal.

It is in 1943 that the Burk Hotel Co. sells the Reese-Wil-Mond Hotel to Lucille Wolf of Chicago. Later it is partly owned by B.F. and Katherine Weinberg of Jackson County, Missouri. When they sell a half interest to Howard Hurwith for about $88,700, Jules Bisno associated with Weinberg and Mrs. Wolf retains the other half. The new owners advertise that it is air-conditioned, has steam heat, and a popularly-priced dining room in connection. In the 40s it will also house a barbershop operated by B.W. Hoffman and a confectionery shop.

One of the hotel's more interesting tenants is R.J. (Duck) Kroeger. From 1946 to 1948 he will be Harlingen's mayor. He has had an interesting career. In the years 1926-35 he is a publisher's representative. In Harlingen in 1938 he starts up C & H News Co., now at 402 North T Street. The initials stand for Cameron and Hidalgo. The company distributes newspapers, magazines and post cards to stores across the area. In time it will grow into a considerable enterprise with 25 outlets in the U.S. and Canada. When Kroeger dies his wife Zola Mae (Peggy) runs the company, which now also distributes pocket books. Having no children, the company eventually goes into the hands of a Corpus Christi nephew. The Kroegers make their home for many years in the Madison Hotel and move into the Reese-Wil-Mond when the Madison sustains a fire. Later they move into a suite at the new Seville Motel at West Harrison.

The hotel will have a succession of managers over the years. First under the new owners is R.J. Waters, there for about nine years until Leo B. Osner takes over in 1950 when it is listed as being owned by Consolidated Hotels. In 1953 Mrs. Geneviere Robinson is managing the Reese-Wil-Mond Hotel then J.A. Mewmaw follows the next year. D.F. Campbell is there in 1956, but W.L. "Bill" Kumpf is on board 1956-57.

In the 1950s with motor inns and motels becoming more popular for those on traveling by automobile, interest in staying at old style, inner city high-rise hotels began to wane. Harlingen had an explosion of new motels built along 77 Sunshine Strip when the state completed the Business 77 Bridge over the Arroyo Colorado. These drew considerable business away from the hotels in downtown Harlingen and were more convenient for travelers continuing onward.

By 1966 the telephone directory simply listed the old building as the Reese Hotel, but it was no longer advertised in the classified section.

On 12/10/49 the Harlingen Housing Authority was created with its purpose to provide apartments and homes to people of low income. Rent charged to each family would be based upon the total family income. In 1952 Le Moyne Gardens, with 200 units to serve as military family housing, had been built adjacent to the Harlingen Air Force Base. In 1962 when this U.S. Air Force base closed, one of the first projects of the HHA was Le Moyne Gardens, where low income city housing was instituted after reconstruction of the old military family housing at the location west of the airport.

The Reese-Wil-Mond Hotel is purchased by HHA, renovated, and converted in 1970 and 1971. Among its changes was a resurfacing of its exterior walls. A retirement facility for senior citizens of limited income, then comes into being. By 1972 the old Reese-Wil-Mond Hotel is then renamed Heritage Manor and has 104 senior citizen apartments. With its central location and helpful staff the facility would be a godsend to its elderly occupants. It provided security and independence to those such as Mrs. Homer (Myrta) Perkins, who would live there until nearly the end of her life at age 101. Weekly "Kitchen Band" performances, among other activities, built a spirit of camraderie among the tenants composed of a wide range of ethnicities, religions, and races.

After almost 35 years serving as housing for some of the city's residents, on 12/10/04, Heritage Manor residents receive notice from Joe Hernandez, the facility's manager, that the facility may close. The culprit is the building's badly corroded cast iron plumbing system. It is unclear what action the Harlingen Housing Authority Board will take on the matter. HHA Executive Director Blas Cantu indicated that residents would be assisted in moving. Whether the 78 year-old structure is worth further investment will be a decision based on engineering input. Those with happy memories of the building and the many activities it once witnessed may take a little solace in the fact that the structure was recycled 35 years ago rather than being demolished at that time.

The building, if physically sound, and it appears to be, warrants preservation because it played such a central and important role in the city's business, social, and community activities over a 39 year period then went on to function in an useful manner as housing for senior citizens of the city. An assessed value of the building at this time is placed at $875,000 but the cost to repair deteriorated cast iron plumbing and make other renovations may cost $2-4 million.

After two years of vacancy, the building remains poorly utilized and in a state of bureaucratic limbo as options and paperwork are still being reviewed.

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Ross-Bobo House History
Norman Rozeff, Harlingen Historical Preservation Society,
April,  2007

Sitting forlornly behind a chain link fence of the Harlingen Arts and Heritage Museum is a building with a history largely unknown to its viewers. This is its story.

Lawrence Sullivan Ross, Jr. was born in Waco, McClennan County, Texas in 1868. He was the second surviving child of Sul (Lawrence Sullivan) Ross (b. 9/27/38 in Iowa) and his wife Elizabeth Dorothy "Lizzie" Tinsley Ross. He was one of six children who survived from nine all told. These were four boys and two girls. His father was famed as a ranger, Indian fighter, sheriff, Texas Constitution of 1876 framer, two times Governor of Texas (1888-1891), and President of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, later to become Texas A & M University. He turned this faltering school around before his death in 1898.

5/4/1909 L. S. Ross and his wife Mollie purchase lots 7 and 8 in Block 74 of the Lon C. Hill Town and Improvement Company Subdivision and later in the year likely build a house upon it. This property will later have the address of 521 E. Harrison Avenue. Rather than from the land company they may have purchased the land from J. C. McGee. Mr. McGee was married to Lon C. Hill's sister and was an early storeowner and postmaster in Harlingen. He had purchased a number of lots in the city to resell. In November 1908 McGee sold a similar double-lot for $250. When the house was constructed on the lots it was only seven blocks from the center of town, yet we could consider it in the suburbs. There were few, if any, other houses around it, and adjacent lots still pastured cows and horses.

4/1912 L. S. Ross, son of former Texas Governor Sul Ross who was a famous Texas Ranger, is elected Mayor. He was the president of the Harlingen Commercial Club, treasurer of the Rio Grande Construction Association, school board trustee and farmed. He is also president of the Harlingen State Bank in which he is provided a private office for the conduct of city business. He is authorized to purchase office furniture and provide stationery. The bank is the depository for city funds. Ross is also responsible for bringing J. F. Rodgers to "Six Shooter Junction" in 1910. After settling in the Wilson Tract area, Rodgers will enter into a partnership with Ross called Ross and Rodgers Realty. A post card photograph taken by P. C. Shockey is inscribed May 5, 1913 and the farm of L. S. Ross-Wilson Tract, Harlingen, Texas. It shows four men in white shirts, ties, and hats standing just inside a field of tall corn. Obviously it was taken to promote land sales.

1914 Mayor Ross and three aldermen are re-elected. W.Z. Weems, Jr. becomes the tax-assessor-collector. On October 8 while visiting in Harris County Ross dies and Miller V. Pendleton, who works at the bank with Ross, is named to fill the unexpired term. Pendleton is re-elected in 4/16. It is his M.V. Pendleton Oil Company that provides oil to the city during his term in office.

1919 In this year, four year old Betty Nosler came to San Benito from Indiana with her parents James Bertram and Marie Williams Nosler. He would build and operate the San Benito Electric Gin, the first of its kind in the Valley and which operated until the mid-30s. In 1937 Betty would be graduated from UT-Austin with a degree in education. On12/27/38 she marries Menton Murray, a young lawyer who has an office in Mercedes but lives in Harlingen. They had two children, Menton Murray, Jr., a District judge for many years, and Betty Marie Murray Smith, now in Tennessee. The senior Murray served in WWII, as a city judge, and in the state legislature from 1947 to 1975.

Betty over the decades amassed a splendid record as a school teacher, in various clubs promoting civic endeavors, and most importantly as an advocate for history and historic preservation. Through her efforts Texas State Historic Commission markers were obtained for city sites. She led efforts to salvage the old F Street hospital as well as the Ross-Bobo House by moving them to the RGV Museum, now the Harlingen Arts and Heritage Museum. Numerous honors have been bestowed upon her in recognition of her many accomplishments.

11/15/16 A warranty deed is recorded which "included all that certain parcel of land on which is situated a garage and dwelling house on lots 7 and 8 Block 74." It is unclear who the new owner(s) is. Four years later it appears that sisters Sunshine E. and W. Ophelia Harrington of Hidalgo County sell their interest in the property to E. J. Sutton for $500. This indicates that they may have owed a mortgage holder for the remainder. The conveyance document is dated 17 January 1920.

The property that year is purchased by Charles Pearson (C. P.) Bobo and his wife Louisa Ellen. This is, in fact, the year that the Bobos arrived in Harlingen. Of French descent, he was born 7/20/57 in Smithville, Lawrence County, AR. On July 20, 1857. The surname Bobo is an anglicization of the name Baubeau. C. P. was descended from one Gabriel Baubeau. In 1883 he was graduated from the University of Arkansas with a degree in civil engineering. He married Louisa Ellen Harlow of Smithville on 1/12/88. Their children are Horace Greeley, Scott Schley and Jesse Marion, later to be followed by Lacy Simpson Bobo, Mary Lucille Bobo (Harris), Margaret "Blonde" Bobo (Kirlin), Charles Max, and Grace Ellen Bobo (Berry). This Methodist and Mason became the president of the board of directors and manager of the Cameron County Water Improvement District No.1, having been elected to the board in1922. He will later serve as a City Commissioner 12/31-12/33 and act in the capacity of Finance Commissioner.

1928 CCWD officers for the year are C. P. Bobo, director, president and manager; J. B. Elmore, vice-president; J. S. Blakney, vice-president; J. R. Grimes (for whom a street later will be named), vice-president; Hugh Fitzgerald, vice-president, Frank H. Brown, assessor and collector; and E. B. Worley, engineer. By the end of this year The CCWD No.1 comprises a total 43, 239.39 acres of which 38, 240.62 are irrigated, the balance of which is being used for canals, roads, drainage ditches, and land too high to irrigate. In this year 26,000 acres are under cultivation. These contain cotton, corn, cabbage, beets, carrots, other truck crops, and citrus. There is also dairy and forage. The district has about 160 miles of canals and laterals and a drainage system with 60 miles of ditches. At this time its pumping plant is housed in a substantial iron and concrete structure and consists of four 200hp Fairbanks, Morse and Co. internal combustion engines operating four 36" centrifugal pumps and one 42" one. The total pumping capacity is 132,000gpm. One of the district's canals runs along what is now 13th Street then turns west north of Jefferson Street with a branch going south to replenish City Lake.

By 1930 others of the Bobo family have descended upon Harlingen. These include C. P.'s son Scott, who is a bookkeeper for the I. E. Malthy's Garage, and his wife Della J. Bobo, bookkeeper for the Brooks Tire Company; Lacy S. Bobo of the Bobo Printing Company, his wife Edna, and Ray G. Bobo, a pressman with the company; and H. G. (Monte) Bobo, a baker with the Valley Baking Company.

C. P. and Ellen continue to live at 521 until 1935. In his 77^th year C. P. is to die this year on April19. He is buried in the Restlawn Cemetery, La Feria. (In the 1937 telephone directory Ellen is listed as a widow. She is to live until July 1953 at which time she incurred a tragic fall while at her daughter Blonde's home in San Antonio. She was then interred besides her husband at Restlawn.) Her son Jesse, an insurance investigator lives with her this year. By 1939 under Ellen's management her home becomes a rooming house. Her son Jesse continues to live there. He is now employed by his brother, who is secretary-treasurer and manager of Scott's Tire Company, Inc. Lacy and his wife also reside in the premise.

By 1941 some family members have left the nest while others have come home. Charles Max Bobo, his wife Geraldine and son Charles Jr. are now at 521. The elder Bobo is used car manager for Lehman's while junior works for the Scott's Tire Co. The following year the Bobos are running the Bobo Apartments at 515 E. Harrison. These have four tenants. Mary Kidd, a stenographer at the Army Air Field, is rooming at 521. Possibly due to wartime callings other Bobos are not in town except for a Leslie H. Bobo and his wife Ann. He is a customs patrol inspector. They live at 102 W. Pierce.

In 1944 Ellen is listed as the manager for the Bobo Apartments that this year have three tenants while Ellen resides at 521. By 1946 the apartments are no more, and by 1948 Ellen has moved to 214 S. 6^th Street. Horace G. Bobo and his wife Iris now reside in the old Bobo residence at 521. He is a contractor who specializes in laying irrigation and water pipes and lining canals. They are first found in Harlingen in 1946 when they live on the Combes Highway where they also have the Bobo Tourist Court. It ceases to operate by 1950. Horace, who was born in Arkansas August 12, 1902 several years before the family first moved to Byers, Texas, earned a degree in pharmacy at Baylor but later became a cotton farmer in Edcouch. In WWII he helped to build the Laredo Air Force Base then returned to farming and commenced irrigation pipeline contracting. It had been in 1934 that he married an Edcouch girl, Iris Elizabeth Netz. They were to have one son Kenneth Allen and four daughters, Marjorie Ann, Betty Jane, Nancy Lou, and Sharon Ruth.

1952 Horace and his wife continue to live at 521, and Jesse and his wife Ora return to the city to live there too. Jesse is a carpenter. Iris Netz Bobo, is, in 1956, secretary at Family Investment and Trust. Living with her at 521 are Kenneth A. and Marjorie Anne Bobo. He is a plant foreman with W.T. Liston and she a bookkeeper with the First National Bank. Sue Payne, a secretary with Vanwyck adjustors is a roomer at the house this year.

By 1956 Iris has taken the position as secretary of the Tip of Texas Girl Scout Council, a job she will hold until 1958. While Kenneth and Marjorie have moved elsewhere, Betty Jane Bobo, a bookkeeper, now lives with Iris.

It is by 1959 that Iris makes a major career decision. She commences a nursery and child daycare facility. Locally everyone calls the nursery by its catchy alliterative name—Bobo's Baby Bank. The roomy house is amenable for this particular use while Betty Jane, now a discount clerk for GMAC, and Nancy Lou Bobo, a student, also utilize the house. Iris is also busy as secretary of the Women of the Church of the First Methodist Church and the VBMC Auxiliary.

The daycare business is listed in telephone directories through 1969 after which time only Iris's number is noted. Unofficially she continues her business well into the 1970s. Her name and number are last listed in the directory of November 1991. By 1992 no Bobos whatsoever are noted to reside in Harlingen. Iris in fact had died on October 7, 1992 and was buried in the Ebony Grove Cemetery, Mercedes. Her husband Horace had died at his sister Blonde's house in Hartman, Arkansas on March 24, 1963.

In early 1993 the vacant, rundown Bobo House (as it has come to be known) property at 521 E. Harrison is scheduled to be demolished to make way for a commercial development. The banker Dial Dunkin, among others, is instrumental in bringing the house's historical significance to the attention of historian Betty Murray and the Board of Directors of the Rio Grande Valley Museum. By 3/18/93 a bulldozer is waiting to demolish the house to clear the lot. By 3/27/93 an inspection of the structure finds it to be sturdy despite its shabby outward appearance and decrepit sweeping porch. The Valley Morning Star runs articles in March and April about the historic house. The Board commences a drive to raise funds for the house's transfer should the City fail to be of assistance. In seeking financial help from the City, the Museum people learn that the City is not ready to rule out the fate of the 1909 home. To buy time a $1000 check signed by Betty Murray and dated March 31, 1993 is given to the Iris Netz Bobo Estate as earnest money guaranteeing the removal of the structure from the property.

The house is to get a little breathing room. On April 2, 1993 executors of the estate grant a reprieve of two weeks for the removal of the house. Shortly thereafter City Commissioner Wayne Potter is to make the motion, seconded by Connie de la Garza, to have the City contract to move the house to a site at the Rio Grande Valley Museum. It passes. On April 14, 1993 the historic move is implemented.

The house is approximately 35 by 35'. It possesses a hipped four-sided roof with four dormers. In order to facilitate its passage across town, the roof of the building is removed otherwise it would not clear the many utility lines en route to the Museum. The nine foot wide porch that surrounds the front and half of each side is removed for it is dilapidated and not salvageable. Once the building is situated in a vacant area on the west end of the Museum complex, the roof is reunited with it. In the Spring of 1994 a new wood shingle roof was put on the edifice.

Early preliminary cost estimates to repair and restore the house are made. The estimated costs are: Exterior $17,200 and Interior $26,600 for a subtotal of $43,800. With an additional $8,760 for bonds and insurance plus the contractor's overhead and profit of $13,125, this brings the grand total to $65,685. After this point in time the status of the Ross-Bobo House was left in limbo. No work was conducted on the unsightly house until 2006 when Sue Debrooke started to remove peeling paint from the exterior of the building.

The lot upon which the Ross-Bobo House once stood is now occupied by Comet Cleaners. The adjacent lot at 515 where the Bobo Apartments were now has on it the attractive law offices of Stapleton, Curtis, and Boswell.

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Some African American History in Harlingen and the Valley

Norman Rozeff, Harlingen Historical Preservation Society, February 2007

This research essay comes about due to an e-mail from Gail M. Nelson, J. D. She sought information on her family, African Americans who had come to Harlingen with R. M. Loving when he came to manage the cotton compress here. Her family ancestors came from East Texas, possibly Sulphur Springs. It was her grand parents E. C. and Elvira Nelson who came with sons J. F., Charles, E.C. Jr. and her father Richard Loving Nelson.

Before the 20^th Century the presence of African Americans in the Lower Rio Grande Valley was very limited. Outside of the Black "Buffalo Soldiers" who served at Fort Brown, the Ringgold Barracks in Rio Grande City, and who were responsible for erecting the telegraph lines between Brownsville and Eagle Pass, the presence of blacks here was negligible. The reason for this was primarily based on the availability of jobs. The Valley had mostly a subsistence ranching economy and not the labor-intensive agricultural jobs available to Blacks in other parts of the South. In any case they would have to compete with readily available low-cost Mexican labor.

One notable exception was the Jackson Ranch on the river, now south of what is the city of San Juan. Nathaniel Jackson of Alabama was a union supporter, who had started ranching the area in 1867 after coming here with his family and some Blacks in a train of wagons. His widow Mathilde sold about 5,535 acres to land developer and speculator John Closner shortly after her husband’s death on 8/8/81. While Jackson had bought it from the Smith family (the father was a U.S. Consul in Matamoros for a time) for thirty-six cents an acre, Closner paid $1.25/acre.

What changed the situation was the coming of the railroad in 1904. Indeed, many of the railroad construction workers were Blacks. A few later some established themselves here in the employ of the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway. The railroad opened the door to the economic exploitation of the region. Giant irrigation canals allowed the arid area to become productive. To attract land buyers four large sugar mills were erected in addition to the two small ones already existing. Blacks, most likely seasonal workers from Louisiana, were employed in the winter grinding season. They did not cut sugarcane but were mostly carters driving mule-team pulled wagons of cane to the mills or to the transloading areas next to the railroad. They worked at the Ohio and Texas mill north of Brownsville, the San Benito Sugar Manufacturing Company, the Hill Sugar Company in Harlingen, and the Donna Sugar Company.

After building the first house in Harlingen in 1904, town father Lon C. Hill employed a Black "mammie" nanny to care for his young children, for his wife and baby boy were to die of typhoid fever late that same year.

During the 1920s when landseekers were enticed to the Valley on low-cost train excursions, Blacks were employed as hotel staff and by developers to service the hundreds staying at various clubhouses. They are to be seen in the group panoramic photos taken of the visitors and in one famous photo of the 1929 Weslaco Anniversary Parade showing them as employees of the beautiful Cortez Hotel of that city.

As early as 1910 Harlingen had an operating cotton compress company. When the Aransas Cotton Compress Company came to Harlingen is unknown but when it did, likely in the 1920s, it greatly expanded the physical size of the facility. This was in line with the rapidly growing number of cotton gins being constructed in and around the city.

The first documented item we encounter about a Loving is a news article dated 8/11/26. It reports that the city's only cotton compress facility burns down. The three-acre building and 4,000 bales burned up were worth $500,000 according to J. K. Cain, president of the Aransas Cotton Compress Co., and its superintendent R. M. Loving. On 1/14/27 plans are told to rebuild the compress for $100,000.

That the size of the Black community in Harlingen has risen in the period, but is still on the low end of the economic spectrum, is revealed in a Valley Morning Star newspaper article. To wit: 7/7/29 The Rev. Z. E. King appeals to whites to donate towards a $300 goal to pay the note on St. Paul Methodist Episcopal Church (colored). [At the turn of the 21^st Century it is the Corinth Baptist Church, 3700 E. Harrison that will have long-served African Americans in Harlingen along with the Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church founded by the Rev. Washington.]

In the first available Harlingen telephone directory (1930) Richard M. Loving and his wife Ann B. are listed at living at 1250 E. Polk Street. No children are noted to be in residence. He is noted to be the manager of the Aransas Compress Co. located at 703 N. Commerce Street. They will continue to be listed annually through the 1942-43 directory. In the 1944 one Mrs. Loving is no longer listed and their residence is noted to be vacant. It appears that she died in 1942 or 1943. His address is given as the compress. By 1946 Loving is gone as well as any listing for the compress company.

It is in 1934 that the Booker T. Washington School to serve Harlingen's Negro children is erected in the 800 block of W. Filmore at H Street. As the number of Blacks diminishes over the years it will be integrated. Although an addition to it will later be made, it is to be superseded. It ceases to be used as a school in 1959. It currently is being used by the school district as a Parental Involvement Center. The Blacks in the community live in the area of the school in modest homes. A few remain there today in what is now mostly a Mexican American enclave.

It is only in the year1935 that Nelsons [c] (for colored) are noted in the phone directory of that year. Listed are E. C. Nelson and his wife Elvira. In parenthesis is (4) which I believe is the number of other residents at the address. They are living in a building to the rear of the compress, one side of which is immediately adjacent to the railroad tracks. In this year the directory stated that there are 249 Negroes out of a total population in Harlingen of 10,032. This is 2.5%. The Black population of Harlingen has never been very large. I suspect that it is now less than 2.5% of a 66,000 population.

The 1937-38 directory clarifies two things. It tells us that E. C. is E. Cattrell and that Elvira prefers to be called Vira but the directory mistakenly puts her name down as Vera. Apparently three people are living at the same resident location this year. In 1939 a separate entry lists J. F. Nelson, a resident at the compress house, as a college student.

1940 U.S. Census puts Harlingen's population at 13,306. It is characterized as 62% American, 36% Latin-American and 2% Negro.

By 1941 E.C. and Vera (sic) are at the same site, however the 1942-43 directory lists not only them but E. C. Jr. and J. F. Nelson together with Richard Nelson who is noted to be a laboratory worker at the compress. This may be the year that Richard returned to Harlingen after having gone to Wichita Falls where he was graduated from high school.

The 1942-43 telephone directory is the last to designate African Americans by (c); by the 1944 directory this practice has stopped.

By 1944 E. C. and Vera are listed as well as Charles Nelson, an employee at the compress. In the next available directory E. C. and Vera remain. Charles has become an employee of the Missouri Pacific Railroad as a shop worker and is noted to be living on some railroad reserve property along with his brother E. C. Jr. who is a student. J. F. Nelson is serving his country in the U. S. Army.

There is no available 1947 directory. In the 1948 directory none of the Nelsons noted above are listed in Harlingen. (Ms. Nelson notes that her grandfather Richard Loving Nelson died at the Valley Baptist Hospital in 1948.)

5/17/54 The U.S. Supreme Court rules that public schools across the nation must be desegregated.

7/8/55 The Harlingen School Board votes to admit the city's black high school pupils now attending the Washington School to Harlingen High School. They number around 11. The sixty other grade students at Washington include 10 from Santa Rosa, La Feria, and Raymondville. The Board delays a decision on their status and also that of the three black teachers under contract and surplus to the system if integration occurs.

Around 1960 Charles C. Nelson with wife Margaret and son Charles Jr. is to move from his 1006 W. Mitchell Street address to 912 W. Pierce, an area in which other blacks reside. From 1962 to 1965 Charles, Sr. is listed as superintendent of the Southwest Cotton Oil Mill. In 1966 he is no longer listed, but his son, who appears to be a jack-of-all-trades, is noted over the years to be a handyman for McKelvey Industry, and later an air conditioning repair man. One current resident remembers him as an immense man weighing over 300 lbs. who did plumbing work with an assistant. Charles Jr. was married to Margarite, who was from La Feria and apparently worked as a cook.

Richard Nelson returned to Harlingen in his last years and was to die at the Valley Baptist Hospital in 1996.

While the number of African American in Harlingen has remained small their accomplishments, such as those of the Gant and Jackson families, and notably of Dr. George McShan, educator and long-time member of the Board of Trustees of the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District are to be recognized. On 3/17/07 the city has its first Black candidate for mayor when Harlingen native Kenneth Benton announces he will run in the May 12 election. Benton is a consultant at Border Econometrics Consulting Group, LLC in Donna.

It has been the expansion of the Valley Baptist Health Center that has drawn African Americans to the city over the last three decades. Numerous African American physicians have arrived to set up practices here. Their number has likely been surpassed by foreign Blacks, largely from Africa but also from the Caribbean. Whether it is the Valley climate that appeals to them, the monetary returns, their easy acceptance here, or all of these factors and more is unknown. Regardless, they are assets welcomed to the community, not as Blacks but as productive individuals.

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Identification of Robert Runyon's Harlingen Photographs
Norman Rozeff
Harlingen Historical Preservation Society, April 2007

The story of Robert Runyon is presented in the essay under Valley History. Among the thousands of photographs he took over a decade seventy-nine photographs attributed to Harlingen are listed in the Library of Congress posting. There is in fact less than this number because the indexing of some is in error. The photos are available for viewing online at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award97/txuhtml/runyhome.html

The Library of Congress has assigned reproduction numbers to the photographs. Following are remarks about the various photos as they are numbered.

02990 was likely taken in late 1911 and is probably the very earliest Runyon photo of the Letzerich Building and Main Street (later Jackson Avenue). The building exhibits its plainest front and advertises a dentist on its second floor windows. It has an empty lot immediately to its east. This lot is joined by one with a wooden building having a false front topped by two ornamental balls. The next lot adjacent to what will later be named A Street is vacant but across the street on the same side can be discerned a two-story brick building. This will eventually become August Weller's bank building. Lastly discernable on this side of the street is the small white bell tower of what started out to be the Seventh Day Adventist Church but was later used by other denominations and as an early school house for Anglo children.

Across the street from the Letzerich Building is the small one story wooden barbershop of A. W. Elmore. Its sidewalk overhang is supported by three timbers characteristically marked as barber poles. The small trees near it have yet to be cut down and the streets still exhibit clumps of native vegetation though some wooden walkways are in place.

In a row down the street are five structures, all of two-stories. The first structure next to the barbershop is the enterprise run by Dr. H. E. Whatley. It has his name on it and a sign advertising "Drugs", most likely veterinarian ones. Next to this stands the Ritter General Merchandise Store. This building early on had housed a general store operated by James Lockhart, one of Harlingen's first settlers. Beside Ritters is a furniture store advertising itself with large signs "Furniture" painted on its north and south walls. Its neighbor is a saloon/restaurant with its large "Saloon" sign on the street side second story. It is owned or leased by August Weller. To the east across the narrow street are a two-story white-painted wooden building and its neighbor a crude one-story building. Suspended on Main Street over this intersection is a single streetlight. The photo shows at four vehicles, but one would surprised if they were driven at night on this dirt street. Across First Street is a one-story building with its west side covered by illegible advertising.

03006 is another very early photo. It portrays the Letzerich Building in 1910 or 1911. The post office might have been in its small left side room. Hugo Letzerich operates the Harlingen Pharmacy while his physician brothers, Casper and Alfred have offices upstairs.

Over the years Runyon would take photos of Harlingen's Main Street from the same vantage point, namely the intersection of Commerce and Main Street looking east.

02994 is such a picture. A clue to its date is found in the distant two-story brick structure which is the Central Ward School (later the Sam Houston School). At the very earliest this school was coming up in October 1911. Otherwise the photo is very similar to 02990.

02991 is a photo from another year in the sequence. The Letzerich Building now supports a flagpole, and a large two-story brick building has taken the place of the two-story white wooden building on the south side of the street. The trees near the barbershop have been removed. There are many more automobiles, electric lines, and a wooden walkway now crosses from the Letzerich Building to the barber shop side. 02993 appears to have been taken in the same time frame.

02992 is in 1917 at the earliest because one can now see the Planters National Bank Building where the barber shop once stood. The bank opened in the building this year. Next to the Letzerich Building a one-story brick has also been erected. On the northwest corner of a Street a two-story brick building has arisen. This still exists at the site but sports a 1950s façade. A large two-story brick building has also come up adjacent to the Weller's First National Bank. A single light now illuminates the Commerce Street-Main Street intersection. In 1919 a city ordinance had been passed to prohibit the construction of wooden buildings in the downtown area. This was to reduce the dangers of fires, some of which had plagued other Valley cities.

02988 begins a series of photos taken from an elevated position, very likely the water tower at the southeast corner of Jefferson Avenue and First Street. This 50' tower held a 12,000 gallon tank atop it and was constructed in the latter half of 1911. 02988 was taken in 1915. We know this because the Lozano Building is shown in its initial construction stage. Some of the brick buildings noted in 02992 have yet to be constructed. A sign for the Weller's bank sits on the ground awaiting attachment. In the distance the tents of national guardsmen can be seen around what is now 3^rd-4^th Streets. Behind the substantial Lon C. Hill Building can be seen the Mooreland Hotel. It already has had an addition made to its east side in order to accommodate the increasing number of visitors to the town. Near the lower left is the noted Verser House, famed for its southern hospitality.

02987 is similar to the above but much clearer and it shows a two-story brick building having been erected south of Ritter's store.

02986 provides a better view of the Verser House and shows the Central Ward School in the upper left side.

03994 is one of a series of panoramic photos taken of the town from the water tower. To the right is seen the new St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway station. Above the Verser House is the Morrow Brothers lumber shed. 03993 and 03992 are similar with the latter possibly showing the two-story Lockhart house on the middle right along with a large storage shed and grain elevator. The little building that served as Harlingen's first city hall and was located in the foreground triangular area on B Street has been torn down.

03009 shows the train depot looking to the northeast while 03008 taken facing the southwest shows it being landscaped. It was on Commerce at Van Buren which for many years did not cross the railroad tracks.

03007 looks NNE and reveals the water tower from which Runyon likely snapped his panoramic views.

03000 is one of many photos of the impressive and relatively new Central Ward School on Main Street in the 500 block. This one was taken probably in 1915. By 1930 the attractive bungalow to the left has been demolished, perhaps to extend the schoolyard to the whole city block. 02990 is similar as are 02999, 02998, and 02996.

02997 and 02995 of the school were taken at an earlier date at the same time. Note the decorative plants atop the front of the building. The building still appears in a constructive phase so 1912 is the likely date for these photos.

03003 and 08707 shows August Weller's Harlingen State Bank in 1915 at the corner of First and Main Streets. A sign for it has yet to be hung. In later years it was occupied by Feder's, a fabric store.

08704 presents a scene from the Arroyo Colorado. At this bend the water is slow and fairly clean. We note a car, a small wooden boat, and a diving board.

03775 is another Arroyo scene likely looking west. Note the wooden shack on the left. 03774 faces east on the Arroyo.

03776 and 03777 view the Arroyo at a flood stage on 10/2/1919.

O8703 is called Deer Park. This fenced in area may possibly be part of Bowie Park. This park was one of Harlingen's first and occupied the city block where the Casa del Sol and Tourist Center on Madison now stand.

02989 is the Harlingen Lake or Reservoir. The photo looks toward the south and was snapped in 1915 or later because the Anglin's two- story house on the right didn't come until up late 1917.

03761 shows the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway Bridge across the Arroyo Colorado at Harlingen. It is the longest bridge on the line and was completed in 1905. This view looks to the south. Some people have erected a rickety shallow water crossing for pedestrians.

03660 is the F Street Bridge across the Arroyo Colorado looking west as is 03759. This single lane structure was erected in 1911.

03762 shows the same bridge looking east. Note the well-worn path on the right foreground. When the water was low this was used by vehicles to ford the stream.

08715 is the Watters home at 317 E. Madison. It is representative of the modest wood frame cottages being built around 1910 and thereafter. The house is still there in 2007. The Watters ran a variety store but ceased operations when the chain 5 and 10 cent stores came to Harlingen in the 1920s.

08714 is similar to the above and shows the S. A. Connor at 301 E. Taylor. It remains there in 2007.

03004 and 03005 The Mooreland Hotel started out as Harlingen's first hotel when the railroad company erected it. C. S. Moore purchased it in the fall of 1908 and was later to expand it to its east side. It was razed in 1928 after Moore built the Madison Hotel on the adjacent lot on Van Buren.

03339 portrays sugarcane being loaded from gondola cars onto the mill feeder table. A crew pulls odd stalks from the feed apron onto a conveyor. This is the Hill Sugar Company factory once located where the Municipal Baseball Stadium now stands. It commenced its first grinding season in November 1911. Other Hill Sugar Co. scenes are in 03320, 03321, 03322, and 03323. The mill was said to have been burned to the ground by Mexican Bandits on 7/17/17.

03001 and 03002 These are of the community center built by land developer Thomas F. Lee for his Leeland Subdivision. It would later pass to the Stuart brothers for their development of Stuart Place and become its clubhouse. The building exists today on Business 83 west of Harlingen proper.

03012 and 3011 show a landscaped residence in Harlingen. The fencing indicates it was erected to keep out medium and large size animals.

03010 This is the Lon C. Hill house which was erected in 1904 at what was to become Fair Park. Its site was the Casa de Amistad. It was Harlingen's first residential house. Later it was moved across the street and in the 1970s to the Harlingen Heritage and Arts Museum complex.

08712 and 08713 This is Harlingen's first official train depot, the first one being a boxcar. It had a standard railroad design. This is looking north. Note the semaphore signal atop the roof and the train schedule posted on the building.

08708 is the J. W. Rhone Seed Store on N. Commerce Street just north of Harlingen Hardware. It became the Jackson Feed and Grain Store when F. G. Jackson purchases it in 1925. The date is about 1910 or 1911

. On its south side is the Western Union office and on its north side the Lochridge Millinery shop then Edelstein's Furniture featuring the same logo on its sign that it does to this day.

01741 is labeled the 12^th Cavalry camp and is near the Harlingen Depot, but this unit was not known to have been stationed in Harlingen and may have been in transit.

01739 and 01740 are of the Sixth Cavalry camp between 3 and 4^th Streets on the very south side of town as it was in 1915. 02030 and 03031 are similar.

08031 and 08032 are troops ready to embark on a train at the Harlingen station. The two- story building with a porch is the Ogan Hotel on N. Jackson. The date of these photos is 1915 or 1916.

03444, 03445, 03446, 03447 and 03462 are of citrus orchards in the Harlingen area.

08705 is named Lighthouse, Harlingen. It is not something recognized in the town but may be part of the Harlingen Canal pumping plant on the river.

08709 and 08710 are mislabeled. This decorated commercial building is in fact located in Brownsville.

08706 is noted to be a Harlingen school but does not fit anything known to exist in Harlingen at the time of these photos.

The eleven photos labeled Lake Loma Alta are of a shallow lake northeast of Brownsville and shouldn't be catalogued under Harlingen.

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Harlingen and Harlingen Area Road History from the Beginning
Norman Rozeff
Harlingen Historical Preservation Society, July 2007

Roads are certainly not glamorous or very exciting subjects, however, they have and continue to hold an important role in our society. In the early days of the Valley's 20^th Century development, land transportation was slow and erratic. The well-utilized old Military Telegraph Road following the river was deeply rutted and not publicly maintained. Outside of the major cities and towns, and often indeed within them, Valley roads were in a sorry state. Poor drainage of unpaved roads, perhaps better termed trails, in periods of rain was the major impediment.

An anecdote told about Lon C. (Mose) Hill, Jr. is now humorous in nature but reflects on a serious subject at the time. It relates:

Harlingen's streets and roads were a major issue from the time of the city's naming and first post office establishment in 1904. Samuel McPheeters Glascow was a recent seminary graduate when he arrived here to take up church work. He described Harlingen in 1909 as a mud town, no paved streets, or roads, or sidewalks—coal oil lamps, not a plumber in the entire Valley—burros, or horses, or mules were the chief means of transportation, and he estimated the population to be about 200.

The Harlingen Board of Trade in its 4/25//11 report notes among city improvements the new one-lane steel bridge over the Arroyo costing $17,000 and two miles of graded streets costing $1,500, and drainage into the Arroyo for $2,200. The bridge was at the south end of Mexico (now F) Street. Contractor Alsbury and Son of Houston commenced work on the steel bridge on 6/11/11. To go to San Benito this bridge was the only way to cross the arroyo without descending into it.

In 1912 more dirt streets are graded, some concrete sidewalks started, and wooden platforms are built at street crossing.

In 1920 a significant political event occurs. Long-time County kingpin, Jim Wells, loses control of the politics of Cameron County forever. Oscar C. Dancy is elected to the Cameron County Commissioners Court. He will serve as county judge for 50 years. Dancy come to have the nickname "Concrete" after he embarks on a program to connect Cameron County towns with paved roads.

On 11/2/21 it is revealed that four additional city blocks are to be paved in order to connect to the newly completed concrete highway (part of F Street) from Harlingen to San Benito. This road goes all the way to Brownsville and is the first hard surfaced road in the Valley.

Chronologically some road highlights that were to follow are:

1924 A nine foot wide concrete road from Harlingen to Combes is completed. This is the New Combes Highway made pretty much obsolete when Business 77 comes through. The cost of this improvement has come from a county bond issue of $350,000 passed in 1922 and to be used to complete the Brownsville to San Benito paving and then west to the Hidalgo County line.

2/13/25 The contract for $57,435 is awarded to Dodds and Wedegartner of San Benito for a new Arroyo Colorado vehicle bridge. It is to be built to the east of the 1911 one now deemed unsafe. The new structure will have two 150' spans on concrete piers and an overall length of 350'. Judge Dancy is to later explain that 2/3 of the costs will come from the state and the remainder from the county.

2/27/25 Six blocks of North Fordyce Street are paved in concrete running from the South Texas Lumber Co. to the properties of John Myrick and Charles F. Perry.

In 1926 and for the next two the city moves forward with street paving and the installation of sidewalks and curbs. Lot owners are assessed most of the costs for these activities. Major lot owners are Osco Morris, J.M. Green, A.E. and A.L. Benoist, A.L. Brooks and the Harlingen Development Co. The latter had been incorporated for $100,000 and its existence was predicated on expeditiously selling numerous townsite lots that had languished under the control of an absentee entity.

8/6/26 By this date A.D. Holmes, street commissioner, boosts of 21 miles of paved road, 18 miles of sanitary sewer, and six miles of storm drains.

In 1927 a new two-lane bridge is erected across the Arroyo Colorado at F Street to replace the old one lane one. It has a central concrete pier in the middle of the arroyo.

3/15/27 A $12,000 high bridge over the Arroyo Colorado to connect to Rio Hondo is being constructed.

12/2/27 The paving of the road between Harlingen and Rio Hondo is completed. The road paving from San Benito to Rio Hondo was also recently completed. This allows for a scenic circle drive on paved roads of about 24 miles.

1928 There are 21.79 of paved roads in the city.

1935 In this year it is State HWY 96 which comes from Corpus Christi via Riviera and Sarita to the Valley. HWY 16 joins it from Robstown through Kingsville and then goes west to Falfurrias. State HWY 4 and US 83 parallel the river from west of Zapata all the way to Brownsville.

1936 The city has 22 miles of paved street, 47 miles of storm drains, 51 miles of water mains, and 365 acres in eight city parks. Assessed valuations stand at $7,568,290 with a tax rate of $1.80/$100 valuation.

7-8/47 The state constructs the Business 77 bypass bridge over the Arroyo Colorado. This alternate road to San Benito is widened in 1965 and again in 1989. When it opens in 10/47 it is termed the "Parallel Highway."

4/18/50 A temporary pontoon bridge is stretched across the arroyo to service Rio Hondo for the next few years until the new lift bridge is built. On 4/29 the old one lane steel bridge is demolished to allow passage of the canal dredge.

1953 (summer) The $500,000 lift bridge over the Arroyo Colorado opens. It connects the west side of FM 106 to Rio Hondo and allows for tall waterway traffic to reach Port Harlingen. It is the only such engineered bridge of its type in Texas.

7/54 The low, wooden two lane $2,750,000 Queen Isabella Causeway to South Padre Island from Port Isabel is completed and will be dedicated on 7/3/55. This opens the door for accelerated island development and for Harlingen to benefit from tourists in transit to the island.

1957 As Expressway 83 is widened in West Harlingen this necessitates the rearrangement of part of the municipal golf course. The south side airstrip is removed at what is now between the 7th and 13th fairways. Plans for what was to be Sam Botts Park on the very south end are discarded.

6/11/59 The low water wooden bridge across the Arroyo Colorado at Port Harlingen is completed. It replaces the wooden one destroyed last fall in a flood.

6/60 A contract is let to construct Spur Road 329 (now 374) to connect Expressway 77 with Expressway 83.

8/20/61 Nearly complete is the new 1.887 mile stretch of FM 507 north from business 77 to the HAFB. It is named Morgan Blvd. in honor of Col. John R. Morgan, the first commanding officer at the Harlingen Army Airfield in 1941 and who was to retire in Harlingen.

5/18/62 The Expressways 77/83 interchange at the end of West Harrison is nearly complete. Fill for its elevated sections came from the new Water Works reservoir at Dixieland Park.

8/68 At the sacrifice of considerable greenery, Commerce Street from Tyler to 77 Sunshine Strip is widened to a 60' width.

4/70 Expressway 77/83 interchange is nearing completion. It is completed on 5/71 as an elevated 1.5 mile $2.4 million overpass taking nearly 100,000 cubic yards of fill dirt.

2/71 Wilson Road has been widened to Stuart Place Road.

1973 The east portion of City Lake is filled in and a new part of 6th Street is constructed to make it a thoroughfare.

4/11/00 The state completes the construction of a new concrete beam bridge over the Arroyo Colorado near Port Harlingen. It has two lanes and is 46' wide and 320' long. It replaces the rickety one lane wooden low-water bridge which has served Cemetery Road for many years. A reliable, fast alternative route between Harlingen and Rio Hondo now exists.

2001-02 The direct connection of Expressways 77 and 83 by an overhead interchange is under construction as is the widening of 83/77 through Harlingen. The Expressway 83/77 construction schedules and costs for the Harlingen area are: Lincoln Ave. south to FM 509, start 4/2001 and conclude 5/2005 at a cost of $61 million; FM 509 to FM 732, start 5/03 and conclude 11/2006 at a cost of $68 million.

1/4/04 Loop 499 widening is to begin. A 4-lane boulevard with a median strip will be constructed by Ballenger Construction. The $6.3 million project will run from Expressway 77 to FM 507.

1/21/04 The extension of Sam Houston Street west of Business 77 to New Hampshire Street is opened. This new crossing of the railroad tracks will relieve some traffic congestion at the corner of Ed Carey and 77. Funds from the 2003 bond issue were used to complete it.

2/4/06 Dixieland Road will be extended southeast across the Arroyo Colorado to connect with Rangerville Road. Upon completion of an environmental study the $3.5 million project of which the state DOT has already earmarked $2 million will proceed. The new road should stimulate more economic development on the west side.

9/7/06 Cameron County authorizes the purchase of right-of-way to extend Dixieland Road to Rangerville Road. The 1.85 mile extension will end at Garrett Road on FM 1472. The $3.9 million cost will include a 345-foot, four lane bridge across the Arroyo Colorado. While the city will pay for design work and part of the construction cost, TxDOT will pay the remainder of the cost. Construction is set to begin the summer of 2007.

9/30/06 TxDot reports $9.1 million eight month project to widen the EXP 77 overpass over Harrison and Tyler Street from the present four lanes to six.

As the reader well knows this chronology will continue well beyond our lifetimes and as always remain a source of some contention.

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The Weed Kindergarten School and the Valley Ice Cream Company
Norman Rozeff
Harlingen Historical Preservation Society, July 2007

In March 2005 Richard and Carolyn Weed Hulan donated copies of 1920-1930s photos to the Harlingen Arts and Heritage Museum. They were later transferred to the Archive Room of the Harlingen Public Library.

Among the donated items were photos showing what may be Harlingen's first kindergarten (1926). In the early 1930s one of its teachers was Lois Weed, whose husband R. Horace Weed was in this period a department head at Montgomery Ward and Company. Their home was 622 E. Polk Avenue. Since this was also the location of the High School Inn managed by Mrs. W. H. Weed, the physical residence may have been behind the commercial building.

Across the street from the 6^th Street High School between Polk and Tyler, the High School Inn was a popular place for students to gather for ice cream treats. A note lists the Kreemy (sic) Ice Cream Factory at the location, but more on this later. It is not clear if part of the modern-looking one-story building was used for the ice cream parlour and part for the kindergarten. The Polhemus family may have also run a café in part of the building. If this was the case, the kindergarten may have possibly been in the residence to the rear.

In 1926 Florence O. Chastain was a teacher at the kindergarten. Her husband Frank was a buyer for the Valley Fruit Exchange. With three young children by 1930, Mrs. Chastain may have had her hands full or retired to being a full-time homemaker.

It is obvious from school photos that the children were those of middle and upper class families. This is made clear by the elaborate costumes in which students were attired for different occasions. These included patriotic holidays, Halloween, school bands replete with uniforms, hats and instruments, and a Tom Thumb Wedding. The latter was a reenactment of an adult wedding but with the participants being little ones. The name is taken from the famous Barnum midget, General Tom Thumb. Overly "cutesy" today, such enactments were quite popular in the 1930s.

Some of the children who attended the school over the years and were pictured are Betty Jo Sherman, Nathan Berry, Martha Dean Ramsey, Shirley Strickland, Pete Staveall, Lorena McFarlen's little girl, Harry Feldman, Betty Lou Hill, Leroy Moore, John Floyd Weed, Ruth Jane Wilcox, Billy Cole, James Carey, Charlie Feldman, J. V. Burton and John Milton Monis.

Horace and Lois Robertson Weed had moved to Brownsville in 1919 and then to Harlingen in 1920. He worked for the R. M. Schumaker Company, a grocery distributor, and the Nueces Coffee Co. Horace Weed's parent were Floyd and Maude, and apparently pioneer farmers in the area. His bother Maurice C. Weed became an engineer with CP&L. Later Horace and his wife operated Weed's Maternity Shop and Weed's Teen Shop.

The Labor Day Hurricane of 1933 destroyed the high school and, although the junior high school immediately east of it continued to function, business at the ice cream parlour may have suffered.

In 1942 Richard Hulans was among the first six men to join the service at the Harlingen Army Air Field. His wife to be, Carolyn, came to Harlingen in 1945 and taught at Harlingen High School and later Vernon and Coakley Junior High Schools.

In the year 1930 the Weeds are still operating the High School Inn, but by the following year the premise at 622 is listed as that of Valley Ice Cream Company run by Charles S. Polhemus. Nearby at 620 is the Childs School. The Polhemus residence is 1118 E. Monroe.

By 1937 Valley Ice Cream has opened two retail stores, one at 101 W. Jackson, the other at 221 E. Jackson. Two years later the company has expanded into the manufacture of butter along with its ice cream. In 1941 it will add salad dressing as a sideline.

By 1942 Grace Polhemus, Charles' wife, is listed as the company's president, her husband either having died or become incapacitated. Since the early 1930s no Harlingen residence is listed for the Polhemus family, and it is thought that they resided in San Benito.

Through 1944 the company ran its retail stands under the name Kree-Mee, but by 1946 the two retail outlets has been shut down. By 1948 the company changed its corporate name from the Valley Ice Cream Company to the Kree-Mee Products Company. Kree- Mee advertised itself as The Perfect Food and manufacturer of quality ice cream, sherbert, and stick confections. Its general manager this year was Foy. E. Williams. It did open a retail stand by this year at 618 W. Harrison, but it was closed by 1950.

In 1950 W. A. Summers is noted to be the company's general manager. The company will close its doors forever in 1951. Likely strong competition from Hygeia Dairy and the growing chain and discount retail groceries contributed to its demise or it may have just been a family decision.

The company lives on only in fond memories by the many who enjoyed its products. Occasionally e-Bay will offer a Kree-Mee container for sale. One then wonders where it has sat for all these decades.

The lot upon which the Weed family home and business and the ice cream plant once stood is now occupied by a small two-story, four unit apartment at 506 7^th Street. It was constructed in 1955 and first named the Ross Apartments. In 1959 it became the Seamans Apartments.

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