Don Patricio Causeway to Padre Island

Submitted by Leo Rodriguez

The Don Patricio Causeway to Padre Island opened on July 4, 1927. The wooden causeway was built by Col. Sam Robertson, who planned a resort on the island. A round-trip crossing cost $3, before the causeway was destroyed by a hurricane in 1933.


Looks like those kids had to use their tight wire line act to get back to the vehicle. No life jackets needed, these folks were built tough. e act to get back to the vehicle. No life jackets needed, these folks were built tough.

On the north and south end of the island Col. Robertson also offered ferry service. Here we see of a ferry tugging an automobile to the island.

The Texas license plate on the vehicle is dated 1930, car maybe a mid 20s Packard.

Fortunately, during this era vehicles weren't equipped with power steering, which undoubtedly assisted vehicles in not jumping off tracks.

Color added to original B&W photos.

Do you remember the Logo that was a No-Go?

If you've been on the Estacion for a while you might recall that in September of 2016 the City of Brownsville had paid $90k+ for a logo change no one wanted or asked for.  Later they told us they surveyed 500 people but didn't give stats on what their approval rating was.  Online was a different story with a majority of people rejecting the look of the new logo.  The people of Brownsville weren't willing to give up their beloved "On the border, By the Sea" motto even though it may be outdated.

Here's the logo as it stands.  

The old city logo was definitely outdated or at least on its way of becoming so.  We were no longer a major exporter of cotton or importer of say, bananas or growers of citrus fruits.  Our airport has lagged far behind Mc Allen's and Harlingen's and passenger train service was remove during late '50s or so... so we did need to scrap this one.

Here's the logo Brownsville had since the 1960s.  It simply defines Brownsville, Texas.  It has an alliterative sound to it and the Market Square symbol is at the heart of our downtown.  

Here is the new logo "they" came up with with full anticipation of Space-X and several Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plants to be built on the port.

Many people noticed how obviously it resembled the Walmart logo 

We were glad to publicly vent our frustrations over this fiasco.

Conspiracy theorists recognize the "eye of providence" to suggest this is a contrived image by secret society coming to exploit the poor and ignorant of the RGV or whatever the imagination could cook up.  Wait, there's more....

Here's another crude version.  We kept logo to original look but modified the southern point of Brownsville to represent the anus of Texas with li'l cakitas being expelled in all directions kind of like diarrhea to really express disgust with logo fiasco and we also put the brown in Brownsville because the color of sh*t is brown, right?  

Bronsbil Estacioner Michael M Prince took a few minutes to simply create an updated version and it looked greatly improved and didn't cost 1¢ for him to show us how simple it is to update a logo which would have cost no more than $1000.

 

A lot of people didn't realize Diego Garcia, who administrates "Yesteryear's Brownsville" Facebook page is also a talented artist.  He sent this rough sketch of what his version of a logo would look like.  No one would have complained if the city had come up with something like this but noooooo... they wanted to impress all the Liquefied Natural Gas companies hoping to slip in their good graces like typical sycophants of society who are easily fooled by big companies promising many jobs with nice tax abatement (they pay no taxes paid to county for ten years).  Your president Trump would never make a deal like that.

One city commissioner had the impudence to insinuate he had a background in business administration and therefore experience about these things better than the average citizen and was totally behind logo change but no one wanted Brownsville's logo which looks like the exploding anus of Texas 

Another commissioner said she was "impressed with the firm and how much goes into just something as simple as color."  Really?  Can you imagine the whole sales pitch by the firm explaining how important it is to use gray for letters and yellow for outline of Texas to show we are a a progressive and successful city?  According to the a Brownsville Herald article, a committee of 20 people "met every two weeks over a period of six months answering questions and reviewing logos."  Ever wonder why Brownsville lags behind other RGV cities?

It didn't become a major controversy and we got to keep our traditional logo.  Had no one complained the city might be getting sued by Walmart Corporation  along with the firm and that would have been a whole other fiasco.

Decade of Decadence in the Rio Grande Valley with the Ku Klux Klan

Contributing  article compiled by Leo Rodriguez

Unfortunately, in the 1920's, the Rio Grande Valley was not immune to the sick spectacle of the hateful Klu Klux Klan organization. Klansman directed their activities in the RGV against "bootleggers, adulterers, Jews, pacifists, radicals, Catholics, and evolutionists." Scare tactics were more evident here than actual violence.

from San Benito's "Images of America" book of that series

The KKK, wanting to show their power, boldly marched in San Benito's Armistice Day Parade in 1919, much to the astonishment and dismay of local citizens. The KKK was protesting the fact that immigrants had settled here, and some were even beginning to own businesses.

On Aug. 26, 1921 Harlingen was celebrating the first lighting of the "white way," this being the decorative streetlights recently erected on Main (now Jackson) Street. As the block party on that Friday evening drew to a close, a disturbing specter appeared.

 A Ku Klux Klan parade, in which 104 knights of the invisible empire led by a fiery cross and a United States flag, was the startling conclusion to a civic downtown lighting celebration.

Shortly after nine pm, when the streets were densely crowded, the klansmen appeared, robed and masked, marching in regular order, and without a command being spoken, every movement of the marchers being directed by motions of the leader.

Halting momentarily in the main part of town while a proclamation was being affixed to a telephone pole, the klansmen again took up their march, passing silently through the main streets of the city, then through the Mexican section of town, and disappeared as silently as they had come. No attempt was made to follow them by any of the large crowd which witnessed the demonstration. Every klansman was skillfully disguised, and they moved in silence and with the precision that was described as "spooky."

1922 Houston Post clipping

On Oct. 7, 1921 another brazen demonstration was executed by the Klan, this time in Mercedes. The news report the next day read:

"Ku Klux Klan at Mercedes Holds Parade - Mayor of City and Deputies Stop boys Intent on Following Band". Led by a fiery cross and an American flag, in a disguised automobile, approximately 75 men garbed in the costume of the Ku Klux Klan paraded the streets of Mercedes , again at 9 pm. The marchers were dressed in the now familiar Ku Klux Klan costume consisting of a peaked hood and white tunic and skirt. They all wore the Mystic Emblem of the order of the tunic.

Big placards carrying the following signs were prominently displayed: "We believe in law and order," "If you are clean you need not fear," "We protect the chastity of our schoolchildren; Boys Beware!", "The Gambler Must Go," "We are a band of determined men and brook no interference," "Men, love your wives and leave other men's wives and daughters alone," "The land swindler and crook must go," "Don't follow us; you will be stomped." Mercedes seemed to take the Klan less seriously than other towns, and the marchers met with open derision in some cases. There was some handclapping and cheering. Several men took the opportunity to declare themselves opposed to it, loud enough for the marchers to hear. A large crowd of men and boys followed the line of march which appeared at the west end of Texas Avenue, Mercedes' Main street, and followed down the avenue across the tracks and up a side street headed toward the Rio Grande. Here they were told they were being stopped for their own good. Some protested, but all were persuaded to desist. After the parade the crowd broke up and departed for their homes.

December 17, 1931

During this time, San Benito founder & WWI hero Col. Sam Robertson, whom had just returned home after a distinguished military service in France, was most disgusted with the Klan, and with the Cameron County Sheriff's Department. He felt the Sheriff was not doing enough to protect the citizens against the KKK, so he decided to run for sheriff against incumbent Sheriff Vann.

Col. Robertson defeated the standing sheriff, and went on to win two terms. The KKK was slow to leave the Valley though, and continued to run weekly ads in 1925 in local newspapers, advertising their local Friday night meetings at A.P.A. sign near the arroyo bridge, between Harlingen and San Benito. It is believed that by 1930 the KKK had finally left the Rio Grande Valley.

March 1921 Brownsville Herald clippings sent by Leo Rodriguez

Additional sources: Valley Morning Star, Brownsville Herald archives.

2017 0202 Murals of Harlingen

 This impromptu tour begins with the Lon C. Hill mural in Harlingen, Texas.  Mural tour guides are available in many historic sites open to the public but a simple drive around downtown will take you from one interesting mural to another with plenty of historical buildings in between.

 About four photos were merged to make this panoramic view of this mural

 Welcome to Harlingen Downtown

 The Golden Age of Hollywood and Mexican Cinema is on the side of an old theater.  I view it as an homage to Harlingen native Rogelio Agrasanchez who owns the world's largest private collection of Mexican mobvie memorabilia and has written several books on the subject.

 Another panoramic to view it without palm trees.  

 The Literacy Center of Harlingen on Monroe and 1st St had a nice column of glass block.

 Harlingen is home of rocker Bill Haley who is world famous for singing "Rock Around the Clock"

 Missouri Pacific Lines Freight Station 

 1955 Bel Air Chevrolet Nomad 

 There are several antique stores in Harlingen

 The Historic Route 77 mural next to a very well-preserved Sinclair Service Station is a must see when visiting Harlingen

This is behind the Sinclar building

 The brickwork on this surplus store is beautiful and the store has lots of great stuff to look at inside.

 History of Mankind ceramic tile mural

There is much more to see in Harlingen.  If you like classic cars, check again for a future post of photos of restored cars I also took this day.  

1915 Olmito / Tandy Station Train Robbery

By Leo Rodriguez including photos compiled with Javier R. Garcia

On October 18, 1915, at about 10:00pm, around 60-100 Mexican bandits derailed and burned the Saint Louis, Brownsville and Mexico passenger train number 101 six and a half miles North of Brownsville. The bomb attack on the two-passenger car train occurred as it was on its way from Harlingen to Brownsville. Spikes and fish plates were removed from the track and then the bandits used a wire cable to pull the rail to one side just as the train approached.

When the locomotive hit this section, it tipped over and plunged to its side in a ditch. The throttle of the engine pierced engineer H. H. Kendall’s chest. The engine had to be cut in two in order to remove his body. Train Fireman Woodall was badly scalded from the hot steam which escaped from the ruptured boiler but survived. The stopped train was then riddled with bullets before the bandits boarded it. The bandits then entered the cars and began robbing the passengers. In the ensuing confusion one of them shot Corporal Albert T. McBee. McBee was traveling with friends, as a passenger, and was unarmed. While others hid, or cringed on the floor, McBee stood tall. He was shot in the heart and killed instantly.

John Peavy is name of man in photo.

John Peavey badge which sold on Ebay for $1,600

Morris Edelstein, a Brownsville merchant who was aboard the train documented what had occurred with the help of his son Ben. As the bandits had approached him, he addressed them in Spanish and asked that his suitcase be left alone. They took him for a Mexican and did so.

“There was another passenger, a traveling salesman, whom the bandits seized and were ready to kill, when my father shouted in Spanish, ‘Don’t kill him he is German!’ (Which he was not). In those days the people in Mexico had a high respect for Germans. Some of the generals in the Mexican army were of German descent. The Germans were also friendly to the bandits. They furnished the bandits with guns, ammunition and other necessities, hoping that the bandits would drive all of the Texas settlers out of the state. The bandits stole the black porter’s shoes forcing him to run some three miles barefoot [to the Cottingham Ranch] before he could spread the news of the train robbery.

The traveling salesman profusely thanked Dad for having saved his life but swore that he would never return to Texas. For as long as he lived, every year at Christmas time the traveling salesman mailed Dad a Christmas card.” Several other people were shot, including Dr. Eugene Shannon McCain, the deputy state health officer, who died the next day at his home on Elizabeth Street. His family came from Refugio County to claim his body.

The bandits were led by Cameron County ranchers Aniceto Pizana and Luis de la Rosa, leaders of the Plan de San Diego. One of the passengers on the train recognized de la Rosa and asked why he was doing what he was doing, as they were all acquaintances. De la Rosa was preoccupied with the robbery and did not hear his friend, and brushed past him.

PIZAÑA, ANICETO (1877–1957)

(click on Aniceto above for TSHA brief bio of Aniceta and photo)

After the robbery some of the bandits burned the trestle bridge a mile north of the attack slowing the arrival of the authorities.

The murder of an Anglo passenger caused pandemonium among Anglo Americans in South Texas. Lonn W. Taylor, a curator at the Nation Museum of American History, recalls the account given by his great-aunt who lived in Kingsville, about 50 miles northwest of Brownsville, at that time. She was attending Sunday evening service at the local Methodist Church when an armed deputy entered and walked up to the pulpit, spoke to the preacher briefly, and then turned and said to the crowd, "The Mexicans have revolted and are murdering people all over South Texas. I have arranged for the owner of the hardware store to open-up presently so that all of you can buy arms and ammunition to defend yourselves against these bandits."

(random Ranger murder pic to go with story: John-D.-Arntfield-1916-Near-Mexico-With-Army-Dead-Bandit)

Several of the bandits were caught within the next few days. Some were summarily executed (lynched), while others were jailed and held for trial. The day after the attack the bodies of four Mexicans were discovered in the brush near Tandy's Station. They may have been bandits killed in the crossfire.

Those dead as a result of the attack: Dr. Eugene Shannon McCain Corporal Albert T. McBee Sergeant Shaffer, Troop G, Third cavalry First Class Private Joyce, Company G, Signal Corps First Class Private McConnell, Company D, Signal Corps

Those wounded; Private Fred Behr, Troop G. Third Cavalry Private Paul lengland, Troop G, Third cavalry First Class Seargeant, H.R. Smith, Signal Corps Corporal Lewis Candalla, Signal Corps Private Ben Hallenbeck, Troop G, Third cavalry Below is a photo taken the following morning of the derailed train, and 3 photograph's of the soldier's and crowd that gathered to pay their final respects to Corporal McBee as his casket is carried onto a railroad car.