Brownsville Station: Ripped from the Pages of the Bronsbil Estacion Facebook

I use a li'l Nikon Coolpix L830 with a built-in zzom lens that let me take this from the front of El Hueso de Fraile which is near 8th street so we're looking down four blocks here. The Radio Shack sign was there originally but faded out black and the crown and flag are also Photoshopped with additional treatment to make this look like it was done with a heavier camera.

This is an original logo from a local family-owned and operated gas station business that was big in the RGV during the 1950s. I removed "Cisneros" family name and retrosized it biggtime. I even made a t-shirt from the design. See some great Cisneros Rocket gasoline ads and photos by clicking ---> THIS LINK <---

Here's a small segment of a 1900s postcard of E Elizabeth St in front of JL Putegnat and Willlman's Pharmacies

What's of interest is that we've posted shoeshine boys before. They are icons of many stories I've heard ol' timers talk about but they had come from era of El Jardin or Missouri Pacific Railroad depot where they would shine shoes for passengers or hotel visitors. This photo is much older and shows part of a Texas Confectionery (candy store) sign and hanging ornament sign which is called a mortar & pestle which was used by an apothecary who would drugs into fine power or paste. The building is a "Botica" which translates to Drug Store or pharmacy.

I took this with my phone camera which works better than my camera sometimes. It was enhanced to brighten dark interiors.

Roy Hess did an excellent story on the Voice of Brownsville Hank Hollingsworth which was in this past Father's Day issue of the Brownsville Herald. <---- This was just a KBRO tribute to the living legend I had the pleasure of meeting for a Bronsbil Estacion exclusive on KBOR's Voice of Brownsville story. Roy's story last Sunday righteously packed a slew of sports highlights most appropriately as opposed to the more biographical story we did.

Tile on 8th from E Elizabeth being renovated by Parra family interests and there's potentially a story worth reading here unless someone else does it first.

Two hand-painted signs at the Parra building were discovered last week which made for some interesting photos sent by Ernie Lopez and Leroy Lopez (no relation). A li'l research revealed that the lot was once the location of the First Baptist Church since early 1900's and by 1930 it was a brick structure with split to be occupied by several store businesses which eventually became one furnture store. It was also the location of Mac's Toys store for many years which many still living today can recall.

Same corner - early 1960s (Mac's Toys photo courtesy Don Mc Fetteridge)

June 1988 marked the 49th anniversary of the Tienda Amigo disaster. We thought it would be interesting to point out that its original location was across the street which is shown from this photo taken from top of old Miller Hotel which stood on same location which Tienda Amigo of 1988 was.

The Little League Queen at center waving to the camera is Sandra Lee Peeples, age 12, daughter of Mr. & Mrs. C.H. Peeples s at 364 Scott St. Her two attendants were Phillis Ann Merrill, 10 and Judy Margenau, 12.

1957 Cotton Carnival children's parade from a collection we shared on our sister page we're calling the Delmar Kuebke- Fisher's Cafe family collection which were graciously shared by Mel's Antiques & Collectibles of Olmito, Texas. In this particular photo we see a lot to talk about such as the Ft Brown building No.1 which was headquarters building for police station after the fort closed in c1947. That's the Gateway bridge and a beautiful red fire engine with convertible 1950s chariots in a row. That "Crossroads of the Hemisphere - The New Gateway to Latin-America+ sounds is a testament to Brownsville's former greatness and future potential?

Another slide image which came out much better than expected as this slide was fairly damaged looking but the scanner was able to capture the sharpest image possible with a li'l clean-up work.