Decade 1900 to 1909

Development

Before the turn of the twentieth century all of the 64 square miles has been surveyed and

platted into about 70 tracts. Cameron County is still in possession of the 2 ½ leagues of

School Lands constituted by Survey Tracts 25, 26, 27, and 36. Much of the area is

owned by railroad companies, some of which are only shell entities. Some of the major

owners and the parcels they control (often jointly with assignees) are:

Corpus Christi, San Diego and Rio Grande Narrow Gauge Railroad Company: Surveys,

275, 279, 281, 282, 283, 284, 285, 286, 289, 290, 291, 292, 301,302, 303, 304;

Houston East and West Texas Railway: 49, 50, 275,276, 279, 280, 281, 282;

Georgetown Railroad Company: 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 39;

Beatty, Searle, and Forwood: 37, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44;

Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway: 137, 139;

Jose Maria Gonzalez: 28;

John Plunkett: 271;

Thomas G. McGehee: 272;

Samuel Parr: 273;

Mrs. E. R. Collingsworth: 274;

Isaac Hill (who is actually Lon C. Hill's daughter Ida b.10/19/85): 277, 278;

F. Saldana: 45;

E. Contreras: 46;

S. Saldana: 47.

The railroad company first noted was one chartered in 1875 by Mifflin Kenedy, Richard

King, Uriah Lott, and the Dull bothers of Pittsburg. Its intention was to connect Corpus

Christi with Laredo, but it laid only 53 miles of track to San Diego before lapsing and

later going under new ownership. One of the reasons the two ranchers may have entered

this venture was a provision of an 1876 Texas law that allotted sixteen sections, that's six-

teen square miles, of public lands for each mile of track laid. This law was repealed in

1882.

An individual playing an important role in surveying the area is J.J. Cocke. Initially he

was a State Land Agent that surveyed State lands in most counties from the mouth of the

Rio Grande to the New Mexico border. In 1890 when he was engineer for the CC&SA

Railroad he surveyed parts of the area and later located miles of right–of-way as its chief

engineer before the company failed. In 1907 he was working out of Brownsville.

Some ranch and service communities in the area have grown to the point that they are

recognized by mapmakers and named. In Survey 28 are Olmales and Muerto. Not far

from them to the southeast in 272 is Cotio. Las Prietas is a community near where three

trails intersect in Survey 26. North of the Arroyo Colorado in Survey 39 is Castanas adja-

cent to a crossing. Two other crossing communities are just south of the Arroyo. One is

La Tasa where the F Street-Expressway 77 Bridge will one day be erected. The second is

El Palmital, now the west side of Treasure Hills. These latter two serve travelers on one

trail branching southwest from the Alice Stagecoach Road before it reaches Paso Real.

Another trail joins it as it leads from the Santa Rosa Ranch northwest of Ojo de Agua.

Shortly thereafter, when it was clear that they would not be the ones to initiate railroads

into the Valley, the railroad companies and others begin to sell parcels of their lands.

Some of the parcels apparently were returned to the state when the railroad owners failed

to develop lines as obligated. These were in turn given by the state to the counties to sell

off in order to generate revenues to construct schools. They were then popularly called

"school lands". By 1902 some of the owners not noted previously are:

M. S. Schmier: 18;

F. Trevino: 35;

G. S. Dorough: 40;

Y. Rodriguez: 42;

G. W. Mendell: 44;

W. W. Stocking: 50, 288;

George A. Johnston: 138, 290;

J.T.A.: 140;

L.L. Adams: 141;

Juan Silva: 238;

E. M. L. Williams: 276, 280, 286, 292, and 305 acres of section 302 ;

J. A. Hoisington: 282;

James Lockhart: 284;

Dayton Moses: 294;

L. G. Brewer: 296, 300.

Mrs. Collinsworth's 274 passes to S. R. Collinsworth.

The Dishmans, who had apparently assigned some of their parcels to the Georgetown

Railroad Company, resume ownership of 20, 22, 24, and 38.

As reasonable as the purchase prices were some owners could not retain their purchases.

One sequence of interest involves Eugene Nierstras. On 12/14/97 he purchased from the

state for $1.50 an acre all 640 acres of section 286. Because of non-payment of interest he

forfeited the parcel on 8/3/1900. It was then purchased on 3/27/1901 by Theodore F. Dix

and his wife Mattie A. Dix, likely for the debt due of $238.40. Mr. Dix had his problems

and was brought to court on charges of altering brands, stealing several mules in one

case, and a single mule in another. His bond for each charge was $500 or a total of

$1,500. Strapped for cash he forfeited the parcel for non-settlement to the General Land

Office. This took place on 12/21/04. E. M. L. Williamson was waiting in the wings to

purchase this 640 acre section, two more of similar size, and an additional 305 acres for a

total price of $1,500.

In later decades, after Harlingen is established, state law allows it to acquire extra-

territorial jurisdiction and eventually annex additional contiguous area based on the city's

population and the availability of unorganized adjacent lands.

Some of the first such lands are in the former Concepcion de Carricitos Grant, an area of

approximately 83 square miles south of the Arroyo Colorado to the river. This grant and

its subsequent disposition beginning in 1883 have a long and complicated history. The

reader is directed to Ruby Wooldridge's 1951 Texas College of Arts and Industry

Master's Thesis, "The Spanish and Mexican Land Grants of Present Day Cameron

County." It deals with the history of this land grant. This work is to be found in Valley

libraries.

By the 1990s Harlingen was moving west from the Stuart Place Tract into the next large

tract, that of Adams Gardens. Its history, in brief, is this. Don Anastacio Treviño took

possession of parts of the La Feria Grant in 1843. In 1851 Josiah Turner married one of

Treviño's daughters. She died in 1854, and he married the remaining daughter, Tomasa

Treviño. In 1867 he took charge of the ranch and "controlled it as my own." This was the

Galveston Ranch. When Don Anastacio died in 1874 he left the property to his daughter,

who later deeded a half-interest to her husband. He possessed what was to be the Adams

Garden land for 39 years. In 1906 he sold the Adams Gardens portion of the property to

three St. Louis men—Thomas W. Carter, Lemuel Carter, and Peyton T. Carr. After four

years they sold it to W.T. Adams of Corinth, MI. He was a wealthy sawmill machinery

manufacturer. It was 14 miles long and had 9,561 acres mostly in brush in the year 1910.

In 1930 Adams decided to sell. Seventy-six miles of roads were built after a survey.

Land was cleared and citrus orchards planted, however the depression in the 1930s hurt

land sales.

1900 Leonidas Carrington Hill, a Beeville lawyer, comes by stagecoach to Brownsville

to participate in a case. He observes scattered agricultural activities and gains some sense

of the area's potential. His transition from Beeville lawyer to Valley developer is

provided in detail in "Lon C. Hill 1862-1935 Lower Rio Grande Valley Pioneer" a 1973

biography compiled by his great-niece Kate Adele Hill. Additional background material

is to be found in 1) "Harlingen Golden Anniversary Celebration –April 24-30 (1960),

Official Program" compiled, written, and edited by Verna Jackson McKenna; and 2)

Norman Rozeff's "Sugarcane and the Development of the Lower Rio Grande Valley

1875-1922, Chapter 5 The Hill Sugar Mill."

Also in the Valley this year is John D. Hill, no relative. Born in Lebanon, KY 9/3/57 Hill

had come to Texas in 1877 after being educated in St. Louis. This Catholic of English

ancestry married Linnie Bell 5/11/81. He was the manager for Lon C. Hill's

hardware/implement store in Brownsville around 1902. He became a pioneer Harlingen

land developer and real estate man. He would later serve the city and be involved in Lon

Hill's enterprises.

When Mr. and Mrs. Guadeloupe Rodriguez move to Paso Real this year little do they

know that the thriving community with over 80 homes is destined to soon shrink. The Inn

closes first, then the ferry. Later periodic floods in the Arroyo Colorado sweep away

many homes, and time and the elements do the rest. By 1975 only four will remain. The

Rodriguez work a small farm south of the arroyo in Cameron County. Four of their boys

and one daughter are born on the farm. These include Agapito in 1908, Pedro 1910, Gon-

zalo, Gregorio, and Rita. Seferino and his other siblings later call urban Rio Hondo home.

8/12/02 Lon C. Hill makes application to the Cameron County Commission to purchase

the County School Lands of 2 ½ leagues (11,070 acres) for $13,837.50 or $1.25 per acre.

He later receives approval for his bid on very favorable terms. The court takes a promis-

sory note for the whole amount making the note due in ten years at 6% annual interest

with payments. Part of the consideration is that he "enclose it with a four strand barbed

wire fence with good mesquite posts 12 feet apart and to erect on said land at least three

good windmills with dirt tanks."

9/20/02 E. M. L. Williams has been homesteading on Survey 290 which immediately

abuts the Arroyo Colorado (and today would stretch from the arroyo north to Rio Hondo

Road and have a width about from 4th Street east to16th Street.) He has acquired the

665.2 acres of 292, where he has erected a house, and the 640 acres of 280. He makes

application to the state to purchase the 640 acres of 290 for $960 or $1.50 an acre. How-

ever it is George A. Johnston and his wife L. M. Johnston that again make application to

purchase 290 for the same price on 4/7/03. They do acquire it only to turn around and

sell it and also Survey 138, also 640 acres, to Lon C. Hill on 3/21/04 for $350.00 and the

assumption of payments. Survey 138 is about three miles north of the Arroyo Colorado

and .9 mile east of the La Feria Grant boundary.

10/18/02 Uriah Lott visits Brownsville to investigate railroad potential to the Valley.

11/28/02. In an interview with a reported for the Beeville Bee newspaper Hill notes that

over the past 15 months he has purchased for himself and others 300,000 acres of Valley

land including the Jim Wells ranch of 50,000 acres.

1/12/03 The St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway is formed this date and char-

tered 6/6/03 to create a railroad line from Sinton to Brownsville. Its incorporators are:

Uriah Lott, R.J. Kleberg (son-in-law of Henrietta M. King), John B. Armstrong, R. Dris-

coll, James B. Wells, George F. Evans, John G. Kenedy, Arthur E. Spohn, Robert Dris-

coll Jr., E.H. Caldwell, J.J. Welder, F. Yturria, Thomas Carson, Caesar Kleberg, and R.

King.

3/3/03 John Nance Garner of Uvalde first takes office as Representative of Texas Con-

gressional District 15 which includes the Valley. He will continue in this office until

sworn in as Vice President of the United States on 3/3/1933. He became Speaker of the

House in 1931.

August 1903 Hill and associate Thomas L. Jones and their families leave Beeville for the

Valley. The 155 mile journey with fourteen large wagons, their holdings, and sixty head

of stock takes thirteen days. The Hill entourage alone has ten wagons, a chuck wagon and

cook, a three-seated hackney coach for the girls, and the family horse and buggy. The

stock consists of cows, horses, mules and eight hound dogs.

8/10/03 The Lon C. Hill Improvement Company is chartered. As a proprietary venture it

was the most protean form of community in America. The following year its name is

changed to the Lon C. Hill Town and Improvement Company. Its capitalization is

$200,000. Incorporators include Hill, his best fiend, Dr. S.H. Bell, and Jim Dougherty.

James Lockhart, Hill's foreman, directs the clearing and grubbing of parts of the 543 acre

Harlingen townsite. He also manages the first commissary. Jim Dougherty, a Browns-

ville resident, has been interested in developing the Valley for a decade at least. He

worked with Lt. Chatfield in the failed Chatfield Irrigation Company, an outfit conceived

ahead of its time.

11/03 A preliminary survey commences for the Sam Fordyce Branch(also called the Hi-

dalgo Branch) rail line, 56 miles of track running west from Harlingen to Fordyce, west

of what will be Mission. It is this line which opens the door for the settlement of numer-

ous Valley towns such as La Feria, Mercedes, Weslaco, Alamo, San Juan, Pharr,

McAllen, and Mission. Engineer Charley Ensminger is in charge initially but is so terri-

fied by the wild territory that Chief Engineer Col. F.G. Jonah replaces him with W.T.

Millington. By May 1904 work on this branch began in earnest. Because of the level

grades involved, the line was two and a half miles from completion by September

20,1904.

3/11/04 For $4,736 Henrietta M. King, the heir to her husband Richard's estate, conveys

to Hill 2,368 acres. The terms are $2,368 cash and the remainder in two notes of $1,184

each due one and two years at 8%. The total price is therefore $2.12/acre. The parcels he

obtains are Survey 287, 640 acres; 289, 640; 291, 640; 299, 320; 303, 60; and 305, 68.

3/26/04 Township of Harlingen being laid out on Surveys 36, 289 and 290.

4/11/04 Arroyo Colorado steel bridge planned. It is to be the biggest on the Lott line.

The nascent community needs an official name to append to the railroad stop and station

to be. In talking with Hill, Col. Lott, conceiver of the railroad line to the Valley, suggests

the name Harlingen. His maternal grandmother is Eliza Van Harlingen who was born in

Harlingen, New Jersey, itself named after the small northern Holland town of Harlingen

from which her ancestors came. With the canals soon to be in the area and their common-

ality with the canals of Holland, this name is accepted. Hill might have named the com-

munity for himself, except that he had already selected the name Lonsboro for the

planned Sam Fordyce Branch railroad station stop in the Capisallo Ranch he had pur-

chased from Jim Wells in 1902. He later sold this land to the American Rio Grande Land

and Irrigation Company, which eventually used the name Mercedes for a site slightly to

the west.

4/20/04 Rails reach Harlingen. The Brownsville Herald of April 21 proclaims: “Harl-

ingen, Texas. On yesterday, April 20, Harlingen-on-the-Arroyo, the Dutch City that is to

be, was connected with the outside world by rail, the track of the St. Louis, Brownsville

and Mexico railroad reaching here yesterday morning at 10 o’clock. The track gang did

not stop to celebrate their arrival here, as Harlingen is a dry town—at present, at least,

there being no express office here as yet—but pushed straight on through. The track is

now completed to the Arroyo Colorado, where work will be somewhat slower until the

bridge is completed. The railroad will reach Brownsville on 6/7/04.

5/2/04. The temporary low wooden bridge is completed.

6/04 This month the stagecoach line makes its final run. Mrs. Henrietta Walters of Harl-

ingen is a passenger going to the Sauz Ranch east of Raymondville.

6/3/04 On this date Wenceslao Saldana and Felipa A. de Saldana, husband and wife,

convey to L.C. Hill 160 acres for $500. This parcel begins at the north boundary of

School Survey 26 and north of what will become Combes. Hill buys it to dedicate part of

it to the railroad right-of-way. Shortly thereafter on 6/10/04 Hill dedicates to F. Yturria,

John G. Kenedy, and Robert J. Kleberg, trustees of the SLB&M Railway, 1/20 of all

shares of the townsite and improvement company to be formed and 1/5 of other lands

plus a 100' right-of-way.

6/24/04 A permit for the establishment of a post office is awarded. Some might argue

that this action officially establishes Harlingen on the map.

7/4/04 On this date the first passenger train of the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico

Railway to the Valley arrives in Harlingen en route to Brownsville. Reportedly it carries

75 passengers. Before this date Sam Robertson, the railroad engineer, has surreptitiously

been hauling individuals, their families, and chattel to the Valley on work trains.

The railroad company uses 4-4-0 locomotives, but these will soon supplanted by 2-6-0s.

The 4-4-0 was built continuously through the end of the 19th century. It handled both

freight and passenger traffic and was nearly universal, so much so that it acquired the

name "American Standard" or simply "American." In 1884, 60 % of all U.S. steam lo-

comotives were 4-4-0s. The widespread application of air brakes in the 1880s spelled the

end for 4-4-0s. Air brakes made it possible to run longer and heavier trains and that cre-

ated the demand for more powerful locomotives. The 2-6-0 had a swiveling lead truck

which was self-centering, and together with the driving wheels, a three point suspension

system was created. This allowed the locomotive to traverse uneven track. It had 50%

more adhesion than a 4-4-0. It acquired the name Mogul because it could produce more

power than a 4-4-0. Over 11,000 Moguls were built, but it never developed into a mod-

ern locomotive. It in turn was supplanted by the 2-8-0 with even more adhesion.

A two mile sendero (Spanish for path) has been cleared in the heavy brush from Lon C.

Hill's Arroyo Colorado camp, named "salty lonesome" by the family, to a point on the

railroad that is to be the junction ( present day Harrison and Commerce Streets) where the

spur railroad line to the west side of the Valley will take off. The junction of sendero and

railroad is marked on surveyors' maps as "Harlingen." The sendero then continues a mile

directly west. The railroad construction crews and the trainmen have another name for the

community –Rattlesnake Junction. This derives from the numerous snakes exposed as the

brush is cleared.

A boxcar serves as the very first railroad depot. After a real railroad depot is built, W.E.

Hollingsworth, the first railway agent, used a curtained off portion for his personal quar-

ters.

9/16/04 The Rio Grande floods at Presidio and later at Havana ( west of what would be-

come Mission). The river is fifteen miles wide in the vicinity of Fordyce. The previous

such high had occurred in 1846. Southwest of La Feria the overflow waters enter the Ar-

royo Colorado. At Harlingen, despite the dismantling in order to minimize flow obstruc-

tions of the wooden framework being utilized to erect the steel bridge, the steel work col-

lapses to the floor of the arroyo as both concrete piers are undermined. The site of the

crossing was poor as the floor around the piers was discovered to be quicksand.

9/21/04 Portions of the temporary wooden railroad bridge give way due to the effects of

flooding. Before repairs are completed Brownsville train traffic is interrupted for 28

days. Harlingen postmaster Lockhart delivers mail to Brownsville on a railroad handcart.

Reconstruction of the railroad bridge begins 10/6/04.

1/30/05 For $10 Hill turns over acreage under his name to the Lon C. Hill Town and Im-

provement Company. This includes 900.7 acres in Survey 36 with 206.3 acres being re-

tained; Survey 289 with 640 acres; Survey 290 with 640 acres; and Survey 291 with 640

acres less the railroad right-of-way of approximately 55 acre.

1/31/05 For the planned Sam Fordyce Branch, Hill conveys right-of-way to railroad

through Surveys 26, 27, 36, 289, and 290. The conveyance is filed 3/9/05.

9/18/05 Built by the Johnston brothers, railroad contractors, the steel railroad bridge

which crosses the Arroyo Colorado, is nearly complete.

Sometime during the year 1905 Hill has constructed a brick kiln along the north bank of

the Arroyo Colorado. It utilizes clay from a deposit adjacent to the stream.

3/12/06 On this day, Hill kills a young man from Corpus Christi named Theodore F. Dix.

Hill, on horseback, encounters the pistol brandishing youth on foot at a site east of the

Arroyo Colorado. Hill asks the man to set aside the gun or give it to him. When Dix re-

fuses and begins to wave the weapon, Hill, in the presence of one half dozen witnesses,

opens fire and kills him with three shots. Dix leaves a widow and two young children.

The following day Hill appears in court in Brownsville where friends post the $3,000

bail. In February 1907 the case is finally adjudicated. Hill is quickly found "not guilty"

in that the homicide was one of self-defense.

3/19/06 The Brownsville Herald proclaims that Hill owns 100,000 acres.

January 1907 Canal intake excavation work at the river about 9.75 miles south of the Ar-

royo Colorado is in progress. Later in the year 450 men and seventy teams of mules and

horses will be hard at work on the canal under the supervision of experienced engineer

John D. Hill.

6/15/07 Hill is quoted as being broke when he came to the Valley five years ago. His

wealth is now conservatively estimated at $800,000, and he owns 160,000 acres fee sim-

ple. In the Valley he assisted railroad magnate B.F. Yoakum and his associates. Hill at

one time was begged to buy Brownsville area land at $3.00 an acre.

8/17/07 Plans are made for starting the power house pumping plant to lift water from the

river into the Harlingen Canal. A.R. Mann, a mechanical engineer from Chicago is en-

gaged to take charge of the machinery. He is already in Harlingen. It was the discovery,

in 1901, of oil at Spindletop that made feasible and expedited the pumps along the river,

for this energy source was economical and readily available in contrast to ever-

diminishing forestry products burned to generate steam.

9/3/07 A Brownsville Herald article promotes the Harlingen Developments. It reports

"Beginning tomorrow morning at 9 o'clock, plots of the townsite and maps of the lands

may be consulted at the office of J.S. Dougherty, Brownsville, where the opening sale is

being conducted."

9/7/07 The Harlingen Canal pumps are scheduled to start. To keep an eye on this im-

portant operation Hill will have a telephone line strung about 18 miles from the pump

house to Harlingen.

9/10/07 The Harlingen Land and Water Company is chartered for the purpose of the

construction, maintenance, and operation of flumes, reservoirs, lakes, wells, canals, and

later other and all appurtenances for the purpose of irrigation, navigation, milling, min-

ing, stock raising, and city water works, and the supply and transferring of water to all

persons entitled to same for the purposes mentioned. With its office in Harlingen its life

is set as 50 years. Five directors appointed for one year are Lon C. Hill, Paul Hill, John

D. Hill, Dr. S.H. Bell and Peter Ebenezer Blalack. The capital stock is $300,000, par val-

ue $100 – all of the capital stock of the corporation being subscribed by the above direc-

tors. With eighteen miles of main canal, the pumping station and other facilities in place,

6,105 acres out of the Concepcion de Carricitos Grant and valued at $40 an acre are

transferred to the water company. On 9/20/07 Hill also conveys other land to the Harl-

ingen Land and Water Co. Hill's land is exchanged for 2,987 share in the new company.

His daughter Paul holds 10 shares, and Bell, Blalack and John Hill one each.

10/29/07 The Big Flume being built by the land and water company to convey water

across the Arroyo Colorado is scheduled to be finished in 30 days. Its cost is projected to

be $20,000.

Hill's initial subdivision offering involves 4,500 acres to be sold in tracts ranging from

five to forty acres, the prices being fixed according to their proximity to the canals, lat-

erals, railroad, and Harlingen townsite. His assertion that the soil is sandy loam is a

stretch because most of it is, in fact, heavy Harlingen clay.

Hill pays contractors $10 per acre to clear the land. By October 1907 2,000 acres have

been prepared. The contractors, who at this time have a force of 400 men distributed in

gangs of twenty, do not have claim to the timber which is mostly ebony and mesquite.

Hill can sell these for fuel, fence posts, and railroad ties and sometimes cover the clearing

costs.

Within two to three miles of his residence, Hill is running 450 head of cattle as well as

hogs, chickens and turkeys.

1/9/07 A plan is afoot for the installation of a second pump at the river station. This will

double the 15,000 gpm capacity of the first one, now operating for two months. The ma-

chinery has already been reserved. At present the canal is reported to be 12 miles long

and 50 feet wide.

10/07 In addition to selling Harlingen-area land through his own company, Hill is will-

ing to pay commissions to other realtors to move acreage. One is W. O. Coleman, who

came to Brownsville from Mississippi in January 1906. Another agency selling Harlingen

Land and Water Company properties was the St. John Land & Investment Company of

Brownsville.

1908 Likely in this year Harlingen has its first running water system. It is the Mooreland

Lateral that comes from the main canal south of town and is then connected by a pipe to

the Mooreland Hotel. The water entered a cistern tank from which it was lifted by a

windmill pump to a water tower higher than the hotel itself. Two private baths run by a

Mr. Prelir (?) and several public baths were then available. A bridge at Jackson Avenue

straddled the water lateral there.

This is also the year that Harlingen gets its first public telephone exchange. Lon Hill had

in 1906 a private phone that ran from his home in Harlingen south to the pumping plant,

there connecting to Brownsville.

1/1/08 Hill, in an expansive, salesman-like mode, says he is ready to plant 5,000 acres of

sugarcane northwest of Harlingen and that contracts are now pending with Louisiana and

Cuban growers to put out 10,000 acres of cane south of the Arroyo Colorado and west of

the Brownsville rail line. A railroad spur built to connect Harlingen to the river was

offered as a prospect. Prospects were also noted that the Arroyo Colorado would be

dredged in part to become a section of the propose extension of the Intracoastal

Waterway system. Money for a survey was appropriated by Congress.

2/8/08 The suit over the Las Mesteñas, Pititas, y la Abra tract is settled after 14 years of

litigation; Hill gets 14,000 acres out of the 103,022 involved.

3/28/08 River irrigation water reaches Harlingen in the 11.5 miles of canal south of the

community. The last stretch was across the arroyo on the flume. The newspaper notes

that the canal was started 5/2/07 by Walter Vann, son of Capt. J.W. Vann, who is in

charge. The one 24-inch pump is to be supplemented by two 36 inch ones, so up to

35,000 acres may be irrigated. Although Harlingen now has water, it still lacks water

mains and other infrastructure for direct delivery of drinkable water to its residents. Cirilo

Rodriguez would pump water from the canal near his residence at 802 W. Fillmore, settle

it in large tin tanks, and then deliver the water by barrel to customers. At a cost of 50

cents per barrel, drinking water hauled from La Providencia Ranch water was fairly ex-

pensive.

6/5/08 On this date 22 miles of canals are said to be in operation, enough to irrigate

40,000 acres. The cost of them is put at $280,000.

7/13/08 Hill contacts D. A. Garden regarding the compilation of a sales prospectus. He

provides these figures. Canals now built valued at $200,000; sugar mill when constructed

$240,000; 5,000 acres of land for mill production $200,000; 8,000 acres unimproved land

$400,000; land with cane $200/acre and without $50/acre. He notes that he, the Harl-

ingen Land and Water Company, and J.P. Stevenson collectively own 46,000 acres.

11/08 About 26 miles of canal, primary and secondary, are in operation and 75,000 acres

are being or are ready for irrigation. During this period Hill is helping to frame the state

law that will put into being the first semi-governmental irrigation district in the state.

This is to be Cameron County Irrigation District No. 1, established on August 10,1914,

when election returns were filed.

7/14/08 The Land and Water Company submits a plat map to Cameron County Clerk, J.

Webb. It is to subdivide Surveys 289, 290, and part of 36. The lots are all north of the

company's main canal, which itself is north of and parallel to the Arroyo Colorado. East

of present 7th Street are 27 lots ranging from about 11.4 acres to 18.8 acres in size. To

the north of town are 17 lots of similar size and 8 more ranging from 24.6 to 55.6 acres in

size. South and west of the town area are a total of 21 lots 5.1 to 15.6 acres in size.

James Lockhart and Dr. Ferguson have adjacent lots where the railroad tracks turn from

the south into the Sam Fordyce Branch. The train depot sits in the triangle bounded by

the tracks coming from the north to the south and diverging from both directions to the

west branch. Seventy-five complete rectangular lots and nine partial ones sit in the town

to the east of the tracks. West of the tracks are 57 whole lots and eight partial ones. Har-

rison Street is shown as 80' in width. There are no railroad track crossings at Tyler or

Van Buren Streets. The town itself is a square of 414 acres or .64 square mile. It runs

east-west from current 7th Street to current F Street and north-south from the south side

of Washington to the north side of Lincoln. Three whole city blocks are dedicated to be

parks. They are Bowie between Madison and Jefferson, Travis between Polk and Tyler,

and Diaz between Harrison and Van Buren. By 1917, when the lots east to what is now

13th Street start to be developed, the city will be 1.06 square mile in size.

10/23/08 The Harlingen Land and Water Company has 100 acres of sugarcane seed and

plans to plant several hundred acres next fall.

11/10/08 The above company holds its annual meeting wherein Lon C. Hill is named

president and general manager. Kate Bailey is secretary.

It is in 1908 that a tract is laid out by Dr. Pierre Wilson and Frank W. Kibbe of Browns-

ville. It is the Survey 25 parcel formerly owned by Thomas L. Jones.

11/30/08 The Lon C. Hill Town and Improvement Company conveys 143 town lots to J.

C. McBee, Lon C. Hill's brother-in-law. McBee is to act as salesman for them.

2/1/09 An example of the rapidly escalating prices for land is provided by the following

transactions over a ten year period. On this date the HL&W Co. sells to James N. Kil-

gore farm block 44 (east of town). The 11 1/10 acre goes for $1,700 with water to be fur-

nished and paid at $3/ac./yr. whether used or not. When planted the water rates are de-

pendent on the crops. For corn and cotton this is $4/ac/yr.; sugarcane and alfalfa

$6/ac/yr.; and for crops such as fruit, vegetables, rice demanding more water than cane

are charged $10. On 7/31/09 J.N. Kilgore and wife Anna M. sell the property to William

H. Kilgore for $2,775. On 12/24/09 it is conveyed to R.S. Chambers, bank president,

Harlingen State Bank to secure a $1,000 mortgage note that is paid off 7/20/11. On

8/13/12 the property is sold to Searcy Baker of Harris County for $3,500 as notarized by

Miller V. Pendleton. Baker in turn subdivides it and sells a 100' x 300' lot to H.H.

Burchard for $375. On 1/11/19 Baker sells the remainder of block 44 to William B. We-

ber for $4,000.

7/2/09 The Improvement Company sells to the Land and Water Company 590 acres out

of Survey 290. The price is $50 an acre, total $29,500.

7/10/09 With the hyperbole which only Lon C. Hill could generate the St. Louis Daily

Globe-Democrat runs a large type headline with following article on him The headline

reads "How a Full Blooded Choctaw Indian Has Made $6,000,000 in 6 Years".

8/09 A Harlingen Land and Water Company map of main canals has the Dilworth Canal

branching west then north from the Main Canal about 2.6 miles north of its intake. Later

the divergent point will be moved further north. At this time the Martin Canal branches

north from the Main Canal before the latter itself crosses the Arroyo Colorado a mile fur-

ther along. The Martin Canal will become the No. 1 Canal.

9/25/09 Plans are revealed to improve Harlingen drainage.

9/28/09 An election is held and a town government is formed. Twenty-seven voters are

for incorporation. John Bartlett, Cameron County Judge declares the town to be duly in-

corporated. Also a school district is organized and seven trustees are elected. W.H. Kil-

gore receives 26 votes, R.S. Chambers 26, C.F. Perry 26, H.N. Morrow 26, John Snavely

23, J.A. Card 23, W.E. Hollingsworth 20. A.H. Weller with 18 votes is denied election.

Agricultural/Ranching

1900 Jesus Saldana is part of the extended family operating La Providencia Ranch. It is

located in Surveys 45 and 47 directly west of what will initially be Harlingen. The

sendero, that would become Harrison Street, opened in 1904, and, runs about 3 ½ miles

or so to the S. Saldana property (now the Valle Vista Mall). This is important because

the ranch is a source of good water, a necessity the community still lacks. From the well

on the ranch, water is hauled by the barrel until the canal reaches Harlingen in early 1908.

The charge is 50 cents per barrel for this service.

The wagon road going south from the adjacent F. Saldana ranch to allow a low water

crossing of the Arroyo Colorado is now Tucker Road. Just beyond where it ends on the

north side of the arroyo was a community named Castenas.

6/24/02 Hill invites Brownsville Herald newspaper editor to view his four 14" sulky

plows pulled by a steam engine. This equipment is operating on his Brownsville hold-

ings and for the Valley is revolutionary. Hill is a progressive farmer and even sends soil

samples to Texas A&M College for analyses. He recognizes the good drainage and fer-

tility of lands adjacent to the resacas after observing Mexicans growing vegetables on

them. He also realizes that lack of water is the primary limiting factor for land away from

the river. A key insight is his grasp of the fact that the river flows on terrain higher than

the areas to its north. This means that gravity flow in irrigation transport canals is possi-

ble once the water is lifted out of the river. The elevation of Harlingen is, in fact, nine

feet below that of the river bed.

August 1903 Lon C. Hill and associate Thomas L. Jones and their families leave Bee-

ville for the Valley. The 155 mile journey with fourteen large wagons, their holdings,

and sixty head of stock takes thirteen days. Jones comes with his wife and seven children.

Thomas L. Jones, a native of Mississippi who had come to Texas in 1901. He acquires

from Hill the former Cameron County School Lands Survey 25 with its approximate

4,500 acres northeast (currently Primera) of Harlingen and perhaps prematurely attempts

to irrigate portions of it but fails in his effort. [He may have utilized well water since no

canals from the river were yet constructed in the area.] Mary Jones teaches school age

children in the vicinity at her father's ranch house. While Hill had paid $1.25 an acre to

purchase Survey 25 from the county we do not know what Jones paid him for the land.

However Jones reportedly obtains $13 an acre when he later sells the tract to Dr. Pierre

Wilson of Dallas and Frank W. Kibbe, an aggressive Brownsville real estate promoter

who will also be president of the La Feria Townsite Company and the La Feria Land and

Irrigation Company, in November 1908. Wilson had expressed an interest in building a

sanitarium on part of the land though having retired from his medical practice in Dallas.

Wilson was originally from Hennepin County, Minnesota possibly coming to Texas via

Lawton, OK. In a land sales brochure he is advertised to have planted 108 acres of cotton

in the spring of 1911 and raised 125 bales from it. The first 100 bales brought him

$5,776.20 and the other 25, $1,250. Five acres of his sorghum which he cut several times

in the year brought him 12 tons/acre which he sold for $10-14 per ton. The area thereafter

is called the Wilson Tract and the road leading from it to Harlingen is Wilson Road. A

1909 map shows that the Wilson Tract had been platted into 110 lots of 40 acres each.

Engineer A.W. Amthor of La Feria surveyed and laid out the tract. The Tract

encompassed the whole of Survey 25. The uncleared land is offered for $150 an acre.

After becoming ill, Dr. Wilson sells the land to Mr. (C. E.) Schaff, former president of

the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad, known for short as the Katy. Mr. Schaff was

in town by April 1909. In the 1920s the property with its citrus orchids is used as a

showplace. Prospective buyers are treated by Valley Developments, Inc. to meals at the

ranch clubhouse.

6/11/04 Lon C. Hill buys the season's first two bales of cotton. He sends one to the Lou-

isiana Purchase Exposition 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis in order to publicize the area

and give the U.S. an indication of the earliness of Valley cotton. He sends the second

bale to the Houston Cotton Exchange for the same reason but also for the first bale pro-

duced in the year in Texas and the United States to be auctioned. This establishes a tradi-

tion.

6?24/04 James Lockhart becomes Harlingen's first postmaster.

7/1905 William Doherty in the Gulf Coast Magazine published by the Gulf Coast Line in

Kingsville provides a cost figure for Hill's canal building. To be taken cautiously is the

figure of $4,500 per mile from the quote "Every mile of it (canal) represents $4,500

worth of faith on the part of this man."

1906 With brick from his own arroyo-side kiln, Lon C. Hill builds the substantial brick

barn whose site was the west side of the present municipal auditorium. It would later be

used in the Valley Mid-Winter Fair.

5/12/08 Phillip S. Waterwall is named Harlingen Postmaster.

10/23/08 The HL&WC sells one of its first lots, 30.6 acres, on the west side of block 47

to C. P. Albright of Barry County, MO for $510 including water delivery.

1908 Jacob Samuel "Sweet Potato Jake" Pletcher comes to the Valley from Ohio with

his brother George H. Pletcher, Sr. In 1909 they buy 74 acres of "high ground", now

Pletcher Floral Co. on W. Harrison and former site of the old Pletcher home. Paying $60

an acre they soon plant the first citrus in that area. His father-in-law John Snavely, who

later is president of the first school board, comes about the same time. Pletcher receives

his nickname while supplying sweet potatoes to the government in the Great War. He

makes the first sale of carpet grass here and exhibits a 16 lb. sweet potato in the 1921 fair.

He and his brother start the first commercial nursery in the Valley. His son Bill and

nephew George Jr. start their own nursery in 1926. In 1950 Jake leaves the Valley. He

dies in Lufken 7/16/61 at age 79.

It is in 1908 that Robert Lewis Chaudoin becomes overseer of the Dilworth Ranch and

Farm west of Harlingen and south of the Arroyo Colorado. Robert is from Oak Forest in

Gonzales County. His wife and five of the children will follow in 1909. Winston Har-

wood may have some investment in R. S. Dilworth's ranch.

1909 Samuel Davis Grant, son of Hannah Harriet and William Talley Grant, comes to

the area after surgery by Dr. Pierre (Perry)Wilson. He becomes foreman of Dr. Wilson's

ranch. After the ranch falls into the hands of the Mr. Shaff, former president of the "Katy"

railroad, Grant acts as the bookkeeper. Born in Robertson City, TX in 1883, he attended

TCU and UT where he completed his studies in 1903. He marries Helena (Lena) Tem-

pleton of Santa Elena Ranch in 1914 and together they have five children: Georgiana,

Christine, Francis, James, and Helena. Her Uncle James Dishman presents them with 320

acres of virgin land as a wedding present. In 1915 Grant purchases land east of Combes

(and now HYW 77) and farms it, but in 1918 he commences the Ebony Grove Dairy with

a herd of fine Jerseys. Sam is for a time president of Kiwanis, on the Harlingen School

Board, and the Boy Scout Board. He is to die of a heart attack 1/23/46.

1909 Levi Elmer Snavely (1869-1939) of Thornton, Indiana hears a lecture in Corpus

Christi about the Valley. With capital of $1,750 he sets out 100 citrus trees near Browns-

ville. Later he moves to the Valley and eventually by 1930 has 1,200 acres in tomatoes,

1,000 in potatoes, 200 in beans, in addition to 150,000 citrus trees. He has packing plants

at Snavely (Wilson Road?), Rio Hondo, Weslaco, Edcouch, and Santa Rosa. Later he will

be the RGV district representative of the American Fruit Growers, Inc. In 1928 he builds

an impressive Norman-style house on Wilson Road (next to where the Lt. George

Guttierrez, Jr. Junior High School is currently located). Its designer is noted Harlingen

architect Birger A. Elwing. Named La Bonita, it will later warrant a Texas State Histori-

cal Commission marker. The school site was the H.L. Starnes Farm from 1920 to 1982.

9/20/09 Soon after arriving from Lawton, OK, C.W. Clift is to plant 30 acres of cabbage.

Later in the late fall he follows up with peavine hay.

10/2/09 640 acres of fine cane land near Harlingen are advertised for sale at $35 per acre.

In this year Earl Wetmore, who had come with his family, is credited with planting the

first citrus tree in the Harlingen area.

J.C. Crosset and his wife of Minnesota purchase 40 acres in April of this year and arrive

in Harlingen on 11/5/09. Mrs. Crosset will take an interest in local history. In May 1925

she is to tell a Briggs-Coleman gathering of Harlingen's early days. She notes that early

land realtors, W.H. and J.N. Kilgore took prospective buyers out to the David and Ste-

venson Tract land in a hack or when muddy in a wagon pulled by four mules.

Harlingen itself is still a mixture of farm and urban lots. Where Piggly Wiggly would

one day be on Jackson was a barbwire fenced pasture 1 ½ blocks wide holding five cows.

12/18/09 Margaret Farmer nee Goodykoontz and her family, including Johnny, arrive

this year from Cole Creek (now Lake City, TN). It commences growing mainly cotton 1

¼ miles north of town. Years later she would recall the town having three saloons, one

general merchandise store, Bott's hardware, Frank Brown's harness and saddle shop, the

blacksmith, and a furniture store run by a Mr. Brenner.

Business/Commercial/Industry

2/7/05 The Lon C. Hill Town and Improvement Company is organized in Brownsville

this date. With $200,000 capital stock its stated purpose is for building erection, im-

provement, loans for same and subdivision of real estate. Its principles are Hill, James R.

Daugherty and S. H. Bell. John D. Hill is secretary.

During this year Hill commences his brick kiln utilizing a clay deposit adjacent to the ar-

royo and just south of the railroad bridge.

1906(early) Santos Lozano, who had come from Alice in 1905, buys the second two

commercial lots on Main (Jackson) Street. He is first however to have them deeded. He

builds a small frame structure for a general store with living quarters upstairs. This build-

ing is removed in 1915 and replaced by a large two–story brick structure. The bricks are

imported from Monterrey, Mexico. Initially the building has "S. Lozano and Son-1915"

etched on the top of its north-facing and west-facing facades. Don Guillermo Lozano,

Santos' son, will open the first meat market west of the railroad.

Santos Lozano was born in Ejidos San Nicolas de los Garzas (now part of Monterrey),

Nuevo Leon State, Mexico in 1863. His parents, Felipe and Otta Gracia Lozano had

immigrated to Texas during the Mexican-French War and ended up in Collins, TX when

Santos was two years old. In Alice Santos would eventually operate a mercantile store

for fourteen years before making his way to Harlingen. After the death of his first wife,

Micaela Beasley, he would marry Tomasa Cantu with whom he would have children,

another Santos and Edme. His oldest son Juan B. Lozano was born in Alice 4/12/92,

educated at public schools, and, in 1909, became a merchant with his father in Lozano

and Son. He was to marry Herlinda Hinojosa 5/12/12. His younger brother, Santos V.

Lozano was born in Alice on 7/27/94, and also educated in public schools. When he

entered the business the store was called S. Lozano & Son Dry Goods Store. He came to

Harlingen at age 11 and was to serve in WWI in a medical detachment. He later was an

American Legion member and was in the Woodmen of the World. Both brothers were

proud of their Irish-Mexican heritage. The other Lozano children who came to Harlingen

by train in 1905 were Fivela, Porfirio, Otilia, and Alfredo. In the 1920s the Lozanos will

have placed store branches in La Feria, Donna, and Raymondville. Santos would die at

the ripe old age of 90. A daughter, Micaela "Mickey" Lozano was born in Harlingen on

May 10, 1910. She would go on to graduate Harlingen High School, attend Texas A&I,

and receive a B.S. Degree in Education from Pan Am. She married Manuel I. "Meme"

Garibay who died in 1954. Retiring as a teacher in 1981, Mrs. Garibay was to die in

Brownsville on 11/14/04 at age 94. Micaela's sister Sofia was also born in Harlingen.

1906 The railroad company feels confident enough of Harlingen's future that it con-

structs a two-story, u-shaped, frame hotel having 10 rooms with two baths and verandas

on both floors. Its location is the center of town, Hill (now First) Street and Harrison. Its

first manager is Mrs. August H. Weller. [Mrs. Weller's father, Charles Bock, Sr. (also

spelled in the original German, Boch), has the distinction of being the first to join a Vic-

toria company of Texas Rangers.] She is followed in management by Mr. and Mrs. B.F.

Ogan.

A.H. Weller opens one of a series of saloons around town. One large one is on the south

side of Jackson a short distance east of Commerce Street. It has a large false front second

story upon which it advertises "Saloon." It looks straight out of a Hollywood western. In

time he will run or lease properties for thirteen "watering holes."

9/5/06 Weller buys the three lots at Tyler and Commerce and two lots at Commerce and

Jackson. These are the first lots conveyed by the Town and Improvement Company but

are not deeded until 1908. Ten days later Santos Lozano buys two lots at Jackson and

"A" Streets.

10/21/07 Sales recorded in Hill's lumber company ledger indicate local activities and

individuals in the community. These include lumber for a windmill for Hathaway,

lumber for American houses and Mexican houses being built by Elmer Anglin, for A.H.

Weller's restaurant, O.G. Bats –shingles, Santos Lozano and Brothers, Pancho Garcia

with the Harlingen Land and Water Company, Perrie Clarke, Jesus Lopez, A.

Goldammer, Bland H. Chamberlain, S.A. McHenry, Lon Robinson, T.L. Jones

(11/28/07), Francisco Valdes (12/07), James Lockhart (12/07, C. Balduff, Albert

Sammons --barb wire, J.J. Hackney, W.Z. Weems for Hill, W.E. Hollingsworth, Walter

Stocking --wire, E.C. Hammond, and to the Piper Texas Plantation a Pluto Disc Plow

with three horse hitch.

1907 The Taylor Lumber Company opens. In November of this year Hill commences

construction on his large two-story building.

4/08 Marion M. Osborn commences publication of a weekly. In the 1910 census he not-

ed to be a 35-year old Kansan living with his 32 year old wife Nellie and children Agnes

14, Robert 11, and Susan 4. In 1910 also they are founding members of the First Method-

ist Church of Harlingen.

A.W. Elmore opens the community's first barber shop in a small wooden building at the

southeast corner of what is now Commerce and Jackson Street.

1908 (fall) C.S. Moore purchases the hotel from the railroad company. It becomes

known as the Moorland Hotel. It is razed in 1928 but was still in existence as the Madi-

son Hotel was constructed to its northeast side. Mr. Moore is an avid fisherman and held

the honor of landing the first summer tarpon at Port Isabel from 1906 through 1909. The

Ogans, who have managed the railroad hotel in Raymondville, come to manage the

Mooreland. In 1908 they then built a two-story frame hotel with 22 rooms at 321 W.

Jackson, west of the tracks. It is razed in July 1945 at which time Mrs. Ogan still owned

it and four adjacent lots. Mr. Ogan had died in 1922.

Cora L. and Ben Franklin Ogan came from Sedalia, MO with children Gladys, Roland,

and the youngest, Lois. Lois was to become Mrs. Bush Williams. Mrs. Ogan's mother,

Mrs. Serena Brown, lived with her as did her brother Grover Brown. They helped at the

hotel, which Mrs. Ogan lived and worked in until 1945 when she moved to 301 W.

Pierce. Her grandson, Dr. E.L. Richter of St. Louis gave her this two story furnished

house. Mrs. Ogan, a First Christian member, died 2/15/49. Roland helped in the hotel

too, later moving to Brownsville, dying 1/1/68. Grover Brown who was born 7/13/86 in

Clinton, IL was chief clerk, 1910-52, for MoPac for 42 years. Also a First Christian and a

Mason, he died in 1954.

1908 The large two-story brick Lon C. Hill Building is erected at the northwest corner of

Van Buren and Fordyce (later 1st ) Streets by contractor Andrew Goldammer. Its comple-

tion is slowed by the handwork needed at Hill's arroyo brick works and kiln. The bricks

Hill used as his cattle brand. Hill's brick kiln operations were semi-commercial in that

he used much of the production for his own use. The kiln and clay source were immedi-

ately adjacent to the Arroyo Colorado on its north side within a couple hundred yards

west of the railroad bridge. Several industrial buildings were at the site. The commercial

name may have been the Harlingen Brick Works, for at least the South Texas Lumber

Co. billed an outfit with this name for materials on 2/16/10. When finished in 1909, one

of building's first floor occupants, besides the Harlingen State Bank on the west side, is a

general merchandise (grocery and hardware) store on the east side operated by Sam Botts

and Fred Chambers. Upstairs are offices for the Hill interests along with sleeping quar-

ters for the canal riders. Frank Martin is one of these. To the east, across First Street, was

a stable where the canal riders put up their horses. Beyond this was a lumberyard man-

aged by Patrick "Pat" L. Haley, Sr., who also was the village justice of the peace and cor-

oner. He had come to the Valley in 1901 from Alice with his family including one year

old son Pat Haley Jr. In 1944 his son would found the Harlingen Lumber Company. This

Episcopalian, Scouter, Mason, and Kiwani would die February 5, 1951 leaving his wife

and four sons. The Lon C. Hill building, last owned by insurance man R. N. Jones, will

be demolished in 1957 to make room for a bank parking lot.

This same year Ike B. McFarland arrives to manage a lumberyard. Little does he know

that two years later, at age 32, he will become the town's first mayor. In 1913 he will re-

turn to Houston.

Abner Webster (A.W.) Cunningham (b.7/29/63) and his wife Florence Mays (b.3/27/70

in Pinson, TX) whom he married in Belcher come to Harlingen from Waco where he has

been an attorney in an office with his brother. They would make their home at the corner

of 1st and Austin Streets at 922 North 1st. He would go on to a long and illustrious ca-

reer, serving as Harlingen's second mayor, a district judge 1923-30, on the county bench

1933-35, and then as a JP. He was a charter member of the First Methodist Church, a Ma-

son, Shriner, organizer and first chairman of the Texas Unemployment Commission, and

a real estate developer. The Cunninghams had been married in Belcher 8/7/94 and were,

in 1944, able to celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary in Harlingen though they had

no offspring. Florence would die in 1948, but Judge Cunningham would live until 1963,

dying a few weeks short of his 100th birthday. He left a sister here, Mrs. Retta C. Well-

born.

3/09 A.W. Cunningham and E. J. Ernest organize a real estate firm to bring in settlers.

C.F. Perry also follows their initiative.

5/4/09 L.S. Ross purchases the lot at 521 E. Harrison and later in the year likely builds a

house upon it. Eleven years later it will be purchased by C.F. Bobo. In 5/93

preservationists have it moved to the Rio Grande Valley Museum complex.

9/25/09. William Zachary (W.Z.) Weems, Sr., L.F. Hathaway, and David Allen Barbee

form a partnership to manufacture cane syrup. The machinery to process the sugarcane

and its juices has arrived and is expected to be set up in a month's time at Hill's farm. In

1908 Weems put in quite an acreage of sugarcane, but it is Barbee with his Coastal Bend

syrup-making experience who will deal with the processing. Weems had come with his

family to the Valley from Houston in 1907 to work on canal building and land clearing

around Mercedes. He had married Lucy Keen in 1883 in West Columbia, TX. While he

died in 1931 she, who was born 7/15/1864 in West Columbia, lived until age 82, dying in

1947. This charter member of St. Alban's Episcopal Church, left two daughters who had

become school teachers when young.

1909 L.G. Nichols arrives to manage the lumber yard which the South Texas Lumber

Company of Houston has purchased from Hill in 1908. In the following years he will

partner with Morris Chaudoin to construct farm irrigation canals. In September H.D.

Seago becomes secretary for the local branch. In 1985 it is the oldest continuous busi-

ness operating in Harlingen.

This same year Harlingen's first bank is founded. It is the Harlingen State Bank and is

located in the Lon C. Hill Building. Searcy Chambers is president and M.V. Pendleton,

cashier and general manager. Later A.H. Weller purchases the bank and moves it to the

Weller Building at "A" and Jackson Streets. As its new president Weller hires Bailey

Dunlap of La Feria as supervisor and Hoyte Hicks Burchard as manager. On 4/1/18 R.B.

Hamilton arrives from Bishop to become bank manager. By 1919 he has raised the capi-

tal stock from $15,000 to $25,000. By 1924 Hamilton will have left banking for the in-

surance business.

Julian Villarreal and his brother Placido buy two lots at the northeast corner of Van

Buren and "C" Streets. They open a dry goods store there. Later he will have a

confectionery store, become a deputy constable, and reside at 421 W. Taylor with his

wife Emma.

By mid-1909 Jose Guttierez will have a company that sells groceries at 408 W. Harrison.

The Letzerichs [another source says Charles H. Waterwall] erect the brick building at 216

W. Jackson on the northeast corner of Jackson and Commerce. Substantial and

continuing billing,10/15/09 through 4/1/10, of the South Texas Lumber Co. to Dr.

Letzerich may indicate the building being erected in this period. It will later house the

Harlingen Pharmacy owned by Hugo L. Letzerich on its first floor and the offices of his

brothers, Dr. Casper W. Letzerich, and Dr. Alfred M. upstairs. One may even conduct

some dental work as a building sign indicates. Hugo Letzerich first saw Harlingen as a

mail clerk on the first train through the community in 1904. When the post office was in

this building he was its postmaster. The structure is currently occupied by an antique

emporium. Hugo will marry in 1916 when his fiancée Alma, who was born in Oakland,

TX, arrives here. She is a dedicated Methodist whose work for the church will be

recognized on Alma Letzerich Day in April 1977. Hugo, who was born in

Warrentown,TX 1/6/81, will die in 1936 at age 55.

Casper, age 59, will die 9/5/35 of a heart attack while his wife Maude Weller Letzerich

will die 7/7/50 of a heart attack. This First Presbyterian member was residing at 202 E.

Tyler at the time of her death. His home built in 1910 was the first stucco house in the

city.

In 1909 a small telephone exchange can connect to Brownsville via Mr. Hill's private line

to the pump station on the river. The exchange opens in the home of its first operator,

Mrs. Hoffman, the mother of Leroy and Hilbert. It later moves to the upstairs back room

of the Hill Building.

1909 was also the year Sam Botts established himself in Harlingen. Born on 1/4/83 in

Bottsville, TX near Gonzales, by 1907 he was in the ginning business for himself in

Gonzales. In Harlingen he started buying cotton and selling groceries, the latter with J.B.

Chambers, in the Lon C. Hill Building. Botts later married Miss Geneva Tarver, who, in

1917, was a first grade teacher in town. In 1920 he became interested in the concentra-

tion, packing, and shipping of citrus fruit and vegetables and formed the Botts Produce

Company of Harlingen. Other firm members were W.E. Jeffries and J.R. Barnett. By

1929 he becomes president of the Farmers Gin Company of Harlingen. He was destined

to be Harlingen Mayor, 1928-36. This pioneer ginner and 33 year resident of Harlingen,

who served on the city commission for 16 years, is to die in July 1942.

1909 According to a later Harlingen Star article by its owners in 1925, the newspaper

had been started this year. Miss Paul Hill noted that Mr. & Mrs. H. A. Gibbs stated the

paper as a weekly in 1909 using the back of the Hill Building as an office. In the next

year on 7/30/10, a Harlingen Star printer is shot according to a brief Brownsville Herald

article.

On 1/20/09 two trains daily commence departing Brownsville and coming through Harl-

ingen.

People

1902 Santos G. Garcia is born near what will later become Rio Hondo. It is his

grandfather who sells Lon. C. Hill the 2000 acre Los Costanos Ranch for 50 cents an

acre. Garcia will attend the first Harlingen school for Mexican ethnics. He is later to help

subdivide the Mexican housing sections of Harlingen, Brownsville, and Mercedes before

going bankrupt in 1934. He then became a claims adjuster for the Lloyd Caldwell Corp.,

where Harvey Oler was manager. In this same year he begins selling tortilla-making

machines. These were invented in Mexico in 1911. Renting a vacant lot at 515 W.

Monroe from Carl Woods for $3 a month, Garcia sets up a corn grinder and tortilla

machine under a shelter. He soon improves his machine after seeing a more advanced

model in Brownsville. By 1941 he is to open four more tortilla factories in Harlingen. A

dozen sells for 10 cents. Over time he is to sell 4,000 tortilla-making machines across the

southwest. In 1946 he will establish Club Educativo Commedo de Caming. This

organization loans money to Latin students attending college. The club has 400 members

who contribute 50 cents a month for the education fund.

11/15/02 John Garner, Democratic Uvalde judge is first elected to the U.S. Congress and

to represent the Valley.

When the Hill family came from Beeville in the summer of 1903 it set up at Point Isabel,

but the treat of a hurricane in October sent them scurrying into Brownsville. Here Hill

opened the old Miller Hotel to house his family. It had been shuttered for a year. In 1903,

rumors of a yellow fever epidemic sweeping down the river cause Hill to move his family

from Brownsville to his holdings north of the Arroyo Colorado, likely near where Ram-

sey Park is today. Either the Hill or Lockhart family nicknames the site "Salty Lone-

some." By one account, the first women settlers—members of the hill family gave it the

handle because it grew 'salty' with their tears since it was so 'lonesome' to be there. It

could also have been because the remote area's heavy, somewhat saline soils, didn't sus-

tain vigorous vegetative growth thereby adding to its lonesome ambiance. The sendero

connects it to Engineer's Point, a camp on the railroad right-of-way, now near the inter-

section of Harrison and Commerce Streets.

Minnie Gilbert is to relate that later as Hill's daughter Paul and Ida ride down the newly

cut sendero with Uriah Lott, he pulls the four ponies to a halt and says "Young ladies you

are now in the city of Harlingen." This was an amazing and amusing statement to make,

for prickly pear clumps towered as high as their heads in the mesquite jungle so dense

that machetes had to be used to force entrance.

3/04 Upon their arrival in the area, the James Lockhart family live in tents for six months

while they construct a crude house. The tenting area is called the Mitchell Place and

"Salty Lonesome" by Mrs. Lockhart. They had come to the Valley from Beeville in wag-

ons in November 1903. Near Brownsville Mr. Lockhart managed Lon C. Hill's rice farm.

In November 1905 their son Houston is born at the location north of the Arroyo Colora-

do. Emma Jean Lockhart is later affectionately called "Mother of Harlingen." Born Em-

ma Chestnutt in Iola, Grimes County, TX, she was married in Beeville in April 1899.

Temporarily settling in the 100 block of E. Jackson, in January 1908 they move into their

new two story home on the west side of the railroad tract on Van Buren. The strong tropi-

cal storm of 1909 severely damages it, but it is rebuilt and is not removed until 1943. In

addition to assisting Lon Hill in construction and clearing work, Lockhart opens a general

mercantile store on the south side of W. Jackson near Commerce. His oldest sons, James,

Jr. and Brad work with him in this enterprise. By 1915 a Robert Runyon photograph re-

veals that this premise has a large painted sign on it saying C.H. Ritter. Lockhart was

also the first postmaster in its quarters in the tiny first City Hall. He was also responsible

for law and order in the early days. In the early days a false front wooden building adja-

cent to and west of Lockhart's bears a sign saying Dr. H. E. Whatley Drug Store. This

store may have carried more veterinary medicines than human ones.

Mrs. Lockhart, a member of the First Christian Church, dies in February 1936 at the age

of 64 and is buried in the Harlingen Cemetery along side her husband's grave. At this

time her survivors are Houston and John of Harlingen as is daughter Lula Lockhart.

Daughter Laura Allen lives in Dallas and Katheryn Crenshaw in Freer. Sons James and

O.B. have preceded her in death. Houston Bell Lockhart (his middle name comes from

Dr. S.H. Bell) is the first child born in Harlingen.

In Company H of the Texas Rangers stationed here are Capt. Frank I. Johnson, Grosky

Marsden, Oscar Rountree, Gus T. (Buster) Jones [He is to die at age 81 on 9/29/65 in San

Antonio], and at least three others. Their presence may be one reason that the area is also

called "Six Shooter Junction." It serves mainly to corral their horses (near a site which is

presently First and Monroe Streets). In 1905 Texas Rangers continue to use Harlingen as

a base. Stationed here and in 1906 are Capt. Bill McDonald, M.G. "Blaze" Delling, C.T.

Ryan, Sam McKenzie, and Sgt. W.J. (Billie) McCauley. Other Rangers soon to serve the

Harlingen area are S.B. Carnes, and Ranger Craighead. C.T. Ryan will later be elected

Sheriff of Cameron County.

1904 It is in this year that Lon C. Hill, Jr. supposedly acquires the nickname "Mose".

Apparently while cooking chow for the railroad engineers working on the surveys he is

noted to be surrounded by the scrub brush. Jokingly someone remarks that he looks like

"Moses in the bulrushes."

11/4/04 Near the end of 1903 a typhoid epidemic hits Brownsville. In 1904 the Hill

family contracts five cases of the disease. It takes the life of forty year old Eustacia

Dabney Hill. Their 25-month-old son George had died earlier that year of the same

disease. At age 21 it is Miss Paul Hill who becomes surrogate mother to her younger

siblings. Her unusual first name derives from the fact that her father had promised his

best man that he would name his first child after him. After a lifetime of service to her

family and community, she will die May 9, 1970 at age 86 in her 421 E. Harrison Street

home. This First Presbyterian was born 10/4/1883 in Travis County. In this year she

leaves behind Miss Annie Rooney Hill and Mrs. Mac Caul of Harlingen, Mrs. Homer

Morrow of Kerrville, Lon C. Hill Jr. & Hickman Hill of Corpus Christi, and John A. Hill

of Houston.

8/04 An early arrival to the fledgling town is Osco Morris. He comes one month after

the first through train. What he does for a living in these times is unknown but by 1915

he is tending bar in one of Weller's saloons. Born in Searcy, AK 8/17/81 Morris was

educated in common schools. He is a descendent of John F. and Emily Morris. He

marries Lula Fay Lillard on 9/1/10. He becomes city marshal in April 1911 and serves in

this capacity for 13 years. During WWI he assists in Liberty Bond drives. In the 1920s he

is involved in real estate and farming and is, for nearly a decade, elected and re-elected as

tax assessor and collector for the city. He is president of and a partner with T.P. Roberts

and S.F. Ewing in the Harlingen Development Co., which is trying to dispose of over

1000 lots. His home is at 322 W.Buchanan Street. He dies in 1931 and together with his

wife is buried in the Harlingen Cemetery.

1/1/05 The Hill family occupies the sizeable, but incomplete, new frame house. Only the

three south rooms are roofed. It is located just east and on the same side of where the

Casa de Amistad now stands. It is constructed by carpenters from Austin who also bring

along material though some items come from Hill's Elizabeth and 11th Street hard-

ware/implement store in Brownsville and the Cross Lumber Co. in that city. Initially the

house had no inside water but later two large bath tubs were brought from Galveston to

port Isabel and then by wagon to Harlingen. The house's shutters were fabricated in

Brownsville.

To make room for activities at Fair Park it is moved years later (1929) across Fair Park

Boulevard into a landscaped park setting. In 1992 it is moved to the Rio Grande Valley

Museum complex for restoration and tours.

In its future years the home was to see many notables including the author Rex Beach,

who uses it as a setting for his novel "Heart of the Sunset" which has Hill as one of the

main characters in it. Others sharing its hospitality are William Jennings Bryan, Gov. Pat

Neff, and Gen. Robert Lee Bullard.

In the summer of this year Hill brings the family's black "mammy", Melinda Edwards,

and her two daughters from Beeville to be a nanny for his children. Blacks are in the area

but in low numbers. Most have helped construct the railroad lines, and some will remain

to work for the railway company.

Everett Anglin, brother of Elmer, and from Gonzales, Texas, comes to the Valley as a

Texas Ranger. They are the sons of A. L. Anglin of Georgia who served in the Confeder-

ate Army and came to Texas in 1865. After serving for several years Everett becomes a

custom inspector along the border. He is at times the unofficial bodyguard of Hill. In

1915 he is a participant in uncovering the notorious and famous Plan of San Diego. When

the nation enters the Great War he raises a troop of cavalry, receives the commission of

captain, and serves at Camp Stanley before being discharged. In 1926 he goes into the

real estate business in Harlingen. The firm is Anglin Brothers and Berly located in the

Wittenbach Building. It promotes farmland and offers excursions to potential buyers.

Andrew Henry Goldammer of Fayette County, Texas comes to the Valley and first lo-

cates in Brownsville but then comes to Harlingen. Early on he constructs two buildings

for the Letzerichs, four for Weller, and the home, which is removed in 1960, of Dr. C.W.

Letzerich at 2nd and Tyler, north side. He is estimated to have built 50% of the modern

structures in Harlingen in the late teens and in the decade of the 1920s. Some of his

structures include the Nelson Apartment House, and the large service station for its

owner, R.W. Nelson; residences of Joe Gavito and C. A. Herron, an addition to the

Harlingen Furniture Company building; and the Wilson Tract and Central Ward (Sam

Houston) Schools. Goldammer will later have his offices in the Wittenbach Building, 119

South A and his home at 222 E. Van Buren. On 3/28/06 he marries Selma Weller in the

First Baptist Church. She is later to be a charter member of the Study Club and teach

First Baptist Sunday School for 18 years. Mr. Goldammer is to die at age 63 on 8/8/39.

His wife lived to be 86 when she died on 12/1/69. Her Van Buren brick house is moved

to 822 E. Polk where it is modernized.

The Secundio (Papa) Gutierrez family moves to a homestead at 313 W. Van Buren,

Harlingen. The family has its origins in Amozoc Puebla, Mexico. Secundio's father,

Manuel brought the family to Brownsville in 1862 due unrest in Mexico. Soon after he

moved to northern Cameron County where he and his teenage son found work on

different ranches. At age 22 Secundio was married by Father Keralum to Guadelupe

(Lupita) Loya Loya. The ceremony took place on the El Mameado Ranch which was 2.7

miles north of FM 498 on an extension of FM 507. They settle in La Jarita, which is on

FM 1420, and in 1876 started a succession of nine children. In 1890 they move to La

Crucita Ranch. This ranch incorporated three smaller ones – La Crucita, El Gigante, and

La India. Its initial acquisition was by Manuel Gutierrez. At this, their second home, they

have four more children. The ranch encompasses Surveys 39, 40, 293, 294, and 295. It

is bounded on the south by the Arroyo Colorado, the north by Garrett Road, the east by

Tucker Road and the west by Altas Palmas Road. What is now Dilworth Road cut

through the ranch and led to a low water crossing of the arroyo and on to Turner Road

leading to the Military Road. These provided a route to go to Brownsville. The serious

drought of 1896 dries up the rangeland and kills their stock. The below-average region

rainfall actually extended from 1893 through 1902. Survey 39 later fell into the hands of

the Georgetown Railroad Company and eventually was subdivided by the developer F.Z.

Bishop. Survey 40 came into the possession of G.S. Dorough and 294 Dayton Moses.

293 and 295 were bought by the Corpus Christi, San Diego and Rio Grande Narrow

Gauge Railroad Company. Secundio after selling the ranch will close his general store in

that area and late commence a bakery on W. Van Buren then open a dry goods and

grocery store on W. Harrison. Rosaura Guttierez is the daughter of Eugenio, one of the 13

children. She is active on the Cameron County Historical Commission, among many

other activities. Joseph Muniz, assistant Harlingen librarian, is the great grandson of

Petra, the sister born the year before Eugenio was in 1885.

Amando Balli, 4 years old, is to reside in the area for 51 years. He is a barber by

profession until his death at 55 on 7/14/60.

9/11/05 Shot over his right eye by Bill Hoy, Henry Putegnat of Brownsville dies in

Harlingen.

1906(early) Mr. and Mrs. August H. Weller and their daughters move from Brownsville.

They initially live in the railroad hotel until constructing a residence in 1908 at the corner

of Harrison and Commerce on the lot the City Hall now occupies. Initially the house at

401 S. Commerce has two rooms but later more are added. Mary Augusta Bock Weller

was born 5/26/62. In 1942 she will celebrate her 80th birthday. One daughter, Selma, is

to marry Andrew Goldammer, the builder; Kathryne will marry H.D. Seago, who will

become County Clerk; Maude will become the wife of Dr. C.W. Letzerich; and Agnes,

Mrs. H.B. Verhelle. When the Seagos are married 6/18/12 in the First Presbyterian

Church they are the first to be married in the sanctuary.

A brother, H.H.(Harmon) Weller is later to move to Harlingen where he will have

considerable business interests. Born in Willisburg, TX in 1865 he came to Brownsville

in 1904. In 1937 he is working for the Utility Pre-Cooling Company. In 1942 he will

move to Kingsville to live with daughter Mrs. E.K. Martin. Dying 8/21/42 he leaves six

daughters and two sons.

It was in 1906 that Morris Edelstein, a Lithuanian immigrant, arrived in the Rio Grande

Valley. He began peddling his wares door-to-door carrying his merchandise in two large

suitcases. Within a few months he had purchased a burro and a second-hand buggy for

$65. Settling in Brownsville, his business selling a variety of goods grew as the city

prospered. He had expanded to Harlingen and McAllen by 1925. His first store here was

north of Jackson Feed Store and when he moved on to his first Jackson location Jackson's

store eventually absorbed the old Edelstein site. Within a few years Morris had thirteen

stores from Brownsville to Eagle Pass. When he died in May 1967, this civic-minded and

philanthropic citizen left his business in the capable hands of his family. Ruben Edelstein,

who had served in the Field Artillery in WW II, was the first to assume the reins. In the

21st century the Edelstein store name is to be found on twelve stores in the Valley from

Brownsville to Rio Grande City.

10/1907 Mr. and Mrs. Elmer W. Anglin arrive in Harlingen with their four small

children. They come from Alpine, Texas, where they have resided for seven years. They

were married on 3/8/1898 in Gonzales. They reside near the Hill complex until building a

two story home north of the City Lake. On 1/2/18 they move into the new two-story

wooden frame house they have constructed at 201 East Madison Street. The building is

currently occupied by a law firm. The area to the west of them across the street is a

campsite for tourists and homeseekers though overgrown with mesquite and brush. It will

later become Bowie Park. Anglin takes over the management of properties and business

ventures for Lon C. Hill. He manages the plantation in particular, so Gordon and Lon Jr.

can go off to school in Austin. It may have been that the Hill family resided in this city

from 1907 to 1913 while the children attended school there. Anglin is deeply involved in

civic affairs for many years. He served on the school board, City Commission, was the

city's first marshal, a deputy sheriff for more than 20 years, and performs as chief of

police for 16 years. From 1939 through 1959 he is a justice of the peace. As a sideline

over the years Anglin is a popular fiddler playing entirely by ear. Later making his home

at 209 W. Buchanan with wife Olive, Lawson A. Anglin also arrives here this year. He

will later go into the general insurance business.

The W.Z. Weems family also comes to the Valley this year. He is involved in land

clearing and canal building in the Mercedes area before soon relocating to Harlingen and

eventually working with Lon C. Hill. His daughter Lillian will marry John Raymond

Baldridge in 1912, teach school for a long time, and be principal of the Dishman School.

In 1927 she will be selling real estate from her office in the Gateway Nursery. She is also

to be noted as a writer and historian of the city. The Weems family takes pride in being

among colonizer Stephen F. Austin's First 300 Families of Texas.

Upon moving from the business district, Texas-born Mr. and Mrs. Francisco Valdez

construct a house at 1202 South H. They arrived here in 1904.

James F. Hathaway, a machinist, buys acreage for a residence for his family on what will

later become Stuart Place Road. He later helps to install the pump plant on the river for

Hill and contracts for land clearing.

Jessie Wilson Shirar is here this year. She will later become a dressmaker with the Wiser

Shop at 110 North 1st Street.

Elvira Ledesma is born here this year to a pioneer family. She will have seven children

with her husband Manuel before he dies in 1980. When she passes on 9/13/88 she leaves

behind four daughters and Harlingen sons, Eduado, Basilio, and Margarito.

Cirilo Rodriguez and Salome Toscano, Sr. are to others who have taken up residence.

At this time S. J. Ellis is serving as Lon Hill's professional car driver/chauffer. Hill's

vehicle is an open Buick with a right side steering wheel. It is affectionately known as

the Gray Ghost.

1908 At the age of two Cecelia Pickett, later Sommers, moves to Harlingen with her

parents. She is a Stuart Place High School graduate in 1927. She dies in Los Angeles,

CA 12/6/59. Two of her graduating classmates are Eldena Rebman and Maurine

Crockett.

James H. Ewing comes to town to work for the South Texas Lumber Company.

By 12/08 S.L. Moore has arrived. By 1930 he will be manager of the E. Harrison Filling

Station and live with his wife Mae at 1510 E. Harrison.

In this year Dr. Magee arrives and becomes the first doctor to take residence in the town.

1909 This year sees the arrival of the Levi E. and Ed E. Snavely families, the Earl

Wetmores, the McDonalds, "Captain" Patterson, Dr. D.B. McGehee, and Dr. C.W. and

Dr. A.M. Letzerich.

Mrs. E.E. (Bertha) D. Snavely is to die in Combes at age 89 on 6/3/62. She had been

born 7/25/72 in Summerville, PA and had married E.E. in Kay County, OK before

coming to the Valley in 1909. She was a charter member of the First Methodist Church,

Harlingen but in 1937 changed to the First Methodist Church, Combes when her husband

died. She leaves her sons L.M. of Brownsville and F.E. of Combes and one daughter,

Mrs. Opal Lewis of Combes. Mrs. Lewis was at one time superintendent of the Stuart

Place School.

Miller V. Pendleton of Gonzales, TX and his family arrive. He is cashier and general

manager of the new Harlingen State Bank. When the city government is formed he serves

as City Commissioner April 1912 to May 1913 and Mayor, 1914-1918. Pendleton Park

was later named in his honor.

2/1/09 Harlingen has 53 individuals who pay their poll taxes.

3/09 The J.J. Wiles family moves into acreage bought north of the townsite.

5/29/09 Dr. D.B. McGehee is the only medical doctor in town as Mrs. J.J. Wiles gives

birth to her son Clyde. The doctor lives in a former large barn now known as "Dorough

House." The site is currently an apartment house at the corner of Fourth and Polk Streets.

9/09 H.D. Seago, a native of Jerseyville, Illinois, comes first in 1906 to Fort Bend,

Texas, then in 1908 to Harlingen. Here he later works up to manager of the South Texas

Lumber Company branch but then moves on to open a mercantile store. In 1924 he runs

and is elected as Cameron County Clerk. He marries Kathryne Weller of the pioneer

Harlingen family. They build a home in Brownsville after his election. He is re-elected in

1926.

5/09 J.L. Spenser is already here and will become a painting contractor with a residence

at 117 E. Monroe. His competition will be B.A. Philpott, here in February or earlier.

9/14/09 J.S. Hopkins, contractor, is in business and later will reside at 1222 S. E Street.

12/10/09 An industrial accident kills seventeen year old Robert Keen Weems. While

processing sugarcane syrup in his father's factory he slips into a large vat of boiling syrup

and is scalded to death. There is no cemetery laid out for the new town. Hill is

telegraphed in St. Louis and designates a site which is on Mexico Street (now F) close to

the arroyo. This will later become the City Cemetery, and a Texas Historical

Commission marker will provide the story of its beginnings. William H. Wheaton assists

in the funeral as does Mrs. A.H. Weller. He, who will become a Harlingen area farmer, is

not to be confused with Dr. H. E. Whatly, a veterinarian who came to Harlingen in 1905

to work with Lon C. Hill. An early Runyon photo appears to show a wooden false front

building on the south of Jackson very close to Commerce Street intersection. The

building bears the name of Dr. Whatley, who was married to Minnie Belchner, and

advertises drugs. Joseph Ogan is soon to become the second individual buried in the

cemetery.

1909 Charles Wirt (C.W). Clift comes to Harlingen from Hastings, OK. He is an early

builder and developer of the area. In his long career he has interests in cotton gins, grain

elevators, heavy construction, citrus and cotton farms, and extensive real estate. He will

marry the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. James Pierre Wilson. He is a charter member of the

First Methodist Church whose later chapel is named for the Clift family. When he dies at

age 92 on 7/22/61 he leaves his wife Goldie as a widow.

Anna Margaret Sweeney Adams and her husband Elijah Harvey Adams come this year

from Houston. He is Canadian and she from Louisiana. There children are Clara, Beulah,

Sarah Mae, Helen, Catherine, Annette, Caulton, and Elijah Burton. Grandchildren in the

Valley are Earl, Harvey, and Harriet Adams. The former two, along with great grandson

Elijah Keith Adams and Harvey's son-in-law Dale Misenhimer, operate Adams Farms in

the Combes area.

By November the railroad has brought to town John Bullard. He and his wife Sallie will

live at 402 E. Harrison.

E.(Emmos)W. Patterson, 46 and a carpenter, will be here before year end. Later he will

become city tax collector and live with his wife Maude C. at 109 E. Pierce.

Other individuals who arrived in this decade and played out a life here at least until the

year 1960 were: Collie D. DeLisle (1900), L.G. Garcia (1904), Cleo Wood (1906),

Juanita Serna (1907), Jesus Salazar (1909), and Opal S. Lewis (1909). Julio Flores, Sr., a

native of San Luis Potosi also becomes a Harlingenite in 1909. This retired MoPac

employee will die here 2/5/75 at age 73 leaving behind his wife, five sons, and eight

daughters. Preceding them all here was Alejandra Rivera, who was apparently born in a

vicinity ranch in 1890.

Native born Harlingenites in 1909 include Charles Anglin, born 9/1/09, Capt. Patterson's

son, and a McDonald child.

Living in a small frame home opposite the Lockhart Store on Main Street are Mr. & Mrs.

W. M. Moncus. Progress will soon displace them from this prime location as well as his

small lumber firm further east on Main Street.

Education

1903 The children of La Providencia Ranch hands are taught by Miss Margarita Villareal

(later she becomes Mrs. G.M.(Willie) Lozano. Their son G.M. Lozano, Jr. will marry

another early arrival to the Harlingen scene. This is Ida Priestly, who arrived here in

1922, as her father with ancestors from Clarksville, TX takes up tenant farming in the

Rangerville area. In 2002 she is to celebrate her 86th birthday.) Having been graduated

after eleven years of schooling in Brownsville Margarita is qualified to teach. Instruction

is in English. Later the school moves into the second floor of the Pioneer Building. This

serves some of the Hispanic children until the school district builds a facility. Maggie

will teach in the public school system 1907-08.

9/05 Hill builds a small frame schoolhouse near his new home. It opens with the seven

Hill children as pupils; three children (Frank, John and Elizabeth) of Hill's sister and

brother-in-law –Mr. and Mrs. J.C. McBee; the children (Lynn and Etta) of Mr. and Mrs.

Thomas L. Jones, who had accompanied Hill from Beeville; Henry Bell; and later

Kathryne Weller, daughter A.H. Weller. This is 14 students in all to be taught by W.A.

Francis (1905-07). He will someday head the English Department at Texas A&I College

in Kingville. He is to be followed by Miss Johnnie Phipps in the 1907-08 school year

and Lillian Weems, later Baldridge, in 1908-09. According to Mrs.Baldridge her students

were: Kathryne Weller (Mrs. H. D. Seago), Mary Jones (Mrs. H. E. Bennett), Lynn

Jones, Henry Bell, Ida Hill (Mrs. H. K. Morrow), Lon (Mose) C. Hill, Jr., John and Frank

McBee, Gordon Hill, John Hill, Annie Rooney Hill, Hickman Hill, Sunshine Hill (Mrs.

M.L. Caul), and Elizabeth McBee (Mrs. W.L. Darnell).

1906-09 Miss Jesusa Garcia, later Mrs. Cirilo Rodriguez, teaches 12 to15 Hispanic

students in a small house outfitted to be a school room. It is on the property her father,

Pancho Garcia, has bought from Hill in the 300 block of West Harrison. Mrs. Rodriguez

is to die at age 94 on 11/1/84 leaving four surviving daughters.

9/28/09 An election approved the formation of a Harlingen Independent School District

and seven trustees were elected.

10/5/09 The Harlingen Independent School District Board of Trustees holds its

organizational meeting in the office of the Morrow Brothers Lumber Company. The

board consists of John E. Snavely (chairman), C.F. Perry, H.N. Morrow (secretary), J.A.

Card, R.S. Chambers (treasurer), W.E. Hollingsworth, and W.H. Kilgore. On 2/1/10 the

board would appoint Osco Morris as assesor and collector. The first school site purchased

was the future Alamo School site, west of the railroad tracks between what is now South

E and F Streets. Lon C. Hill donated half the site and the District purchased the other

half for $900, according to Warren W. Ballard, later business manager of the schools.

Miss Anna Dixon, later Mrs. Clark of Austin, teaches at the two room, one-story brick

school for Hispanics.

1908-09 The number of school children is still small enough to list. They are: Allie

Hathaway (Mrs. Harold Looney), Auro Hathaway (later Buster), Rhubena Hathaway

(Mrs. Dallas Ingle), Peter Hathaway, J.D. Dorough, Bunny Dorough, Moody Dorough

(Mrs. Flagg), LeRoy Hoffman, Roland Ogan, Lois Ogan, Grady Ferguson, Lucie Mary

Weems, Vivian Barbee, Archie Barbee, Lucille Barbee, Luella Barbee, Quinton Barbee,

Emmett Anglin, Wyatt Clark, Earl Waterwall, Laura Lockhart, Basil Watwood, and Jesus

?. Lois Ogan (later Mrs. Bush Williams) will be the first student later to start and

graduate from the high school.

Miss Anne Johnson is teaching Mexican ethnic students.

1909 Mrs. George Pletcher, nee: Suda Velma McNeill, mother of George Pletcher, Jr.,

who would enter the nursery business and become a commissioner of Harlingen, along

with Mrs. Wiles' sister Eula were school teachers in the Adventist Church building. Her

brother H.C. Ware and his wife owned a home next door to the old Adventist Church

building, which was later to become a community building.

One student, I.E. (Renus) Snavely, of this period recalls that before the first brick

schoolhouse was built classes were held in a succession of places. These were the

Adventist Church building, which the Adventists never got to utilize, the Baptist

Tabernacle, a red brick building on Harrison Street, and two buildings on the downtown

blocks of Jackson. One of these was upstairs over a saloon with a pool hall next door.

C. E. Williams was principal-superintendent of schools at this time. He serves from the

fall of 1910 to February 18,1911.

1909-10 Lillian Elizabeth Weems is teaching at the Wilson School. The next year she

will teach in McAllen followed by a year in La Lomita. She will marry John Raymond

Baldridge on 9/15/12, but he is to die 12/19/16 leaving Lillian and a two year old

daughter Ramona. Her only sister, Lucie Weems, later Jackson, will be graduated from

Sam Houston State Teachers College and Texas A & I. She too will teach in Harlingen

and be principal of Alamo School before moving elsewhere. Lucie will die in the 1930s.

Religious

9/05 The little school house which Hill built also is used for Sunday School.

Periodically a circuit rider or missionary minister provides a service.

1906 A.T. White, pastor of the Brownsville Methodist Mission Church, and W.H. Petty,

Baptist State Missionary of San Benito, occasionally hold services on Sunday afternoons.

The latter would walk along the railroad track to Harlingen and back to San Benito.

1908 John Snaveley, a farmer and leader of the Quaker faith arrives. He later will be

named superintendent of the Union Sunday School, which holds classes in the Tabernacle

on Van Buren. The Union Church is the outgrowth of people of several denominations to

have Protestant services despite the lack of otherwise organized parishes. Rev. Snaveley

would marry Roberta Chaudoin, the daughter of Justice of the Peace R. L. Chaudoin.

3/23/08 Pope Pius X converts the Vicariate of Brownsville into the Diocese of Corpus

Christi.

3/28/09 Ten Baptist Christians of Harlingen led by two Baptist ministers organize the

Missionary Baptist Church which is to become the First Baptist Church. The

congregation meets in “borrowed” places until 1911 a small, flat-roofed building at 517

E. Van Buren is acquired and made into a meeting place. Brother Rev. W.H. Petty is the

first pastor. Baptisms are conducted in the Arroyo Colorado. In future years A.L.

Brooks, a strong lay member, is to provide firm leadership according to Frank Martin,

who came in 1911.

5/31/09 In an appeal to a group of Seminary Graduates in Richmond, Virginia, in

describing the potential of Harlingen, Dr. S.L. Morris said, " Now this rich country is a

crude frontier where people who are pouring into the country are laying the foundation

for great wealth; but there is little opportunity for organized religious worship—Here is

the greatest opportunity for Christian service to be found anywhere."

It was Samuel McPheeters Glascow, a Presbyterian, who arrived to take charge in answer

to the above appeal. He described Harlingen in 1909 as a mud town, no paved streets, or

roads, or sidewalks—coal oil lamps, not a plumber in the entire Valley—burros, or

horses, or mules were the chief means of transportation, and he estimated the population

to be about 200.

1909 A settlement of fourteen families of the Seventh Day Adventist church convinces

the State Mission Board of Fort Worth of that church to proceed with the erection of a

house of worship, the first of its kind for that specific purpose. This first church building

in Harlingen was to be a little one on the northeast corner of 4th and Jackson.

Construction materials are purchased from the South Texas Lumber Co. on 5/5/09. The

Rev. Mr. Montgomery and his wife were living in a tent, when the church was being

built. On May 26, 1909 a rare localized tornado at night partially collapsed the

incomplete church building killing John Wesley Montgomery and severely injuring his

wife. For this reason the Adventists never completed their building and, in fact most

members of the colony later left for California. By public conscription, the building was

later completed so people in Harlingen might have another place to worship. It was

shared by several denominations. Later the structure was sold to the First Christian

Church in 1918 for $400. Improvements to it cost $1,500. It was later sold to the Grace

English Lutheran Church for $2,500.

Before the above little building could be put to use, the first Union Church services with

improvised benches were held in the second floor of the Hill Building prior to its

completion. Regular attendees were A.W. Cunningham, real estate man L.G. Nichols,

water district employee W.F. Martin, Mr. and Mrs. C.W. Clift, Lon C. Hill and family,

and the large Hathaway family. During the summer of 1909, it was a brush arbor

constructed near the Mooreland Hotel that served for the interdenominational services.

1909 (fall) A small square Tabernacle building is erected at 517 E. Van Buren. It has a

raised platform at one end and instead of windows has hinged panels on its sides. These

can be raised or lowered depending on the weather. The building is used for Protestant

services and also houses the first public school classes in town. Sam F. Marsh, Baptist

minister who lives on "Canal Three", preaches here.

Organizations

1906 Mrs. A.H. Weller organizes the Harlingen Cemetery Association.

Miscellaneous

1904 Upon the establishment of the town with its businesses and residences, the streets

for many years leave much to be desired after rains. Garrison Keillor describes a similar

situation best when he writes "…4th

day of rain and we are up to our knees in mire and a

man can't walk cross the street but he may have to abandon his boots halfway across--this

western soil, so highly advertised as an agricultural paradise, is clay and loam in the

exact proportion needed to make thick soup with only a little water needed—a man is a

prisoner in his house, surrounded by impassable swamp."

Despite the lack of suitable roads the automobile does come to Harlingen. While people

remember Hill's 1904 Buick, nicknamed the "Grey Ghost" others report that Julian

Villarreal ushered in the age with his purchase of a car.

According to a 1926 account by Hazel Fender the 1904 appellation "Six Shooter

Junction" may have been well-deserved as the cemetery that was to open in a few years

would receive "nine additions via the six-shooter route." In its earliest days "a box car

which had jumped the track and been abandoned by the railroad was righted and

converted into a saloon and social center for the six-shooter experts." Harlingen, perhaps

significant of its conduct, was also nicknamed Howlin Gin and Holland Gin.

5/17/05 The first column of news notes from Harlingen are published in the weekly

Brownsville Herald.

1909 The summer is a disastrous one with two hurricanes and an August flood.

Hurricane 2 of 1909 hits Brownsville on June 29. winds peak at 100 mph. Harlingen

receives damage. On August 27 Hurricane 6 hits Tamaulipas causing catastrophic

damage including 2,000 deaths. Again the Valley is affected.

9/3/09 The Arroyo Colorado railroad bridge at Harlingen is damaged by high waters and

train service to Brownsville is halted. Downtown flooding is so bad that rowboats can be

used to move around the streets. An exception to the flooding is the higher ground of the

Hill's home.

1909 (and earlier) Lacking a proper jail, alleged law breakers are chained to trees at

several site before adjudication or movement to Brownsville. Across the street from what

was to become the Rialto Theater was a shack containing Sam Walgreen's store. Behind

it Rangers corralled their horses and a mesquite within it was used to secure prisoners.

This tree and others gained notoriety as Prisoners' Trees. On 4/1/52 an ancient landmark

mesquite tree at the vacant lot on the corner of South 2nd and Van Buren Streets, 201 E.

Van Buren to be exact, across from the City Hall is knocked down to make room for

construction. It was the last of the "prison trees." The lot is the site of a building for

Lloyd E. Stiernberg.