ISBN 978-0-578-03322-8 $34.95
53495
9 780578 033228
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AT THE CROSSROADS
HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS 1910-2010
EILEEN MATTEI
A PUBLICATION OF THE HARLINGEN ARTS & HERITAGE MUSEUM PUBLISHED BY TOPP DIRECT MARKETING • JOHN W.TOPP, PRESIDENT HARLINGEN,TEXAS
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Property developers organized land parties during the winter months that brought train cars filled with prospective land buyers from the Midwest. More than 3,700 persons arrived with land parties in January 1929. Developers like Charles Ladd, who organized this group visiting Adams Gardens in 1932, hired many of Harlingen's privately-owned cars to tour prospects around irrigated farm tracts that were for sale.
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HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS
AT THE CROSSROADS
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In the 1930s, Harlingen ice plants made more ice than those in any other Texas city.Thousands of rail cars filled with iced-down vegetables left the depot every year.
AT THE CROSSROADS HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS 1910 -2010 EILEEN MATTEI A PUBLICATION OF THE HARLINGEN ARTS & HERITAGE MUSEUM Published and managed by: TOPP DIRECT MARKETING 1222 E.TYLER AVE • HARLINGEN,TX 78550-7196 JOHN W.TOPP, PRESIDENT ALAN HOLLANDER / MILLAR HOLLANDER ADVERTISING: ART DIRECTOR /GRAPHIC DESIGN/PHOTO EDITING/DIGITAL RETOUCHING CHERYL LABERGE: HARLINGEN CENTENNIAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE CHAIR NORMAN ROZEFF: HISTORIAN CHARLOTTE DAHM: RIO GRANDE VALLEY MUSEUM ASSOCIATION, INC. WANDA GREENHILL: RIO GRANDE VALLEY MUSEUM ASSOCIATION, INC. First Edition Printed in the United States of America by Signature Book Printing, www.sbpbooks.com Copyright © 2009 Rio Grande Valley Museum Association, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to: Rio Grande Valley Museum Association, Inc. P. O. Box 532347, Harlingen,TX 78553-2347. Phone 956.216.4901 ISBN: 978-0-578-03322-8
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FOREWORD
A
t the Crossroads: Harlingen's First 100 Years celebrates the city's past with a spotlight on the people, events and places that have shaped our community. That past has been action-packed and colorful, as you will see in this exceptional book. When Harlingen was incorporated on April 15, 1910, barely 1,000 people called this land home. Personal commitment and a belief in what Harlingen could become d rove t h e m a n d s u c c e e d i n g generations to persevere when confronted with obstacles like the 1933 hurricane and the closing of Harlingen Air Force Base in 1962. Today, we share the pride of all those who have worked together to build a city that blends border heritage,Texan pride, and the American Dream. By drawing on the talents of its residents and adapting to change, Harlingen has grown stronger. The Harlingen Centennial Committee, led by City Commissioner Larry Galbreath, and the Rio Grande Valley Museum Association, Inc., who guided this project have our thanks for this legacy of Harlingen's past. Here we find the foundation of our future. ÂĄAdelante Harlingen por 100 aĂąos mas! Chris Boswell Mayor Harlingen,Texas
1910 - 2010
@t he crossroads
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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his book would have not been possible without the steady, priceless assistance of Cheryl LaBerge and Norman Rozeff. John Topp masterminded the entire publication, keeping everything on schedule and on track, while Alan Hollander created a visual feast with photographs and design.Together they increased my knowledge of Harlingen and of the delights in working with talented, dedicated individuals. Charlotte Dahm proved an able liaison with the RGV Museum Association.To all who told me stories of your families and tracked down information, my sincere thanks.To my husband Guy, who cooked dinner, my love. Eileen Mattei The Gray Ghost, Lon C. Hill's chauffeur-driven Buick, was not the first car in Harlingen, but it was the most recognizable because of its flamboyant owner, the city's founder.
PHOTO CREDITS We gratefully acknowledge the many individuals and organizations who contributed the photographs in this book.The photographs appear courtesy of: Jack Abbott, LeeAnn Kane Albury, Leo Araguz, Rey Avila, Pat Bearden, Frank N. Boggus, Bruce Lee Smith Photography, Bryan Tumlinson Photography, City of Harlingen, Bill DeBrooke, Department of Defense, Department of the Air Force, First United Methodist Church Harlingen, Frank Garcia, Girl Scouts of Greater South Texas, James Gracia, Grimsell Seed Company, Colleen Guenzel, Harlingen Area Chamber of Commerce, Harlingen Arts & Heritage Museum, Harlingen Downtown Office, Harlingen Fire Department, Harlingen Historical Preservation Society, Harlingen Irrigation District, Harlingen Public Library, Harlingen Public Works Department, Harlingen Tourist Club, Alan Hollander, Johnnie Jackson, Cheryl LaBerge, Larry Ditto Photography,The Library of Congress, Life Begins at 40 Golf Tournament, Marine Military Academy, Lynn Murphy,The Port of Harlingen Authority, Norman Rozeff,The Robert Runyon Photograph Collection CN,CT,di_ore_number 08712 & 08031 The Center for American History,The University of Texas at Austin, San Antonio Conservation Society Foundation Raba Collection, Kathy Sheldon, Lamar Smith,Temple Beth Israel,Texas State Technical College, John W.Topp, Marian L.Topp, Mary Torres,TXGen Web Postcard Project,Valley Baptist Medical Center – Harlingen, Irma Villarreal, Steven Zapata. REFERENCES McKenna,Virginia Jackson. Harlingen Golden Anniversary Official Program, 1960. Rozeff, Norman. History of Harlingen (online), www.cameroncountyhistoricalcommission.org. 6RS
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Santos Lozano replaced his first Jackson Street wooden store with this brick building in 1915. His son, Guillermo, opened a meat market a block over on Van Buren.The writing on this postcard mentions the Templeton Grocery next door and the new Rialto theater on the far left. Lozano's building, later known as the Pioneer's Building, burned down in 2004.
CONTENTS AT THE CROSSROADS
8
THE MILITARY AND ITS LEGACY
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FLOODS, FREEZES AND FIRES
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SHAPING THE COMMUNITY
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OPEN FOR BUSINESS
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HERITAGE COMPANIES
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CARING FOR OTHERS
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TIME OFF
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ARCHITECTURAL LANDMARKS
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THE ROAD AHEAD
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MAPS OF HARLINGEN TOWN SITE
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PANORAMIC FOLD-OUT: HARLINGEN 1912
67 - 70
STREET MAP OF HARLINGEN 1911
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TIMELINE: HARLINGEN THROUGH THE YEARS
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FAMILY AND BUSINESS PROFILES
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INDEX
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AT THE CROSSROADS TRAINS rom the moment Lon Hill placed his proposed town site astride the tracks of the St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico Railway, Harlingen was destined to become a crossroads.The first train passed through the rugged settlement that railroad workers called “Rattlesnake Junction” on July 4, 1904.
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By then Hill had convinced railroad developer Uriah Lott to make Harlingen the terminus for the 55-mile-long east-west Fordyce rail line, securing Harlingen's fortune and future as a hub. Crops grown along this spur were shipped east to 8
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Harlingen and from there to points north. Tales of rangers and customs patrol agents target shooting next to the Harlingen depot in the earliest years explain the nickname of “Six-shooter Junction.� As a crossroads, Harlingen became a prosperous destination. The railroad helped attract farmers and the businesses that catered to their needs. Lumberyards, banks, saloons, general stores and barbershops sprang up near the train tracks. Townsfolk welcomed the sound of train whistles, signaling new arrivals. Beginning in 1906 with the railroad's two-story hotel near the site of the current City Hall, hotels clustered around the tracks and came to define Harlingen. In the Roaring 20s, new three-, four- and five-story hotels dominated Harlingen's skyline and the social scene with dances, meetings, luncheons and conventions. The Reese-Wil-Mond (named for owner's sons, Reese, William and Raymond), the Madison, and the Plaza hotels, with a total of 360 rooms,
Sandwiched between the north- and southbound tracks, this Harlingen Depot was used from 1905 to about 1914. The old-fashioned semaphore on the right (accessed by the ladder on the roof) gave instructions to the locomotives' engineers. The telegraph line paralleling the tracks was operating by 1905.
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welcomed touring opera stars, famous bands, and lecturer s. Hundreds of traveling salesmen arrived by train to supply stores with clothing, hardware, and other merchandise. At the ReeseWil-Mond, an orchestra played at dinner while dancers on the patio swayed to tunes like EmbraceableYou and Georgia on my Mind.
Harlingen's grand hotels near the train depots gave way in the 1950s to motor-hotels, motels.
From the wooden boxcar which was Harlingen's first depot, the city progressed to this splendid Southern Pacific depot in 1927.
Throughout the 1910s and 1920s, trains brought thousands of frost-nipped Midwestern farmers and farmers-to-be to the Magic Valley.Tempted by the flat, fertile, irrigated land that could grow at least two crops a year and an infrastructure dedicated to getting tons of cabbages, carrots, cotton, and citrus to market, land seekers became land buyers. Harlingen soon boasted a 1,000-foot-long loading dock where railroad cars were
pre-chilled, packed with vegetables, and then iced down before speeding to consumers eager for fresh produce. Canning plants, warehouses, and shipping companies were established. Cotton gins and grain elevators went up. In 1927, Southern Pacific opened an attractive, southwestern-style depot and later made Harlingen its division headquarters. The same year, Missouri Pacific chose the city for its new freight depot, regional repair shop and storage yard. For decades, the train tracks through town pulsed with traffic like arteries connected to a national heart. In 1915, the railroad brought soldiers to town. Following the 1933 hurricane, disaster relief
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arrived on trains from San Antonio a n d H o u s t o n . D u r i n g Wo r l d War II, Harlingen families said goodby at the train station to their loved ones leaving for war, while other young men arrived at the station for training at the Harlingen Army Gunnery School.
Above: Atop an elevated dock, workers shoveled ice into freight cars to keep Magic Valley vegetables chilled on the trip north. Left:When cotton was king, the thousands of bales shipped from Harlingen spelled prosperity for local growers, gins, and brokers.
In the 1950s, new highways spurred travel by auto and brought a sharp decline in rail passengers. In 1962, local passenger service ended. By the 100th anniversary of the railroad's arrival, Harlingen officially wanted no more trains. Once so central to the community, the train tracks were viewed as barriers to progress, delaying people en route to work and play.A campaign to relocate the switching yard gathered momentum as Harlingen looked ahead to another century, another focus.
TAKE THE LAST TRAIN TO RAYMONDVILLE In 1962, the last Missouri Pacific passenger train rolled north from Harlingen with a boisterous Cub Scout pack on board. Bobby Farris, 8, had never traveled by train until he climbed aboard the relic at the station near the intersection of Commerce and Third Street. Boys being boys, the scouts were not impressed by the historic ride nor by their parents' nostalgia about train trips.The kids considered the train one more playground, so they shouted and fooled around all the way to Raymondville, where an era ended as the scouts left the train. Demolished around 1999, the passenger station is only a memory.
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Above:The Battery & Oil Station offered drive-in fill-ups for tractors and travelers on Commerce Street, circa 1927. Right: John Baker, pictured with his daughter Bessie, located the city's first garage on the main north-south highway through town known as Commerce Street. Below: 1933 taxi tag.
HIGHWAYS Harlingen's Harrison Avenue evolved from the east-west trail or sendero that Hill asked the railroad to cut through dense brush from his Salty Lonesome camp to the heart of his new town. Horse-drawn buggies and wagons trundled down Harlingen's dirt streets until the early 1920s when the first streets were paved. The main route into town from the north, Highway 96, paralleled the railroad tracks and funneled new ar r ivals into Harlingen. The busy thoroughfare, dotted with early businesses and gasoline stations with their narrow pumps, became known as Commerce Street. The first travelers pulling handmade camp trailers arrived by 1930 to spend the winter in Highway 83 orange groves, trading their harvesting labor for parking sites. Yet getting to Harlingen was a challenge until 1940 and the opening of the last stretch of the Hug the Coast Highway. Before then, travelers driving south to Harlingen were forced to loop west around the King Ranch which barred traffic through the Norias division. Prosperous times led to new city streets with access to new subdivisions and enterprises. The first bypass around downtown, technically Business 77, was
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called 77 Sunshine Strip, a name play on a popular television show. In 1962, the Expressway 77/83 interchange was built using fill from the new Dixieland Reservoir to create elevated ramps. The Texas Travel Information Center (one of 13 in Texas) which opened at the junction acknowledged Harlingen's reputation as a crossroads, the place where the Valley's two main highways meet.
In 1949, curb appeal could bring in customers to service stations like Thomas' Conoco on Commerce.
Traffic congestion eased in 1968 when Harrison and Tyler were converted to one-way streets, at the cost of familiar landscaping. A new bridge across the Arroyo Colorado connected Ed Carey to East Harrison, followed by the creation of outer Loop 499 to bypass midtown traffic. In 1992, the opening of the Free Trade Bridge, partially owned by Harlingen, and the passage of NAFTA initiated a cross-border economic boom which attracted trucking and logistics companies. The international bridge gave Harlingen a vital connection to Mexico and validated its crossroads identity. From 2002 on, expressway upgrades brought the major highways to interstate standards and resolved the 77/83 junction problem with the high speed overpasses.
Above: Initially transporting civilians and soldiers between towns and Army bases,Valley Transit Company expanded with service between Valley cities and destinations north. Left:The high speed bypass looped traffic through the 77/83 junction starting in 2002. 13
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Above: Trans-Texas Airways flew into the short-lived Harvey Richards Field.The terminal is now Harlingen Country Club's Fitness and Tennis Center.
Right:Almost one million travelers pass through Valley International Airport annually.
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PLANES Lon C. Hill, Jr., piloted the first plane to land in Harlingen in 1918. By 1923 Harlingen had its first airfield. Set along the Arroyo Colorado, it offered flight lessons and air ambulance service. During World War II, bombers and training aircraft of Harlingen Army Gunnery School filled the skies. Between 1946 and 1952, Harlingen Municipal Airport utilized the former airfield and inaugurated international air cargo shipments. When Harlingen Air Force Base opened in 1952 to train navigators, the drone of aircraft overhead became commonplace, the background music that signaled prosperity and security. Harvey Richards Field opened in the Palm Valley area in 1954, and Trans-Texas Airways began flying from there. In 1967 Harlingen Country Club bought that property which had been vacated when the city's passenger and cargo flights returned to the former base, now named AllValley Airport. The closed air base presented Harlingen with the longest runways in the Valley and a facility capable of handling the largest planes.These enabled the city over time to turn the bitter pill of losing 29 percent of its economy into a windfall. The new airport, ultimately Valley International Airport, became a destination for numerous airlines including Braniff, Continental, American, Mexicana, and Texas International. In 1975, Harlingen became the first Southwest Airlines
14RST 100 YEARS
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destination beyond the start-up's golden triangle of Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, a coup which bolstered the city's long-term growth. Air Force One, emergency flights, and international cargo carriers have taken advantage of Harlingen's centrally-located airport. For nearly 20 years, a corner of the airport dubbed Rebel Field housed the Confederate Air Force, drawing air enthusiasts to view World War II aircraft in the air and on the ground. Today Valley International Airport, which is self-supporting, flies the most passengers and cargo of any field in the region. Fixed base operations on the east side service private planes and offer air charters and pilot training. An intermodal terminal simplifies logistics and indicates Harlingen's stamina as a 21st century crossroads. Tugs pushed barges loaded with steel and pipe to the new Port of Harlingen.
BARGE PORT The area's earliest settlers viewed the Arroyo Colorado as an obstacle to be crossed by a ferry. Lon Hill believed that situating Harlingen on the Arroyo Colorado would enable his city to become an inland port. In 1927, Harlingen Mayor S. F. Ewing convinced the Intracoastal Canal Association to back Hill's plan to dredge the Arroyo Colorado for barge traffic. Dredging started in 1938, although adequate political and financial support only materialized years later.The Port of Harlingen opened in 1952 with a 125-foot-wide channel. Providing low-cost transportation for bulk commodities, inbound barges have delivered thousands of tons of steel, sand, and cement for construction, along with fuel for vehicles and bulk agricultural fertilizer. Exports include raw sugar and grain.The shallow draft port is considered an asset for future industrial development.
Over 305,000 tons of dry bulk cargo, such as raw sugar, grain and fertilizer, passed through the port in 2007.
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THE MILITARY AND ITS LEGACY
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hree times American troops established a base in Harlingen, and three times city life changed dramatically. The city took patriotic pride in being a military headquarters while businesses benefited from the influx of temporary residents. Each time the military departed, Harlingen embarked on a new era, the city's future shaped by the experience. Above:The army troops posted to Harlingen in 1916 outnumbered the city's residents. Shooting local game improved soldiers' aims and added variety to army food.
BANDITS ON THE BORDER As Mexico disintegrated into civil war following the 1910 Revolution, thousands of refugees fled to Texas.The Texas National Guard and Texas Rangers arrived on the border in 1914 to protect panicked citizens from the lawless elements of that tide, yet raiding, looting and shootings escalated. By 1916, approximately 14,000 U.S. Army troops–artillery, infantry, cavalry– patrolled the Texas border.After the Army consolidated Lower Rio Grande Valley
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operations in Harlingen, twelve companies (about 2,400 men) lived in sizeable, orderly tent camps a few blocks from the town center. The encampment included horse corrals that covered a city block, field hospitals, two bands, and an officers club. Soldiers rode out to patrol the ranches, roads, and villages. At the time, Harlingen's permanent population was under 1,500. The soldiers visited the town's shops and hunted local game. Meanwhile, hundreds of settlers, frightened by random violence and rumors of bandit attacks, abandoned their farms and returned north. Harlingen's only confirmed bandit action came in September 1916. Southwest of town at the Galveston Ranch, sleeping soldiers were attacked. One soldier was killed, and that led to the lynching of three ranch hands who had been taken into custody by deputy sheriffs. Vigilantes, fueled by ethnic animosity, killed other innocent Mexican-Americans. Murders, theft and arson, like the burning of Hill's abandoned sugar mill in July 1917, were blamed on bandits. Several incidents, undoubtedly, were the work of local criminals taking advantage of the situation.
The 6th and 12th Cavalry headquarters in Harlingen included field hospitals. Col. Gaston, pictured at the hospital with his driver, traveled the region's unpaved roads with a supply of spare tires.
Bandit violence tapered off, and the military withdrew when the U.S. entered the First World War in 1917. Harlingen had experienced its first economic boom and been exposed to what growth could mean.The quest to bring more landseekers soon was underway.
Troop trains brought weapons, horses and tents for encampments like this one in the vicinity of Third and Van Buren.
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WORLD WAR II
Right: Based at Harlingen Army Gunnery School, pilot Elizabeth Gardener flew target-towing planes over the Gulf. She and other WASPs filled stateside positions so male pilots could be assigned to combat units. Below: In five intensive weeks, the Army Air Force trained aerial gunners to maintain their weapons and fire them accurately. Nose, turret, tail and waist gunners protected bombers on missions over enemy territory.
Year-round good weather, flat terrain, and a vigorous, three-year-long campaign by city leaders brought the Harlingen Army Gunnery School (HAGS) to the new Harlingen Army Air Field. Under the leadership of Col. John Morgan, construction began at a rapid pace in August 1941 on 960 acres 3.5 miles northeast of town. Hill Cocke's Ready Mix Concrete poured concrete for five runways and the building foundations of what became “the paradise of the Eastern flying training command.” On December 7, 1941, Harlingen sailor Johnny Spaeth died at Pearl Harbor aboard the USS Shaw. Two weeks later, on Christmas Eve, HAGS officially opened to train aerial gunners to protect bombers flying on missions over Europe and the Pacific. Over 150 officers and 2,000 enlisted men were assigned to the new post. During the five-week basic course, trainees attended classes and practiced target shooting on the skeet range at HAGS. They advanced to hand-held .30-caliber machine guns and .50-caliber turret guns on the Laguna Atascosa ground range. In their final week, the gunners, some airborne for the first time in their lives, shot at targets towed by other planes which often were flown by Women Air Service Pilots (WASPs). Over 48,000 men earned silver gunner's wings at HAGS, going on to fight as nose, tail, and waist gunners in B17 Flying Fortresses, B24 Liberators, B25 Mitchells, B26 Marauders and B29s. Two HAGS graduates received the Medal of Honor: Tech Sergeant Forest Vosler and Sergeant Maynard “Snuffy” Smith. At the peak, 6,000 trainees were assigned to HAGS. Approximately 3,500 civilian and military personnel
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were needed to run the gunnery school: instructors, armorers who prepared the weapons, administrators who handled logistics and issued paychecks, cooks, nurses, and police. Harlingen businesses–theaters, department stores, beauty shops, jewelry stores–prospered in the midst of the war as servicemen rode the new Airfield Bus Line to town to shop.The men visited the USO, a home away from home, run by the Salvation Army at 210 N. Commerce. There, they watched free movies, played cards, ate homemade cookies and were entertained by local residents. A few married local women and developed long-term ties to the Valley.
HAGS resembled a small, predominantlymale town. Besides barracks for 6,000 men, the air field had a chapel, theater and hospital.
Hollywood came to Harlingen to churn out Aerial Gunner, a B movie. In it, two men fight over a woman during gunnery training and are later marooned on a Pacific island after their plane crashes. Robert Mitchum had a bit part. When Harlingen Air Field closed in February 1946, some of the surplus buildings were sold, moved, and transformed into homes and businesses. Former barracks and classrooms became Grace Lutheran Church,Valley Baptist Academy, Green Gables restaurant, and Normah Knight's art gallery and studio. The All-Valley Airport put the military runways back into service.
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HARLINGEN AIR FORCE BASE In 1950, the Korean War prompted city fathers to recommend the former Harlingen Army Air Field as an ideal base. Not everyone welcomed the return of the military. Farmer L.F. Garling was quoted refusing “until his last breath” to sell the Air Force land needed to extend the r unways. Nevertheless, on April 1,1952, the field was reactivated as Harlingen Air Force Base with the mission of training navigators in a 28 to 32 week course. Right:Thousands of young Air Force officers completed their basic navigation training at Harlingen Air Force Base. Below:The Harlingen Chamber helped landscape the main Harlingen Air Force Base entrance, now Iwo Jima Boulevard.
The first navigation students, commissioned officers, learned to use hand-held sextants to determine their position and progressed to technical and electronic navigation equipment. Classwork, flight simulators and actual flights honed their skills. Aviation cadets also trained at H.A.F.B. in a specialized officer candidate school that graduated new Second Lieutenant navigators from a 38-week course. The first navigators graduated in January 1953, a year that saw the base expand rapidly, adding 20 new buildings.The NCO Academy started in 1954. LeMoyne Gardens was built as military family housing. In 1956, about 3,000 navigators completed their training at H.A.F.B. Young military families rented and purchased homes, sent their children to Harlingen schools, and made the city flourish with new shopping centers, schools, and businesses. The base adopted the motto “Where aerospace navigation begins” in 1960 and graduated its 10,000th navigator. By then, over 2,300 military personnel and 801 civilians worked at the base, with a payroll of $25 million. The military accounted for 29 percent of the city's economy and 1,237 public school students. The announcement of the base's deactivation by December 1962 stunned city residents. Some attributed the closure to Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson's animosity, but, in fact, the base was training less than half the navigators it had in 1956. The unanticipated departure of the Air Force truly crippled the city's economy. By 1963, about 1,400 houses were for sale. Grit, gumption and effective
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marketing enabled Harlingen to come back from despair. City business owners contributed $100,000 to the “Go Harlingen� campaign, which advertised the city as an ideal retirement destination for Midwest residents.With homes selling at bargain prices, the campaign succeeded in bringing new residents to town. At the shuttered air field, a rebirth began. Retired Marines purchased 142 acres and in 1965 opened the Marine Military Academy, the nation's only prep school founded on Mar ine Cor ps traditions. The John Connally Texas State Technical Institute opened in 1967 and grew into Texas State Technical College. Harlingen Municipal Airport evolved into Valley International Airport, taking advantage of the region's longest runways to become the Valley's busiest passenger and cargo airport. The Confederate Air Force claimed a portion of the airfield in 1968 and restored, flew and displayed vintage warbirds there until 1991.The city developed other air base land as an industrial park, attracting General Dynamics and manufacturing businesses.
A poignant symbol of military courage and sacrifice, the Iwo Jima Monument and its museum remind visitors of the costs of liberty.
Texas State Technical College prepares its 6,000 students for careers in fields from aviation and digital imaging to chemical technology and nursing. The Mechatronics program merges the mechanical,electronic and information technology skills essential for next-generation manufacturing.
In 1982, sculptor Felix de Weldon donated his model of the Iwo Jima Monument (the U.S. Marine Corps Memorial) to MMA where it dominates the skyline in a permanent salute to American military valor.
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FLOODS, FREEZES AND FIRES
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loods, freezes and fires have devastated Harlingen since 1904.With each disaster, city residents pulled together and got their lives, their homes and their businesses back on track.The spunk and determination of Harlingen's people have enabled the community to make repeated comebacks after catastrophes struck.
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FLOODS For thousands of years, the Rio Grande and Arroyo Colorado flooded and deposited the fertile silt that put the “Magic” in the Valley. In the early 20th century, the result of those millennia of floods drew eager landseekers to Harlingen. The fact that Harlingen, like the entire Valley, lies on a flat flood plain–which is lower than the height of the river in flood–makes flooding inevitable, a fluid serpent in the garden of paradise. In September 1904, two months after the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway inaugurated train service through Harlingen, a flood collapsed the wooden trestle bridge over the Arroyo. Rail service stopped for 28 days while another wooden bridge was erected. In 1909, the Arroyo rose high enough to splash the tracks of the utilitarian metal bridge built in 1905. That 495-foot-long span held then and during destructive floods of the next 100 years. In the newly-incorporated town, rainwater pooled on the flat dirt streets. Wooden walkways laid across intersections barely kept pedestrians above the water and mud during rainy season. The wooden walks were extended to Central Ward School when it opened in 1912 at Jackson and what became Sixth. The city invested its first $2,000 in drainage lines to the Arroyo.
Opposite page: In 1909, the Arroyo Colorado in flood rose high enough to threaten the railroad bridge which sits 38 feet above normal stream level.The metal bridge built in 1905 has withstood more than a century of deluges. Above: Boats and wooden walkways helped residents navigate flooded streets in 1909 at the intersection of the railroad tracks and West Van Buren. Below:The Labor Day Hurricane of 1933 devastated the city and the surrounding farms.
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T h e 1 9 3 3 L a b o r D ay Hurricane pounded Harlingen for 15 hours. According to local legend, neighbors on “Silk Stocking R ow ” sheltered in the Hoskins home at 618 East Taylor. They slung ropes over the attic beams and when the wind rose, all pulled down to keep the roof on. Although embellished in the retelling, this tale illustrates how the community survived by “pulling together.” In 1928, John Phillip Sousa and his 80-man band played at the Municipal Auditorium. Destroyed by the 1933 Hurricane, it re-opened in 1936 to welcome stellar entertainers: Heifitz, Rubenstein, and the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo.
The high school built 11 years earlier was completely destroyed along with the west side “Negro” school. The hurricane demolished the nearly-new Municipal Auditorium and the Valley Mid-Winter Fair exhibition hall. An eyewitness from Austin reported: Power poles were all snapped off at ground level. Store fronts were blown out... The Arroyo Colorado was so far out of its banks that I could not see the other side. I have never seen such destruction in my life. A San Antonio headline proclaimed, “Harlingen Wiped Away!” It was a near thing. The county's toll was 8,000 homeless, dozens dead, millions in damage. Cabbage and citrus rotted in the mud left behind. From Houston and San Antonio, relief trains rushed in with supplies, food and water, doctors and nurses. At Valley Baptist Hospital on “F” Street, two large tents were packed with cots to handle the less critical cases: broken bones, gashes and wounds from flying debris. Schools opened on October 2, but the damage took years to overcome.
Heavy rains turned city streets into rivers, like here near the Missouri Pacific depot in the 1950s.
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Seasonal storms caused flooding over the next 30 years, usually drying out within a few days. Then Beulah blew into town on September 20, 1967. A Category 3 hurricane, Beulah dumped 30" of rain on the Valley. The Arroyo rapidly rose 25 feet above the normal stream level causing widespread, catastrophic
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Above: Furniture placed on the rooftops of these Parkwood homes escaped Beulah's flood waters, but little else in the neighborhood did. Left: Flood water from Hurricane Beulah rampaged through Harlingen, nearly submerging the Expressway over the Arroyo Colorado at Rangerville Road.
AT THE CROSSROADS:
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flooding. The damage was horrendous: roof-deep water in the Parkwood subdivision, ruined water mains at Rangerville Road, rural homes without power for three weeks. Amphibious vehicles rescued and ferried residents through flood waters. Agricultural losses for the Valley were over $200 million.
HURRICANE DOLLY: “I THOUGHT THIS ONLY HAPPENED IN THE MOVIES.”
In the howl of the wind and pelting rain, a giant hackberry crashed across the narrow neighborhood street.The first lull in the storm brought out the neighbors–young and old, male and female,Anglo and Hispanic.Wearing yellow raincoats or green ponchos and toting chain saws, they worked together cutting up the tree and clearing the road. “I thought this only happened in the movies,” said one grinning neighbor.
On April 5, 1991, the morning skies opened and 17 to 20 inches of rain fell on Harlingen in only six hours. Downtown, Palm Valley,Treasure Hills, the airport: all were inundated. Once again flood waters had no place to go. Over 3,000 cars were submerged and thousands of homes flooded. This “once-in-500-years” flood and the seasonal floods led to eventual passage of ambitious bonds to upgrade the drainage system.
Hurricane Dolly on July 23, 2008, brought the Category 2 experience to a new generation. Downed power lines were tangled in the branches of thousands of trees uprooted by 11 to 14 inches of rain or shattered by 90 mph winds. The wind ripped roofs open and exploded windows. Interiors of businesses, homes and public buildings were soaked by flooding and wind-driven rain.The hum of chain saws and gas generators filled Harlingen for a week. Convoys of electrical line crews arrived to replace downed poles and power lines. Cell phones kept information flowing. Disaster relief supplied water and meals. City and contract crews picked up in two months the equivalent of 17 years of brush and debris– 158,000 cubic yards. Despite millions in damage, no lives were lost.
FREEZES
The young and young-at-heart played in the snow on Christmas Day 2004.
When a blue norther blows into Harlingen, residents are reminded they live in the sub-tropics, not the tropics. For citrus, sugar cane and tropical plant growers, plunging temperatures bring potential disaster. If the temperature stays below 28 degrees for four hours or longer, most of those crops are ruined. The January 1951 freeze killed 75 percent of the area's citrus trees. The sound of the frozen trees splitting and breaking was likened to rifle shots. On Christmas 1983, the temperature dropped to a record low of 19. For 62
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straight hours, the temperature never rose above freezing. Seventy percent of the citrus crop was still on the trees. The younger trees froze and shattered; most of the fruit was destroyed.
During the 1951 freeze, palms and citrus were coated in ice.
The freeze of 1989 was worse. From December 22-24, Harlingen stayed below freezing for 65 consecutive hours with the temperature plummeting to 17 at one point. Citrus damages amounted to $40 million. Ten thousand acres of sugar cane froze so badly they were unsalvageable and what was harvested had yield reduced by one-third, for a $30 million loss. Nurseries lost $15 million and vegetable growers $3 million. While citrus had covered 125,000 Valley acres in 1947, urbanization and the 1983 freeze had reduced acreage to 35,000 by early 1989. One year later, only 17,000 acres of citrus remained Valleywide. Some growers replaced the destroyed trees with new varieties; many others abandoned the industry. In 2004, Harlingen awoke to a White Christmas.Although the city's first recorded snowfall singed tropical plants, the cold lasted briefly and did not damage crops. 27
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FIRES Harlingen's early frame homes, with wood stoves in their kitchens and lanterns for illumination, tempted fate and courted flames. Frequent fires prompted a frontier fire alarm: the firing of a gun into the air to summon help. That worked well, except for New Year's Eve 1909 when Dr. Cole's house caught on fire. The prolonged train whistle and gunshots were mistakenly assumed to be holiday celebrations. In 1910, the city's new mayor organized a volunteer Bucket Brigade, which dipped rainwater from barrels. Its purpose was not to save burning houses and stores but to prevent the flames from spreading to nearby buildings. By 1912, with a new water system and a few fire hydrants, 10 men organized a volunteer fire department. The first fire marshal, Fred Chambers, was paid $12 per year.
The Pioneer's Building, built in 1915 on the site of Santos Lozano's first general store, was destroyed by fire in 2004.
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In 1919, the city banned new wooden buildings downtown and removed fire hazards.The firemen acquired their first water pumper in 1922, with the city's utilities manager, E.C.Bennett, as the driver and equipment boss. Four years later, a paid fire department and a new fire station put firefighting on a professional level. As Harlingen grew, substations opened across the city. The Ladies Auxiliary formed in 1930 to serve coffee and doughnuts to firefighters and to help families whose homes burned. Fires steal memories–from the family mementoes destroyed when a house goes up in flames to the shared attachment lost when a favorite store or theater burns.The brick Pioneer's Building, built by Santos Lozano in 1915 to house his
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growing mercantile business, was destroyed by fire in 2004. On that site, Lozano Plaza has become a gathering place, just like the old building where dances and meetings had been held upstairs. It appears inevitable that water and wind, fire and ice will visit destruction on Harlingen again. Historic weather patterns show a major storm hits Harlingen every 25 to 30 years. But in the face of new calamities, the people of Harlingen will help each other and again survive the challenge.
Harlingen's Fire Department, which grew from a 1910 Bucket Brigade, put out this house fire in 2004.
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SHAPING THE COMMUNITY
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utside family, it is schools, churches, and associations that most shape the character and destiny of Harlingen residents.These pillars of the community – the institutions as well as their members – occupy special places in the hearts and minds of those who grew up under their influence in Harlingen.
SCHOOLS
Grade school students, who had been attending classes in makeshift rooms, moved into the Central Ward School in April 1912. 30
Over the last 100 years, Harlingen school children have gone from slates to computers.They all memorized the times tables and important dates, prepared for spelling tests and book reports, and waited for recess...and report cards.The older students joined clubs, spread their wings, and made lifelong friends. Tellingly, the frame structure that went up in 1905 next to Lon Hill's new Harlingen home was a schoolhouse.That September, 14 students–seven of them Hill relatives–met for classes. Even before that, parents were paying teachers to
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hold classes. In 1899 on the Wilson tract, T.S. Avery built a one-room school and ferried students to class in a wagon. By 1903, children living at La Providencia Ranch had Marguerita Villarreal as their teacher. By 1907, Jesusa Garcia was teaching 12 to15 Hispanic students on West Harrison. The Harlingen School Board formed in 1909. On “E” Street, they built the Benito Juarez school, also known as the Mexican School, for Spanishsur named students. The school expanded to a second story before the first permanent school for Anglos was completed. Until 1912, Anglo children attended public school classes in makeshift venues–rooms above a saloon, at one point, and in churches like the Tabernacle, which had lift-up side panels instead of windows. In 1911, the School Board paid Hill $3,500 for a site “out in the country” where the brick Main School, also known as Central Ward, was built on East Jackson. With two stories and a half-basement, the school held classes for first through eleventh grade. Its auditorium, which seated 300, was used for lunch, assemblies and city events. In April 1912, the principal rang the large school bell for the first time and Central Ward classes began. By the next year, the school had enough students to field a 14-man football team. Younger children came to the school (now the Matz Building) on weekends to play on the tube-shaped fire escapes that ran from the second and third floors down to the playground. The half-tubes echoed with shrieks as kids crawled to the top for a fast slide down. In 1912, Sacred Heart of Mary Immaculate Catholic Church opened an elementary school in a frame house with 48 students. Other church-based schools opened through the years. By 1921, public school enrollment was 534. The city grew rapidly with the influx of landseekers in the 1920s. New schools opened at North and South
By 1923, school enrollment was soaring, crowding students at Central Ward on Jackson and the Mexican School on “E” Street.
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Mrs. Lee Means' second grade class at Bonham Elementary in 1956.
Girls prepare for their First Communion at Immaculate Heart Church in 1957.
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Ward, (the latter with a fabulous colored frieze of snakes), along with a high school on Tyler. By 1928, over 2,200 students were enrolled and being taught by 70 teachers. A $350,000 senior high school opened in 1930 on 13th Street. In 1958, the building became Vernon Junior High, when the new Harlingen High School opened on Marshall. Booker T.Washington School opened for black students in 1934 but was integrated by 1955. To celebrate the Texas Centennial in 1936, city schools were renamed: Travis, Sam Houston,Austin, Bowie and Alamo.Around 1940, the school district added the twelfth grade. Despite the closing of the military base in 1961, more elementary and middle schools were built as the population grew.The biggest change occurred in 1993 when Harlingen High School South gave the Cardinals a crosstown rival. Post-secondary public education arrived in 1967 with the John Connally Texas State Technical Institute, which evolved into Texas State Technical College with over 6,000 students. Students in Harlingen's 27 public schools and six private schools continue to absorb academic and life lessons, building a strong foundation for tomorrow's challenges.
CHURCHES The school house next to the Hills' home doubled as a Sunday school and welcomed the occasional missionary or circuit rider. Religious-minded people also gathered in vacant rooms and arbors to worship. On Van Buren, the Tabernacle was used for several Protestant services until each denomination 32
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First United Methodist Church's Cherub Choir in 1960.
reached critical mass to form its own church. Hill in his town plat had designated corner lots for churches, and he donated the land to different Protestant denominations as they formed. First in 1909 was the Missionary Baptist Church, which became the First Baptist.The next year saw the establishment of the First Presbyterian Church, the First Methodist, which put up the first brick church, and the Sacred Heart of Mary Immaculate Catholic chapel. The churches felt the impact of the unsettling 1915-16 bandit raids. The Methodists lost 45 members and only gained three. Nevertheless, church members met to worship and sing praise, to supply moral guidance and provide comfort for funerals, and to join in the celebrations of weddings, baptisms and confirmations, thereby providing continuity between the generations. Congregations created Sunday schools, children and youth programs, and elementary schools for their younger members. Wednesday services and interdenominational Bible study groups nourished active, daily faith.
A visiting rabbi talks to members of the Temple Beth Israel congregation including Ben Levine (seated) and Ruth Kirsch in 1957.
The Jewish Temple, designed by architect John York, was dedicated in 1951. Leading by example, Harlingen's 68 houses of worship extend charity to the less fortunate. Churches represent, for many, the backbone of the community. 33
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The Volunteer Fire Department, which received its first fire truck in 1922, posed in front of the WittenbachEmbee Building.
ASSOCIATIONS
The Harlingen Garden Club, led by President Sue Smith from 1967-69, beautified the city's private and public landscapes.
The women of the Harlingen Civic Club aimed to beautify the city in 1912.Their success brought them commendations from the City Commission... and a request to do more. The same year the Volunteer Fire Department organized. Between 1915 and 1930, Harlingen blossomed with new organizations. The Harlingen Study Club, a literary society, collected books and bookcases and in 1927 turned them over to the city as the first library. The group supported well baby clinics and funded student loans. County home demonstration clubs gave rural women an opportunity to socialize and learn. The Better Harlingen Club, which became the Harlingen Garden Club, landscaped Fair Park and the USO Patio, among their projects.
From Harlingen's earliest day, like-minded people have gathered to socialize, work together, learn and improve the community.The affinity groups, united by professional, cultural, fraternal or service interests, faithfully followed their self-assigned themes and projects.
The Campfire Girls, Boys Scouts and 4-H began molding future leaders while the American Legion,
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Rotary, Shriners, Kiwanis, Eastern Star, and Masons helped develop and improve the community through service. The Music Lovers Club and the Fine Arts Club brought cultural stimulation through performances and exhibitions. In 1938, Hispanic women formed a garden group called the Bougainvillea Club. In 1939, early Winter Texans created the Harlingen Tourist Club which grew to over 1,200 members.
Miss Estela Martinez, 1935 LULAC Queen. (League of United Latin American Citizens).
After World Wa r I I , t h e Afflatus Club sponsored TB clinics, and the new Junior Service League aided the county TB hospital and local welfare organizations. Through thrift shops and balls, they funded a children's wing at the library and, in 1959, the operation of the Cameron Country Crippled Children's Center. From Club Social Amigos and the Six Shooter Club (Harlingen's official hosts) to Harlingen Proud, PEO, and the Harlingen Historical Preservation Society, affinity groups have fostered individual growth and the betterment of the community.Through the efforts of the city's numerous associations, the quality of life in Harlingen has been enriched.
In 1966,Tom Mason and other Lions raised money to buy eyeglasses for needy children.
Daisy Girl Scouts studied ladybugs before releasing them in a Harlingen park.
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Julian Villarreal opened his West Van Buren dry goods store around 1910. Street paving started in 1921.
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OPEN FOR BUSINESS
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Small farm acreages, known as one- or two-mule farms, raised tons of cabbages.
n the spring of 1904, Lon Hill laid out a town site that hugged the railroad line destined to run through the public and private lands he had purchased north of the Arroyo Colorado. Sited 25 miles from Brownsville, the nearest population center, Harlingen was close to the middle of nowhere. Yet Hill was convinced he had a combination that was irresistible to farmers: productive soil, water, and semi-tropical climate plus railways to haul the crops to market. He and his spin-off companies would sell town and country tracts, irrigation water, and the lumber and bricks to build the town. Harlingen looked like the promised land to businessmen as well as farmers, with prosperity just around the corner. Successful farmers were going to need farm implements, shoes, banks, and much more. In 1906, Santos Lozano opened the first general store on Jackson. Water carriers hauled barrels of well water to the first residents, while new saloons slaked other thirsts. The railroad built a two-story hotel at Fordyce, now First, and Harrison. South Texas Lumber Company bought Hill's lumberyard in 1908.
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The lumberyard, now Zarksy's Lumber, is the oldest continuously-operating business in Harlingen and played a part in the construction of its earliest buildings. Other businesses–a barber shop, blacksmith, real estate sales–trickled into the town as the population inched up to 1,000 in 1910.The Commercial Club, forerunner of the Harlingen Chamber of Commerce, built its office at Commerce and Monroe before the town was incorporated. As more farmers bought 10- to 40-acre tracts to grow cotton or cabbages, more businesses opened to cater to their needs: new banks, a dairy, grain companies. By 1917, two theaters were showing silent movies. Thomas Lee was distributing promotional brochures across the Midwest for his “Home of the Golden Fruit” farmland. He built what became the Stuart Place Community Clubhouse to entertain land seekers who arrived in Harlingen twice a month on chartered Pullmans from St. Louis. By 1919, land prices had soared. Buyers paid $206 an acre for land Hill had acquired for $1.25 an acre in 1903.
“HOWLING GIN” ON THE ARROYO
“Howling Gin” became the city's nickname as bountiful cotton crops led to more cotton gins.
The 1920s brought boom times to a boom town, thanks to the thriving agricultural sector. Harlingen's new nickname of “Howling Gin” acknowledged cotton was king and proved it with five cotton gins which processed more than 12,000 bales of cotton one year. The success of vegetable
Established in the Valley in 1909, Grimsell's is still run by the same family.
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In the days before self-service stores, clerks at Cole's pulled grocery items down for customers.
growers led to more packing sheds, canning plants and ice plants. Harlingen produced more ice than any place in Texas. In 1922, barber Federico Lopez opened Valley Barber Supply, and watchmaker R. B. Roberts opened his jewelry store, pursuing the American dream of business ownership. Fulton Jones changed his business from ice delivery to moving and storage. During the 1920s, Sears, Roebuck, and Company and F.W. Woolworth opened along with locally-owned businesses like Hygeia Milk Products and a business college. Doctors, lawyers, and other professionals eagerly leased space in the new nine- and five-story Baxter and Wittenbach buildings which had given the town an impressive skyline.
Prospective farm buyers, enticed to Harlingen by land agents like Charles Ladd, marveled at the winter crops.
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By 1928, Harlingen had 128 businesses. Missouri Pacific had moved its regional repair yard to Harlingen, and Southern Pacific had erected a classic depot.The landseekers, enticed by 18 land companies, kept arriving: 700 in January 1927; nearly 3,700 in January 1929. Freezes and droughts tempered residents' exuberance, momentarily. Then the Depression arrived in the Valley. Everyone suffered, although farmers had food to eat and to trade. Car dealer Lewis Boggus, grocery magnate Howard E. Butt and newspaper owner McHenry Tichenor were cash poor, too, and mutually exchanged advertising, groceries, and car services. Stanley B. Crockett started what would become the Valley's largest citrus nursery. Rationing during World War II limited what could be sold: no cars, no tires, little sugar. But much of Harlingen thrived as 48,000 aerial gunners trained at the Army's HAGS and came into town. For example, the Alvarez family ordered beer by the carload for El Patio, their West Jackson restaurant. Off-duty soldiers chowed down on their 65-cent steak specials and tipped young Roy Alvarez well. The GIs had probably caught a bus into Harlingen, taking advantage of Vance Raimond's new Valley Transit Company.
Barbershops, which were among Harlingen's earliest businesses, have always been good places for catching up on the latest news.
Growers agreed to pay cotton pickers 75 cents per 100-pound bag in 1928 to avoid labor disputes.
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Harlingen, long a produce packing center, later became a shrimp packing hub by 1947, handling more than one-third of U.S. shrimp.
POST-WAR PROSPERITY After the war, ambitious Harlingen residents moved up the ladder of success. One-time laborers took advantage of the bracero program and went into business as labor contractors. New shops like Army Surplus Supply and Dairy Queen opened. Then Air Force families came to town, triggering a surge of new businesses including Pratt Insurance, Hurricane Fence and many dress shops. Mrs. Phil Edie presided over the cash register at Phil's Grill, 1946.
The new Port of Harlingen provided low cost transportation for commodities. The expanded Valley Baptist Hospital opened and fostered a rising tide of healthcare businesses.Tourists arrived for huge RV rallies and golf tournaments, and some stayed for the winter at Palm Gardens, patronizing local stores. The closing of Harlingen Air Force Base in 1962 doomed many retailers and service businesses. Refusing to let the community sink into oblivion and decay, the Chamber of Commerce, business owners and city leaders once again promoted Harlingen's enduring assets: location, climate. A grassroots, pro-active “Go Harlingen� campaign initiated an era of cautious growth.
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Closer ties to Mexico brought new customers, but made Harlingen susceptible to peso devaluations, a boom and bust cycle. The opening of Sun Valley and Valle Vista malls brought in new retailers, but shuttered others downtown.
Harlingen-made Atlas launch vehicles headed into space, courtesy of Lockheed-Martin.
The 1970s saw major textile plants like Levi’s and William Carter open in Harlingen and raise the income levels of many families. The city's economic development arm aggressively courted other manufacturing companies in order to diversify Harlingen's economy. General Dynamics arrived in 1989 and Fruit of the Loom in 1990, although the latter, in fact, marked the last gasp of the American cut-and-sew industry. When the textile industry left town, Texas State Technical College provided job training programs for 21st century skills. Southwest Airlines chose Harlingen as its first expansion airport, bolstering the city's status as a transportation hub. In the 1990s, NAFTA and the opening of Harlingen's jointly-owned Free Trade Bridge propelled the growth of companies like Valley International Cold Storage, Mesa Precision and Reveille Trucking: logistics, warehousing firms, and industrial park manufacturers. The use of financial incentives, derived from sales tax revenue, to attract new businesses generated controversy. Existing businesses complained when subsidized manufacturers came in and again when they closed down, victims of the global economy.
Shopping at Baker’s Shoes, 1948.
Agriculture began to lose its primacy, particularly after the 1983 and 1989 freezes. By 1990, the Valley's citrus acreage was only 13 percent of what it had been 40 years earlier. Urbanization and declining profits squeezed many cotton and vegetable farms out of business. Newly sprouted subdivisions edged fields of milo as H a r l i n g e n s t aye d o n t r a c k t o i n c re a s e i t s population more than 30 percent between 1990 and 2010.Yet its cost of living remained considerably below the national average. 41
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Day's Drug, shown in the 1950s, was the place to meet friends and grab an ice cream soda or Blue Plate special.
Dr. Claudia Vazquez sees patients at the Family Practice Center of Valley Baptist Medical CenterHarlingen.
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By 2007, Harlingen had 3,026 establishments which employed 31,300 individuals. The city listed 340 retailers and 332 healthcare establishments. Retail sales totaled over $800 million that year, pumping sales tax revenue into city coffers. Boosted by the presence of the Regional Academic Health Center (RAHC), Su Clinica Familiar,Valley Baptist Medical Center, Harlingen Medical Center, and specialty clinics, the healthcare industry became Harlingen's largest private employer.The impact of the healthcare sector was visible in the growing number of medical services from pharmacies to home health agencies. In recent years, local companies, such as Valley Transit and MacPherson's Phar mac y, have been purchased by national corporations but still maintain their Harlingen roots and leader ship. Change has remained constant, as entrepreneurs and small businesses continue to provide a strong bac kbone for Harlingen's economy.
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HERITAGE COMPANIES IN BUSINESS FOR OVER 50YEARS
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he potential for success, for making a profit, has brought many businesses to Harlingen.The companies listed here were in business during Harlingen's 50th anniversary event in 1960.They survived hurricanes, economic hard times, and changing demands to be on hand for Harlingen's Centennial Celebration. Grimsell's, founded in 1909, is the oldest business still in the same family. The city's oldest continuously-operated business began in 1907 as Lon Hill's lumberyard. South Texas Lumber Company bought the enterprise in 1908 and sold it to Zarsky's in 1994. CURRENT BUSINESS NAME
OPENED
Abash Insect Control 1946 Acosta Muniz Rio Grande Pharmacy 1929 formerly Rio Grande Pharmacy Adams & Graham Attorneys at Law 1958 Alamo Concrete Products 1941 formerly Valley Ready Mix Alexandre's Jewelry 1957 AOC 1936 Army Surplus Supply Co. 1946 Arroyo Animal Hospital 1953 Associated General Contractors 1949 Bahnman Realty 1952 Bert Ogden Harlingen 1939 formerly Ferguson Motors Blue Top Taxi 1948 Boggus Ford 1933 Bonner & Bonner, Attorneys at Law 1957 Borchers Electric 1958 Border States Electric 1930 formerly Bush Supply Co. Bowman Distributing Co. Inc. 1949 Burkholder & Burkholder, DDS 1954 Burton Auto Supply 1950 Carey Sheet Metal 1948 C & H News Company 1938 Checker Cab Company 1959 Circle Industries 1949 Cole's The Cash Register Co. 1959 Commercial Hotel 1937 CPL 1919 Creasey's Bowl 1957 formerly Rio Grande Bowl CVS Pharmacy 1937 formerly MacPherson's Pharmacy Dabney Hall Insurance Agency 1935 Dairy Queen 1950 Edelstein's 1925 El Jardin 1947 Elliff Motors 1944 F Street Dairy Bar 1946 formerly Hygeia Dairy
Farmers Insurance Group 1954 Feldman's Valleywide 1938 Firestone 1926 George Cunningham Co., Inc. 1955 Gillman Chevrolet of Harlingen 1938 formerly Knapp Chevrolet Godwin & Son Signs 1946 Grimsell Seed Company 1909 Harlingen Area Teachers' Credit Union 1954 Harlingen Chamber of Commerce 1921 Harlingen Country Club 1949 Harlingen Monument Co. 1940 Harlingen Realty Company 1951 HEB 1936 Hicks Oil & Butane Company 1929 Hilco 1938 formerly W. Edgar Johnston Hop Shop 1951 Hurricane Fence Company 1954 JC Penney 1929 J & N Auto Air Conditioning 1957 Jones Moving & Storage 1922 Kay's Bokay Flower Shop 1956 KGBT-TV 4 1953 La Turno Printing 1939 Lara's Bakery 1957 Laura's Flowers & Gifts 1951 formerly Valdez Flower Shop Long Chilton LLP 1951 formerly Long Chilton Payte Hardin Luby's Cafeteria 1948 Mason & Company 1950 formerly MW Behner Insurance Mat Co. 1952 McCullough & McCullough Attorneys 1960 Mion Terrazo,Tile & Marble Co. 1949 National Rent-a-Car 1955 Nott & Associates P.C. 1955 Palace Barber Shop 1937
Palm Gardens 1939 Pittman & Davis 1926 Pratt Insurance Agency 1956 Rainbo Baking Company 1930 formerly Valley Baking Company Red's Garage 1941 Reddy Ice 1929 formerly Valley Electric & Ice Rio Elevator Company, Inc. 1951 Rio Grande Equipment Company 1951 Rio Grande Flooring 1942 formerlyYarborough's Rio Grande Valley Abstract 1959 formerly Valley Abstract RN Jones Agency 1933 Roberts Jewelry 1922 Sears Roebuck & Co. 1928 Sechrist-Hall Company 1935 Sherwin Williams Company 1946 Drs. Shepard & Shepard 1954 Shipley's Donuts 1958 Southwestern Bell 1931 Stacey Mitchell Cleaners 1952 Terminex 1939 Texas Insurance Managers 1948 formerly Klopfenstein Insurance TexSteel 1958 Idris Traylor Cotton Company 1946 TriPak Machinery 1934 Valley Baptist Medical CenterHarlingen 1925 Valley Barber & Beauty Supply 1922 Valley Children's Clinic 1949 Valley Coop Oil Mill 1946 Valley Morning Star 1909 Valley Transit 1941 White Cleaners 1950 Zales Jewelers 1952 Zarsky Lumber 1907 formerly South Texas Lumber & Supply 43
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Frank Ferree, who devoted his life to aiding the hungry and homeless, received the Presidential Award for his volunteer services with Border Relief.
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CARING FOR OTHERS
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elping others, looking out for people in need, requires a generous heart. Harlingen abounds in professionals who provide care at hospitals,nursing homes, and agencies like Loaves and Fishes. Police and fire departments are equally committed to protecting and rescuing Harlingen residents.In tandem, countless individuals volunteer their time, energy and funds to lighten the burden of those who need shelter and food, comforting and counseling. Together professionals and volunteers form an essential community safety net that is able to sustain individuals and families going through rough times. 44
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From its earliest days, Harlingen has been distinguished by compassionate individuals who saw a need and found a solution. During the 1919 smallpox epidemic, stricken individuals were quarantined out at the Salty Lonesome camp on the Arroyo Colorado where they were nursed by family members. Mrs. Santos Lozano died there after tending her family. In 1923 on “F� Street, nurse Marie Yeager and Ida Gilbert created Harlingen's first hospital using abandoned army buildings. Two years later Valley Baptist opened its first hospital. For 40 years, Frank Ferree, known as the Border Angel, aided the homeless and hungry through Border Relief. From those beginnings, Harlingen has developed as a healthcare hub centered on Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen, the region's largest hospital. Su Clinica Familiar, Harlingen Medical Center, the Regional Academic Health Center's medical school and residency programs, the South Texas Veterans Health Center
Above: Two women opened Harlingen's first hospital in 1923, charging patients $5 a day. Below:After the 1933 hurricane devastated Harlingen, disaster relief crews arrived from Houston and San Antonio with food, water and huge tents which went up next to Valley Baptist to shelter the less seriously injured.
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The Junior League organized a children's summer reading program at the library.
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and the Rio Grande State Center/South Texas Health Care System all address medical needs. It's not surprising that the healthcare sector is the city's largest employer.
Today, Harlingen is blessed with dozens of service clubs and organizations whose volunteers commit to supporting charitable services. Rotary was the city's first service club, established in 1922.The Lions, Kiwanis, Optimists, Junior League, and Jaycees are among the many groups that have contributed to those in need. Hundreds of individuals serve on the boards of the Salvation Army, PETRA GUTIERREZ: DELIVERING THOUSANDS the Ronald McDonald House, the In 1924, Petra Gutierrez became a Harlingen midwife. She only Alzheimer Association, Boys & stopped 40 years later when she delivered her grandson. Petra helped Girls Club, the American Heart bring thousands of babies into the world, staying with women in labor Association, and City Advisory round-the-clock. She kept them walking until it was time to deliver Boards. They work as Girl Scout and offered them herbal remedies such as cumin tea for protracted and Boy Scout leaders and coach labor. Petra shared her wisdom by training others, including her youth academic and athletic teams. daughter, Francisca Sanchez, who practiced midwifery for about 20 They serve meals at the HEB years, stopping soon after the delivery of her great-grandson. Midwives Feast of Sharing, clean up the city cemetery, plant trees and do so often took fruits and vegetables in partial payment of their fees. much more. 46
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And the kindness goes on. Neighbors organize barbecues to benefit families overwhelmed by medical crises. Caregivers arrange their lives to tend ill family members. Volunteer s are quick to organize disaster relief efforts. Harlingen, indeed, is all heart, deep in the south of Texas.
Above: Harlingen's major service organizations, here at the Casa del Sol, support nonprofits in assisting people who need a helping hand. Left: Even the youngest benefit from fire safety lessons.
For the Harlingen Police Department, keeping children safe includes education.
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TIME OFF
Above: Everyone loves a parade with high-kicking twirlers, whether to celebrate the Valley Mid-Winter Fair in 1948, an Air Show, or the Fourth of July. Right: In 1960, Sammy's Drive-In at 13th Street was one of the after-school spots to see and be seen, to meet and eat. 48
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fter caring for others, shaping the community, finishing work, and dealing with floods, freezes and fires, everyone is ready for time off. Taking time to relax–to play and forget about responsibilities and cares–is essential for restoring the spirit and the body. Many pastimes and hobbies are influenced by family and the locale.The simple pleasures, laughter, and excitement that linger in memories arise from sharing music and food, going to sporting events and cultural performances, enjoying the outdoors and family parties.
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FOOD, FRIENDS AND FAMILIES For many, Day's Drug, Richard's Gold Room, Sorrento, Hi-Way Inn at Four Corners, Clyde’s and Sammy's were the preferred places to meet and eat as teens and adults. Mention of those establishments triggers memories of days gone by, a mutual history. Preparing and sharing food is perhaps the most enduring of all cultural traditions, from families eating watermelon on the porch on summer nights to friends hanging out at a soda fountain. The bonding is there when barbecuing with friends, making cookies or tamales at Christmas, and in the gathering of the entire family for a Thanksgiving feast. Eating gives people excuses to sit down and talk, creating links to the past and the other times they were together. Once television came along, local celebrities, like husband and wife KGBT-TV reporters Frank and Hilda Sullivan, became part of everyone's extended families. The Sullivans knew it took them twice as long to have a meal out, because so
Richard's Gold Room hosted thousands of banquets, receptions, and parties.
TIME OUT FOR FOOD AND FRIENDS During World War II, a jalopy spelled freedom for Harlingen High School students who had little interest in cafeteria food. “One friend had a Model A Ford with a rumble seat, a fun car,” Frank Boggus recalled.“We'd all pile in and go downtown for lunch.” The boys' destination was either Day's Drug, the Hi-Way Inn or the Boo-Koo. The Hi-Way Inn, which had a 50-cent fried chicken plate, figured out how to attract more teenagers. It offered all-you-can-eat meals to high school football players since their friends were sure to tag along.The Boo-Koo lunch counter served 10-cent hamburgers with nickel sodas. After school, the Rio Grande Pharmacy had banana splits on special at 15 cents instead of a quarter.
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RV rallies at Fair Park during the 1960s and 1970s drew hundreds of visitors to Harlingen.
Beginning in 1939, the Tourist Club provided numerous activities for winter visitors including shuffleboard tournaments complete with prizes.
Summer spells swimming at a city pool, like Fair Park, or the beach, although earliest residents swam in the Arroyo Colorado.
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many fans would come over to say hello. Everyone's circles of acquaintances grew through Little League and soccer games and other events. The pastimes of youth–playgrounds and karate classes–gave way to teenagers' dances (swing or rock or hip-hop) and cruising. Adults gravitated to clubs such as gardening or genealogy, and they participated in and attended sports
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Nothing says lovin' like pan dulce fresh from the ovens of Lara's Mexican Bakery.
tournaments and concerts.Visitors also liked camaraderie. At the Tourist Club, founded in 1939, up to 1,600 members congregated to play shuffleboard and cards in the days before RV parks had activity centers. SWEET TREATS REMEMBERED The questions “Do you want to go to the island?” and “Do you want to go to Mexico for dinner and a drink?” simply meant “Are you ready to have a good time?”
Born in 1921, Mildred Williams Bennett grew up on the family farm outside of Harlingen. Living way out, near Rangerville Road, the family drove their black Ford into town infrequently. Mildred never forgot the trips to a Jackson Street tent store called Sawdust Trail.“It was a big deal to have a store-bought ice cream cone which cost a nickel.”
SPORTS Harlingen's earliest residents–railroad construction crews and lawmen–amused themselves with target practice near the new train depot. That earned the village the nickname “Six-shooter Junction.” Swimmers in the Arroyo Colorado bestowed the name “Naked Boys Bend” on a favorite beach. Hunting and fishing provided both diversion and food for the table. During Harlingen's first 100 years, pastimes multiplied to include ball teams, golfers and skateboarders.
In the 1930s the Harlingen Cardinals football team sent its first player to the pros.
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Right:The 1924 football team posed in front of the new Harlingen High School which was destroyed by the 1933 Hurricane. Below:These majorettes were among the last to attend high school in this building, which in 1958 became Vernon Junior High.
In 1913, the year after Harlingen opened Central Ward School, a football team formed and so did a girls' volleyball team. While the uniforms of 95 years ago look strange, the enthusiasm and energy of long-ago high school sports would be recognizable today. Friday night football continues to dominate the fall community calendar. The entertainment of watching athletes and cheering on the home team, combined with the chance to visit with acquaintances, guarantees big crowds. For a few Harlingen athletes, the games represented a ticket to college; for three Harlingen Cardinals, it brought pro careers. Jimmy Lawrence (Class of 1931), played for the Green Bay Packers and Chicago. More recently, Johnnie Jackson won a Super Bowl ring with the San Francisco 49ers and Leo Araguz became a punter/kicker for Baltimore and Oakland.
Harlingen High graduates Leo Araguz, right, and Johnnie Jackson, center, played football on pro teams. Jackson won a Super Bowl ring. Below: In 1978, the city's municipal golf course was renamed the Tony Butler Municipal Golf Course in honor of the beloved golf pro. Below right:The 1948 Hi-Way Inn softball team played against teams from across South Texas.
Back home, the annual Battle of the Arroyo against San Benito and the Bird Bowl, pitting the Harlingen High School Cardinals against the Harlingen High School South Hawks, sustain alumni who relive the games of their youth. Other sports teams, such as swimming, golf, and tennis, also captured the public's interest, particularly as girls' sports expanded under Title IX.Among the successes was Harlingen High basketball coach Cecil Owens who took his team to 11 district playoffs. Harlingen's numerous semi-pro baseball teams brought fans out to watch home runs and double plays by the Harlingen Lads, Cubs, WhiteWings, Capitols, Suns and the Giants farm 2 AT
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team. Major League stars Gaylord Perry and Manny Mota played at Harlingen Field. On lesser fields, thousands of Harlingen boys and girls donned uniforms to learn the arts of hitting, throwing, catching, and, most importantly, sportsmanship. Harlingen's year-round golfing has attracted both avid amateurs and golfing greats such as Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Sam Snead, and Harvey Penick. The municipal course is now named after longtime club pro Tony Butler who taught thousands how to play and play better during his 30 years there. Rounds at private courses and frequent charity tournaments lead up to the city's biggest golfing event, the Life Begins at 40 Tournament, initiated by Lew Bray in 1953.
Above:The Valley's colorful, exotic birds excite birders from around the world as well as local residents. Left:The Life Begins at 40 Golf Tournament was originally played at Tony Butler Golf Course.
Schools and clubs field enthusiastic soccer, basketball and tennis teams.
Adult soccer teams, tennis players, runners and cyclists also pursue fitness and athletic skills. Fitness centers cater to those who want to compete only with themselves. The time-honored avocations of fishing and hunting allow many to appreciate nature in the sub-tropics. Benefitting from Harlingen's stellar Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival and exotic native species like parrots, kiskadees, and chachalacas, birding has become one of the most widespread of pastimes. 53
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School dances, like thisVanity Fair-themed formal in 1952, transformed gyms into ballrooms.
Bands played on patios and rooftop terraces along Jackson Street from the 1930s to the 1950s.
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MOVIES, MUSIC, ART As an escape from reality, as entertainment, movies used to have no rivals. Harlingen's earliest theaters reeled off silent films until 1925. The Dreamland, Rex, Strand, Grande, Azteca, Arcadia, and Rialto entertained audiences and enthralled generations of children with westerns, romances, adventures and comedies: Tarzan,Vuelve Pancho Villa,The African Queen, Allรก en el Rancho Grande, Broken Arrow, South Pacific. In the 1950s, a dime bought a Tootsie Roll and admission to a Saturday afternoon double feature, maybe Gene Autry and Lash LaRue, plus a cartoon. Drive-in theaters drew large families to watch Davy Crockett movies and teenagers to neck. In 1999, Cinemark's 16-screen movie palace opened. With technology, a single projectionist now screens 16 films simultaneously. Music often defines and divides generations, marking the passage of time. A town band played in a long-gone bandstand during the 1910s. The spacious Harlingen Municipal Auditorium has resounded with the marches of John Phillip Sousa who led his 80-man band, with the arias of opera singers and the ballads of Tish Hinojosa, and with symphonies played by renowned orchestras. The musical variety of RioFest segued into the Blues on the Hill concerts in McKelvey Park.
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Fans of Pedro Armendariz lined up to get autographs from the movie star when he came to Harlingen.
Left:The Original Comets played at RioFest in 2005 and posed at the mural of Bill Haley, who led their group to rock and roll history. Haley died in Harlingen in 1981.
For proms, cotillions and quinceañeras, whatever the style–Big Band, country or rock–whatever the year, the music of dance bands, marching bands and jazz bands has kept the beat for Harlingen dancers and spectators.The South Texas Chorale, church choirs and mariachis have showcased talented singers for public entertainment. An amateur theater group began staging productions in 1930. By 1997, Harlingen Performing Arts Theatre offered actors a first-rate stage for their performances. Normah Knight became Harlingen's most celebrated painter. Her murals, such as the 65-foot-long Story of Bread and the classic Development of the Rio Grande Valley, depict colorful histories. Harlingen's mural trail provides the public with an ever-changing menu of more than 30 allegorical, whimsical and historical-themed artworks. The Harlingen Art Forum, founded in 1956, nurtures and promotes local artists, while individual artists maintain distinctive studios. The region's largest public art collection–paintings, multi-media and sculptures–is displayed at the Harlingen Public Library.
Prolific painter Normah Knight, right, used friends and family as models for figures in her murals including her sweeping Development of the Rio Grande Valley.
Angie Barrera (left) and Irma GuerreroVillarreal (right) worked the candy counter at the Rialto theater's opening of Thoroughly Modern Millie in 1967. 55
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For 30 years, the Valley Mid-Winter Fair, overflowing with implement dealers, livestock, and farm exhibits, dominated the city's event calendar.
Verna Jackson McKenna wrote and compiled the history of Harlingen for the official program of the Golden Anniversary in 1960.
Right: Pardners hopped aboard the Six Shooter Junction stagecoach for a ride into the past at the Harlingen theme park. 56
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EVENTS & ATTRACTIONS The Valley Mid-Winter Fair, organized by land developer Bob Stuart and W. T. Hodge in 1921, grew into a huge 10-day celebration enduring until the 1950s. Fair attendance climbed to 90,000 people, with crowds eager to see the parades, livestock and farm equipment shows, competitions for best jellies, cakes and pies, and the carnival midway complete with fan dancers. The extravaganza, which included formal dances, in its heyday rivaled in size the State Fair in Dallas. Harlingen's 50th Anniversary celebration in 1960 included a parade, the “Land of Beginning Again� pageant featuring a cast of hundreds, and the crowning of Martha Waitman as Jubilee Queen.The Brothers of the Brush tested their beardgrowing capabilities while the Celebration Ball put the spotlight on elegance. Youth Day, Bargain Days, and Neighbors Day involved the entire community. For decades, the community has united to celebrate Christmas and Independence Day with parades down Jackson Street. Airplane parades through town gave way to Armed Forces Day Open Houses a t H . A . F. B . T h e n t h e Confederate Air Force began restoring and proudly flying airplanes at Rebel Field. CAF Air Shows with air and ground displays of WWII
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flying machines and equipment captivated the crowds and put Harlingen on the map as an entertaining destination. For 25 years, RioFest provided an annual infusion of music, art and entertainment for all ages. Jackson Street Jubilee, which re-introduced people to downtown, gave way to monthly Market Days. Fair Park for many years had a small zoo with monkeys, goats and a kiddie train ride.The zoo disappeared by 1960. In 1974, Six Shooter Junction returned to life as a theme park along the Arroyo Colorado near Rangerville Road. Clyde Fincher and partners opened the 1880s western village which included a music hall, stagecoach rides, and a steam locomotive. The park's main attraction, a huge wooden dance hall, burned down after less than 10 years in business. Since then, other venues have provided entertainment: the Harlingen Arts and Heritage Museum, Valley Race Park, new sports complexes and nature parks. People in Harlingen, both natives and imports, know how to make their own entertainment and count on friends and family to take part in the good times.
Above: Spectacular CAF air shows attracted thousands each year to see restored warbirds in flight and in battle with mock Zero fighters. Left: RioFest brought art, music and live entertainment to Fair Park for 25 years.
A SHAGGY BOY STORY Harlingen's 50th Anniversary celebration included a beard-growing contest, so high school senior Menton Murray, Jr., grew his first beard for the event. When his priest told him that altar boys could not have beards, Menton protested to no avail. So the boy sent in his trump card, his mother, Betty Murray. The pastor refused to yield, until she said, “Jesus had a beard.� After the celebration, the future judge declined to grow another beard until the 100th anniversary. 57
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ARCHITECTURAL LANDMARKS
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arlingen's signature buildings went up during boom times – when innovative architects and ready cash were equally abundant. The Roaring 20s and agricultural-driven prosperity triggered the first wave of architectural distinction. In 1921, developers L.W. Hoskins and Miller Harwood started the transformation of a cotton field into “Silk Stocking Row.” Well-to-do families of farmers, retailers, and professionals (the Butts, Bogguses, Joyners, Berlys) lived in mansions modeled on Italian villas and luxurious Spanish and Southern Colonial homes.The neighborhood boasted the city's first private swimming pool and tennis courts. The Baxter Building, Harlingen's tallest, boasted two elevators and a roster of professional tenants when it opened in 1927.
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Doctors Alfred and Casper Letzerich had a drug store and their offices at the corner of Commerce and Jackson in what is now Harlingen's oldest (1910) brick building.
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Around 1930, Harlingen firemen paraded past the Municipal Auditorium and Lon C. Hill's home, on the right.
The Municipal Auditorium, an art deco marvel, opened in 1928. Its 3,000 seats filled for performances by opera singers, Broadway plays and notable speakers like explorer Richard Byrd.The Southern Pacific station went up near the grand new hotels and the nine-story Baxter Building, which was topped by a radio station. On West Harrison, Hollingsworth Motor Company and El Parian Grocery featured beautiful detailing. At South Ward (Bowie Elementary) School, sculptor Luis Sanchez created a cast-concrete facade of colorful snakes, Aztec symbols of wisdom and knowledge. Architect Roscoe DeWitt echoed his White House East Wing design at what is now Vernon Middle School. The Depression and World War II stifled architectural expression other than the 1932 WPA-built Post Office, a neo-classical gem. Exuberance returned in the 1950s, fueled by the style known as Mid-Century Modernism and championed by two exceptional Harlingen architects. John York and Alan Taniguchi, solo or in partnerships with others, designed at least 48 dramatic yet affordable houses, schools, office buildings and the Temple Beth Israel,
The Municipal Auditorium, destroyed in the 1933 Hurricane, reopened in 1936.
Left: Built in 1926, this “Silk Stocking Row� mansion belonged to the Joyner family for over 50 years. Below: Harlingen's 1930 bungalows endure in the older neighborhoods.
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Above:The WPA-built Post Office found new life as a bank. Right:Art Deco detailing adorned Harlingen's first Ford dealership, now White Cleaners.
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all adapted to the sunny climate. Among York's Laurel Park homes, renowned for their imaginative open floor plans, exposed beams and glass walls, was the W. B. Uhlhorn residence, which in 1951 captured one of two national architectural design awards. Alan Taniguchi also used glass walls, clerestory windows, and extended roof overhangs on his Californiastyle homes, many of them in Laurel Park. His concrete-domed Casa del Sol illustrates the era and the style. But the 1950s Modernism vogue passed, and many notable structures were modified for air conditioning and changing tastes.
Casa del Sol by architects Taniguchi and Croft made the cover of Texas Architect in 1961.
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Subsequent architectural styles ranged from the Pan-American (Harlingen National Bank, 1967) to the ubiquitous Southwestern/Mediterranean, marked by graceful arches. Population surges from the baby boom and military families created new neighborhoods and influenced design-build subdivisions. Multimillion-dollar public facilities such as Valley International Airport's terminal (1983), the Harlingen Public Library (1993) and the Regional Academic Health Center (2002) influenced local building styles.
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This glass-walled Feldman's Liquor Store was originally a gas station.
Left:Alan Taniguchi's houses showcased the 1950s Modernism style. Below: JohnYork sited his houses at an angle to the street.
Today the city's oldest “border brick� buildings are increasingly appreciated. At the intersection of Commerce and Jackson, the Letzerich Building (1910) and Planters State Bank Building (1917) have stood the test of time and been adapted to new uses. As Harlingen has grown, some architectural treasures have vanished. Others remain as emissaries from the city's past and serve as guideposts for its future.
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THE ROAD AHEAD
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ow big a gamble was it, more than 100 years ago, to buy sparselypopulated, thorny brushland, clear it, lay out a town and surrounding farms, install miles of irrigation canals and wait for buyers? City founder Lon C. Hill went deeply into debt, yet he held to his vision. “This is the finest soil in the world and when we get water on it,you will see a garden spot,� said Hill, whose persistence paid off. Above: The nine-story Baxter Building, the Valley's tallest for many years, was built in 1927, near the Harlingen Depot and the Harlingen Star office. Right:When Tyler was still a two-way street in 1950, the new City Hall building housed the Chamber of Commerce and the Police Department. 62
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For a century, others have followed Hill to Harlingen and gambled their futures, taking risks by buying town lots and farm tracts, opening businesses, building homes, and settling their families. The people who helped Harlingen grow to a vibrant city of nearly 70,000 residents discovered their own tangible and psychological rewards of life in the former “Six-shooter Junction.�
The City Water Board included C.Washmon, J. L. Boggus, Hill Cocke and Earl Davis when they met at the new water treatment plant in November 1953.
The incorporation of Harlingen in 1910, when the community had almost 1,000 residents, marked the first step away from frontier rowdiness as the town acquired a city marshal, city ordinances and a water system. The 1920s brought 24-hour electricity, the first paved streets, a Chamber of Commerce, a first-class passenger depot, a municipal auditorium and new neighborhoods. Progress was measured by bank deposits and new hotel rooms, schools and houses constructed as well as by the people employed at packing sheds, hardware stores and on the railroads. Over the years, city elections have stimulated debate on Harlingen's present and its future. The 1950s brought drainage, street and sewer improvements, a new City Hall and more schools and stores. The 1970s and 1980s heralded a slow shift from an agricultural economy. Interest in downtown revitalization, cultural diversity and nature conservation followed national trends. 63
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The new Valley Baptist Hospital was on the outskirts of town in 1955. Ledesma's Gulf Station, the Judy-Lin Motel and Rio Grande Equipment operated near the quiet intersection of Ed Carey Drive and Business 77.
By the new century, improved highways and technology had invigorated healthcare, logistics and communications businesses. Retail followed the surge in rooftops. A high-tech police headquarters opened in 2009 not far from the site of the prisoners’ trees used to detain lawbreakers 100 years earlier. Progress stalled many times due to bandit raids, floods, hurricanes, the closings of the airfield and economic downturns. But each time, Harlingen residents worked together to overcome the setbacks. Progress is maintaining a low crime rate, an orderly traffic flow despite an increase in vehicles, new playgrounds and parks, more diverse educational opportunities, and more choices for residents in shopping, dining and services. Yet progress and development are measured not only by numbers, but also through the enrichment of lives. Harlingen Irrigation District Manager M.T. Martin supervised the work of the nation's first machine that dug and formed irrigation canals in the 1950s.
This 1958 aerial photo shows Diaz (Gutierrez) Park in the foreground, the train depots, City Lake and, in the distance, the runways of Harlingen Air Force Base.
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AT THE CROSSROADS
The Mexican-American Chamber of Commerce of Harlingen met in Monterrey in 1955.Attending were Israel Cano, Junior and Senior, Federico Lopez, Juan de Leon, Fernando Sanchez, Raul Hinojosa, Santos Garcia, Jimmy and Fred Lopez, Catarino Garza, Ramiro Bermea, Rodolfo de la Rosa, and Pedro Garza.
A balanced quality of life is revealed in free admission to Blues on the Hill concerts and Harlingen Arts & Heritage Museum, in volunteers tending native plants in Ramsey Park and kids using free computers at the library. It’s seen in the Harlingen 100 committees striving for city beautification and revitalization and dads coaching soccer or baseball teams. In the end, it is progress to honor the legacy of prior generations through the preservation of historic sites and creation of public mu r a l s. Texas State Technical College and nearby university campuses bring more opportunities – and progress – for individuals and for the community.
TIMELINE
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A surprising number of Harlingen natives leave to see the world and then return to Harlingen. For under the palm trees and palapas lives a culture of strong family values, supportive, lifelong friends, and an unbounded, fulfilling future.
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& PANORAMIC FOLD-OUT
Third- and fourth-year medical students at the Regional Academic Health Center receive hands-on medical training while working with local physicians who double as RAHC faculty.
This map from the 1880s shows the land southeast of the Cameron County School Lands and north of the Arroyo Colorado that became the heart of Harlingen. The Paso Real Stagecoach Inn and ferry crossing were located to the northeast (at the top right).
Left: Harlingen Chamber's Six Shooters celebrated the opening of Las Vegas Cafe's new building in 1978. Below: Harlingen's 2009 police complex included a jail and a municipal court.
Harlingen Land & Water Co. filed the subdivision plat map in 1908.
Paso Real, a ford of the Arroyo Colorado dating before 1848, in 1884 became an Alice-Brownsville stagecoach stop complete with inn. The 1904 arrival of the railroad brought the stagecoach era to a close. 71
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Harlingen street names had been assigned when this plat map was filed in 1911. Many of the north-south streets, originally named for Lon Hill's friends and business associates, were renamed in 1926.
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HARLINGEN,TEXAS
I
n 1912, two years after Harlingen's incorporation, the community was beginning to spread out. Harlingen had a population over 1,200 and boasted general stores, two brick schools, churches, a boarding house, several bunkhouses, and two hotels.The dirt streets were graded by mule-drawn scrapers until 1921. 1. What became First Street in the 1920s was known originally as Fordyce, named for a railroad investor. 2. The Central Ward School on Jackson (also called Main Street) opened in 1912 for grades 1 to 11. Renamed Sam Houston (Grammar) School in 1936, it is known today as the Matz Building. 3. This section of Monroe became part of a commercial district.
4. Originally called Hill Street (Lon Hill named most of the north-south streets after friends and associates), this became “A” Street during a 1920s’ street re-naming project. 5. Used by various religious denominations, this building served as a schoolhouse until Central Ward was built. 6. The Verser House, a popular boarding house, served noon meals to the public. 7. Van Buren Avenue in 1912 did not cross the railroad tracks.
8. Called Main Street, Jackson was Harlingen’s major commercial artery for decades. 9. Harrison Avenue, Harlingen’s first road, began as a three-mile-long sendero from the Arroyo Colorado west to La Providencia Ranch, the initial source of the town’s drinking water. 10. Built in 1910, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South was Harlingen’s first brick church. 11. South Texas Lumber Company bought Lon Hill’s lumberyard in 1908. 12. August H.Weller’s Harlingen State Bank was bankrolled with profits from his saloons.The building later housed Valley State Bank and the First National Bank of Harlingen.
13. The town’s first brick structure, built in 1908, the Lon C. Hill Building had offices upstairs and commercial firms on the ground floor. Andrew Goldammer, who built Central Ward School, was the contractor. 14. The wooden Santos Lozano General Merchandise Store, where the family lived upstairs, was replaced in 1915 with a two-story brick structure, known as the Pioneer’s Building. 15. The Mooreland Hotel, Harlingen’s first, was originally a 10-room railroad hotel. Its next owner, C.S. Moore, expanded the lodging to the east. 16. This is one of several saloons owned by August H. Weller. In 1919, prohibition shuttered all drinking establishments.
17. C.H. Ritter’s General Merchandise replaced James Lockhart’s store on this site. 18. The H.E.Whatley Drug Store occupied this building. 19. Bell Street, later “B”, was named for Hill’s best friend, Dr. S. H. Bell. 20. The Letzerich Building, now Harlingen’s oldest brick building and located at the intersection of Jackson and Commerce, contained the offices of Drs. Casper and Alfred Letzerich and the pharmacy and post office run by their brother, Hugo. 21. A mule-powered scraper graded Commerce Street regularly since no streets were paved.
22. This lane became West Street.
1912
28. Opened on West Van Buren around 1910, the Villarreal Brothers store was torn down and replaced by a modernistic Spanish-style commercial building.
33. Porfirio Diaz Plaza, named after the President who ruled Mexico for 34 years, later became Gutierrez Park, honoring Lt. George Gutierrez, Jr., a Harlingen solider killed in Vietnam.
24. Bales of cotton sit ready for shipment at the railroad warehouse.
29. “C” Street was originally known as Winchell.
25. The St. Louis, Brownsville, and Mexico Railway had already become a Frisco subsidiary.
30. The Sacred Heart of Mary Immaculate Mission Chapel was built on land donated by the pioneering Gutierrez family.
34. The Fordyce line ran from the Harlingen junction west to Mission.
23. At the Domingo Roche residence, Mrs. Roche introduced fried onion rings to the community.
26. The J. Olivares Grocery Store was one of many family-owned and-operated businesses. 27. The J. Kilgore real estate office promoted sugar cane lots on its facade.
31. The 22-room Ogan Hotel was built in 1908 by the Ogan family, who had come to Harlingen originally to manage the railroad hotel. 32. This passenger depot was replaced after 10 years by a stucco depot further south on Van Buren.
35. The Mexican School, Harlingen’s first permanent (brick) public school, added a second story in 1911. It was located on South “E” Street, then known as Matamoros Street. 36. This is one of seven bunkhouses in Harlingen that provided beds for 200 workers.
HARLINGEN,TEXAS
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n 1912, two years after Harlingen's incorporation, the community was beginning to spread out. Harlingen had a population over 1,200 and boasted general stores, two brick schools, churches, a boarding house, several bunkhouses, and two hotels.The dirt streets were graded by mule-drawn scrapers until 1921. 1. What became First Street in the 1920s was known originally as Fordyce, named for a railroad investor. 2. The Central Ward School on Jackson (also called Main Street) opened in 1912 for grades 1 to 11. Renamed Sam Houston (Grammar) School in 1936, it is known today as the Matz Building. 3. This section of Monroe became part of a commercial district.
4. Originally called Hill Street (Lon Hill named most of the north-south streets after friends and associates), this became “A” Street during a 1920s’ street re-naming project. 5. Used by various religious denominations, this building served as a schoolhouse until Central Ward was built. 6. The Verser House, a popular boarding house, served noon meals to the public. 7. Van Buren Avenue in 1912 did not cross the railroad tracks.
8. Called Main Street, Jackson was Harlingen’s major commercial artery for decades. 9. Harrison Avenue, Harlingen’s first road, began as a three-mile-long sendero from the Arroyo Colorado west to La Providencia Ranch, the initial source of the town’s drinking water. 10. Built in 1910, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South was Harlingen’s first brick church. 11. South Texas Lumber Company bought Lon Hill’s lumberyard in 1908. 12. August H.Weller’s Harlingen State Bank was bankrolled with profits from his saloons.The building later housed Valley State Bank and the First National Bank of Harlingen.
13. The town’s first brick structure, built in 1908, the Lon C. Hill Building had offices upstairs and commercial firms on the ground floor. Andrew Goldammer, who built Central Ward School, was the contractor. 14. The wooden Santos Lozano General Merchandise Store, where the family lived upstairs, was replaced in 1915 with a two-story brick structure, known as the Pioneer’s Building. 15. The Mooreland Hotel, Harlingen’s first, was originally a 10-room railroad hotel. Its next owner, C.S. Moore, expanded the lodging to the east. 16. This is one of several saloons owned by August H. Weller. In 1919, prohibition shuttered all drinking establishments.
17. C.H. Ritter’s General Merchandise replaced James Lockhart’s store on this site. 18. The H.E.Whatley Drug Store occupied this building. 19. Bell Street, later “B”, was named for Hill’s best friend, Dr. S. H. Bell. 20. The Letzerich Building, now Harlingen’s oldest brick building and located at the intersection of Jackson and Commerce, contained the offices of Drs. Casper and Alfred Letzerich and the pharmacy and post office run by their brother, Hugo. 21. A mule-powered scraper graded Commerce Street regularly since no streets were paved.
22. This lane became West Street.
1912
28. Opened on West Van Buren around 1910, the Villarreal Brothers store was torn down and replaced by a modernistic Spanish-style commercial building.
33. Porfirio Diaz Plaza, named after the President who ruled Mexico for 34 years, later became Gutierrez Park, honoring Lt. George Gutierrez, Jr., a Harlingen solider killed in Vietnam.
24. Bales of cotton sit ready for shipment at the railroad warehouse.
29. “C” Street was originally known as Winchell.
25. The St. Louis, Brownsville, and Mexico Railway had already become a Frisco subsidiary.
30. The Sacred Heart of Mary Immaculate Mission Chapel was built on land donated by the pioneering Gutierrez family.
34. The Fordyce line ran from the Harlingen junction west to Mission.
23. At the Domingo Roche residence, Mrs. Roche introduced fried onion rings to the community.
26. The J. Olivares Grocery Store was one of many family-owned and-operated businesses. 27. The J. Kilgore real estate office promoted sugar cane lots on its facade.
31. The 22-room Ogan Hotel was built in 1908 by the Ogan family, who had come to Harlingen originally to manage the railroad hotel. 32. This passenger depot was replaced after 10 years by a stucco depot further south on Van Buren.
35. The Mexican School, Harlingen’s first permanent (brick) public school, added a second story in 1911. It was located on South “E” Street, then known as Matamoros Street. 36. This is one of seven bunkhouses in Harlingen that provided beds for 200 workers.
HARLINGEN,TEXAS
I
n 1912, two years after Harlingen's incorporation, the community was beginning to spread out. Harlingen had a population over 1,200 and boasted general stores, two brick schools, churches, a boarding house, several bunkhouses, and two hotels.The dirt streets were graded by mule-drawn scrapers until 1921. 1. What became First Street in the 1920s was known originally as Fordyce, named for a railroad investor. 2. The Central Ward School on Jackson (also called Main Street) opened in 1912 for grades 1 to 11. Renamed Sam Houston (Grammar) School in 1936, it is known today as the Matz Building. 3. This section of Monroe became part of a commercial district.
4. Originally called Hill Street (Lon Hill named most of the north-south streets after friends and associates), this became “A” Street during a 1920s’ street re-naming project. 5. Used by various religious denominations, this building served as a schoolhouse until Central Ward was built. 6. The Verser House, a popular boarding house, served noon meals to the public. 7. Van Buren Avenue in 1912 did not cross the railroad tracks.
8. Called Main Street, Jackson was Harlingen’s major commercial artery for decades. 9. Harrison Avenue, Harlingen’s first road, began as a three-mile-long sendero from the Arroyo Colorado west to La Providencia Ranch, the initial source of the town’s drinking water. 10. Built in 1910, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South was Harlingen’s first brick church. 11. South Texas Lumber Company bought Lon Hill’s lumberyard in 1908. 12. August H.Weller’s Harlingen State Bank was bankrolled with profits from his saloons.The building later housed Valley State Bank and the First National Bank of Harlingen.
13. The town’s first brick structure, built in 1908, the Lon C. Hill Building had offices upstairs and commercial firms on the ground floor. Andrew Goldammer, who built Central Ward School, was the contractor. 14. The wooden Santos Lozano General Merchandise Store, where the family lived upstairs, was replaced in 1915 with a two-story brick structure, known as the Pioneer’s Building. 15. The Mooreland Hotel, Harlingen’s first, was originally a 10-room railroad hotel. Its next owner, C.S. Moore, expanded the lodging to the east. 16. This is one of several saloons owned by August H. Weller. In 1919, prohibition shuttered all drinking establishments.
17. C.H. Ritter’s General Merchandise replaced James Lockhart’s store on this site. 18. The H.E.Whatley Drug Store occupied this building. 19. Bell Street, later “B”, was named for Hill’s best friend, Dr. S. H. Bell. 20. The Letzerich Building, now Harlingen’s oldest brick building and located at the intersection of Jackson and Commerce, contained the offices of Drs. Casper and Alfred Letzerich and the pharmacy and post office run by their brother, Hugo. 21. A mule-powered scraper graded Commerce Street regularly since no streets were paved.
22. This lane became West Street.
1912
28. Opened on West Van Buren around 1910, the Villarreal Brothers store was torn down and replaced by a modernistic Spanish-style commercial building.
33. Porfirio Diaz Plaza, named after the President who ruled Mexico for 34 years, later became Gutierrez Park, honoring Lt. George Gutierrez, Jr., a Harlingen solider killed in Vietnam.
24. Bales of cotton sit ready for shipment at the railroad warehouse.
29. “C” Street was originally known as Winchell.
25. The St. Louis, Brownsville, and Mexico Railway had already become a Frisco subsidiary.
30. The Sacred Heart of Mary Immaculate Mission Chapel was built on land donated by the pioneering Gutierrez family.
34. The Fordyce line ran from the Harlingen junction west to Mission.
23. At the Domingo Roche residence, Mrs. Roche introduced fried onion rings to the community.
26. The J. Olivares Grocery Store was one of many family-owned and-operated businesses. 27. The J. Kilgore real estate office promoted sugar cane lots on its facade.
31. The 22-room Ogan Hotel was built in 1908 by the Ogan family, who had come to Harlingen originally to manage the railroad hotel. 32. This passenger depot was replaced after 10 years by a stucco depot further south on Van Buren.
35. The Mexican School, Harlingen’s first permanent (brick) public school, added a second story in 1911. It was located on South “E” Street, then known as Matamoros Street. 36. This is one of seven bunkhouses in Harlingen that provided beds for 200 workers.
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AT THE CROSSROADS
The Mexican-American Chamber of Commerce of Harlingen met in Monterrey in 1955.Attending were Israel Cano, Junior and Senior, Federico Lopez, Juan de Leon, Fernando Sanchez, Raul Hinojosa, Santos Garcia, Jimmy and Fred Lopez, Catarino Garza, Ramiro Bermea, Rodolfo de la Rosa, and Pedro Garza.
A balanced quality of life is revealed in free admission to Blues on the Hill concerts and Harlingen Arts & Heritage Museum, in volunteers tending native plants in Ramsey Park and kids using free computers at the library. It’s seen in the Harlingen 100 committees striving for city beautification and revitalization and dads coaching soccer or baseball teams. In the end, it is progress to honor the legacy of prior generations through the preservation of historic sites and creation of public mu r a l s. Texas State Technical College and nearby university campuses bring more opportunities – and progress – for individuals and for the community.
TIMELINE
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A surprising number of Harlingen natives leave to see the world and then return to Harlingen. For under the palm trees and palapas lives a culture of strong family values, supportive, lifelong friends, and an unbounded, fulfilling future.
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Third- and fourth-year medical students at the Regional Academic Health Center receive hands-on medical training while working with local physicians who double as RAHC faculty.
This map from the 1880s shows the land southeast of the Cameron County School Lands and north of the Arroyo Colorado that became the heart of Harlingen. The Paso Real Stagecoach Inn and ferry crossing were located to the northeast (at the top right).
Left: Harlingen Chamber's Six Shooters celebrated the opening of Las Vegas Cafe's new building in 1978. Below: Harlingen's 2009 police complex included a jail and a municipal court.
Harlingen Land & Water Co. filed the subdivision plat map in 1908.
Paso Real, a ford of the Arroyo Colorado dating before 1848, in 1884 became an Alice-Brownsville stagecoach stop complete with inn. The 1904 arrival of the railroad brought the stagecoach era to a close. 71
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Harlingen street names had been assigned when this plat map was filed in 1911. Many of the north-south streets, originally named for Lon Hill's friends and business associates, were renamed in 1926.
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AT THE CROSSROADS
The Mexican-American Chamber of Commerce of Harlingen met in Monterrey in 1955.Attending were Israel Cano, Junior and Senior, Federico Lopez, Juan de Leon, Fernando Sanchez, Raul Hinojosa, Santos Garcia, Jimmy and Fred Lopez, Catarino Garza, Ramiro Bermea, Rodolfo de la Rosa, and Pedro Garza.
A balanced quality of life is revealed in free admission to Blues on the Hill concerts and Harlingen Arts & Heritage Museum, in volunteers tending native plants in Ramsey Park and kids using free computers at the library. It’s seen in the Harlingen 100 committees striving for city beautification and revitalization and dads coaching soccer or baseball teams. In the end, it is progress to honor the legacy of prior generations through the preservation of historic sites and creation of public mu r a l s. Texas State Technical College and nearby university campuses bring more opportunities – and progress – for individuals and for the community.
TIMELINE
OPEN
A surprising number of Harlingen natives leave to see the world and then return to Harlingen. For under the palm trees and palapas lives a culture of strong family values, supportive, lifelong friends, and an unbounded, fulfilling future.
8/5/09
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Third- and fourth-year medical students at the Regional Academic Health Center receive hands-on medical training while working with local physicians who double as RAHC faculty.
This map from the 1880s shows the land southeast of the Cameron County School Lands and north of the Arroyo Colorado that became the heart of Harlingen. The Paso Real Stagecoach Inn and ferry crossing were located to the northeast (at the top right).
Left: Harlingen Chamber's Six Shooters celebrated the opening of Las Vegas Cafe's new building in 1978. Below: Harlingen's 2009 police complex included a jail and a municipal court.
Harlingen Land & Water Co. filed the subdivision plat map in 1908.
Paso Real, a ford of the Arroyo Colorado dating before 1848, in 1884 became an Alice-Brownsville stagecoach stop complete with inn. The 1904 arrival of the railroad brought the stagecoach era to a close. 71
65
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�
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Harlingen street names had been assigned when this plat map was filed in 1911. Many of the north-south streets, originally named for Lon Hill's friends and business associates, were renamed in 1926.
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AT THE CROSSROADS
The Mexican-American Chamber of Commerce of Harlingen met in Monterrey in 1955.Attending were Israel Cano, Junior and Senior, Federico Lopez, Juan de Leon, Fernando Sanchez, Raul Hinojosa, Santos Garcia, Jimmy and Fred Lopez, Catarino Garza, Ramiro Bermea, Rodolfo de la Rosa, and Pedro Garza.
A balanced quality of life is revealed in free admission to Blues on the Hill concerts and Harlingen Arts & Heritage Museum, in volunteers tending native plants in Ramsey Park and kids using free computers at the library. It’s seen in the Harlingen 100 committees striving for city beautification and revitalization and dads coaching soccer or baseball teams. In the end, it is progress to honor the legacy of prior generations through the preservation of historic sites and creation of public mu r a l s. Texas State Technical College and nearby university campuses bring more opportunities – and progress – for individuals and for the community.
TIMELINE
OPEN
A surprising number of Harlingen natives leave to see the world and then return to Harlingen. For under the palm trees and palapas lives a culture of strong family values, supportive, lifelong friends, and an unbounded, fulfilling future.
8/5/09
MAPS
2:13 PM
Page 2
& PANORAMIC FOLD-OUT
Third- and fourth-year medical students at the Regional Academic Health Center receive hands-on medical training while working with local physicians who double as RAHC faculty.
This map from the 1880s shows the land southeast of the Cameron County School Lands and north of the Arroyo Colorado that became the heart of Harlingen. The Paso Real Stagecoach Inn and ferry crossing were located to the northeast (at the top right).
Left: Harlingen Chamber's Six Shooters celebrated the opening of Las Vegas Cafe's new building in 1978. Below: Harlingen's 2009 police complex included a jail and a municipal court.
Harlingen Land & Water Co. filed the subdivision plat map in 1908.
Paso Real, a ford of the Arroyo Colorado dating before 1848, in 1884 became an Alice-Brownsville stagecoach stop complete with inn. The 1904 arrival of the railroad brought the stagecoach era to a close. 71
65
66
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�
�
Harlingen street names had been assigned when this plat map was filed in 1911. Many of the north-south streets, originally named for Lon Hill's friends and business associates, were renamed in 1926.
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Before 1900 Paso Real Stagecoach Inn Some early ranch families lived in jacales, which had walls of mesquite posts woven together with willow branches. Roofs were thatched with grass.
The Cavalry of Christ, Oblate priests on horseback, visited the border’s farflung ranches to baptize, marry and bury parishioners.
SETTING THE STAGE
I
n 1746, the new Spanish province of Nuevo Santander includes the land that becomes the heart of Harlingen.That triangle north of the Arroyo Colorado is never allotted to a Spanish land grant. Claimed by the Republic of Texas in 1836, the property is designated county and school lands and eventually is sold to railroads and individuals. Before 1850, only a few travelers–nomadic Indian tribes, explorers, soldiers, and missionaries–cross this fertile yet inhospitable patch of Tamaulipan thorn scrub. From 1884 to 1904 the Brownsville-Alice stagecoach, in its 36-hour express run with mail and passengers, stops at the inn at the Paso Real crossing, north of the future city.
By 1870, Justo Trevino is operating El Palmital ferry, south of present day Treasure Hills. North of the future town, the Longorias establish El Muerto Ranch, and the Florentino Chavez family settle in 1882. In 1886, the Francisco Saldaña family acquires 510 acres, known as La Providencia Ranch, near what is now Valle Vista Mall. In 1890, the Secundino Gutierrez families begin working La Crucita Ranch near the Arroyo Colorado and Dilworth as part of a 1,920-acre spread that includes El Gigante and La India ranches. Vernie Avery Payne's family homesteads on 320 acres near today's Palm Valley in 1898. The next year she attends a one-room school. La Tasa, El Gigante and Las Castanas–tiny settlements of a few houses–dot both sides of the Arroyo Colorado at low water crossings. 73
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1900-1909 Built in 1904 at Van Buren and Second Street, Harlingen's first building doubled as a post office and store for lawmen and railroad construction crews. A prisoner tree is visible in the background.
Bricks made at the Hill kiln on the banks of the Arroyo Colorado were used to build the Central Ward School and the Hill building, but brick-making was a slow process.
1902 With the goal of developing and selling town and farm tracts, Beeville lawyer Leonidas Carrington Hill buys 11,070 acres of Cameron County School lands for $13,837. He intends to provide irrigation water through gravity flow canals to increase the land's value. Railroad developer Uriah Lott travels to the Valley researching potential train routes.
1903 Marguerita Villarreal teaches children at La Providencia Ranch. Lon Hill heads the Brownsville committee that awards Uriah Lott land and bonuses to bring the St. Louis, Brownsville, and Mexico Railway Company (SLBM) to the Valley.Track construction begins in July on the Robstown to Brownsville stretch at a cost of $12,500 per mile.The crews complete as much as two miles of track in a day. 74
Along the Arroyo Colorado, near today's Ramsey Park, Hill, his older sons and the James Lockhart family set up the Salty Lonesome camp.To conform to railroad specifications, Hill soon sites his proposed town one mile west of the camp. Railroad engineers and Hill create a sendero from Salty Lonesome west to Engineer's Point, a construction camp on railroad right of way, and onto the sweet water well at La Providencia Ranch.That straight stretch becomes Harrison Avenue.
1904 Hill enlarges his holdings by buying 2,268 acres near the Arroyo Colorado from Henrietta King and small landholders. Once the 543-acre town site is platted with wide streets, brush clearing begins on “Lon C. Hill's Town.� Hill and Uriah Lott agree on the
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Irrigation canals being built in 1907 brought water to the new town and made the farmland with irrigation water more valuable.
The Morrow Brothers owned one of the new town's busy lumber companies in 1908.
Sugar cane seemed a promising crop in 1908 when Lon Hill (right) and others posed in this field.
junction of the main line and the Fordyce branch line.The dense brush being cleared is alive with biting, dangerous creatures, so workers nickname the town “Rattlesnake Junction.” The name Harlingen appears when Hill petitions for a post office. Lott, the influential railroad president, mentions his grandparents were born in Harlingen, New Jersey, and his Dutch ancestors came from Harlingen, Holland.With the similarity between the Dutch town's canals and Hill's planned irrigation canals, the name proves irresistible. On June 24, the Harlingen Post Office is established in a small wood building, the first in Harlingen, to serve land-clearing “grubbers” and railroad crews. James Lockhart manages the post office and its store.When the SLBM RR makes its
first official stop on July 4, a boxcar doubles as the Harlingen depot.
1905 Hill's Town & Improvement Company is formed with 2,614 acres.Texas Ranger Company H and Mounted Customs Patrol officers meet incoming trains and practice shooting near the depot, prompting a new nickname: “Six-shooter Junction.” Numerous saloons, some in tents, cater to railroad crews, adding to the town's rowdy reputation. Lawmen chain culprits to mesquite trees until they can be taken to the County jail. Within six months of the railroad's opening, Western Union completes a telegraph line along the right of way. The entire Hill family moves into the town's first house, an unfinished home in today's Fair Park, in order to get away from Brownsville's 75
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The Whatley Drug Store would have stocked liniments, tonics and patent medicines such as Carter's Little Liver Pills and Lydia Pinkham's Herbal Compound for ladies.
Mr. and Mrs.W. M. Monceis are sitting in front of their Jackson Street house in this 1909 photo.
Lon C. Hill, Harlingen founder, 1862-1935.
typhoid epidemic which killed Mrs. Hill and an infant son. In September, a schoolhouse next door has 14 students and doubles as a church. In September, August H.Weller buys the first five Harlingen lots and builds the first saloon. Ten days later, the Santos Lozano family buys two lots and builds a general store with living quarters upstairs on Jackson. In the depot, railroad agent W.W. Hollingsworth uses a curtain to seclude his living quarters.
1906 Mrs. A.H.Weller manages the two-bath, 10-room, two-story railroad hotel at Harrison and First. She later recalls “the brush was so thick it was impossible to see the trains go by only a short distance away.” Hill, called Chief for his long hair and larger-than-life personality, claims self-defense after killing a man in a shootout. 76
1907 Mule teams and 450 men excavate the major irrigation canal from the river to Harlingen. In September, the first 22 Harlingen farm tracts are sold. New Harlingen residents include Cirilio Rodriguez who carts canal water in barrels to customers.The Francisco Valdez family opens a business in their house on South “H” Street. Jesusa Garcia teaches Hispanic students in a one-room building on Harrison. Lots, 50' by 140', sell for $50 and up with an “easy monthly payment” plan.
1908 Benjamin and Cora Ogan build the 22-room Ogan Hotel on West Jackson.The James Lockhart family, whose son, Houston, was born at Salty Lonesome in 1905, moves into a two-story home on West Van Buren. A.W. Elmore opens a barber shop. The muddy Laguna de Vacas, later known as
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The 22-room Ogan Hotel was built on West Jackson in 1908 next to the train tracks, an area prone to flooding. It was demolished in 1945.
W.A. Kilgore, a land developer, established sugar cane plantations and a grape orchard.
City Lake, entraps wandering cows. A wooden aqueduct across the Arroyo Colorado finally brings irrigation water to town. In November Hill certifies that 26 miles of canals have been completed to irrigate 75,000 acres. Hill believes irrigation water will trigger “an inrush of investors and settlers” for farmland.The first brick building goes up at Van Buren and Fordyce Street (now First) using bricks from Hill's kiln on the Arroyo.
1909 Hill's ad in Gulf Coast Magazine promotes Harlingen and 5- to 40-acre tracts known as two- or three-mule farms.The population surges as families settle: Levi and Ed Snavely, Julio Flores, Sr., Juanita Serna, and M.V. Pendleton. Jose Gutierrez is selling groceries at 408 W. Harrison. Dr. D. B. McGehee becomes the first resident
doctor.Telephone operator Mrs. Hoffman runs the first telephone exchange for 20 subscribers. The school district organizes and builds the first school, Juarez, also known as the Mexican School. Anglo students are taught in a series of churches and vacant rooms until 1912. Union Church services are held in a brush arbor until a frame building is completed. A hurricane floods the region, damaging the Arroyo Colorado bridge and halting trains for weeks. Robert Weems, 17, dies after slipping into a vat of boiling cane syrup. His sister, Lillian Baldridge, recalls his arrival in Harlingen in a “side door Pullman,” a freight car filled with the family's furniture and a dairy cow.Weems' is the first burial in the new city cemetery on “F” Street, although others who died earlier are re-interred there. 77
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1910-1919 W.A. Robinson, third from left, ran a Harlingen blacksmith shop in 1914.
Children attended classes in rented buildings until the Mexican School opened in 1909 and Central Ward School in 1912.
1910 POPULATION 500 The petition by 72 qualified voters for incorporation of Harlingen is granted on April 8. Mayor Ike McFarland and city commissioners John Hill and Homer Morrow are sworn into office on April 15.The community's original law enforcers, Rangers and the Customs Patrol, are supplanted by City Marshal E.W. Anglin, who earns $50 per month. Dr. Alfred Letzerich is appointed city health officer without salary. Registered voters include Francisco Alvarez, Joe Abrego, Sam Botts and M. M. Osborn. F. H. Pena's variety store at 323 W.Van Buren hangs a candle-burning lantern outside for evening customers in a town with no electricity and unpaved streets.Voters approve a $20,000 waterworks system to replace the water 78
carriers who had supplied the town with well water. Also approved is $12,000 for roads and bridges. Farmers report netting between $100 and $500 per acre. Brownsville photographer Robert Runyon begins a series of photographs that document Harlingen's growth. Lon C. Hill runs for Cameron County sheriff and loses. At the corner of Commerce and Monroe, the Harlingen Commercial Club erects its building, which is later used as City Hall.
1911 Cotton gins and a sugar mill are running.The canal from the Rio Grande reaches the city lake reservoir. Fire hydrants appear on Harrison and Commerce. Dog licenses cost $1.With the population over 1,000, voters approve the change to the city council form of government.The efforts of
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E.W.Anglin, road and canal contractor, supervised some of the mule teams that graded Harlingen streets from 1910 until 1921 when pavement was put down.The little boy gripping his pants on the left was Juan Villarreal who became a Harlingen policeman.
Wildlife was plentiful in the brush surrounding Harlingen in 1911 when this picture was taken. These engineers at Lon Hill's sugar mill would lose their jobs in 1914 when the Fair Park mill closed.The mill was burned down in 1917, and, contrary to local legend, probably not by bandits.
the ladies of the Harlingen Civic Club in cleaning and beautifying the town are praised by the City Council, which spurs the women to tackle cemetery care and drainage ditches. The Mexican Ward School on “E� Street gains a second floor for classrooms. Hunters shoot eight deer in city limits.
1912 Central Ward School opens on Jackson. To keep students and teachers out of the mud, a boardwalk connects the school to the town center several blocks away. First to 11th graders attend classes in the three-story school, now the Matz Building. The first electric plant operates two hours during daylight and four hours at night.The Bucket Brigade, a volunteer fire department, shoots guns in the air in lieu of fire alarms.This tactic
failed three years earlier, when alarm shots were mistaken for holiday gunplay. Hill sells $2 million worth of lots. Robert Stuart arrives and begins investing in land, eventually holding 10,000 acres in the Stuart Place area.
1913 Harlingen High School fields its first football team. Dressed in sailor-style blouses and calf-length skirts, the first Harlingen girls basketball team begins play. Round-trip train tickets from Chicago and St. Louis to Harlingen cost $25 to $40 for four-day visits. New farm owners, arriving from the north by train, ride mule-drawn wagons to reach their properties which are cleared and ready to grow citrus and vegetables.
1914 Cameron County Irrigation District, the first of its kind in Texas, pays $400,000 79
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Texas National Guard, 12th Cavalry and 26th Infantry troops were assigned to Harlingen during the bandit raids.Trains brought horses, men and equipment to the depot.
Troops assigned to Harlingen during the bandit raids had the Sixth Cavalry Band to boost their morale.
for the Harlingen Land & Water Company. The first Texas National Guard troops arrive in Harlingen to safeguard residents from the turmoil resulting from Mexico's revolution. During the lawless period of bandit raids, rumors and violence convince hundreds of settlers to abandon the region over the next few years. Morris Chaudoin and C. Block become the first Harlingen policemen.
1915 Santos Lozano upgrades his mercantile store into a brick two-story building on the same site.Well-attended dances are held upstairs and close with the tune La Golondrina. Gregorio Garcia publishes El Precursor, the first Spanish-language paper.The first city jail opens, replacing the chaining of wrongdoers to prisoners trees.The automobile speed limit is set at 5 mph.Thompson Mortuary opens. John 80
Built in 1909, the Lon C. Hill Building became the home of the town's first bank, Harlingen State Bank, as well as the Chambers grocery. Canal riders initially bunked upstairs where later the town's first telephone exchange was sited.
Myrick becomes Harlingen's first practicing attorney. Cecilio Garcia, a tailor, and his wife Silvina arrive from Guanajuato and open Garcia Cleaners four years later. The U.S. 12th Cavalry and 26th Infantry set up a tent camp east of Central Ward School. September bandit raids and cavalry skirmishes on Harlingen's outskirts result in a soldier's death at Galveston Ranch.Three MexicanAmericans who live there are lynched.The treasonous Plan of San Diego is uncovered, adding to the general panic and increased intimidation of Hispanics.
1916 As bandit raids and shootouts alarm Valley residents, federal and state troops consolidate in Harlingen, setting up camp just to the east of town. Horse corrals cover
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The Goodykuntz family, like many in Harlingen, went armed during the era of bandit raids, 1913-1917.
Postmaster James Lockhart, and his son, Birdy, ride past the family's store in a cart pulled by their horse,Teddy.
Dr. and Mrs. Casper Letzerich lived in this spacious house, built in 1910, at 202 E.Tyler.
an adjacent block. A grateful city supplies free light and water to the army and enjoys an economic boon from the hundreds of troops patronizing city businesses.Troops hunt local game which adds variety to army chow, and, according to one officer, makes the soldiers better marksmen.
1917 Alleged bandits burn the Hill sugar mill, prompting the Hill family to move to Fifth Street for safety.The city hires a man with a wagon to collect trash. Lyceum tours and Chautauqua presentations bring cultural edification to audiences at Central Ward School.
1918 The town band plays Saturday afternoons in the bandstand located where the Reese-Wil-Mond Hotel will be built. Kids swim at Arroyo beach, known as Naked Boys
Bend, near the railroad bridge.With the bandit wars cooled down, promotion of land sales heats up.
1919 The City bans construction of wooden buildings downtown because of fire hazards. A smallpox outbreak results in a guarded infirmary for quarantined victims at Salty Lonesome. Mrs. Santos Lozano nurses her family through the epidemic and then dies of the disease. S. Finley Ewing opens his hardware store at the busy intersection of Jackson and Commerce. O.A. and Ida Mae Cowart buy land at North First and Seventh streets for a dairy and deliver milk by wagon. Her brother, Ed Carey, builds a two-story house for his bride on his citrus and cotton farm near the road to be named for him. Cotton is head-high in a photo taken by Mrs. Carey. 81
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1920-1929
Horse-drawn carts, pictured on Commerce Street, near the Harrison intersection, delivered blocks of ice to the homes still using iceboxes instead of electric refrigerators. Dances were held on the rooftop patio of the Reese-Wil-Mond Hotel, on the top left.
Jackson, frequently called Main Street, was filled with people on Saturdays when farmers and their families came to town.
1920 POPULATION 1,784 The “Howling Gin” era sees cotton become king, notwithstanding strong competition from citrus and vegetable growers on 20-acre tracts.The Post Office occupies the Lozano building's ground floor. Oscar Dancy becomes Cameron County Judge and begins building concrete roads.William Witt opens a drive-in automobile service station in his father-inlaw's blacksmith shop.
1921 Electric lampposts, paid for by generous families, light up Jackson Avenue as electric service becomes available round-theclock.The first mansions go up on Taylor, transforming former cotton fields into a “Silk Stocking Row” of luxurious homes. The Rialto opens on Jackson which is
82
Built in 1925, Valley Baptist Hospital soon began adding more patient rooms and medical services.
unpaved, like all the streets. Kids pay 10 cents, adults 25. Mrs. Earle Rumbo, pianist, accompanies the silent films.The Harlingen Study Club establishes the first library with one bookcase. Luz Ramirez Real is the first Hispanic girl to graduate from Harlingen High School. W.T. Hodge ships the first railroad car of grapefruit from the Valley, and by 1929 his company ships 1,400 carloads of Valley produce.The earliest ice plants acquire equipment sold by breweries shut down by Prohibition. Ernest Matz brings in the first bale of cotton on May 21. Ku Klux Klansmen, robed and carrying signs promoting white supremacy and denouncing bootleggers, march through a block party
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Located at the corner of Jackson and First, the Rialto, one of the city's first theaters, began showing talkies (movies with sound) in 1925.
The Stuart family posed in front of the Stuart Place Clubhouse, which still stands on Business 83 west of Stuart Place Road. The family developed 10,000 acres to sell to landseekers who came by train to view the farm tracts and were given a sales spiel at the clubhouse.
downtown. At Lozano Hall, 150 irate residents condemn the KKK's activity and call for rule of law.
1922 The first men's service club, Rotary, is established.The first fire engine arrives. Dry goods stores offer ready-to-wear clothing and millinery. At the hardware store, everything sits behind the counter or in cases. Alfred Lozano, later M.D., is the first male Hispanic graduate of Harlingen High School. R. B. Roberts founds Roberts Jewelry in the Lozano Building. Federico Lopez, after seven years as a barber, opens the wholesale Valley Barber Supply on West Harrison. His wife Connie helps found St. Anthony Church.
1923 Marie Yeager, R.N., and Ida Gilbert open Harlingen's first hospital on “F� Street. Cobbled
together from army barracks used during the bandit raids, the seven-room, U-shaped facility has a primitive operating room to treat gunshot wounds and perform appendectomies.The town's doctors, brothers Casper and Alfred Letzerich and N. A. Davidson, also take care of injuries and diseases and assist at births. At a 1,000-foot-long dock between the tracks, Valley Electric & Ice Company delivers ice for over 13,000 railroad cars annually.The cars are pre-chilled and then iced-down for shipment. The Valley Mid-Winter Fair, a November livestock and agricultural show, debuts under the guidance of W.T. Hodge and Bob Stuart. Opening with a parade, the week-long fair grows into a wildly popular event, giving Fair Park its name. It is compared to the state fair in Dallas in magnitude. 83
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The first Harlingen High School was destroyed by the 1933 hurricane.
“La escuela de las viboras” is the nickname for Bowie Elementary. Built in 1928, the school features a cast-concrete frieze depicting Aztec and Mayan snakes, legendary figures that imparted knowledge and wisdom.
Harlingen kids had different toys in 1926.
1924 The five-story Wittenbach Building with Harlingen's first elevator goes up on “A” Street. New city commissioner A.D. Holmes begins beautification projects at Fair Park which eventually include a small zoo.
1925 Of Hill's original town site lots, over 300 remain unsold. Harlingen High School is built on Sixth Street.The Harlingen Study Club presents the first library to the city. Hugh Ramsey is elected mayor for the first time. Valley Baptist Hospital opens on “F” Street in a stucco building designed for 35 inpatients.The Music Lovers Club and the Valley's first Kiwanis Club meet. O.N. and Anne Joyner's new Italian villa-style home at 613 E.Taylor is one of the luxurious residences going up on “Silk Stocking Row.” 1926 Everett Anglin, former Texas Ranger, 84
offers land excursions through his real estate office. Land sales are booming with groups arriving from the Midwest to tour and buy small farms. Most of Harlingen's privatelyowned automobiles are hired to drive landseekers to tracts. E.C. Bennett's plan to name cross streets sequentially and alphabetically goes into effect.The east-west streets had been named after Hill's influential friends, family and Mexican heroes. Ida Gilbert and Marie Yeager close their hospital.
1927 The League of Latin American Citizens holds its formational meeting, known as the Harlingen Convention, in August, uniting Mexican-American organizations against discrimination and evolving into LULAC. The first city hall, built on a triangle west of Grimsell's, is demolished. Excursion trains bring 700 potential land buyers to Harlingen.
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Land developers distributed colorful promotional brochures to lure Midwesterners to Harlingen.
A fraternal organization which provided burial insurance,Woodmen of the World sponsored major social events along the border in the early 1900s.
At the new $125,000 art deco Municipal Auditorium, audiences fill the 3,000 seats for concerts and plays. F.W.Woolworth opens its first five-and-ten cent store, a mecca of penny candy, notions and toys.The Southern Pacific's district freight and passenger offices operate from Harlingen.The Baxter building becomes the region's tallest building.
original railroad hotel. Jack Pickens' threeyear-old Rex Theater is enlarged to become the Arcadia, complete with a Reuter pipe organ that plays at intermission and for the last of the silent films.
J. J. Burk's Reese-Wil-Mond Hotel, topped with a roof garden and dance floor, opens its first 65 rooms and is billed as the “Traveling Man's and Convention Headquarters.”
As a subcontractor to W.T. Liston, Luis Lopez Sanchez designs, molds and mixes the paint pigment for the concrete mural that gives Bowie School the name “La Escuela de las Viboras.” The Mexican motifs highlight the mythic feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec symbol of wisdom.
1928 “Uncle Billie” Chase becomes
1929 Howard E. Butt and his wife Mary move
manager of the new Municipal Auditorium. He lives in the Lon C. Hill home for the next 30 years, retiring at 90.The Moore Hotel, soon renamed the Madison, opens its 150 rooms, just north of the soon-to-be-demolished
to Harlingen and establish the headquarters of his new cash-and-carry grocery business. The tennis courts at their East Taylor, Italian Renaissance-style home reflect the entrepreneurphilanthropist's affluent neighborhood. 85
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1930-1939
Despite its few seats, the Boo-Koo was a popular spot for hamburgers.
These “Old Nesters” turned out for the Founders Day parade in August 1933. Standing: Charley Perry, John Flore, Lon C. Hill, Bob Pallock, Dan Murphy. Front: Cecil Carruth, Dad Dix,Tom Bowman. C.O. Sheldon demonstrated his custom-made irrigation pumps at the Valley Mid-Winter Fair.The heaters on the right were lit in citrus groves when a freeze was forecast.
1930 POPULATION 12,124 Despite the Depression, agriculture remains strong in the Valley. At Adams Gardens’ 9,700 acres, land planted in citrus sells for $800 per acre. Cold storage facilities, packing and canning plants, and cotton gins and oil mills open. The first tournament held at the new Harlingen Municipal Golf Course attracts 100 golfers in knickerbockers and knee socks.The City's first phone directory tells who lives at what address. On November 17, Harlingen hosts 350 home seekers.The 84-room Plaza Hotel opens.
1931 Harry and Louis Day take over Sims Drug and run Day's Drug, which becomes a downtown gathering place for the next 50 years. Every morning, 25,000 Valley radios tune into KRGV, the “Valley Voice,” which 86
broadcasts from atop the nine-story Baxter Building. The station's noontime show features Jack and Ginger and their Golden Chariot.
1932 The Depression reaches the Valley. City employees are paid in script instead of cash. Merchants accept the script for payment only at a discount. All city employees owing property taxes have 25 percent of their pay withheld and applied to their tax bills.
1933 The Founders Day parade on August 19 marks Hill's 71st birthday with great fanfare. McHenry Tichenor buys the Valley Morning Star, starting his media empire.The Labor Day hurricane devastates Harlingen and the Valley, with extensive flooding and winds howling up to 125 mph. Besides wiping out 90 percent of the citrus crop and leaving vegetable fields underwater, the Big Blow rips open the
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Many Harlingen children picked cotton, some working with their families and others for the experience.
The 1933 hurricane almost wiped out Harlingen and devastated Jackson Street businesses which included the original Day's Drug location at the corner of “A” Street.
During the Depression, Farm Security Administration photographers documented the inhabitants of the FSA Rangerville camp for farm families who had fled the Dust Bowl.
municipal auditorium and destroys numerous businesses and homes. Some families camp out in hotels without electricity for five days. San Antonio and Houston send relief trains and medical teams. Mosquitos invade. J. Lewis Boggus opens his Ford dealership. Minimum wage rises to 35 cents an hour. Prohibition is repealed, although easy access to Mexican bootleggers had guaranteed a steady flow of liquor to Harlingen. Congressman John Nance Garner, whose district includes Harlingen, resigns to become FDR's vice president. 1934 Booker T.Washington School opens for “Negro” students. Knapp Chevrolet opens on West Harrison. Julian and Emma Villarreal replace their circa 1910 grocery store at 343 W.Van Buren.The Ben Levine family opens
The Man's Shop.The swimming hole on the Arroyo at “F” Street draws crowds.
1935 State Highway 96 is completed, connecting Corpus Christi to Harlingen via Kingsville and Sarita through the King Ranch, which long had resisted a public road. On Saturdays, Annelle Doan Claussen rides with her grandparents from their house near Stuart Place Road to buy staples like flour and visit with friends downtown. In the evening, the ladies chat about their laying hens and church happenings while Annelle listens from her seat on the car fender. Documented by Farm Security Administration photographers, tent camps of poverty-stricken, migrant Anglo and Mexican-American workers dot Rangerville Road.The Valley, too, has more laborers than jobs. 87
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PGA and LPGA tournaments at Harlingen Municipal Golf Course attracted big names.
The huge HEB Canning Company plant on “F” Street produced canned vegetables, fruit juices, and salad dressings.
1936 Harvey and John Richards begin running Hygeia Dairy from South “F” Street. Harlingen has 288 stores.To celebrate the Texas Centennial, Central Ward School is renamed Sam Houston Grammar. Cameron County commissioners hear appeals to reduce agricultural valuations as the Depression worsens.
1937 Harlingen's ice plants, essential for chilling fruit and vegetable shipments, produce more ice than any other Texas town. Building permits increase sevenfold with new processing plants, two cotton oil mills, two cotton compresses, and more gins. Mrs. G.M. Lozano helps organize the Bougainvillea Garden Club.The high school graduates 103.
1938 City officials begin a campaign to create 88
The Blackwell School of Aviation operated from the municipal airport near the Arroyo Colorado and today's Tony Butler Golf Course.
a Harlingen air base, appealing to the Civil Aeronautics Authority and later to the War Department.The city's first manager serves for six months, and the position is not filled again until 1947.The Harlingen Canning Company, a partnership of H.E. Butt and ice magnate R. L. Hill, advertises Texas-grown,Texaspacked vegetables.
1939 The Rodriguez Brothers (Jesus,Tony and Joe) open their first grocery on West Harrison. The Strand Theater opens in the former Woolworth's building. Stacey Mitchell Cleaners opens. Eleanor Roosevelt, lecturing in Harlingen, stays overnight at the R. L. Hill home at 1102 E.Taylor. On West Jackson, Noser Construction builds the hurricane-proof Harlingen Motors with its distinctive honeycombed ceiling of cedar beams.
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1940-1949
The personnel office of Harlingen Army Air Field (shown in 1942) managed payroll and assignments for the 3,500 instructors, administrators, cooks and others who helped get 48,000 aerial gunners trained. The Arcadia theater seated over 700 patrons at a time for first-run movies.
This B-24 flew over the Valley, possibly on a training mission with aerial gunnery students completing their five-week course.
1940 POPULATION 13,306 Harlingen claims the title of Winter Vegetable Capital of the World as new irrigation techniques open more land for farming and increase the variety of crops planted. H.E. Butt moves company headquarters from Harlingen.
1941 Because Harlingen can offer 300 days of good flying weather, the city wins the crusade to house a military air gunnery training base on 960 acres northeast of town. Col. John Morgan assumes command of the Harlingen Army Gunnery School (HAGS) on August 1st. Construction is completed in late December. Broadcasts begin from KGBS radio, the predecessor of KGBT.
1942 The Harlingen Airfield Bus Company,
Charles W. Washmon welcomed the 1948 Freedom Train to Harlingen, one of 300 cities visited on its nationwide tour. On board, citizens viewed originals of the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, which reminded them of the foundations of their liberty.
and Roger Kelley in 1941, transports civilians and servicemen between the airfield and Harlingen.The first buses are a converted Hygeia milk delivery van and a school bus. With gas rationing, ridership is heavy.The bus business grows into Valley Transit. Soldier John Kottal remembers doing sentry duty at Harlingen Field with fellow guards passing along grapefruit picked from adjacent orchards.
1943 Metal rationing means car dealers have no new vehicles to sell, so Ferguson Motors sells refrigerators and used cars.The movie Aerial Gunner, starring Chester Morris and Richard Arlen and featuring the young Robert Mitchum, is filmed at HAGS.
formed by Vance Raimond, J. Cullen Looney
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In 1947, the city's hotels were all downtown.
The first bale of cotton has always sparked a celebration.
Legendary golfer Ben Hogan played in a 1948 PGA tournament at Harlingen Municipal Golf Course.
1944 Favre's Dining Room in the Stuart Place Clubhouse opens for candlelight dining. Forty-four Valley women serve their country as WAVES.
1945 By the end of WWII, HAGS has trained 48,000 gunners. More than a thousand Harlingen soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen served their country, and 94 of them died. Dr. Hesiquio Rodriguez joins Valley Baptist Hospital. Kenneth MacPherson opens his pharmacy. Ramirez Tortilla Factory on South “F” is among the first large commercial tortillerias. 1946 A Victory Clothing Drive in Harlingen collects 400,000 pounds of clothing for war-torn Europe.The city takes over the deactivated Harlingen Air Field and opens it as a municipal airport the next year.The first air cargo–a shipment of strawberries–departs for Canada. Santos Garcia, who has sold 4,000 90
tortilla-making machines, organizes Club Educative to loan money to Latinos for college. The Leonard family opens Army Surplus Supply.
1947 Normah Knight opens the Valley's first art school in a surplus military barracks she relocates to East Buchanan. She goes on to create murals for Holsum Bakery, Royal Crown Cola and First National Bank.
1948 Santos Garcia and Frances Canas open the Azteca theater to show Spanish-language movies. St. Alban's Episcopal and St. Paul Lutheran schools open. Golf legend Ben Hogan plays in a Harlingen tournament. Holsum Bakery relocates to West Harrison and provides bakery tours for generations of school kids.
1949 The Harlingen area has 14 cotton gins and oil mills.The post-war economy booms and cotton thrives.
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1950-1959 The downtown record store carried 33 LPs and 45s featuring Burl Ives, Frank Sinatra and Elvis.
During the 1950s, Harlingen added about 60 new subdivisions, which meant a larger police force was needed to cover the rapidly expanding city.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower landed at Harlingen Air Force Base in 1953 en route to inaugurating Falcon Dam.
1950 POPULATION 23,202 At the Valley Mid-Winter Fair, attended by 90,000 people, exotic dancer Sally Rand appears and disappears behind her feather fans. She also talks to the Rotary Club and citrus growers, boosting attendance at those meetings, too. During baseball stadium construction at Fair Park, workers encounter Hill's sugar mill foundations. Harlingen's first mayor, Ike B. McFarland, along with the Burgomaster of Harlingen, Holland, attend the Pioneer’s Day celebration. An international bridge at Los Indios is proposed to serve Harlingen, and a subdivision ordinance is enacted.
1951 The late January freeze kills 75 percent
freezing, the sounds of frozen trees splitting was like rifle shots. A drought begins which will dry up the Rio Grande by 1953. Built in the suburbs, the W. B. Uhlhorn house at 1801 South Parkwood wins the 1951 national AIA award for its architect, modernism genius John G.York. It is the first house in south Texas to be so recognized. Fellow architect Alan Taniguchi designs six Laurel Park homes notable for modernist window walls, clerestory windows and indirect lighting. An ultramodern, glass-walled library opens, a community project funded by the Rotary Club, Junior Service League and city monies.Temple Beth Israel opens in June with Lay Rabbi Ben Levine conducting services.
of the citrus trees. After 69 hours below 91
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This early Harlingen Air Force Base gate greeted the first of 10,000 navigation cadets. Eager to protect their children from polio, families in the mid1950s picked up sugar cubes infused with polio vaccine in this cavalcade on Jackson Street, a uniquely Texas solution.
The classy Valley Drive-In opened in 1954 to the delight of hormonedriven teens.
1952 Harlingen Air Force Base begins training navigators.The Korean War claims the lives of two Harlingen servicemen. LeMoyne Gardens is opened to house military families. During this decade, school enrollment doubles.The first commercial barge arrives at the new Port of Harlingen on the Arroyo Colorado.The all-black, Leroy Johnson American Legion Post 941 is chartered with 15 veterans.
1953 President Dwight D. Eisenhower lands at Harlingen Air Force Base. Crowds line the route of his motorcade through the city on his way to inaugurate Falcon Dam. Rainfall for the year is less than 12 inches, the drought of record. Harlingen is the first city in Texas to have direct dial long distance. Organized by Lew Bray and other avid golfers, the 92
The days of switchboard operators drew to a close in 1955 when Harlingen became the first Texas city to have direct dial long distance from residences.
invitational Life Begins at 40 golf tournament is played at Harlingen Municipal Golf Course. Harlingen becomes the official U.S. First Bale of Cotton auction site, in recognition that area growers have consistently produced the nation's earliest cotton.
1954 Valley Diagnostic Clinic opens. Bob Knight, Sr., and E.E. Alcott open the Nehi Bottling plant to produce Royal Crown Cola. The Air Force opens an NCO Academy. Chuey's Red and White Grocery relocates to the former Ford showroom on West Harrison. The first-class Valley Drive-In Theatre, near West Harrison and Highway 83, entertains families and dating teens with movies such as TheYoung Lions, Lady and the Tramp and Mister Roberts.
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Kids found the silver lining behind the clouds bringing heavy rain and flooding to West Tyler in 1951.
The B-29 restaurant at the corner of Grimes and Morgan promised wine, beer, and music.
The Sun Valley Motor Hotel provided the locale for a publicity shot of RC Cola, bottled in Harlingen by Nehi.
1955 The $2.25 million Valley Baptist
ends with 47.5 inches of rain this year.
Hospital opens on 18.5 acres of donated land while Harlingen State Tuberculosis Hospital is built on Rangerville Road to serve 20 counties. A portable air conditioner pipes chilled air into cars visiting Clyde's Drive-In.
1959 Freddy Fender, San Benito's Baldemar Huerta, records Wasted Days and Wasted Nights, which was written around the time he performed at the Starlite Club Lounge on Van Buren.Years earlier, he had won a bag of groceries at a Grande Theatre talent contest.
1956 Resort-like Sun Valley Motor Hotel opens.A crowd of 35,000 attends Armed Forces Day at H.A.F.B. The Maytag Coin-Operated Laundry is the first laundromat.The Harlingen High Cardettes begin performing at athletic events. Harlingen Art Forum is founded.
1957 Harlingen High School admits its first black students. Coronado Village Shopping Center opens.
1958 The new senior high school on 13th Street opens in December.The drought finally
Senator Lyndon Johnson is heckled by the crowd on arrival at Harvey Richards Field. Many believe that behavior led to the air base's closing once he became Vice President.The Broadway Theater League, chaired by Charley Feldman, brings touring companies of Broadway successes to the Municipal Auditorium, continuing a 30-year tradition of first-class performances. Farmers protest the city's annexation of 1,900 acres. 93
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1960-1969 “Bonanza” stars Lorne Green and Dan Blocker, who played Ben and Hoss Cartwright in the television western, were welcomed to Harlingen by the Six Shooters and Ponderosa fans.
In 1960, this was the Texas League All-Star team.
Residents prepare for the 50th Anniversary parade in April 1960: Frank, Helen, and Bob Shepard, Frank and Peggy Boggus, Harold and Betty Hansen, John and Skip Welty, Bill and Jane Taylor.
1960 POPULATION 40,798
1962 One-third of the city's houses are vacant
A four day festival of pageant, parade, and pioneers celebrates the 50th anniversary of the city's incorporation. Sammy's Drive-In on Highway 77 is a busy teen hangout. Harlingen Air Force Base's monthly payroll reaches $1,341,744.The U.S.A.F.'s only navigator training program graduates its 10,000th navigator in March.Waterworks prepares to build the 90-acre Dixieland reservoir. The Tourist Club has 600 members playing shuffleboard and enjoying potluck suppers.
or sport “For Sale” signs as military families leave. Citizens led by Lewis Levine, Clyde Fincher, George Young, Pledger Cate, Don Bodenhamer and Bob Youker launch the “Go Harlingen” campaign to attract Midwestern retirees to Harlingen with low-priced houses. The program mimics the successful land party excursions of 40 years earlier. 1963 Business owners raise $100,000 to promote “Go Harlingen” marketing.The response brings 576 home buyers immediately and results in 1,400 houses sold over five years. 1964 David Allex becomes Chamber of Commerce president. Julio and Eloina Charles open the Las Vegas Café. 1965 Former air base property is transformed into the Marine Military Academy.The prep
1961 The announcement of the closing of the military base horrifies Harlingen residents who foresee a dire future. City businesses raise $15,000 to place ads in the Wall Street Journal to attract industry. Casa del Sol makes the cover of Texas Architect magazine. 94
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After the air base closed, Hank and Joan Stanley built the first Fun N Sun on former base property (1968). The “Go Harlingen� campaign helped revitalize the city. BobYouker and Bill Godwin assisted with the motivational sign.
On Business 83, Sorrento Italian restaurant drew diners out of city limits.
school welcomes its first class of 59 students and aims to instill Marine Corps traditions and values in the high school boys.Voters approve a $1.25 million bond issue to adapt the former military runways for a jet airport. 1966 Rail passenger service to Harlingen ends. January temperatures crash to 19 degrees, inflicting heavy damage on farmers.Wearing cowboy hats, string ties and badges, the Six Shooters, a Harlingen Chamber of Commerce committee, welcome visitors to the city. 1967 Hurricane Beulah devastates the city with the Arroyo Colorado rising to 43 feet, 15 feet above flood stage. Homes, businesses, and roads disappear under water. President Lyndon Johnson lands in Harlingen and declares the Valley a disaster area. Hank and Joan Stanley offer 150 travel trailer sites with hookups at Fun N Sun Resort on former base property.
Thanks to the legislative backing of Menton Murray, Sr., the John Connally Texas State Technical Institute opens with two instructors and 40 students. 1968 Harlingen Canning Company closes after 30 years of processing tons of tomatoes and vegetables and employing up to 1,500 at its peak.The Confederate Air Force moves to Harlingen, launching 15 years of aerial festivities. EPA restrictions lead many cotton gins to close.The city de-annexes Palm Valley Estates. Sun Valley Mall opens and several downtown stores relocate there. 1969 Tony and Lupita Ramirez, owners of Harlingen Cold Storage, establish Harlingen Information and Social Service Organization to serve the poor.They later receive the Governor's Award for exemplary volunteer service. 95
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1970-1979 Fair Park had space for 1,000 RVs and hosted huge rallies.
The Arcadia theater, a Harlingen landmark for more than 50 years, was destroyed in 1970.
1970 POPULATION 33,603
1972 Levi Strauss prepares to open a
The Arcadia theater burns, sparking memories of Saturday serials, popcorn, and old friends. Sam Lozano is sworn in as the city's first Mexican-American mayor. Harlingen Country Club hosts the first Life Begins at 40 tournament on its own golf course.The new Chamber of Commerce building debuts.
cut-and-sew plant employing 350.With the construction of the Santa Rosa sugar mill, the first sugar cane is planted since pioneer times. Darrell Hester wins the 197th District Court judgeship which he holds for more than 25 years. President Richard Nixon arrives campaigning in September and is met by supporters and Vietnam War protesters.
1971 Caravans rally and head to Mexico from Harlingen's Fair Park, which now has hookups for 1,000 units. Construction starts at Palm Valley Estates.The Confederate Air Force flies restored WW II planes at its four-day Air Show. New buildings at TSTI include 100,000 square feet of classrooms, labs and shops for students in dental, radio and television and electronics technology programs. Mary Helen Nix presents book reviews to clubs. 96
1973 William Carter Co. opens a textile plant with a payroll of $2.5 million.The Paso Real Stagecoach Inn is moved to the Rio Grande Valley Museum and later restored. 1974 Clyde Fincher's Six Shooter Junction attracts visitors to a frontier dance hall, steam locomotive, and shoot-outs at the Arroyo Colorado theme park until it burns down in 1978.
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The theme park Six Shooter Junction played up Harlingen's early days as a rowdy wild west town.
Dr. Gilbert Leal led the growth of Texas State Technical College for over 30 years.
In 1973, the City proposed reducing the size of City Lake which made through streets of Sixth and Seventh and provided land for Liberty Garden and 20 years later the new library.
1975 Southwest Airlines and Lamar Muse select Harlingen as the low-cost airline's first expansion airport.The fare to Houston: $13. Passengers board via portable stairs on the runway.The Vietnam War ends having taken the lives of 23 Harlingen soldiers, Marines and aviators. Leo Garza and associates start PBS affiliate stations.
1976 To celebrate the nation's bicentennial, Sixth Street near City Lake is renamed '76 Drive and Liberty Garden is dedicated. Filemon Vela takes office as a state judge, going on to be appointed a federal judge in 1980.The era of shipping iced fruit and vegetables in railroad cars ends.
1977 Dr. Marion Lawler, Jr., performs the first open heart surgery in the Valley. Scenes
in Thaddeus Rose and Eddie, a made-for-TV movie starring Johnny Cash and June Carter, are filmed in and around Harlingen on locations scouted by Jay Meade.
1978 Dixieland Park and a 1.4 million-gallon water tower at Pendleton Park are completed. The crew of Bermuda Triangle films scenes using six Confederate Air Force planes over the course of a week. Starring John Huston, the drama includes numerous Harlingen residents who earn union wages as extras. John Topp plays an air rescue pilot and others appear as extras on a doomed plane.
1979 Harlingen native Geraldine “Gig� Gangel appears on the cover of the October Playboy, and the next January she is Playmate of the Month. Camelot Retirement Village holds its first open house. 97
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1980-1989 Dr. Felix de Weldon, sculptor of the Iwo Jima Monument, personally supervised the reconstruction of the famous statue's model which he donated to the Marine Military Academy in 1981.
The Confederate Air Force Ghost Squadron included restored World War II fighters, bombers and trainers as well as displays of ground equipment.
1980 POPULATION 40,824 Diaz Park is renamed for Lt. George Gutierrez, Jr., a decorated helicopter pilot who died in Vietnam at 24. He was a descendant of the pioneer family who settled in the area in 1890. Alfonso Diaz, owner of Gulf Coast Conveyors, is named National Businessman of the Year in Manufacturing in Washington, D. C. Rachel McLish, 24, wins the U.S. Women's Body Building Championship. Harlingen's Texas Travel Information Center is dedicated. Hurricane Allen narrowly misses the region.
1981 Dr. Felix de Weldon donates the original working model of his Iwo Jima Monument to the Marine Military Academy.Valle Vista Mall construction begins. Lewis Levine donates the original “F� Street hospital to the city. Continental Airlines starts service. 98
Tabita Gutierrez, 21, becomes Harlingen's first female police officer. After more than 25 years singing Shake, Rattle and Roll and Rock Around the Clock (the first record to sell one million copies), pioneer rocker Bill Haley, 55, dies at his Harlingen home.
1982 The Rio Grande Valley Museum Association raises $174,000 to expand the H.A.F.B. brig into a museum. RioFest begins a 25-year run as the city's spring arts festival.
1983 The Christmas-time Freeze of the Century cripples vegetable, citrus and sugarcane growers. Rangerville Chest & TB hospital becomes South Texas Hospital as the incidence of tuberculosis drops.
1984 Valle Vista Mall opens, devastating downtown and Sun Valley Mall as shops close down or relocate.
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Valley Baptist Hospital marked the start of another major expansion in 1984 with a groundbreaking attended by city leaders, administrators and hospital board members.
Business leaders promoted Mexicana Airlines which flew south of the border from Valley International Airport.
Presidential candidate Ronald Reagan campaigned in Harlingen before the 1980 election. The future president is shown with Frank Boggus, Bill Scurlock and Dr. John Welty.
1985 Leona Hand champions establishing an Iwo Jima Memorial Museum.
1986 Harlingen gets its proverbial fifteen minutes of national fame when President Reagan announces that failure to fund Nicaraguan contras would put “terrorists and subversives just two days’ driving time from Harlingen,Texas.” Columnists from the San Francisco Chronicle and TheWashington Post have a field day. Donna Bonner is elected as the first female City Commissioner.The Literacy Center is established by Ray Cocozza, Jack Hatfield and others.
1987 General Dynamics lands in Harlingen, evolving into Lockheed Martin and then United Launch Alliance. Rio Grande Valley Savings & Loan is closed by auditors, leaving uninsured depositors reeling. H.W. Card, Jr.,
begins his 12-year stint as mayor. North Harlingen Rotary Club accepts Verna Young as its first female member.
1988 The Cultural Arts Center hosts Garden Club flower shows, summer theater and dance workshops and a series of art exhibitions and music competitions. Sandi Jo Funk Hospice begins providing care to terminally ill persons.
1989 A Christmas freeze wipes out citrus, palms and ornamental growers just recovering from the 1983 freeze.The Downtown Improvement District is established and holds the first Jackson Street Jubilee to reacquaint the public with Downtown.The Lon C. Hill home is moved to the Rio Grande Valley Museum grounds. Fruit of the Loom opens a textile plant that operates until 2003.
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1990-1999 The Jackson Street Jubilee encouraged people to rediscover Downtown Harlingen. The new Harlingen Public Library opened in 1993 on land that was once part of City Lake. Aguas frescas are a refreshing treat at Market Days on Jackson, every first Saturday.
Volunteer-run programs like Harlingen Proud and the HOSTS tutors helped Harlingen secure the 1992 All-America City designation.
1990 POPULATION 48,735
1995 Mt. Suribachi flag raiser Harlon Block
Former Harlingen Cardinal quarterback Johnnie Jackson wins a Super Bowl ring playing for the San Francisco 49ers.
of Weslaco is re-interred at the Iwo Jima Monument.
1991 In six hours on April 5, a once-in-500-
$30 million, four-story East Tower.
years rainfall of 17-20 inches drowns the city. Harlingen Proud wins the Keep Texas Beautiful Governor's Community Achievement Award.
1997 The 275-seat Harlingen Performing Arts
1992 Harlingen is designated an All-America City, a national honor limited to the 10 most innovative cities per year.The Free Trade Bridge and Valley Greyhound Park open.
Center at San Antonio announces a Regional Academic Health Center in Harlingen. Ronald McDonald House shelters 620 families of sick children in four years. Falcon Dam drops to 19 percent capacity, stressing agriculture and giving a glimpse of the future in a water-short region.
1993 The first Bird Bowl pits Hawks against Cardinals.The first Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival brings birders and a major shift in attitude about natural resources and tourism.
1994 Harlingen High School South graduates its first class.Tejano star Selena sings at RioFest. 100
1996 Valley Baptist starts construction on its
Theatre opens in Fair Park.
1998 The University of Texas Health Science
1999 Harlingen National Bank is sold to Texas State Bank by the Dial Dunkin family. Mona Sizer, Harlingen author of 34 books, writes The King Ranch Story: Truth and Myth.
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2000-2010 Merry Christmas, 2004.
In 2010, Harlingen celebrates 100 years of life at the crossroads. Centennial Park offers one glimpse of the colorful past.
Hurricane Dolly in 2008 showed Harlingen what Mother Nature (Category 2) could do, 41 years after Hurricane Beulah. The storm dropped at least 14 inches of rain, flooding Primera Road at the Expressway.
2000 POPULATION 59,075 At home, 65 percent of city residents speak a language other than English.
2001 Lara's Bakery and La Mexicana Bakery are featured in Southern Living magazine's article on pan dulce. 2002 The RAHC begins training medical students with local physicians as volunteer medical faculty. Harlingen Medical Center opens. 2003 Fruit of the Loom closes, ending an era of labor-intensive textile manufacturing.The Children's Center opens at Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen. 2004 Known as the Pioneer's Building, the 1915 Santos Lozano building burns down. 2005 The Dr. Hesiquio Rodriguez Elementary School is dedicated. 2006 The museum gets a new name:
Opened in 2002, the Regional Academic Health Center trains University of Texas medical students and Internal Medicine residents.
Harlingen Arts & Heritage Museum. 2007 The City Commission adopts Mayor Chris Boswell's Harlingen 100 Plan and appoints Task Force chairs. 2008 Hurricane Dolly drops 11-17 inches of rain on Harlingen, flooding huge areas, uprooting thousands of trees and damaging countless homes.TSTC president Dr. Gilbert Leal retires after 39 years. 2009 The first election for single member districts is held, with Kori Marra becoming the city's second female City Commissioner.The new police complex opens in Fair Park.
2010 POPULATION (70,000 ESTIMATED) Harlingen celebrates its 100th anniversary with pride, parades and pageants. Harlingen residents take time to reflect on the past, rejoice in the present and envision what the next 100 years will bring to their beloved city. 101
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In the early 1920s, Harlingen had begun to boom as shown here, looking north on Commerce from the intersection at Jackson. After the city got 24-hour electricity in 1921, private citizens paid for the light fixture in the middle of the street and others along Jackson.
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PROFILES
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HARLINGEN’S HISTORIC LEGACY
DAVID E. ALLEX fter graduating from Texas A&I and serving in the Army Reserves, David Allex landed his first real job at the Harlingen Chamber of Commerce in 1962.Thirty-four years later, w h e n h e r e t i r e d from the Chamber, Harlingen had changed dramatically, thanks in great part to his leadership.
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relationships with people from every walk of life, including Herb Kelleher and political leaders on both sides of the border. He left a lasting impression, also, with thousands of boxes of Ruby Red grapefruit shipped to Friends of Harlingen.
David has worked incessantly to promote Harlingen, yet his mantra is “What's good for the Valley is good for Harlingen.” He testified in Washington t o g e t S o u t h we s t Airlines clearance to fly to Harlingen. He shepherded the “Go Harlingen” campaign and convinced Martin Marietta, Fruit of the Loom, and many other companies to locate here. He was a founding father of TSTC and instrumental in developing the Free Trade Bridge at Los Indios.
Proud of the people he has worked with, David in turn earned their respect and admiration. “David is a wa l k i n g b a l l o f f i re,” according to Frank Boggus. Bob Shepard sees David “always looking over the hor izon to do something better for his community.” “His love for our city is unmatched,” Connie de la Garza notes.
David's generous spirit, positive attitude, and never-met-a-stranger philosophy are paired with tough negotiating skills. He maintained
David married Carolyn Edwards in 1962. They raised their children Michael, Scott, Philip, and Anne Marie in Harlingen.
Never one to sit idle and intrigued by commercial and industrial real estate, David is now broker/owner of Allex International Properties working across the Valley and northern Mexico. He chairs the Cameron C o u n t y R e g i o n a l Mobility Authority and has led dozens of organizations such as Texas Chamber of Commerce Executives and the Texas Travel Industry Association, which presented him the Lifetime Achievement Award. Among the many honors he received, the Road Hand Award from TxDOT brought particular pride. Whatever the challenge, count on David to say, “It'll work out.”
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HARLINGEN’S HISTORIC LEGACY
THE BAKER & MURPHY FAMILY
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n 1903, Bessie Selina Gaskill, a distant relative of President William Taft, married John Thomas Baker. The family moved to Harlingen in 1911 where he served on the committee that established the city council for m of g ove r n m e n t . A t Commerce and Van Buren, he opened Baker's Garage, Harlingen's first garage and filling station. The family lived upstairs at first. The two-story Baker Building replaced the garage in 1926.
Bessie Selina Gaskill Baker and John Thomas Baker
Life Begins at 40 Tournament, which Al, Jr. won in 1986. In 1956, Selina and Al's daughter Lila
Bessie and John raised a musical family. She played piano and sang, while he played the violin and banjo, and their children–Neal, John, Jr., Lila Selina, Bessie, Blanche, Juanita, Willard and Ray–g a t h e r e d a r o u n d f o r musical evenings at home. Their home at Harrison and 8th Street endured the 1933 hurricane with only blown-out windows. In 1928 daughter Selina, who played piano at the First Methodist Church and was the first Valley Mid-Winter Fair Queen, married Al Jones, president of Rainbo Baking Co. and a civic leader. An avid golfer, Al helped launch the
Lila Lynn and Robert Andrew Murphy, Jr.
Lynn married Robert Andrew Murphy, Jr. The couple was destined to make beautiful music together. Bob completed pharmacy school at the University of Te x a s w h e re Lynn majored in piano. Bob operated MacPherson's Pharmacy for 31 years. Away from work, his baritone voice combined with Lynn's piano playing to place them at the heart of numerous musical performances. In tune with each other and their audiences, they performed with the original South Texas Chorale and at weddings, social functions and memorial services. Bob and Lynn received the Harlingen Arts & Entertainment Award for their dedication and leadership. A gala performance of “Murphy, Murphy and Company” in 1999 won raves. Of their children, Michael M u r p h y, R P h n o w o w n s MacPherson's. Robert Murphy III is a psychologist and musician. Kathryn Lynn Bonner is a fashion industry professional. 105
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HARLINGEN’S HISTORIC LEGACY
THE BOGGUS FAMILY
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n 1921, 20-year-old Lewis Boggus, Sr., became the youngest owner of a Ford dealership. This accomplishment in Mission came as no surprise to those who had observed the young Texan's drive and talents. Lewis established the Harlingen dealership in 1933, making it part of a string of dealerships from Brownsville, San Benito and McAllen to Raymondville and Corpus Christi. In 1950, Lewis' son Frank began working at Boggus Ford McAllen after he graduated from Texas A&M. After service in the Air Force, Frank became the Harlingen general manager, settling there with his wife Peggy and their children Barbara Sue and twin sons Bob and Jack. Frank eventually ran the McAllen dealership until Bob, a University of Texas graduate, stepped in. Jack
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managed the Harlingen dealership until his death in 1992. Bob Boggus began taking over the family business from Frank in 2001. He is now president of the Harlingen and McAllen Boggus dealerships, which rank among the Valley's top-sellers. Boggus Ford Harlingen relocated to a spacious facility at Expressway 83 and Arroyo Colorado in 2001. It became Boggus Ford Lincoln Mercury in
2007. In 1990, Frank was presented TIME Magazine's Quality Dealer award, the most prestigious honor in the industry. In recognition of exceptional perfor mance and distinguished community service, the rare award was presented to Bob in 2007. Frank and Bob share a dedication to their community through professional and personal involvement. Frank helped establish Texas State Technical College, the Boys and Girls Club, the Boggus Education Pavilion at Valley Baptist Medical Center and, with his daughter Barbara, the Ronald McDonald House of Harlingen. His guidance has shaped numerous financial, charitable and civic boards. Bob has led the Texas Automobile Dealers Association and Valley Partnership while serving on multiple organization boards. He and his wife Karen have three children: Ashley, Austin and Katie. AT THE CROSSROADS: HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS 3
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HARLINGEN’S HISTORIC LEGACY
NEAL BONNER
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eal Bonner, who grew up in dust-bowl Oklahoma, quit high school to join the Seabees in 1944. He used the GI Bill to enroll in college and met Donna Pace on his first day. Married a year later, the couple graduated from the University of Texas and entered UT Law School together. When their first son Chip was born and Neal's young brothers Chuck and Curtis came to live with them, Donna became a full time mom of a family that later grew to include Teri, Pace, and Andy. In 1957, the family moved to Harlingen which they considered the ideal place to put down roots and open Neal's law office. Neal saw such potential in Harlingen, he steadfastly invested his future in the city, even when the air base closed. He partnered with friends in a children's shop, toy and shoe stores, construction company, and restaurant but was known for his real estate investments. A giant teddy bear of a man with a quiet demeanor, Neal had no interest in accolades or the spotlight. His involvement with St. Anthony Church, behind the scenes community efforts, and pro bono work were heartfelt. He counseled troubled youngsters without fanfare. “What can I do to help?” was his mantra. While Neal chaired and served on many community boards and ran a busy law practice, his family always came first. He loved to spoil Donna and kids and became “Daddy Bones” to his children's friends. He enjoyed entertaining: his fajitas, steaks and fried fish were legendary.
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When Neal died in 1990, young people from around the state came to his funeral to honor the man who patiently taught them how to water ski, hunt, fish, and live a
purposeful life.His grandchildren Kathryn, Bonner, Camille, PJ, Ashlyn, Sarah, Neal, Lauren, Morgan, Maryn and Drew are his legacy. 107
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HARLINGEN’S HISTORIC LEGACY
THE H.WILLIAM CARD, JR. FAMILY
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h e C a r d f a m i ly c a m e t o Harlingen in 1968 upon the retirement of Colonel H. William Card, Jr. from a 28 year career as a Marine Corps officer. After a lifetime serving his country, Colonel Card decided to put down roots in the warmest place he could find. The newly-opened Marine Military Academy presented the perfect opportunity for him and his family. Upon his departure from MMA in 1975, he began a career as a banker, ultimately becoming the President of the First National Bank of Harlingen. In 1991, following careers with E. F. Hutton, Garrison Card and her son Bill opened CARD INVESTMENT GROUP, INC. The firm is active in providing financial services to the
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public, including stocks, bonds, managed accounts, insurance (life and long-term care), mutual funds, CDs, annuities and retirement accounts. The firm’s principals have been in financial services since 1977 and provide a depth of experience to clients nationwide. The entire family has been deeply involved in community affairs, particularly during Colonel Card’s terms as Mayor of Harlingen, from 19871998. The family has helped lead the following organizations: Board of Trustees, Marine Military Academy; Board of Directors of South Texas Chorale, Festival of Lights and RGV Boy Scouts of America; Chairman, Harlingen Economic Development, Harlingen Industrial Foundation,
H a r l i n g e n A re a C h a m b e r o f Commerce and Valley Partnership. The family has supported numerous fundraising projects including Ronald McDonald House, Harlingen Performing Arts Center, and Valley Baptist Medical Center. Cheryl Card Gray, Bill and Garrison’s daughter, passed away in 2008. She was the principal of Stuart Place Elementary School for the last 18 years of her 35 year teaching career. Cheryl spearheaded the initial HOSTS Program for the school district. Patti, the youngest daughter, has enjoyed a distinguished career as a broadcaster and is the president and general manager of ABC affiliate KVUE in Austin. AT THE CROSSROADS: HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS 3
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HARLINGEN’S HISTORIC LEGACY
JOHN RAYMOND CHENEY
J
ohn Raymond Cheney was born in Hallettsville, Texas, on June 30, 1888. He came to the Rio Grande Valley in 1906. When only eighteen years old, he drove the sugar mill train between San Benito and the cane fields. Ray began buying horses and shipping them by train to ranchers near Refugio and Victoria.Visiting a friend in Beeville, Ray set eyes on the beautiful Susie Smith. They married and made the Valley their home where he ran cattle on the 23,000 acre Stillman Ranch. In payment of a debt, Ray acquired a meat market on First Street in
Harlingen from Henry Carlisle. Because of his friendship with Texas Rangers, it b e c a m e k n ow n a s the rangers' “Second H e a d q u a r t e r s .” Always open to oppor tunities, R ay s h i p p e d cowhides to San Antonio, using salt hauled by wagon from Sal del Rey lake to preserve the hides. Once Ray, who loved to play the roulette wheel in Matamoros, impulsively bought the gaming establishment. Before Susie learned of his investment, he sold it to Emma Leonard who made “Ma Leonard's” into a popular getaway. Ray was well known among cattlemen and was often sought for his expertise and services. Continuing his ranching operations, he moved to San Perlita and opened a grocery and meat market. The Cheney children– Elouise, Maurine and Rayburn– grew up there. Elouise and Byron Campbell married in 1938, moved to San Perlita, and later bought the Sal Del Rey Ranch which included the ancient salt source.
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Family friends spent many evenings in San Perlita, re-telling stories of earlier times and listening to Elouise sing Mexican songs. Susie died in 1975 and Ray continued to ranch until shortly before his death in 1983. Rancher, farmer, train engineer, horse trader, merchant, husband and father, John Raymond Cheney's life rests within the unique Texas tradition. 109
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HARLINGEN’S HISTORIC LEGACY
THE WILLIAM HILL COCKE FAMILY
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illiam Hill Cocke and wife, Marion Francis, moved to Harlingen from Mission, Texas, in 1933. Their three children were a daughter, Donald Atchison, and sons William Hill, Jr., and James Robert (Jim). In 1941, Hill Cocke established Valley Ready Mix Concrete Company which grew with the advent of the Second World War and the boom that followed. The two sons joined the company in 1953 after graduating from the University of Texas. In 1967, Hill, Jr., went on his own and established his own business. Jim became president of the company that year and expanded it into many enterprises beyond Ready Mix Concrete. Hill, Sr., and his wife were deeply
activities. He served as chairman of the Valley Mid-Winter Fair for ten years as well as chairman of Civic Music for many years. He had forty-plus years perfect attendance as a Rotarian and served for a long time as a Director of First National Bank and the Harlingen Water Board. Hill was the drive chairman to raise one million dollars to build Valley Baptist Hospital in its present location. Not only was he the moving force to create the Marine Military Academy, but he was one of its primary benefactors. He also led in establishing the City of Palm Valley. His civic contributions were countless. William Hill and Marion F. Legge Cocke
involved in the community with their service on many boards and civic
Marion was a devoted member of St. Alban's Episcopal Church and spent many years of service supporting the church. She was a prime mover in establishing St. Alban's Episcopal Day School and in the construction of its building, which was named in her honor. Hill and Marion gave generously to the community in their time, talents, and treasures. The City of Harlingen benefitted greatly from these early pioneers.
William Hill and Marion F. Legge Cocke with son Jimmy and wife Joy. 110
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HARLINGEN’S HISTORIC LEGACY
THE DE LA GARZA FAMILY
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aptain Cristobal de la Garza arrived in Tejas in 1716 to defend Spanish missions along the San Antonio River. About 250 years later, his descendant Conrado de la Garza moved south to Harlingen. In 1967, Connie became the Harlingen City/School Tax Assessor and the city's first Hispanic department head. Connie, a Raymondville native who attended Texas A&M, received the outstanding Texas Assessor Award in 1968. In 1972, he purc hased Bahnman Realty and acquired his GRI (Graduate, Realtor Institute). Connie became chairman of Sierra Title Company of Cameron and Willacy Counties. Connie immersed himself in public Connie and Lisa de la Garza
service. In 1968, he assisted in the transfer of city land to the new Texas State Technical Institute. He served 12 years on the Texas State Technical College Board of Regents, the last four as chairman. He chaired the Valley International Airport Board when the $22 million airport opened, without costing the taxpayer a dime.
Mayor Bob Youker installs Connie as the first Hispanic president of Board of Realtors. 2 AT THE CROSSROADS: HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS
For three years Connie led the Harlingen Economic Development Corp., and, pro bono, acquired the property used by Fruit of the Loom. He was part of the negotiating team that brought General Dynamics to Harlingen. After serving as City Commissioner, he was elected Mayor in 1998 and in 2001. He served on the inaugural committees of Governor Bush in 1999 and Governor Perry in 2003. Dedicated to Harlingen's
growth, he was instrumental in developing Harlingen Corners. Three times, Connie was named Outstanding Lion and is in the Texas Lions Hall of Fame. He served as District Governor, International Director, received the Lions International “Ambassador of Good Will Award,” a Melvin Jones Fellow and a Jack Wiech Fellow for service to the Texas Lions Camp. Connie married Lisa, a Harlingen native, in 1976. They have four children. Christine owns a custom boot company, de la Cav, in New York. Roddy is completing a PhD in psychology. Mia, a Realtor, joined her parents at Bahnman. Juan is an Army sergeant who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Connie is an Elder of First Presbyterian Church. 111
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THE DUNKIN FAMILY
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nmet financial needs prompted a group of San Benito and Harlingen businessmen and professionals to organize the First National Bank of San Benito in 1979. Banker Bob Dunkin joined the investor group, opening the bank in a mobile home until the permanent facility was constructed in 1980. Now called First Community Bank, the institution has prospered, growing with the communities it serves. First Community Bank's slogan Other Banks Have Branches, We Have Roots characterizes the unique relationship the bank shares with its customers. The oldest chartered, independently owned bank in Cameron County, First Community fosters personal banking relationships based on common goals and roots in the community. Bob Dunkin's family put down roots in the Valley in the 1920s. His father, D. B. Dunkin, founded Harlingen State Bank in 1945. At age 10, Bob started his banking career as a bank parking lot attendant. Eleven years later, he graduated from the University of Texas Business School's honors program with a Finance degree. After serving as an officer in the U.S. Air Force in Vietnam, Bob returned to Harlingen to work with his brother Dial at Harlingen National Bank for 10 years. Then he accepted the challenge of leading First Community Bank.
Bob and Ann Dunkin
recognized its wider roots, opening facilities in Harlingen, Los Fresnos, San Benito and at Valley Baptist in Harlingen and Brownsville. Those old-fashioned roots are tightly linked to the latest banking technologies and strong community involvement. Bob has chaired both the Harlingen and San Benito Chambers and Rotary
Clubs, as well as the VIA board and the Harlingen school board. His work with the Wounded Warriors, aiding soldiers recovering from injuries, is a source of great pride. Bob and Ann Dunkin have two children, Lucy Ann Wolthoff and Bobby, and four grandchildren.
In 2000, to serve the needs of depositor s, Fir st Community 112
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HARLINGEN’S HISTORIC LEGACY
THE FELDMAN FAMILY
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am Feldman and his wife Clara, immigrants from Pinsk, Poland, settled in Harlingen in the late 1920s. He opened Harlingen Iron and Metal Company, a scrap metal business, near their home on North Seventh Street.
sold in 2001, the Feldman's name was retained and the stores are now part of the Statewide Beverage chain which covers the Valley and Corpus Christi. Charley co-founded the Broadway Theater League in 1958. Forty years later, Harlingen Arts & Enter tainment established the “Charley” award in recognition of his dedicated service to the arts. He was a board member of the South Texas Chorale, Harlingen Arts & Entertainment, and the Harlingen I n d u s t r i a l Committee.
When prohibition ended in 1933, Sam became a wholesale liquor distributor and in 1938 entered retailing when he opened his first Feldman's Liquor Store in Harlingen. Sam, who had served in the US Army during World War I, was active in the American Legion and the Salvation Army. In 1948, he was co-founder and first president of Temple Beth Israel. Clara, who had studied voice in Europe, sang at events in Harlingen. Sam and Clara's two sons Harry and Charley worked in the family business growing up. Harry, who landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day, attended the University of Texas. He and his wife Madeline had four children. 2 AT THE CROSSROADS: HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS
Charley Feldman
Charley graduated from the University of Texas and married Helen Rachofsky of Dallas in 1954. After Army service, they settled in Harlingen where Charley worked with Feldman's and took full control when his brother died in 1965. Feldman's became the largest chain of retail package stores in the Valley with 12 outlets. When the business was
Charley and Helen were active in the community. He served as president of Temple Beth Israel, the Harlingen Chamber of Commerce, the Texas Package Store Association, and the Wine & Spirits Guild of America. In 1988 he was named one of the Top 10 Package Store Retailers in the U.S. Charley, Helen and their sons Sam and Howard and their families now live in the Dallas area. 113
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FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
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n 1909, nail kegs and planks formed benches for the first Methodist services held in Harlingen at the Lon C. Hill Building. Later, meeting in a white frame house which doubled as the public school, the First Methodist Church was c har tered by 31 member s on February 19, 1910. On Easter Sunday 1911, the first service was held in the new church. J.D. Dorsey, a bachelor minister, lived in the c hurc h, prompting the women's society to have a parsonage built immediately. In July 1925, with a membership of 525, a church committee moved to build and equip a larger parsonage and church where the first service was held December 11, 1926. The sanctuary pipe organ was given in memory of Champ Terry and Elizabeth Stuart by their children in 1929. Throughout the depression, four families sustained the congregation. In addition to the active men's group, the women's society eased the church's financial burden by serving meals for men's civic clubs.
Christmas pageant, circa 1937
services in the 1980s. The Vance D. and Mary Lee Raimond Christian Center opened in 1993, providing rooms for preschool and a gym because of a dramatic growth in children's programs. Reaching out to
west side members, Valley Praise began holding services in 2004. Strong in spirit and numbers, First United Methodist Church provides bible study and fellowship programs for its 800 members.
Radio broadcasts of morning service began in the 1940s along with a choir vesper program on Sunday evenings. The church's hallmark bell tower and spire were dedicated in 1949. In the 1950s, the Sunday School wing opened, the parsonage was relocated, and the C.W. Clift family donated the Clift Chapel. In 1968, a new portico and elevator changed the church's appearance, and a merger introduced the new name, First United Methodist Church. The handbell choir added their music to 114
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THE FITZGERALD FAMILY
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n the mid-1920s, John Robert Fitzgerald left his E a s t Te x a s h o m e f o r Harlingen with his mother, younger brother and sister. Working as 'fruit tramps,' as farm workers were called then, J.R. and his family followed the fr uit and vegetable harvests around Texas. Combining his experiences in Texas vegetable fields and a natural talent for design and engineering, J.R. started a business in 1934 in his Harlingen garage creating machinery for Valley farmers and fruit packers. This machinery, designed to make the produce packers' job easier, helped companies process vegetables quicker while providing products of better quality and more uniform size.The three pillars which Tri-Pak built its reputation on–Quantity, Quality and Uniformity –sustain the business today. Alan Fitzgerald took the reins of TriPak from his father in the mid-1970s and successfully led the business for 25 years. The company is now
managed by a third generation of Fitzgeralds: David, James, and Robert, their brother-in-law Dan Groves, and long-time associates Charles and Chuck Kilbourn. The family business has operated from North Commerce Street for the last 70 years. Tri-Pak is known globally for its custom-designed machinery and produce packing equipment. After
assessing the desires and goals of a prospective client, the Tri-Pak engineering team designs packing equipment that will fit the client's requirements and his building's layout. The company's vault holds hand-drawn engineering plans and designs dating back to Tri-Pak's first customers as well as modern CAD (Computer Assisted Design) drawings. As packing houses strive for more efficiency with higher product quality, they rely on Tri-Pak to design and fabricate to their individual packing shed specifications. Currently Tri-Pak employs talented craftsmen and support personnel to cut, shape and weld metal into conveyor lines, machines and mechanisms that wash, sort, size and pack produce for today's “fruit tramps.”
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THE DIEGO GONZALEZ FAMILY
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iego Gonzalez's parents – Candido and Candida Gonzalez of China, Nuevo Leon – settled on the Wilson Tract west of Harlingen in 1917 when Diego was three. Neither Diego nor his 11 siblings attended school. Instead they helped the family by working on local far ms and ranches. During the 1933 hurricane, Diego fell in love with Antonia Garza. They married in 1940. Uneducated, Diego worked as a agricultural laborer. In the 1950s he became a bracero contractor. Successful, he managed numerous crews harvesting the Valley's cotton fields, providing housing and transportation for his workers. Antonia labored as well, in Harlingen packing sheds. Diego and Antonia raised six childrenLupe, Frank, Dalia, Diego Jr., Estella and Amelia (adopted). Antonia delighted in taking pictures of her family and left behind treasured memories. Having been deprived of an education, Diego and Antonia wanted better for their children and insisted they not miss a day of school. They sacrificed and took on heavy workloads to make sure the children got an education, at a time when other children were dropping out. The five natural children graduated from college, and all of their grandchildren went to college. Diego's love of family made him the big brother and mentor of many young relatives. 116
Antonia and Diego, self-educated and hungry to learn, jumped at the opportunity to attend adult education classes at Texas State Technical Institute. They both excelled, and Diego was elected president of the adult classes. TSTI, admiring his ambition, hired him as director of groundskeeping. Diego transformed the campus landscaping until his forced retirement at 70.
Antonia Garza and Diego Gonzalez
Diego was a spiritual leader in Primera, conducting prayer meetings, bible studies, and rosaries weekly. Diego and Antonia were Eucharistic ministers of Queen of Peace Catholic Church. He would visit the sick with prayer and Holy Communion. It was common to see tears in his eyes as he prayed. AT THE CROSSROADS: HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS 3
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THE GUENZEL FAMILY
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awrence Carl Guenzel, known by all as Lefty, arrived in Harlingen in 1922 from Oklahoma at age two. Lefty grew to become an accomplished welder, entrepreneur, banker, City Commissioner and philanthropist. Lefty's father, German immigrant Martin Guenzel, opened Valley Blacksmith & Welding in 1929 on Adams Street. The shop forged farm implements and parts, branding irons, tools, and heavy construction equipment. Martin brought the first electric Lincoln arc welder to the Valley. Working beside his father, Lefty learned the importance of hard work, quality products and personal integrity. Lefty served his country in World War II, where as a Seabee, his skills as a welder were put to good use building fuel tanks for the Navy's air fleet. Lefty returned to the family business, and in 1950 renamed it L. C. Guenzel Metal Products Co., and relocated on Sunshine Strip.
Martin Guenzel opened a blacksmith and welding shop in 1929 on North Adams Street.
well-known in Harlingen, Lefty and Colleen also spent a great deal of time on South Padre Island, building one of the first homes there in 1959. Lefty was elected City Commissioner in 1954. He served as Vice Chairman of Harlingen National Bank and ac hieved 45 year s of perfect attendance with Rotary. Lefty believed in Harlingen, investing in
real estate, constructing warehouses and office buildings. He was instrumental in the construction of St. Paul Lutheran Church. Lefty passed away on February 27, 1983, at age 62. The Guenzel legacy continues today with Gary Martin Guenzel as owneroperator of warehouse facilities that occupy the former Guenzel Metal Products site.
Lefty's motto was If it is made of metal, I can manufacture it. H e fabricated and repaired truck bodies, fuel tanks, armored cars, tool boxes, fire trucks, ranch gates, and some of the first vehicle-mounted hunting rigs in south Texas. He was on call 24/7 for the area farmers and cotton gins. Lefty Guenzel married Colleen Dawson in 1949 and they had two sons, Gary and Gordon. Active and 2 AT THE CROSSROADS: HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS
For over 30 years, Lefty Guenzel was renowned for his ability to make all types of metal products at his Sunshine Strip shop. 117
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H-E-B CORPORATE PHILANTHROPY
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-E-B is one of the largest food chains in the United States with annual sales of more than $15 billion, employs more than 70,000 Partners (employees), and is the largest privately-held company in Texas. Each day the company works to make its communities a better place to live. This is now known as H-E-B's Spirit of Giving, a tradition that spans more than 100 years. H-E-B's commitment to education, hunger prevention, disaster relief, diversity, volunteerism and the environment, coupled with its corporate giving philosophy, has been recognized as an important part of the way the company does business. H-E-B donates five percent of its pretax earnings annually to charitable organizations that are committed to making a positive difference in Texas communities. Additionally, the H-E-B Food Bank Assistance Program allows for the redistribution of food and nonfood products, supporting a total of 16 food banks in Texas and 10 in Mexico. The company has a strong legacy serving communities in crisis. In the wake of Hurricane Dolly, H-E-B
deployed 89 trucks loaded with groceries and supplies; provided food, ice, water and baby supplies to numerous area shelters and residents; set up the H-E-B Disaster Response Unit equipped w i t h a Pharmacy and Business Center; and ser ved meals from the H-E-B Eddie Garcia Mobile Kitchen. H-E-B also encourages excellence in teaching with the Excellence in Education Awards, c r e a t e d to support public education in
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Texas. It has become the largest monetary recognition program for educators in the state, awarding more than $600,000 in cash prizes each year. H-E-B is also committed to sustainable practices that improve the company’s use of natural resources, minimize waste, conserve energy and water and protect air quality. Last, but not least, H-E-B believes its Partners have a responsibility to the community through volunteerism. To date, H-E-B Partners have contributed more than 100,000 hours of community service to help friends and neighbors. AT THE CROSSROADS: HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS 3
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HARLINGEN’S HISTORIC LEGACY
THE HALE FAMILY
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igh school sweethear ts Freda Lampe and Sidney Hale married in October 1938 in Ballenger, Texas. While working for Otis Elevator, Sidney volunteered during World War II and served as a Navy electrician in the Pacific. Assigned to Harlingen in 1949 by Otis, Sidney opened his own elevator maintenance company, now known as Rio Elevator Company, Inc., in 1951 rather than leave the Valley. With Freda as bookkeeper, the company originally operated from the dining room at the family's San Benito farm. Sidney's service territory extended from Brownsville to Laredo. He serviced elevators in the grand hotels of the time: Cortez in Weslaco, Las Palmas in McAllen, El Jardin in Brownsville. Sidney had been warned the Valley couldn't support an elevator company, but his business grew slowly and steadily. For many years, he was the Valley's only resident elevator repairman. Sidney installed the Valley's first 2 AT THE CROSSROADS: HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS
Sidney and Freda raised their three children in the country, keeping them busy with chores. When their youngest child left the nest, they moved into town and became active in Civil Air Patrol, Kiwanis and Kiwaniannes. Freda t a u g h t S u n d ay Sc hool at Fir st United Methodist Church and became Volunteer Ser vice C o o r dinator at Harlingen Chest Hospital.
Sidney and Freda Hale
glass-balustrade escalator for Brownsville Shopper's World.The uponly escalator, which Sidney modified to fit the building, attracted shoppers for 25 years. The Hales purchased farmland and brought her parents, Bill and Elsi Lampe, to the Valley where they raised citrus, cotton, produce and grapes. (During Prohibition, Bill had been licensed to make wine for Runnels County churches.)
Their son Frank, h i s w i f e K at hy and their three children moved to Harlingen in 1971 to partner with Sidney. They bought out his father over the next 20 years. Frank's brother James is a retired Harlingen attorney, and sister Susan DeCano, after a career teaching, now operates an antique draw bridge in Seattle,Washington. Rio Elevator remains the Valley's only locally-owned-and-operated elevator firm. 119
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HARLINGEN’S HISTORIC LEGACY
THE CITY OF HARLINGEN
In May 1941, Mayor Hugh Ramsey signed the lease which allowed the War Department to build the aerial gunnery school, later known as Harlingen Army Airfield.
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n Harlingen's first 100 years, the voters elected 26 Mayors. The leadership of these men helped the city develop into a crossroads, an agricultural shipping center, a military post, a textile manufacturing center and a healthcare hub. They devoted countless hours to the city, nurturing its prosperity, protecting its quality of life, and guiding Harlingen to a brighter future.
Hugh Ramsey
1937-45, 48-50
R. J. Kroeger
1946-48
Gene McCullough
1950-52
Charles A.Washmon
1952-56
Frank G. Parker
1957-59
C.Worth Wood
1959-60
The City of Harlingen honors their dedicated service.
Fred Paschall
1960-62
M.T. Hodes
1962-66
George Young
1966-70
Sam Lozano
1970-72, 83-87
Ralph Thompson
1972-74
Bob Youker
1974-81
R. K.Whittington
1981-83
H.William Card Jr.
1987-98
Connie de la Garza
1998-2004
Rick Rodriguez
2004-2007
Chris Boswell
2007-
Harlingen Mayors Ike McFarland John D. Hill A.W. Cunningham L. S. Ross Miller V. Pendleton S. A.Thompson Joe R. Roberts S. Finley Ewing Sam Botts 120
Terms 1910-11 1911 1911-12 1912-14 1914-18 1918-22, 24-26 1922-24 1926-28 1928-36
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arlingen elected 122 City Commissioners during its first 100 years. Their commitment to Harlingen and their initiatives on behalf of the city were vital for its progress. The City of Harlingen honors their dedicated service. Commissioners
Terms
John D. Hill H. E. Morrow R. S. Chambers C.W. Letzerich J. M. Denton J. E. L. Fender J. Jacob Miller A.. H.Weller M.V. Pendleton H.A. Gibbs R. L. Chaudoin L. S. Ross H. A. Gibbs Linsay Waters S. A.Thompson J. B. Smith B. C. Roberts John Baker R. A. Stephenson E.W. Anglin Sam Botts A. A. Kimmell
1910-11 1910-11 1911-12 1911-12 1911-16 1911-12 1911-12 1912-18 1912-13 1912-16 1912-19 1913-14 1914-16 1914-16 1916-21 1916-18 1916-19 1918-21 1918-22 1919-23 1919-28 1921-23, 36-38 1922-24 1923-24 1923-31 1924-24 1924-24 1924-28 1926-31 1926-31 1928-32, 34-37 1928-30 1930-30 1931-37 1931-33 1931-36 1932-34, 36-37 1933-36 1934-36 1936-40 1937-39 1937-41
H. H. Buchard O. N. Joyner R. B. Hamilton M. I. Olsen H. J. O'Connell A. D. Holmes W. M. Hundley Dr. J. M. Green George Waters T. E. Harwell H. F. Looney Neil Madeley C. P. Bobo H. C.Ware J. A. Seagrove J. J. Burk E. A. Davis A. A.Thompson A. E. McClendon Charles H. Brown
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Mayor Charles Washmon presided at this 1954 City Commission meeting.Those present were Larry Crow,Al Coneway, Joel Ellis, Commissioner Sam Alexander, Commissioner E. P. McCall, Commissioner A. B. Chapa, CommissionerWilson Palmer, Frank Lucas, and Commissioner M. Day Young.
Dr. R. E. Utley Arthur F. Dabney Harvey L. Richards W. C. Anderson W. E. Gaines J. L. Head B. S. Mothershead Guy Leggett W. S. Moothart W. L.Trammell P. R. Edie Hawthorne Phillips A. B. Chapa J. B. Hicks Stuart Jennings Frank Parker J.W. Kirksey Jr. Wilson Palmer E. P. McCall M. Day Young Sam H. Alexander E. D. Giffen L. C. Guenzel R.T. Moore Finis Easterling J. J. Rodriguez M.T. Hodes M.W. Russell R.W. Liston Joe Bob Lawrence Wally Van Wyk Matt Gorges Frank Sullivan M.W. Russell Jr. Samuel Lozano Bob Youker Jimmy Cocke
1937-39 1938-46 1939-41 1939-53 1940-45 1941-42, 44-46 1941-47 1941-42 1942-46 1945-47 1946-48 1946-50 1947-59, 70-74, 86-91 1947-51 1948-52 1950-52 1951-53, 57-61 1952-54 1952-54 1953-57 1953-59 1954-56 1954-56 1956-58 1956-60 1958-62 1959-62 1959-63 1960-62 1961-65, 68-69 1962-66 1963-63 1963-65 1963-65 1962-70, 78-83 1965-69 1965-67
Richard Steeno R. M. Elmore Bill Congdon J. D.Werner Otto Schvab Ralph Thompson Lewis Levine Dick Washmon Charles Mills Leon Daniell Connie de la Garza George Pletcher Don Lee Tony Gutierrez Wayne Potter Arnie Olivarez Bob Goodman Herman Wise Louis J. DeLellis Cesar Menchaca Wayne Beneke Craig Vittitoe Donna Bonner James Matz John T. Garrett Dr. James Rowe Nat Lopez Jesse Robles Jack Hatfield Chris Boswell Richard Rodriguez J. J. Gonzalez Jay Meade Frank Puente Eddie Medrano Tom Hushen Bobby Farris Robert Leftwich Larry Galbreath Kori Marra Joey Trevino Jerry Prepejchal
1966-67 1967-74 1967-70 1969-86 1969-74 1971-72 1972-74 1974-76 1974-79 1975-78 1975-78 1977-79 1979-81 1979-83 1979-80 1980-82 1981-85 1981-81 1982-86 1983-90 1984-88 1985-89 1986-94 1988-92 1989-92 1990-98 1991-2000 1992-2003 1994-97 1998-2007 1998-2004 2000-06 2000-09 2003-06 2004-07 2007-09 2007-09 20072007200920092009121
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HARLINGEN’S HISTORIC LEGACY
HARLINGEN AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & HARLINGEN CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU
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umberyards, hotels, and saloons were flourishing before Harlingen incorporated in 1910. Already established, the Harlingen Commercial Club, predecessor of the Harlingen Chamber of Commerce, offered its building for the first City Council meetings. In 1919, the Harlingen Chamber of Commerce officially organized and began playing a central role in the city's development. From attracting farmers and vegetable processors to fostering the Mid-Winter Fair and the Port of Harlingen, the Chamber helped Harlingen and its businesses grow. By 1930 the Chamber listed 400 businesses.
With city officials, the Chamber worked to bring the Harlingen Army Gunnery School and Harlingen Air Force Base to town. The closing of HAFB, the city's darkest hour, led to the Chamber's rallying cry of “Go Harlingen,” a volunteer effort creating perhaps the community's finest hour. The campaign by the business community raised $100,000 and sold 576 houses in the first year for an astounding comeback.
For decades, the Chamber and the CVB have partnered in promoting Harlingen and the Rio GrandeValley, both nationally and internationally. Pictured is David Allex (right), who led the Chamber and CVB as president for over 34 years. 122
For many years, the C h a m b e r ' s To u r i s t Committee ran the Harlingen Tourist Club, an activity center for 600 Winter Texans. The Chamber's Cotton Committee began publicizing Harlingen's First Bale in the US annually.
David Allex started his 34-year stint with the Chamber in 1962, overseeing economic development and tourism. A tireless city booster, Allex led the Chamber in attracting major manufacturers, airlines and more tourists, who were all welcomed by Six Shooter Club members wearing string ties, western hats and badges. In 1970, the Chamber opened its new building on Tyler. There the Chamber has championed new and existing businesses, the Regional Academic Health Center, and the VA Health Center and also organized Leadership Harlingen and networking opportunities. The Convention & Visitors Bureau continues to draw travelers to Harlingen to enjoy downtown shopping, eco-tourism assets and sports venues. As a Certified Retirement Community, Harlingen is ready for the new generation of growth and tourism. AT THE CROSSROADS: HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS 3
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HARLINGEN’S HISTORIC LEGACY
HARLINGEN CONSOLIDATED INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT
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century ago, Harlingen schools as we know them did not exist. Most were one-teacher schools operating three months annually. Texas enacted compulsory attendance laws in 1914 with students required to attend 60 days per year in segregated schools. In 1905, Harlingen pioneer Lon C. Hill built a small frame schoolhouse near his home to educate his children and his sister's and friends' children. Cur r iculum for the one-room schoolhouse included reading, arithmetic, spelling and penmanship with a single math problem given to students by age group. On September 5, 1909, the Harlingen Independent School District Board of Trustees held its first organizational meeting in the office of Morrow Brothers Lumber Company. Prior to 1911, classes were held in a variety of locations including church buildings. On April 25, 1911, a contract was awarded to build the Central Ward School, renamed Sam Houston School in 1936.
facilitating learning from multiple sources. Students use sophisticated, intelligent technology, including laptops and multimedia, to research, analyze, and communicate complex understandings of ideas. Graduates pursuing the Recommended or Distinguished Achievement degrees must earn 26 credits, including four each in math, science,
social studies and language arts. Harlingen schools have a proud tradition of excellence. Our diverse and knowledgeable Board of Trustees, district staff, and community are committed to ensuring all students have equal opportunity to fulfill their potential and to become successful participants in our global society.
Today, HCISD supports a fully integrated system of 17 elementary schools, five middle schools, two high schools, three alternative schools, and an early college high school from which students can graduate with both a college degree and a high school diploma. With teaching and learning no longer confined to bricks and mortar, students are being prepared to succeed in worldwide participation. While teachers remain critical, their role has become one of 2 AT THE CROSSROADS: HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS
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HARLINGEN’S HISTORIC LEGACY
HARLINGEN COUNTRY CLUB
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arlingen Country Club, incorporated and chartered on August 15,1949, first occupied a city building adjacent to the Harlingen Municipal Golf Course. That structure is known today as the Pan American Building. Almost two years later, in May 1951, Harlingen Country Club moved into a building of its own. Nestled between the city golf course and the Arroyo Colorado, the newly-christened structure enjoyed a picturesque backdrop of artistic landscaping combined with nature's beauty.To the Harlingen community, the country club was awe-inspiring. In July 1969, Harlingen Country Club officially moved to its current Palm Valley location. With great fanfare and excitement, Harlingen's first full-service country club welcomed members and their guests. The club offered the ultimate in relaxation and comfort, featuring a grand entrance, banquet room, fine and casual dining, a bar, expansive locker rooms, a beautiful patio with a golf course view and an Olympic swimming pool. Forty years later, construction got underway for Harlingen Country Club's magnificent new facility. The
For 16 years, the first clubhouse of Harlingen Country Club enjoyed a beautiful location between the Municipal Golf Course and the Arroyo Colorado.
new clubhouse will be completed in 2010. At the core of this refined design is the commitment to excellence for members and guests. Contemporary touches integrated with the haciendastyle architecture and decor set the scene for the graceful, tranquil clubhouse. Fine and casual dining, private small group dining and small meeting rooms are all part of the master plan to accommodate the most discriminating tastes and to provide
a luxurious member experience throughout the clubhouse. Among the extraordinary amenities are an exceptional golf pro shop and a separate but no less exceptional tennis pro shop, plus new Men's and Ladies’ locker rooms. The new country club swimming pool complements the sleek, state-of-the-art fitness center which has doubled in size. Ultimately, one word describes the new Harlingen Country Club... impressive.
The new Harlingen Country Club opens in 2010. 124
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HARLINGEN’S HISTORIC LEGACY
THE JUNIOR LEAGUE OF HARLINGEN
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commitment to healthy children and education inspired 58 women to organize the Junior Service League of Harlingen in 1947. Funds from operating bingo games at the Valley Mid-Winter Fair enabled the charter members to open the League Thrift Shop in 1950. The women leveraged store income and charity balls to underwrite countless projects that have benefited the community for more than 60 years. Addressing needs, they launched a library story hour and summer reading program, furnished a ward and maternity rooms at Valley Baptist Hospital, and organized the Pinafore Girls who helped in the polio ward. Members volunteered at a polio outpatient clinic of the Crippled Children's Society. The 1969 purchase of the historic Planters Bank building gave the Junior Service League a home. In 1970, the League began restoration of the historic Hill home and provided tours after it opened. Championing art and music, they co-sponsored the first
June Toland, Dyan Banks, Linda Carstensen, Pam Funk and Mary Helen Harris
RioFest in 1982.They began awarding scholarships to graduating Harlingen High seniors. The organization became the Junior League of Harlingen in 1985. It soon expanded its membership and its outreach to Youth Leadership Harlingen, Ronald McDonald House, and Cameron County CASA.
Jane Burkholder and Teri Funk 2 AT THE CROSSROADS: HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS
The Junior League published the popular Rio Riches cookbook in 1997. Three years later, they fulfilled a $83,000 pledge and dedicated the Lillian Lamon Memorial Auditorium at the Harlingen Public Library. Reflecting changing times, today seventy percent of Junior League members work full time. Yet the group's collaborative efforts have grown to include the annual Ronald McDonald House Shower, Relay for Life, and Dining by Design. Members continue to help fund the Boys and Girls Club, the Harlingen CISD Parental Involvement Center and the Children's Center at VBMC. In 2007 the Junior League furnished a home at Sunny Glen Children's Home. Their newly-launched “Kids in the Kitchen” promotes healthy eating habits in the 21st century. 125
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HARLINGEN’S HISTORIC LEGACY
THE KIM FAMILY
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aria Victoria Rivera left San Luis Potosi for the Rio Grande Valley where she married Guadalupe Huerta, a shrimper with the Brownsville fleet, the nation's largest. Their daughter Abigail, one of five children, married and settled in San Benito and had four children: Alfredo, Lillian, George, and Ruby all of whom now live in Harlingen.
gift one can give is education, Lillian supports several scholarship programs and provides behind-the-scenes suppor t for Harlingen CISD’s Parental Involvement conferences. Love for her community is evident in Lillian's volunteer service, from the Heart Association and Monica's and Maggie’s House to Special Olympics. She is a c t i v e i n t h e H a r l i n g e n Chamber of Commerce and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which recognized her as Business Person of Honor. She is a 2005 graduate of Leadership Texas.
Lillian started her career in banking in Florida followed by steps up the ladder in Brownsville and in Seattle where she was recognized as one of the top producing bankers. In 1998, Lillian Cantu Kim returned to the Va l l e y t o r a i s e h e r c hildren, Kelsey and Kevin. The c hildren inspired her to start her o w n business, Key Mortgage in 2000. Today Lillian is the CEO of the thriving business, which has employed up to 20 people.Where others saw obstacles for a single mother starting a business, Lillian recognized opportunities and did not back down from the challenges. Believing that the greatest 126
Lillian brought her leadership and talents to the Cameron Works Board, which she served as the first female president for two ter ms. She successfully established training programs that benefitted individuals and communities and was featured in AmFels' international publication.
Lillian Kim with her children Kevin and Kelsey
Abigail Cantu
Maria Victoria Rivera
Proud of her heritage, Lillian promotes the beauty of Mexican culture by assisting Gloria Canales in showcasing its dance and music. She u n d e r w ro t e t h e H PAT presentation of a play about Frieda Kahlo. She is dedicated to community service.
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HARLINGEN’S HISTORIC LEGACY
THE ROLLIE KOPPEL FAMILY
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n route to California, Nathan and Helen Miller Koppel stopped in El Paso where their first child Rollins Miller was born in 1929. The Wisconsin natives heard of business opportunities in Harlingen and changed course. Nate, who had a law degree from Marquette University, hung out his shingle and opened the Harlingen Insurance Agency during the Depression. Nate chaired the city's first zoning and planning commission and participated in Kiwanis and other civic groups. Nate and Helen's daughters Carolyn Jo and Betty Lou followed their brother through Sam Houston School and then Harlingen High School. Rollie served as an army officer overseas and then graduated from the University of Texas Law School. He joined the Attorney General's Office in Washington, D.C. as a tr ial attorney. In 1956, he returned to Harlingen and the trial practice of Carter, Sternberg & Skaggs. Rollie married Amalie Lieberman of Dallas in 1961. The young teacher, a graduate of Southern Methodist University, and the lawyer raised their three children- Katherine, Nathan and Annie- in Harlingen. While teaching high school English and Spanish, Amy provided dynamic leadership for the Girl Scouts, the performing arts, PEO, cancer research and much more. Her contributions visibly shaped her community. Rollie and Jack Skaggs practiced law together from 1956 until 1980. Rollie, who has practiced with numerous attorneys, remains an
2 AT THE CROSSROADS: HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS
Rollie and Amalie Koppel
active participant in Harlingen's development, too involved to retire. For the Rollins M. and Amalie L. Koppel Foundation, charity starts at home. Funds are awarded to local health, cultural, religious and educational organizations. Nathan, a UT Law school graduate,
reports on legal affairs for the Wall Street Journal. Ann VanHanken, with a UT Master's in special education, works on early childhood education. Katherine Noriega graduated from Stephens College and will pursue a graduate degree in healthcare. Once a year the family's 36 members gather to count their blessings.
The Koppel grandchildren 127
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HARLINGEN’S HISTORIC LEGACY
THE FEDERICO LOPEZ FAMILY
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n 1912, Federico Lopez left Matamoros, Mexico, and opened a Harlingen barber shop next to a panaderia (bakery) owned by Juan Longoria, whose family came to this area in the 1860s. Federico met and married Petra, Juan's daughter. They were blessed with four children: Francisca, Federico, Jr., Maria and Rosa. Success came quickly with a house, a new barber shop and the second car in Harlingen. Barber supply vendors only came to Harlingen by train every two months with merchandise for area barbers. Federico took the opportunity to stock additional supplies to sell to the local barbers. In 1922, he opened Lopez Barber Supply which soon became Valley Barber Supply. With Petra running the store, he was able to call on barbers Valley wide. In 1936, Federico, Jr., began selling barber and beauty supplies from his truck, traveling from Austin to Laredo and south. He met Concepcion Garza, a hairdresser from San
Manuel, Texas. They married and had four sons: Federico III, James, Joseph, and Albert. In 1967, Federico, Jr., bought the business from his father and, with sons Fred III, Joe and Albert, sales increased and business flourished. His son James worked as a hairdresser with his uncle Frank Joseph prior to opening his own salon, Xavier's, in 1977. By 1999, Federico, Jr., had retired, turning the business over to his sons Fred, Joe, and James’ children, James, 128
Jr., and Terri. Together they have expanded and adapted the business to meet the continuing changes in the beauty industry. The latter part of the 20th century brought tremendous changes in all types of distribution. But after nearly 90 years in business, Valley Beauty Supply has continued to be successful, carrying on the legacy of Federico, Sr., for four generations by adhering to his principles of honesty, hard work and service to customers. AT THE CROSSROADS: HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS 3
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HARLINGEN’S HISTORIC LEGACY
THE NEMECIO LOPEZ FAMILY
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emecio Lopez worked as a bracero for ten years before he moved his wife Maria de Jesus and children to Donna in 1949. By 1952, the family was living in Harlingen where Nemecio worked as a baker. Summers, Maria and the nine children drove to Michigan to pick fruit and vegetables, living in migrant camps. Each year they returned in time for the first day of school. Self-educated and well-read, Maria and Nemecio insisted that education came first. After Nemecio built La Superior Bakery on Rangerville Road, the whole family–Carmen, Beatrice, Ernestina, Gloria, Roberto, Teresa,
Nemecio, Jr. and Migdalia Lopez 2 AT THE CROSSROADS: HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS
Nemecio, Jr., Alicia and David– worked there every day, year-round. Maria was the family entrepreneur, independent and financially-liberated. With a migrant scholarship, Nemecio, Jr., attended Central Michigan University where he met M i g d a l i a Va s q u e z o f Saginaw. They married six months later. Their shared belief in education sustainedthem as Nemecio received his law degree from the Univer sity o f Pe n n s y l va n i a at Philadelphia, and Migdalia earned a master's and then a law degree from the University of Houston. They spent many months apart in the first years of marriage to achieve their goals.
Nemecio began practicing law in 1978 and opened his Harlingen law office in 1981, working in family law, criminal law, probate and real estate. Migdalia joined him briefly before moving to the Cameron County District Attorney's office. She was the first woman elected to Cameron County Court at Law. Four years later, she became the first elected woman District Judge for Cameron and Willacy counties. In 2008, she disposed of over 3,000 criminal and civil cases. Their son Marco, a federal administrator, married Lina Lopez and has three children, Kristian, Karlo, and Nicco. Their daughter Gianna, a La Feria teacher, married Robert Colson. Daniel is attending DePauw University. The extended Lopez families–66 strong–gather monthly, enjoying and cherishing their multi-generational unity. 129
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HARLINGEN’S HISTORIC LEGACY
KENNETH W. MACPHERSON
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credit to all, regardless of ethnicity or social standing. He charged everyone the same price for drugs, engaging the entire community with his integrity and sense of fairness.
ith the mind of a scholar, the heart of a poet, and the soul of a Christian, Kenneth W. MacPherson radiated calm compassion and ethical wisdom throughout his long, blessed life. Kind d e e d s a n d wo n d e r f u l stories, which shared his life lessons, defined the man and benefited his community. Born in 1906 in Nebraska, raised there and in Canada, h e g r a d u at e d f ro m Creighton University as a pharmaceutical chemist and came to the Valley in 1935. Kenneth and his wife, Hazel, settled in Harlingen where he opened MacPherson's Pharmacy in 1945. A dedicated hometown druggist “In business for your health,” Kenneth worked every day of the year, recommending remedies for childhood illnesses to anxious mothers, developing unique compounds such as MacPherson's Prickly Heat Powder, and mentoring young pharmacists. Living by the credo, “Whatever's right,” he helped and inspired family, 130
Although Kenneth was a quiet, private man, friends a n d f a m i ly s o u g h t h i s guidance on important issues in their lives. He filled over two million prescriptions before he retired in 1973 to devotedly nurse his wife through a long illness. The MacPherson name remained a hallmark for community pharmacy for decades. Kenneth W. MacPherson
friends, customers and strangers. “Pay when you can,” he said, extending
A hard worker who enjoyed life, he piloted his plane, golfed, hunted, fished, and was an excellent dancer. Kenneth served as an Elder of First Presbyterian Church and led the Kiwanis Club. An early fitness advocate, he swam daily laps into his 90s. His daughters Mary Helen, Gerry, and Barbara, and their families and his second wife, Juanita, were graced by his love and by his example. With passion, Kenneth lived a life of service to the fullest. AT THE CROSSROADS: HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS 3
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HARLINGEN’S HISTORIC LEGACY
THE MARINE MILITARY ACADEMY
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he Marine Military Academy is the only private high school in the nation founded on U. S. Marine Corps traditions and values. Each Cadet is challenged to achieve personal excellence in academics, physical activities, and moral endeavors. As a result, MMA has earned a reputation for graduating collegeready, ethically-strong young men prepared for responsible leadership. Historically, every graduate has been accepted by a college or university. R e t i re d U S M C R e s e r ve Captain William A. Gary and fellow retired Marines opened the Marine Military Academy in Harlingen in 1965 on a former military base. They envisioned a college preparatory school, for young men from 8th grade to 12th grade, based on Marine Corps principles of honor, courage, and commitment. Cadets are immersed in a structured learning environment. The student to
faculty ratio is 12:1. Drill instructors, who are retired Mar ine Staff Noncommissioned Officers and adjunct faculty, live with their families in apartments within Cadet barracks. Mentor, motivator, role model and disciplinarian, each DI guides a company of 50 to 60 Cadets.
develop self-confidence and selfdiscipline along with personal and spiritual ethics. As Cadets mature and gain decision-making skills, they can move into leadership positions. All Cadets participate in the on-campus M a r i n e C o r p s J u n i o r ROT C program.
In the Corps of Cadets, young men
Sited on 142 acres, Marine Military Academy has three academic halls, a 17,000 volume library, Cadet Activity Center, physical activity fields including age appropriate confidence building courses plus a 1,076-seat auditorium. The Iwo Jima Monument, proudly displayed adjacent to MMA, is the original model for the Arlington memorial.
Cadets honor the Iwo Jima Monument at MMA. It is the original model for the Arlington memorial. 2 AT THE CROSSROADS: HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS
An optional postgraduate year, a month-long summer camp of military training and physical fitness, and a four-week English as a Second Language summer program are also offered. 131
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HARLINGEN’S HISTORIC LEGACY
THE E.O. MATZ FAMILY
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n 1907, E. O. (Ehrenfried Oscar) Matz, one of Ernest and Anna Matz's 12 children, moved with his sharecropper family into a five-room mudand-stick home south of San Benito. Although E.O. quit school in fifth grade to support his family, he later started a successful electrical contracting company. Eleanor Ochsner came to La Feria with her parents and sisters in 1929. E.O. and Eleanor became lifelong partners, including developing commercial and residential properties. In 1950, they bought the 1910 Sam Houston School and transformed it into the Matz office building. A busy wife and mother, Eleanor also devoted herself to bringing out Harlingen's best. She was instrumental in creating the Cultural Arts Center and Liberty Garden where, on Eleanor Matz Day in 1995, the city dedicated a plaque honoring her and E. O.
City Commission and later elected a Cameron County Commissioner and Mayor of Palm Valley. In 1989, he founded Harlingen Proud, the volunteer beautification and recycling project which helped Harlingen earn the All America City designation and the Gover nor's Community Ac hievement Award. He led the formation of the nationally recognized Valley Proud Environmental Council and of Ramsey Park. In 1991, James, the recipient of dozens of national, state and local awards, received the President's National Service Award from President Clinton. E.O. and Eleanor Matz
James returned to Harlingen in 1982 and took over the family business. In 1988, he was elected to the Harlingen
James married Georgiana, a former South Padre Island Alderman. Together they continue to serve their community.
James R. Matz, the eldest of the couple's four children, graduated from the University of Texas in 1961 and entered the Diplomatic Corps. A commissioned Foreign Service Officer, he served in Monterrey, La Paz, Bolivia, and Jakarta, Indonesia, and on the President's Executive Interchange Program with Bank of America. He later worked with Fluor Engineers and Constructors in Johannesburg, South Africa. With his daughters Anna and Bethany, 132
James R. Matz receives the President’s Service Award from President Bill Clinton. AT THE CROSSROADS: HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS 3
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THE MCBRIDE FAMILY
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hile serving in the Army Air Corps, Covington, Tennessee native William A. McBride married Dorothy Rainbolt of Houston in 1944. In 1947 he was hired by South Texas Lumber of Houston to work in Harlingen. The lumberyard, once owned by Lon Hill, had opened around 1907 to supply the growing town with planks and nails. In 1909, it had a single-digit phone number: 9. Bill McBride became manager of the lumberyard in 1954. The McBride children Sandra and Bill Jr., grew up accustomed to the smell of fresh lumber and the kegs of nails set on the building's old wood flooring. In 1957, the lumberyard moved from the original First Street location to Adams and First. In 1960, McBride purchased the South Texas Lumber yards in Harlingen, San Benito, La Feria and Donna, becoming vice president and general manager of South Texas Lumber and Supply. Dorothy kept the books for the business.The kids helped by taking inventory, crawling into old lumber bins to count boards by hand and honing their math skills by calculating board feet. As a business leader, Bill served on the Harlingen Waterworks and Valley Baptist Hospital boards, along with the Chamber of Commerce and the Salvation Army. He became known in the community for his integrity in both personal and business dealings. Through the years, he held leadership positions with the First United Methodist Church. A Scottish Rite 2 AT THE CROSSROADS: HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS
Bill and Dorothy McBride
Mason, he was a longtime a Kiwanis Club member. In 1994, Bill McBride Sr. received the Lumberman of the Year award from the Lumbermen's Association of Texas. In 1994, he sold the business to Zarsky Lumber. Dorothy, the founding president of the TipO'Texas Genealogical Society, wrote a Rainbolt Family history which was named the best Texas family history for 1988.
Bill McBride
Bill and Dorothy retired to Golden Palms where he has served as Chairman of the Residents Council. 133
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THE MEDRANO FAMILY
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fter their wedding in Tampico on July 4, 1948, Mario and Juanita Medrano headed north, telling their families they would honeymoon in Monterrey. Instead, the newlyweds swam across the Rio Grande with plans of working in the U.S. briefly. Recognizing America as land of opportunity, the young couple adopted Harlingen as their new home and became U.S. citizens in 1962. Mario and Juanita began working at Luby's New England Cafeteria in 1948. Juanita made salads, and Mario was a butcher.The couple stayed with Luby's, working with owners Barbara and Ken Weaver, until their retirement in 1990. Juanita created many of the specialty salads that are favorites in the cafeteria's recipe book. Mario and Juanita had two sons. Mario, Jr., born in 1949 and a 1967 Harlingen High graduate, earned a Master's in Finance from the University of Pittsburgh. He died of complications of diabetes. Eddie was born in 1955 and graduated from Harlingen High in 1973. He earned a law degree from the University of Texas and became the youngest Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Department of Justice. Eddie went into private practice in 1983 in Harlingen. Juanita and Mario Medrano have always lived frugally, believing in pay as you go, except for buying their small frame house.As retirees, Juanita and Mario have traveled to 47 different countries and filled up the pages of two passports. Mario told his sons, 134
Mario and Juanita Medrano
“You'll never be successful unless you know how to manage the money you earn.” Education, the Medranos knew, was the path to achievement. Eddie Medrano married Darlene Tullos in 1983. A native of Brownsville, she holds a PhD in
psychology from Stanford. Eddie won election as a Harlingen City Commissioner and served from 20042007. He is currently an active member of the Harlingen Economic Development Corp. Their two older daughters attend private colleges and the youngest is in high school. AT THE CROSSROADS: HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS 3
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THE MUNIZ FAMILY
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restaurants across the Valley. Every summer the family traveled to California to harvest crops. This arduous work paid off as the Muniz brothers grew up to be hardworking, communityminded men.
alley pioneers Secundino and Guadalupe Loya Gutier rez became the parents of Petra in 1883, and soon moved the family to the large La Crucita Ranch near the Arroyo Colorado and present day Dilworth Road. Petra married Modesto Muniz in 1903, and she became widely known and loved as a midwife, delivering hundreds of babies. Andres Muniz, the oldest of Petra's 16 children, married Clemencia Garcia in 1931. Clemencia was respected for the strict but loving care she took of her seven sons: Leofredo, Andres, Jr., Leonel, Edelmiro, Roberto, Eduardo, and Ricardo. The parents by example instilled honesty, responsibility, and the value of education in their boys. Andres and Clemencia owned a tortilla factory on Polk Street and delivered tortillas to schools and
Roberto and Lupita Muniz and their three sons
One brother, Jose Roberto Muniz, graduated from Harlingen High in 1965 and earned a pharmacy degree from the Univer sity of Houston. In 1969 Robert married Lupita, the daughter of Emily Rosales and Joe Castillo. Early in their marriage, Robert worked for MacPherson's Pharmacy while Lupita taught at Treasure Hills Elementary and other Harlingen schools. In 1988, Robert became a partner-owner of AcostaMuniz Rio Grande Pharmacy. As a professional, independent business, the pharmacy has earned a noteworthy reputation for its commitment to serving the people of Harlingen. Lupita and Robert had three sons.The oldest, Robert Muniz, Jr., Pharm.D., has joined his father in the family pharmacy. Michael Muniz, Ph.D., LLPC, owns and operates Counseling Connections of San Antonio. He married Veronica Villarreal, and they have a daughter, Mikayla. John Matthew, who married Roberta Becerra of Austin, attends law school and plans a career in medical law.
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PATHOLOGY LABORATORY LLP
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nder the name Pathology Laboratory, Dr. David Flory took over the medical lab of the newly-opened Valley Baptist Hospital in 1956. Physicians wanted a pathologist on site to speed the flow of reports and to be able to discuss the implications of the findings. “Back then the lab was tucked away in a corner, and no one knew what a pathologist did,” says Marjorie Flory about her late husband's work. Nevertheless, people began tracking down Dr. Flory, “going to the horse's mouth to find out what the lab results meant and how they came by them.” Medical Technologists James and Delores Parrott brought technical expertise. As pathology modernized with new generations of equipment and new procedures, Dr. Flory brought in Dr. Lawrence Dahm. He became a partner in Pathology Laboratory in 1983 and the managing partner in 1991 when Dr. Flory retired at age 68. What had started as a handful of medical professionals grew into a huge operation. The Florys' daughter Anne, who had begun working for her father as a high school student, applied her medical billing experience to establish Physician Services. That business manages billing for a dozen medical practices including the lab her father established more than 50 years ago. Today, Pathology Laboratory LLP 136
Dr. David W. Flory
concentrates on analyzing tissue and fluid samples. “New techniques and equipment are steadily allowing us to do more specialized tests. Methods once restricted to research, such as molecular pathology, have become standard tools,” Dr. Dahm says. The five Pathology Lab partners, all M.D.s, provide accurate, detailed and timely pathology reports. Those
reports are filed electronically with the most critical results communicated directly to the patient's doctor.
Dr. Lawrence J. Dahm
Dr. DeWitt S. Davenport
Fo r ove r 5 0 ye a r s , Pat h o l o g y Laboratory conducted medical-legal (forensic) autopsies in Cameron and Willacy Counties. In 2007, the Lab gave that responsibility to specialized forensic pathologists.
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HARLINGEN’S HISTORIC LEGACY
THE GEORGE PLETCHER FAMILY
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hioan George Pletcher, Sr., came to Harlingen in 1905 and married Suda Velma McNeil, one of Harlingen's first teachers. These charter members of the First United M e t h o d i s t C h u r c h m ove d t o Tampico, Mexico, where George, Jr., was born in 1913 and William in 1915. Escaping Pancho Villa's rampage, the family returned to Harlingen by 1916. George began farming and established a wholesale nursery in 1922. In 1937, George, Jr., with degrees from Texas A&M and Ohio State, helped Pletcher Nursery expand to include a gift fruit business, retail nursery and flower shop. Father and son originated the grapefruit name Ruby Red. George married Rachel Morris, a Valley Baptist Hospital lab tech and daughter of Dr. J.F. and Nola Morris, in 1940. While George served in the South Pacific during WWII, Rachel became an accomplished floral designer. After the 1951 freeze, the Pletchers left the fruit business to concentrate on their nursery. From the 1950s on, George and Rachel donated palm trees to Harlingen homeowners, along with generous gifts to schools, hospitals, and the city. The Palm King, as George was called, gave away more than 40,000 palms to beautify the community he loved. To spend more time with their daughters– Linda, Vicki and Allyce. George and Rachel sold the retail operations in 1960. 2 AT THE CROSSROADS: HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS
In 1981 Pletcher's Wholesale Nursery was incorporated with Linda and husband Sidney Broyles, Vicki and husband Larry Galbreath, and George and Rachel as the principals. Managed by Linda and Larry, Pletchers had a large customer base of nurseries, landscapers and chain stores from Las Vegas to Florida. Pletchers supplied palm trees for the Barcelona Olympics. A visionary who instilled community spirit in all his family, George Pletcher never retired. Upon his death in 1997, the Galbreaths, Broyles, and Rachel began downsizing and sold the nursery property in 2007. 137
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THE PORT OF HARLINGEN AUTHORITY
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on C. Hill envisioned a port for his town on the Arroyo Colorado, 25 miles inland from the Gulf.Almost 50 years later, civic leaders made that dream a reality. In 1926, the Arroyo Colorado Navigation District was formed. Soon after, the District, which evolved into the Port of Harlingen, sponsored legislation which extended the Intracoastal Canal right of way from Corpus Christi to the Rio Grande. Channel dredging began in 1938. The Arroyo Colorado barge channel – 125 feet wide and 12 feet deep – was completed in June 1951. The next month, the barge Mohawk arrived with steel for the construction 138
of port facilities. Port of Harlingen opening ceremonies on February 27 , 1952, were marked by the arrival from Pittsburgh of barges laden with enough steel pipe for 25 miles of pipeline. Providing cost-effective bulk transportation, the shallow draft port has become far more important to the economic and industrial development of Harlingen than anyone at its dedication could have imagined. Barges, for example, brought 600 tons of steel and wire mesh to be used building the new Valley Baptist Hospital. Frequent gasoline and diesel barges continue to keep local fuel prices lower than the national average. While outbound barges have
carried away thousands of tons of Valley raw sugar and milo, inbound barges bring fertilizers, cement, and sand. The port is self-supporting, handling 305,054 tons of dry bulk and 769,691 tons of liquid in 2007/8. Overseen by a three-man board, the Port of Harlingen Authority administers the facility's leases, maintains the 650foot dry cargo wharf and smaller docks. In 2009 the Sam Sparks Sugar Warehouse opened at the Port. Weathering Hurricane Beulah in 1967, when the Arroyo rose 25 feet above its normal level, and economic fluctuations, the Port remains an essential element of Harlingen's intermodal reputation. AT THE CROSSROADS: HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS 3
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THE RAIMOND & FARRIS FAMILY
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ance Delone Raimond, an early settler of the Rio Grande Valley, founded Valley Transit Company in 1941. Originally named Harlingen Airfield Bus Company, Valley Transit primarily transported military personnel and civilian workers to and from Harlingen Army Airfield. For his first bus, Vance converted a panel delivery truck, adding slat seats and cutting windows in each side. Vance later received more permits to “Connect South Central Texas to the Rio Grande Valley.” The rest is history. Vance married Mary Lee Scott, and they had one daughter, Betty. He served as President of Valley Transit until 1955 when his son-in-law, Robert (Bob) Gene Farris, joined the company after graduating from the University of Texas at Austin and UT Law School and receiving an honorable discharge from military service. In 1963 Bob became President of Valley Transit Company, and Vance became Chairman of the Valley Transit Board.
Vance Delone Raimond
hundred employees and 88 state of the art motor coaches that operate daily schedules across the Valley and to Houston, Austin, Laredo, San Antonio, and Corpus Christi. Vance Raimond and his family made a
significant contribution to the Rio Grande Valley with their vision of bus transportation that was inexpensive, dependable, safe, and comfortable. For the last 70 years, that vision has played a major role in the development and growth of the entire Valley.
Continuing the family tradition, grandson Robert (Bobby) Raimond Farris joined Valley Transit in 1981. He had received a BBA in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin and a MBA in Finance with honors from St. Edward's University. Bobby was named President of VTC in 1999. Additionally, grandson William (Bill) Carlton Farris, who also graduated from the University of Texas with a BBA in Finance, joined VTC in 1983, serving as Director of Operations. Today Valley Transit has several 2 AT THE CROSSROADS: HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS
State Senator Eddie Lucio, Jr., Robert G. Farris and Comptroller Bob Bullock 139
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RGV MUSEUM ASSOCIATION
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n 1964, the stockade building of the former Harlingen Air Force Base was donated by H.E. Butt to Harlingen for a historical museum. A city-appointed committee assembled artifacts and organized the Landmarks Historical Society Museum which opened in Marc h 1967. Gene McCullough served as the Board's first chairman and Sunshine Hill Caul as the first curator. The all-volunteer museum initially opened two afternoons a week. The museum, the first to tell the story of the RGV, displays the controversial Pineda tablet, reputedly left at Boca Chica in 1519 by an early exploration par ty. It also functions as the city's attic, safeguarding documents, photographs, and objects that recall Harlingen's past. In 1982, an expansion brought much needed changes that were followed in 1985 by the addition of a bell tower, paved brick courtyard, curators' workshop, and enhanced exhibition
space. In 1989, the renamed Rio Grande Valley Historical Museum accepted the Lon C. Hill Home to restore and to exhibit along side the Harlingen Hospital Museum and the Paso Real Stagecoach Inn.
non-profit organization, promotes the museum as an educational and cultural center. It collects gifts, contributions and bequests to support the museum's operation and assists in the collection and preservation of memorabilia.
Established in 1985, the Rio Grande Valley Museum Association, a
The Association's diligent and enthusiastic volunteers organize the annual Taste of Harlingen, the museum's major fundraiser, and the Christmas Tree Extravaganza.Working with the director, the Association supports both the permanent historical collection and a full calendar of rotating art exhibitions and cultural presentations at what is now the Harlingen Arts & Heritage Museum. As protectors of Harlingen's past and advocates for preservation, art and cultures, the Association is shaping the city's future. An Endowment Fund, established to guarantee the Museum's future, accepts donations from the public.
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THE JESUS JOSE “JJ CHUEY” RODRIGUEZ, SR. FAMILY
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n 1939, Jesus Jose “JJ Chuey” Rodriguez, Sr., and his brother left the family's San Rafael Ranch near Santa Rosa for Harlingen. Despite minimal formal education, Chuey and his brother Tony opened the Rodriguez Brothers Grocery. Chuey married Maria (Maruca) Balli in 1941, and two months later joined the U.S. Army and served honorably as a first sergeant during World War II.
a Harlingen City C o m m i s s i o n e r, only the second Mexican-American to fill that post. He took part in the Golden Anniversary celebration and the burying of the Time Capsule at City Hall, and was the last surviving member of that council.
which expanded three times in 32 years, became a community fixture.
Chuey lived well, laughed often and loved much. A devout Catholic, his response to “How are you doing?” was always “Better than I deserve.”
At age 60, Chuey changed careers, becoming a realtor Jesus Jose “JJ Chuey” and Maria (Maruca) Rodriguez in 1941 and 2006 with Mason & Co. In 1946, Chuey opened “Chuey's Red where he worked successfully for 31 Authority, Director of the Harlingen and White”on West Harrison. During years. His passing March 30, 2009, at Board of Realtors, and belonged to this time, he fought discrimination age 91 left an ache in the hearts of his the Lions Club, Optimist Club, against Mexican-Americans, demandfamily and friends. But his widow Catholic War Veterans, and the 100 ing that “No Mexicans Allowed” signs M a r u c a a n d c h i l d re n I m e l d a Men's Club of Immaculate Heart of be removed from restaurants and the (Alejandro) Hinojosa, Norma Mary Catholic Church. city pool. Rodriguez, Chuey, Jr. (Sulema), From 1958 to 1962, Chuey served as Tony Rodriguez, Chuey, Maruca and three grandchildren their daughters and a n d t wo g re a t twin sons worked to grandchildren have make the g rocer y a lifetime of store a success. The memories. West Harrison store
As a leading Hispanic businessman, Chuey ser ved as ViceChairman of the Harlingen Housing
Chuey and brother Tony opened the Rodriguez Brothers Grocery in 1939.
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THE SHEPARD FAMILY
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n 1941, Frank and Margaret Parker moved their family to Harlingen where he opened Parker Lumber Company and Construction. Active in politics, he served as mayor from 1956 to 1958. While visiting her parents, Helen Parker, a 1946 University of Texas School of Business graduate, met and married Dr. Frank Shepard, a Tennessee native who was the Valley's second orthodontist. Dr. Shepard practiced orthodontics in the Harlingen and Brownsville area for over 54 years. As youths, the Shepards' sons, Robert (“Bubba”) and Stephen Parker, worked at their g randfather's lumberyard and on construction sites, giving them strong incentives to go to college. In 1969 while working with his grandfather, Steve hauled bricks during the construction of Harlingen Country Club; 40 years later, he hauled away the same bricks as mementoes during re-construction.
Robert followed in his mother's footsteps and graduated from the University of Texas School of Business. He is a partner in Shepard Walton King Insurance Group with offices in Harlingen, McAllen and Austin. Robert also followed his grandfather in politics, serving on the Board of Regents of Pan American
University and later as Chairman of t h e Te x a s H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n Coordinating Board. Both Bob and his wife Anne served as Chairman of the Board of the Harlingen Area Chamber of Commerce. Steve took after his father, graduating from Baylor College of Dentistry and becoming an orthodontist. He and his father practiced together as Shepard and Shepard for over 30 years. Steve continues to practice in Harlingen, Brownsville, and Weslaco. Helen and Frank's daughters are Beth Stewart and Annette Bender. Robert and his wife Anne have five children between them: Michael, Kirk and Brian Ashy, and Susan Cohen and Margaret Bellows. Steve and his wife Suzanne have two sons, Carl and Brian. Beth has one daughter, Meg, and Annette has a son, Parker.
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THE SOLIS FAMILY
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immy Solis, Sr., raised by his aunts in La Feria, dropped out of school and became a migrant farm worker. He and Maria Cobarrubias of La Feria, children of immigrants from San Luis Potosí and Goliad, married in 1957. The newlyweds immediately moved to Buchanan Street in Harlingen where their seven children were born: Diana, Delma, Jim, Jr., Dina, Lionel, David, and Michael. Jimmy, Sr., worked hard as a snack salesman and deliveryman to support his family, telling the children, “We're rich in family. We've got each other.” As busy as he was on his route, Jimmy was a loving father and always made time to take the whole family fishing on the Arroyo or the island. He had taught himself to play the accordion and loved to play for his family in the evenings and at family get-togethers. Maria worked equally hard raising the children. She managed to save enough money so the whole family could visit AstroWorld, driving up in the family station wagon every other summer.
Delma, Maria, Diana and Dina Solis at Our Lady of Assumption Catholic Church
The children had a strict upbringing that combined discipline with great love. Maria's kids knew by heart their mother's goodbye: “Have fun. Be safe. Remember the 10 commandments.” The boys might protest, but they knew what she meant.
Jimmy Solis with sons Lionel, Michael, David and Jim
The children had observed their father's honest work ethic and applied it in their own lives. All of Jimmy's and Maria's children attended college and achieved success in various fields: nursing, teaching, the law, government and business. The siblings and their families all live in Harlingen and remain close to each other and their parents.With 18 grandchildren, family gatherings now take considerable organizing. Each of the seven siblings takes charge of a specific holiday. Maria and Jimmy celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2007 at Our Lady of Assumption Church near their home.
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TEXAS STATE TECHNICAL COLLEGE
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College in 1991.
he Rio Grande Valley branch of the James Connally Technical Institute opened in September 1967 on land of the former air base.
By 2009, the annual budget exceeded $50 million with 58 buildings on almost 170 acres. Student enrollment in credit programs reached a record of 6,108 in Fall 2008 with Corporate & Community Education and College Readiness & Advancement offering additional noncredit courses.
JCTI initially provided welding and farm machinery maintenance classes in an abandoned aircraft hangar. The first 20 graduates of the 24-week welding course received certificates on May 10, 1968. Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey was guest of honor at dedication ceremonies on October 23, 1968. In 1969, the newly-formed Texas State Technical Institute included the Harlingen campus along with ones in Waco and Amarillo. Milton Schiller became vice president of the TSTI Rio Grande Valley Campus, and Archie Rosales was the school's first general manager. Six permanent buildings were opened on August 23, 1970. Dr. J. Gilbert Leal became general manager in 1978-1979, and his title changed to president in 1983. He led
the college for 30 years until Dr. Cesar Maldonado succeeded him in October 2008. The name was changed to Texas State Technical
The college, whic h employs more than 500 faculty and staff, features 32 technical programs in the Industrial Manufacturing, Computer Information Sys te ms , a n d Al l ie d Health divisions. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board approved an Academic Core – a package of 48 credits transferable to all four-year public universities in Texas – for TSTC Harlingen in 2006. The Harlingen school district opened an Early College High School on campus in 2007. Plans are under way for construction of a university articulation center and an Associate of Science degree as TSTC adds more transfer credit agreements with universities. The TSTC System includes campuses at Harlingen, Marshall, Waco and West Texas (Abilene, Breckenridge, Brownwood, Sweetwater.)
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THE TICHENOR FAMILY
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Kiwanis convention first brought McHenry Tichenor to the Rio Grande Valley. The palm trees, citrus in bloom and business o p p o r t u n i t i e s c o nv i n c e d t h e Oklahoma newspaper man to move his wife, Genevieve Beryl, and family to Harlingen in 1930. He bought the daily Valley Morning Star in 1933, in the midst of the Depression, because he believed in the area's potential. Cash was short for everyone, so he and his neighbors, car dealer Lewis Boggus and grocery owner H. E. Butt, exchanged script, (like IOUs) for each others' business services. In 1949, Tichenor acquired a low-powered Harlingen AM radio station, whose call letters included his wife's initials, KGBS. Because local radio stations of the era ignored the Spanish-speaking population, his station began broadcasting part-time in Spanish. Later that year he purchased the 50,000 watt KGBT station, a CBS affiliate, and began broadcasting only in Spanish at night. As Harbenito Broadcasting, Tichenor invested in Valley Spanish and English language radio stations, building a communications network that helped shape a Valley community through shared information. In 1953, he launched the Valley's first televison station, KGBTTV. In 1962, KGBT radio switched to full-time Spanish language broadcasting.
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The Tichenor Family on the occasion of McHenry Tichenor's induction into the Texas Business Hall of Fame in 1989. Front row: David Tichenor, McHenry Tichenor, Jean Tichenor, McHenry T.Tichenor, Sr. Back row: Warren Tichenor, Mac Tichenor, Jr., Bill Tichenor
Tichenor's son, McHenry Taylor Tichenor, Sr., grew up in Harlingen and after law school returned to the family business. In 1967 at 33, he became President of Tichenor Media Systems. In the early 1980s, a third generation of Tichenors began managing the company. The Tichenors built their broadcast company into one of the nation's largest Spanish language radio groups. TMS headquarters moved
from Harlingen to Dallas in 1988. A 1997 merger created Hispanic Broadcasting Corp. which became part of Univision. The Tichenor Family, three generations of broadcasters, were named “Giants in Broadcasting” by the Amer ican Broadcasting Foundation in 2005. In 2006, McHenry Tichenor, Sr., received the American Pioneer Award from the Broadcasting Foundation. 145
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UNITEDHEALTH GROUP Ovations Helps Medicare Beneficiaries Achieve Healthy and Secure Lives
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nitedHealth Group announced in March 2009 the opening of an Ovations service center in Harlingen, Texas, to support its existing Medicare business and service its increasing membership and provider community. The Service Center is expected to grow to more than 700 employees in its first five years. Ovations, a business unit of UnitedHealth Group, manages a full array of products and services for individuals and employers, including chronic care management programs, employer retiree health services, Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement and Part D prescription drug plans. These plans are the only Medicare plans that carry the AARP name.
Ovations is committed to increasing seniors' access to affordable health and well-being services. Serving nine million members and one in five Medicare beneficiaries nationwide, Ovations offers innovative health and well-being solutions that help Medicare beneficiaries achieve
healthier and more secure lives. “We're pleased to partner with the city of Harlingen to open our new Service Center,” said Larry Renfro, Ovations chief executive officer. “South Texas is already a vibrant area in which to live and work, and we value the opportunity to become an active participant in the region's economic growth and prosperity.” UnitedHealth Group (www.unitedhealthg roup.com) (NYSE: UNH) is a diversified health and well-being company dedicated to making health care work better. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn., UnitedHealth Group offers a broad spectrum of products and services through six operating businesses: UnitedHealthcare, Ovations, AmeriChoice, OptumHealth, Ingenix, and Prescription Solutions. Through its family of businesses, UnitedHealth Group serves more than 70 million individuals nationwide.
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VALLEY BAPTIST MEDICAL CENTER
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he not-for-profit Valley Baptist Hospital, owned by the Lower Rio Grande Valley Baptist Association, opened on F Street in January 1925. From its initial 36 beds, it grew along with Harlingen. In 1956, Valley Baptist Hospital moved to Pease Street where it eventually became the heart of the Harlingen medical complex and the region's largest, most distinguished hospital. Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen and its physicians have introduced numerous innovative procedures and treatments, ranging from the Valley's first open heart surgery and cardiac catheterization in 1977 to the first Level III Trauma Center, Joint Replacement Center, all-digital radiology imaging, and robotic surgery program. In 2004, Valley Baptist Medical Center – B r o w n s v i l l e , w h i c h opened as Divine Providence Hospital in 1917, joined the Valley Baptist Health System.The two hospitals are the only Certified Stroke Centers in the Rio Grande Valley. The VBMC-Harlingen East Tower, dedicated to Women's Services and the Children's Center, houses the only Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in Cameron County and Harlingen's only Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The hospital has received many prestigious national awards, marking its continuing professional progress in patient care. In 2009, VBMC in Harlingen and in Brownsville were two of only 35 hospitals awarded Triple Recognition by the American Heart Association and
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the American Stroke Association. The awards recognize the hospitals' compliance with national best practice guidelines in caring for hear t failure, coronary artery disease and
stroke patients.The level of exemplary care that Valley Baptist provides saves lives and improves the quality of life for those patients following hospitalization. In recent years,Valley Baptist-Harlingen has been named the topranked hospital in the nation in the successful treatment o f h e a r t f a i l u re patients, according to the U.S. Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services.
Chaplain Joe Jaime at a patient’s bedside.
VBMC-Harlingen's Family Practice Residency program trains new doctors in hands-on medical skills bac ked by religious faith and plays an active role in br ing ing new physicians to the community. 147
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HARLINGEN’S HISTORIC LEGACY
VALLEY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
D
throughout the terminal, and a luxurious VIP club for frequent fliers.
uring World War II, the Army Air Corps trained 48,000 aerial gunners at Harlingen Air Field. In 1952, those long r unways and taxiways became an integral part of Harlingen Air Force Base. Over 10,000 U.S.A.F. navigators were trained in Harlingen before the base closed in 1962. In 1966, the City of Harlingen opened Harlingen Municipal Airport using the former military runways and facilities. Southwest Airlines chose Harlingen as its fourth destination in February 1975. Trans Texas Airways, Braniff, American, Continental, and Eastern Airlines all made Harlingen a destination. During a series of major terminal expansions and upgrades, Rio Grande Valley International Airport evolved into Valley International Airport (VIA). Always innovative,VIA offered passengers the Valley's first jet bridge
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VIA has the longest runways in the Valley, a dedicated intermodal terminal, and a control tower open from 6 a.m. to midnight. Those factors have made VIA the region's primary air cargo field with DHL Express, FedEx, UPS, UPS Supply Chain, and BAX Global operating from Harlingen. service, work cubicles, and gate area internet access. Today VIA serves nearly one million passengers annually who fly Continental Express Airlines, Southwest Airlines and, seasonally, Sun Country Airlines. VIA continues to be the Valley's busiest passenger airport. That reflects its numerous flight options, central location, and passenger amenities such as the complimentary parking lot shuttle, free Wifi
Full general aviation services f o r c o r p o r a t e a n d p r i va t e aircraft are located on the airport's east side, conveniently separated from commercial flights. Gulf Aviation, VIA's award-wining Fixed Base Operator, provides flight training, on-demand 24 hours service, air charter flights, aircraft maintenance and all requested GA services. VIA offers U.S. Customs clearance for cargo, corporate and general aviation Monday through Friday.
AT THE CROSSROADS: HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS 3
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HARLINGEN’S HISTORIC LEGACY
THE VELA FAMILY
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oberto Vela, born on Laguna Seca Ranch to a pioneer family, married Maria Luisa Cardenas in 1922, and they settled in Harlingen's Fair Park. Roberto opened a notary public and bookkeeping business. Emphasizing hard work, education and service to the community, the couple raised their nine children during the Great Depression. Although the Vela children–Teresa, Eva, Maria Luisa, Roberto, Moises, Antonio, Patricio, Filemon, and Carlos–lived near Austin School, due to prejudices of the time, they had to walk several miles to a MexicanAmerican school. Rober to's commitment to civil and equal rights resulted in his successfully petitioning the Harlingen School Board in the late 1930s to end the ethnic segregation of elementary students. Maria Luisa was a devout woman who shepherded her brood to Immaculate Heart Church every Sunday, reminding bystanders of a mother duck trailed by her ducklings. Upon Maria Luisa's untimely death, her daughters assisted their father in the rearing of the younger boys.
Court Judge for 20 years and as Came ro n County Judge. The Moises V. Ve l a M i d d l e S c h o o l honors his dedicated service. The couple had five children: M o i s e s , J r. , Manny, Patsy, Luti, and Pepper. Filemon Vela practiced law with his brother in Harlingen until he became a State District Judge. He Roberto Vela and Maria Luisa Cardenas, October 15, 1922 ser ved with Moises established a successful law distinction as a Federal Judge for 21 practice in 1955, the year he married years. The Federal Courthouse in Mary Jo Mendoza. For over 50 years, Brownsville and a middle school were his law practice assisted the voiceless named in his honor. Filemon married of the community, while Mary Jo Blanca Sanchez, Brownsville's first taught school for almost 40 years. female mayor. They had three chilMoises served as Harlingen Municipal dren: Filemon, Jr., Ralph, and Sylvia. The third generation of Velas – all successful – honor their heritage through service to their communities and the country.
Robert, Jr., Filemon, Robert, Sr., Patricio,Antonio, Carlos and Moises 2 AT THE CROSSROADS: HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS
Tere, Eva and Licha
(Sponsored by the Moises and Filemon Vela families.) 149
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HARLINGEN’S HISTORIC LEGACY
THE WEAVER FAMILY
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hen Barbara and Ken Weaver arrived in Harlingen to manage Luby's New England Cafeteria in 1950, they had already managed Luby's cafeterias in Waco and Dallas. Accompanying them was Barbara's mother, Opal Luby Spaulding, whose fir st cousin was Luby's co-founder Bob Luby. They invested in the partnership of the two-year-old store at 114 North “A” Street and made it a community centerpiece. All food was prepared on the premises in those days, and it was tr uly a family r un business. While Barbara and Opal did much of the baking of breads and pastries, the men handled the butchering of meats. During the serving hours, the family team supervised and maintained the serving counter and the dining room. Ken worked with trailer park owners arranging breakfasts for hundreds of Winter Texans and visitors. Luby's warm, delicious welcome contributed to Harlingen's success as a Winter Texan haven. In November 1959, the partnership relocated the cafeteria to 709 N. 77 Sunshine Strip where it flourished for 40 years. Luby's popularity had grown and the store, originally closed on Sundays, began serving seven days a week. Management and staff were hired, trained and promoted locally Many of those who Ken trained went on to become Luby's managers across the state. 150
Barbara and Ken Weaver
Ken helped develop the other Valley Luby's cafeterias, and in 1975 he became the South Texas area vice president, supervising the Valley's corporate-owned stores. Recognizing that Mexican Nationals visiting the Valley dined in mid-afternoon, Luby's accommodated that market by staying open with continuous service.
Barbara and Ken's only child Kent grew up in the family business and after college worked in Luby's management for 32 years in Houston, Austin, Harlingen, and McAllen. He served as South Texas area vice president for 13 years. His wife, G'Anne, worked for Luby's while in college and so did their two daughters.
Barbara and KenWeaver moved Luby's Cafeteria to this location in 1959. AT THE CROSSROADS: HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS 3
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INDEX (does not include profiles) Aerial Gunner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19, 89 Allex, David . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94 All-Valley Airport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14,19 Alvarez, Roy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 Anglin, E.W. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78-79, 84 Araguz, Leo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 Arroyo Colorado . . . . . . . .13-15, 23-25, 36, 45, 50-51, . . . . . . . . . . . .57, 66-68, 72, 74, 77, 81, 87, 92, 95-96 Bandits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16-17, 33, 81, 83 Baptist (Missionary) Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 Baxter Building . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38, 58-59, 62, 85-86 Bennett, E.C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28, 84 Bennett, Mildred . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 Blues on the Hill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54, 65 Boggus family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39, 49, 58, 63, 87, 94 Bonner, Donna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99 Boo-Koo Hamburgers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49, 86 Boswell, Chris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5, 101 Bowie School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32, 59, 84 Butler,Tony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52-53 Butt, H. E. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39, 58, 85, 89 Carey, Ed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81 Casa del Sol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47, 60, 94 Central Ward School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23, 30-31, 52, 67-68, 74, 78-79, 88 Claussen, Annelle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87 Clyde's Drive-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49, 93 Cocke, Hill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18, 63 Confederate Air Force . . . . . . . . . .15, 21, 56-57, 95-98 Crockett, Stanley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 Day's Drug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42, 49, 86-87 de Weldon, Felix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21, 98 Diaz, Alfonso . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98 Eisenhower, Dwight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91-92 El Patio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 Ewing, Finley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15, 81 Fair Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50,55, 79, 91, 96, 101 Farm Security Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86-87 Feldman family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61, 93 Fender, Freddy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93 Ferree, Frank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44-45 Fincher, Clyde . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57, 94 First Methodist Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33, 68 Fordyce line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8, 67, 70, 75 Free Trade Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13, 91, 100 Fruit of the Loom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41, 99, 101 Fun N Sun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95 Gangel, Gig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97 Garcia, Cecilio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80 Garcia, Jesusa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31, 76 2 AT THE CROSSROADS: HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS
Garden Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 General Dynamics (ULA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21, 41, 99 Gilbert, Ida . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45, 83-84 Go Harlingen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21, 40, 94-95 Golden Anniversary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94 Goodykuntz family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81 Grimsell Seed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37, 84 Gutierrez, Jr., Lt. George . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70, 98 Gutierrez, Petra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 Gutierrez, Secundino family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73 Haley, Bill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55, 98 Harlingen Air Force Base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5, 14, 20, 40, 56, 64, 91-95, 98 Harlingen Air Gunnery School . .11, 14, 18-20, 39, 88-90 Harlingen Army Air Field, (see HAGS) Harlingen Art Forum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55, 93 Harlingen Arts & Heritage Museum . .57, 65, 98-99, 101 Harlingen Chamber of Commerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20, 37, 40, 62-63, 65, 96 Harlingen Fire Department . . . .28-29, 34, 44, 78-79, 83 Harlingen High School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32, 49, 51-52, 79, 83-84, 93, 100 Harlingen High School South . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32, 100 Harlingen Medical Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42, 45, 101 Harlingen Municipal Airport . . . . . . . .14, 21, 86, 88, 92 Harlingen Municipal Auditorium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24, 54, 59, 63, 85, 87, 93 Harlingen Municipal Golf Course . . . . . . .86, 88, 90, 92 Harlingen Performing Arts Theatre . . . . . . . . . . .55, 100 Harlingen Police Dept. . .47, 62, 64-65, 79, 91, 98, 101 Harlingen Proud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35, 100 Harlingen State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68, 80 Harlingen Study Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34, 82, 84 Harlingen Tourist Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35, 50-51, 94 Harvey Richards Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14, 93 HEB Canning Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88, 95 Hi-Way Inn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49, 52 Hill, Lon C. . . . . .6, 8, 12, 14-15,17, 30-32, 36-37, 59, . . . . . . .62-63, 67-69, 71, 74-76, 78-81, 84, 86, 88, 99 Hogan, Ben . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53, 90 Howling Gin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37, 82 Hurricane Beulah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24-25, 95, 101 Hurricane Dolly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26, 101 Hurricane of 1933 . . . . . . . . . . .5, 23-24, 45, 52, 86-87 Ice plant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4, 11, 82 Immaculate Heart of Mary Church . . . . . . . . .31-33, 70 Irrigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36, 64,75-79, 86, 89 Iwo Jima Monument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21, 98-100 Jackson, Johnnie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52, 100 Jackson Street Jubilee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57, 99-100 151
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Johnson, Lyndon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20, 92, 95 Junior League . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35, 46, 91 KGBT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49, 89 King, Henrietta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74 KKK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82 Knapp Chevrolet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87 Knight, Bob . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92 Knight, Normah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19, 55, 90 Kottal, John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89 KRGV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86 La Providencia Ranch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31, 68, 73-74 Lara's Bakery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51,101 Las Vegas Café . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65, 94 Lawler, Marion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97 Letzerich family . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58, 61, 69, 78, 81, 83 Levine family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91, 94, 98 Life Begins at 40 Golf Tournament . . . . . . . . .53, 92, 96 Lockhart family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75-76, 81 Longoria family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73 Lopez, Federico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38, 65 Lott, Uriah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8, 74-75 Lozano, Santos, family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7, 28, 36, 45, 68, 76, 80-83, 88, 96 LULAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35, 84 MacPherson, Kenneth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90 Marine Military Academy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21, 94, 98 Marra, Kori . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101 McFarland, Ike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78, 91 Mexican-American Chamber of Commerce . . . . . . . .65 Mexican School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31, 77-79 Missouri Pacific . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10-11, 19, 24, 39 Morgan, John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18, 89 Morrow Bros. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75-76 Murray, Menton family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57, 95 Nixon, Richard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96 Ogan family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70, 76-77 Parkwood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25-26 Paso Real . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66, 72-73, 96 Payne,Vernie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73 Pena, F.H. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78 Pendleton, M.V. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77 Phil's Grill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 Pioneer's Building . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7, 28, 68, 80 Planter's State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61 Port of Harlingen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15, 40 Prisoners tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74-75, 80 Raimond,Vance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89 Ramirez,Tony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95 Ramirez Tortillas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90 Ramsey, Hugh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84 Rand, Sally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91 Rattlesnake Junction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8, 75 Reagan, Ronald . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99 152
Reese-Wil-Mond Hotel . . . . . . . . . . . . .9-10, 81-82, 85 Regional Academic Health Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42, 45, 60, 65, 100-101 Richard's . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 RioFest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54, 57, 98, 100 Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival . . . . . . . . . . .53, 100 Roberts, R. B. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 Rodriguez brothers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88, 92 Rodriguez, Hesiquio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90, 101 Roosevelt, Eleanor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88 Salty Lonesome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12, 45, 74, 76, 81 Sammy's Drive-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48-49, 94 Sanchez, Luis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59 Silk Stocking Row . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24, 58-59, 82, 84 Six-shooter Junction . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9, 51, 57, 63, 75 Six Shooter Junction (theme park) . . . . . . . . .56, 96-97 Six Shooter Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35, 65, 94-95 Sousa, John Phillips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24, 54 South Texas Lumber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36, 43, 68 Southern Pacific . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10, 39, 59, 85 Southwest Airlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14, 41, 97 St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico Railway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8, 23, 69, 74-75 Stuart, Bob, and Stuart Place . . . . .37-38, 56, 79, 83, 90 Sullivan, Frank & Hilda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 Sun Valley Motor Hotel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93 Taniguchi, Alan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59-61, 91 Temple Beth Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33, 59, 91 Texas National Guard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16, 80 Texas Rangers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16, 75, 78 Theaters . . . .7, 19, 37, 54-55, 82, 85, 88-90, 92-93, 96 Tichenor, McHenry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39, 86 TSTC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21, 32, 41, 65, 95-97, 101 U. S. Army . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16-19, 80-81 Uhlhorn family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ., 60, 91 Valley Baptist Hospital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24, 40, 42, 45, 64, 82, 84, 90, 93, 99-101 Valley International Airport . . . . . .14-15, 21, 26, 60, 99 Valley Mid-Winter Fair . . . . . . . . .24, 48, 56, 83, 86, 91 Valley Transit (Airfield Bus Line) . . . . .13, 19, 39, 42, 89 Vela, Filemon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97 Villarreal Julian, family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36, 70, 79 Villarreal, Marguerita . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31, 74 Washington, Booker T. School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32, 87 Washmon, Charles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63, 89 WASPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 Weems, Robert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77 Weller family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68, 76 Wittenbach Building . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34, 38, 84 Yeager, Marie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45, 83-84 York, John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33, 59-61, 91 Youker, Bob . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94 AT THE CROSSROADS: HARLINGEN’S FIRST 100 YEARS 3
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