c1924 Boardwalk near old bridge Brownsville, Texas

We see very few photos of the old Brownsville & Matamoros International Bridge which was built in late 1910.  Rarer are photos of businesses, residences and ferry boat crossings that existed up river from downtown Brownsville, Texas. 

 This photo from the Brownsville Historical Association archives is simply described as "boardwalk old bridge rd" but let's see what else we can tell about it.  

You can tell right off the bat that it was right next to the railroad tracks.  Miriam Amanda, or "Ma" Ferguson, was the first woman to serve as the governor of Texas.  She served twice but that is probably a 1924 campaign banner on the roof of the store next to a ladder.  There's also San Antonio, Texas-based ads for Lobo Negro cigarette rolling papers and Pearl Beer signs on the left next to the 5¢ and 10¢ burger stand.  Next door was the Home Cooking Cafe which boasted its pure French drip coffee and meals for 35¢.  

Next door there's a man and boy standing outside a store with pottery on display but the signage is too minuscule to read.   The next building with writing on it is the store that sold "Genuine Mexican Drawn Work & Curios which probably sold locally hand made goods produced on either side of the border and its neighbor, the D.B. Villarreal Hardware Company.

That's all we can tell at a glance.  A telephone directory from the 1920s would be ideal to say, determine if identity of "D.B. Villarreal" was Daniel B. Villarreal or some body.

[photo and caption sent by Jose Cazares]

The Boardwalk in Brownsville was built around 1870 by Judge Emilio Forto, who was the manager of the Brownsville & New York Ferry company, which was the property of James Stillman. The boardwalk was about two blocks in length and it housed all kinds of businesses, including drygood stores, novelty sores, grocery stores, hardware stores and shoe shine parlors. The boardwalk operated for about 56 years until it was torn down in 1926.