Raymondville, Texas: Gateway to Rio Grande Valley

Our last stop on the Texas Coast tour was Raymondville, Texas. But, you say, it's not on the Texas Coast. You would be correct. It is, however, on the way home and, it's the county seat of Willacy County.

 In 1904, Edward Burleson Raymond organized the Raymond Town and Improvement Company. He was a ranchers who owned large tracks of land in what was then Cameron county. He created the company and the resulting town along the railway of the St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico Railway. This ensured that his town would become a shipping point for cattle and farm products and potentially a trade hub for surrounding ranches.

The railway provided low-cost round trip excursions for land seekers. Raymond sold town lots. By 1914, there were 350 people living there along with four general stores, a bank, a newspaper, a hotel and a cotton gin. It was primarily an agricultural town. They raised sorghum, cotton, citrus fruit and veggies. Unfortunately, the train depot was torn down long ago.

In 1911, Willacy County was carved out of Cameron County and the small town of Sarita was named the seat. The courthouse was built in 1912. Then in 1921, the present-day boundaries were set for Willacy county. Sarita was now in Kenedy County and Raymondville was declared the county seat. Now they needed a new courthouse. This one was completed in 1923.

This is the Willacy County Historical Museum (not open on a Monday) but it used to be High School. It was built in 1924. Inside is the history of the town and stories of families that lived here. I'm sorry I missed that.

This is the Lyric Theatre in Raymondville, TX, located on Hidalgo Ave, is a historic venue renovated in 2017 that currently operates as a movie theater. It was originally built around 1875 as a general store before becoming a theatre in the 1930s, featuring a notable 1950s marquee

Raymondville is known as the Gateway to the Rio Grande Valley due to its location at the northern edge of the Rio Grande Valley Region. In order to get down there, you have to go through Raymondville. And if you want to leave, you go through the Border Patrol check point.

It’s also known as Prisonville USA. Yikes! This is because of its reliance on correctional facilities and detention center. I read an article that said there was a fire in the Willacy County Correction Center when the prisoners protested the conditions inside the facility. They had to close the facility leaving them short on revenue and huge debt on unpaid bonds. Then in 2024, they engaged once more with the crappy company that ran the original facility to open an ICE detention center named El Valle. That couldn’t be good. I guess they needed the business? That was a little disappointing to discover.

There are about 10K people that live in Raymondville, most of whom are of Hispanic descent. With the ICE detention center in the neighborhood, that has to make people nervous. Most people work for the Raymondville ISD, the Valley Telephone Co-op and then the corrections company that runs the detention center and the jail. They have an H-E-B but no Walmart. They have a handful of national fast food chains but no national chain restaurants.

I'm glad that we stopped and I would have loved to visit the museum but I wasn't terribly impressed with Raymondville. It didn't have that comfortable small-town vibe that some of the other places we visited did. But, hey, don't take my word for it. If you're in the area, check it out!

Brownsville, Texas: Chess Capital of Texas

Brownsville is the county seat of Cameron County and is the most southern city in Texas being right on the Mexican Border.

In 1781, Jose Salvadore de la Garza was granted land across the Rio Grande from Matamoros where he established a ranch.  Squatters came across the border, which technically wasn’t a border back then, and built huts on de la Garza’s land.
 
In 1846, Zachary Taylor and the US Troops built a fort here from which to defend Texas during the Mexican-American War. The Fort was named Fort Brown after a Major who fought and was killed during that war.
 
In 1848, Charles Stillman founded a successful River-boat company nearby. He’s credited with founding Brownsville. He and his partners formed the Brownsville Town Company and sold lots to settlers. The city incorporated in 1850 but then there was a lawsuit because the land belonged to Mexican Ranchers. The case went all the way to the US Supreme Court. They found in favor of Stillman. Shocker.
 
During the Civil War, Brownsville was  a smuggling point for Confederate goods into Mexico, specifically cotton. To avoid the union blockade, the goods were smuggled to Mexico and then taken to Europe on ships sailing under the Mexican Flag. The city was the at the end of the “Cotton Road” (Remember than from the King Ranch?)  

In 1863, the Union forces took control of Fort Brown. In 1864, the Confederates took it back. Though Robert E Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865, word didn’t get to Brownsville for a while and Theodore Barrett moved his troops towards Brownsville, spotting the Confederate soldiers. On May 15, 1865, the Battle of Palmito Ranch took place. It was the last battle of the Civil War. It’s sad that there were soldiers who were killed or wounded in that battle for a war that was over the previous month.

In 1854 the first Catholic Church was founded by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. This would be the Immaculate Conception Cathedral. It was a Sunday when I took this photo. I’d love to have gone inside but I didn’t want to disturb mass. It's right in downtown Brownsville.

This is the 1914 Cameron County Courthouse, aka the Dancy Building. It served as the Cameron County Courthouse until 1981 when it was outgrown. The building was then named for Oscar Dancy, a county judge. It's still a government building but it's more just office space.

This is the Field-Pachecho Complex. Henry Field came to Brownsville with other Union soldiers after the war. He was a purveyor of cotton, hides, wool and fur. He built this commercial/residential building in 1894. It included his residence, a servant's quarters, a carriage house and an upholstery shop. In 1919, Andres Pachecho bought the building for his hide and farm tool business. It's fenced off. I hope that means they are going to renovate it and maybe turn it into something?

This is La Madrelena built in 1892 as a mercantile store. "La Madrelena" means from Madrid. The building was restored in 1987. I would have loved to go in. I don't know what it's used for now.

Brownsville has not just one old courthouse but two! This is the 1882 Cameron County Courthouse which was eventually replaced with the Darcy building shown above. When the courthouse moved in 1914, the Masonic Rio Grande Lodge No. 81 took it over. I read that there used to be a cupola on the building but it was removed but a hurricane in 1933.

I loved walking around downtown Brownsville. It had that "downtown" feel - like you need to pay attention but not like I thought I'd be attacked or anything. This S.H. Kress store was a five and dime chain that opened in 1927. I was excited to see it thinking it might be the last one ever. Unfortunately, it's not. I like that they kept the signage though.

The Majestic Theater in downtown Brownsville! It was built in 1948 as part of a southern owned movie chain. It ceased it's movie operations in 1974. I'm guessing that it has sat vacant for that long which is a tragedy. I read that the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley had bought the theater and was planning on renovating it as a performing arts theater but that was in 2023. It's 2026 and it doesn't appear anything has been done. One can still hope.

Across from the theater is another cool building. This used to be the Federal Courthouse. Built in 1931, it replaced one that was built in 1892 and been demolished. This building also housed the post office. It ceased to function as a federal building in 1999 when a new courthouse was built. The city took it over and it is now Brownsville City Hall. I love how they repurpose these historic old buildings!

This gorgeous building is the public market and town hall. It was built in 1852 and occasionally used as a Presbyterian church. In 1867, the second floor was swept away in a high wind but was eventually restored. I assume you can go in but not on a Sunday.

I'm a sucker for anything Coca-Cola and when I saw this building, I had to stop and check it out. It's the McDavitt Building. Early McDavitt commissioned this building in 1927. He was a grower, wholesaler and shipper, according to the sign. I assume that meant produce. In 1940, the building was purchased by the Sweeny family and they ran a Coca-Cola bottling plant. In the mid-1980s, Coca-Cola consolidated a lot of the independent bottlers and this one closed. Looks like now it's a restaurant of some kind.

Remember Charles Stillman, aka founder of Brownsville? This is his house right in the middle of downtown. It's a museum that you can go into, except on Sundays. How do people think visitors will come to a museum if it's not open on the weekends? The building next to it is a museum as well.

For a Sunday, downtown was increasingly busy and it was harder to find places to pull over and park so we could walk around and take photos. So we left that area started heading back to Padre Island. We came across this gorgeous church. It's the Sacred Heart Church. It was built in 1912 and it suffered damaged from hurricanes 1963 and 1967 but was later restored. Apparently the names of the pioneer families are engraved in the stained glass windows. Even though it was Sunday, this church did not appear to be open.

There are 186K people that live in this town, 90% of whom are Hispanic. The biggest employers are the Brownsville ISD, Cameron County and University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. However, Elon Musk built Starbase nearby for his company SpaceX, supposedly creating about 500 jobs. I'm not sure where those workers live but maybe some are in Brownsville.

I thought the moniker of "Chess Capital of Texas" was a little odd so I googled it. It's because of the "exceptional success and long-standing tradition in scholastic and collegiate chess." What? In the 1990s, an elementary school teacher started a chess program. Those kids won Texas junior state champions seven years in a row! Then the program spread. At the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley there's a chess team and they have captured the collegiate championship. So there you go!

Brownsville was an interesting place. I would have liked to check out the museums for sure. I don't anticipate being back there anytime soon, but if I am, I'll certainly plan a little better. Meanwhile, if you're in the area, check it out!

South Padre Island, Texas: The Caribbean of Texas

Spring Break! Girls Gone Wild! That's usually what people think of when they think of South Padre Island. In February, it's quite different. 

South Padre Island is a resort town that was incorporated in 1973 to manage the tourism industry. It was named for Jose Nicolas Balli, a priest, Padre Balli. He was a rancher priest and he owned the island via a land grant from the King Charles III of Spain to his grandfather! In 1804, he established a small settlement at the southern tip of the island called El Rancho Santa Cruz de Buena Vista. In 1828, he had the island surveyed and it was described as "high sand dunes, some of which covered with grass." Sounds about the same. 

The only way on the island is via the Queen Isabella Causeway. The island has beautiful beaches on the Gulf of Mexico and calm waters for swimming in Laguna Madre Lagoon. There's boating and fishing, swimming and other water sports and...that's about it.

When we went in February, we thought we'd have the island to ourselves. Ha! Apparently there are "Winter Texans" that come down from places like Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and other northern cold states. Our hotel was packed! It's because they, like other hotels on the island (and I'm sure some VRBOs) have reduced rates to induce the snowbirds to stay. I had no idea!

Our hotel from the beach at night. The "winter rates" for our room were not bad. $3,000 for one month which would include daily breakfast and daily maid service. There's a bar and a restaurant in the hotel, both of which were crowded, as well as laundry facilities. There were also supplemental packages where you could include other meals at nearby restaurants. Our room had a fridge and a microwave. Not a bad deal if you want to get out of the freezing cold. The rates start in October and run through the end of February. If a month is too long, then they have a weekly rate as well.

The view from our balcony at night. Hmm...a week might not be so bad.

That same view in the morning. John wanted to know what people did all day here when they came for the winter. The same thing they would do at home, I would think. Our hotel had various "gathering" areas where there were puzzles and places to sit and read. It sounds very relaxing. At breakfast, it seemed like several of the people knew one another. Maybe they meet here every year. 

This is the reason to come. The beautiful ocean. There were some hearty souls actually in the water. I guess if you're from Wisconsin, 60 degree water isn't bad. My thin blood finds that way too cold. I didn't even dip my feet in.

There are miles and miles of beach for walking. 

As I mentioned, there's isn't much going on in South Padre Island except the beach. They have tons of these kitschy stores where you can get souvenirs and stuff. There's one where you have to walk through a shark's mouth to get into the store. 

For a long time, this was a big Spring Break destination. With these amazing sunsets, who can blame them? Of course, the spring breakers were probably more interested in the bars.

We watched the Superbowl with our fellow "Winter Texans" at a place called Louie's Backyard. We had a great view of the sunset and the TV.

A final walk along the bayside of the island before we headed out.

About 2K people live on the island full time. I don't think I could be one of them. While it's a nice place to visit and it's very laid back, there's only one way on and off the island. There's a grocery store but it's not great for full time living. Of course, there's the H-E-B in Port Isabel but going back and forth over the bridge isn't always pleasant. And finally, the population swells during spring break and the summer would make me want to leave. No, it's better just to come for a visit for a few days, or, if you're a Winter Texan, a few months.

Port Isabel, Texas: A Fisherman's Paradise

 Port Isabel is a little town on the mainland side of the Queen Isabella Causeway. 

It was first settled in the early 1830s. By 1845, a post office was established and named Point Isabel. 

In 1849, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate came to town and changed the name to Brazos Santiago and established Our Lady by the Sea. This is Our Lady, Star of the Sea Catholic Church in Port Isabel.

The Oblates of Mary Immaculate were a missionary group founded in France in 1816. They invaded Texas in 1849 establishing a headquarters in Brownsville and then moved up the Coast. If you remember, it was to the Oblates of Mary Immaculate that Rancho La Parra was left.

Meanwhile, in 1853, the Point Isabel lighthouse was erected. And by 1859, this sleepy little town was the second largest city in the area and was exporting $10M in cotton every year. During the Civil War, it was a haven for blockade runners due to its proximity to Mexico. As a result, the Union Navy either captured or destroyed all the ships in Port Isabel's harbor.

In 1881, the post office changed the name to Isabel. Thank goodness! In 1915, it became Point Isabel and then, finally, in 1928, the town was incorporated as Port Isabel. In the 1960s Port Isabel developed a huge shrimping industry harvesting over 7M pounds of shrimp per year. 

The first time we went to Port Isabel together was in 2021 but John's family had been going there since the 1970s. It's a small sleepy little town that people need to drive through when they go to South Padre Island. It's most distinguishing characteristic is the Point Isabel Lighthouse.

It sits atop the hill as a reminder of the town's past glory, such as it was. The Lighthouse, commissioned in 1853, helped ships navigate the deep water channel during a time when there were few viable access points in the area. During the Civil War, the Union Soldiers extinguished the light to prevent it from aiding the Confederate Navy. The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1905.

The Queen Isabella Causeway was built in 1977 to replace the older one, which became "the old fishing pier". It's almost 2 1/2 miles long and is the only way I know of to get on the island. During Spring Break and the summer months, it gets pretty backed up. Also, if you're staying on the island, get your supplies in Port Isabel before you go over the bridge.

This is the Port Isabel Museum, which is NOT open on Sunday. How unfortunate for us as I would love to have gone in. The building was erected in 1899 by Charles Champion and was known as the "Key of the Gulf". That was because back then the building housed a General Store, a Post Office and a Customs House. As ships came through the port, they had to stop in an say hello. The mural like painting on the building of fish and other sealife was done in 1906 by Juan Morales to promote the fishing industry. It's obviously been maintained pretty well.

The Queen Isabel Inn was built in 1906 as the Point Isabel Tarpon and Fishing Club located strategically next to the Railroad Station. For over 20 years, it was the only hotel in the area. It is the oldest continuous hotel business in Cameron County. It started tourism in Port Isabel before there were cars.

When we were here before, Port Isabel didn't have much going on besides the Pirate's Landing where there were touristy restaurants, boat rides and kitschy photo ops. Now they have an H-E-B! 

I think there's a lot of potential for Port Isabel. I know that most people that drive through there are on their way to South Padre Island but there's only so much you can do on the island outside of hang out at the beach. I think if Port Isabel would build up their side of the bay and advertise their historic hotel, railroad depot (which is now a restaurant) and open the museum on the weekend, they'd be better placed to take advantage of the tourist that are there for the island. Just a thought.

There are 5K people that live here. Most work at the Walmart or the H-E-B. They have some of your standard fast food places like Dairy Queen and Pizza Hut but no national restaurant chains. They do have a Starbucks so you can get your coffee fix. 

Overall, I liked Port Isabel. I don't know that I could live there because of the influx of Spring Break kids and such but I enjoyed it while I was there. Hopefully, I'll be back and check out the museum.

Meanwhile, if you're in the area, check it out!

Sarita, Texas: The French Riviera of Texas

Calling Sarita the French Riviera of Texas is like calling an animal cracker an Oreo cookie. Not quite the same. It’s 40 miles from Baffin Bay, the closest water source. But it was still on our list of Texas Coastal cities to visit. 

Sarita is the county seat of Kenedy County. You might recognize the name from the discussion about Kingsville. Here’s the scoop:
 
Richard King and Mifflin Kenedy were partners in a steamboat company and they made their money by monopolizing the water trade along the Rio Grande. Kenedy was also originally partners in the Santa Gertrudis Ranch (King Ranch). Kenedy eventually sold his shares and purchased the Laureles Ranch just South of Corpus Christi.  He and King were the first to fence off their ranches as a deterrent to theft. Kenedy sold the Laureles Ranch in 1882 and later established La Parra Ranch and the Kenedy Pasture Company. He had 762,000 acres of land.
 
When Mifflin Kenedy died, his son, John G Kenedy, inherited the ranch.

In 1904, John founded the town of Sarita, naming it for his daughter.  Using land that was previously part of the ranch, the town served the employees of the ranch and the Kenedy Pasture Company. There was a company store, ranch offices and buildings. Most of the residents of the town were involved with the Kenedy Ranch in some way. The headquarters of the Kenedy Pasture Company is now a museum.

John Kenedy had two children: John Jr and Sarita. When John Sr died unexpectedly in 1931, the ranch was divided between the two children. Neither John Jr or Sarita had children. When they passed away, the ranch was then managed by two separate trusts.

The ranch house, Rancho La Parra, was willed to the Oblate Fathers of the Catholic Church by Sarita. You can't get to the house as the road leading to it is blocked. I found this photo on the internet.
 
There was a guy who claimed to be the grandchild of John Jr and a Mexican maid that worked at the house. Apparently, his grandmother mentioned it on her deathbed. After nine years of court battles, the Texas Supreme Court denied his claim and his request to exhume the body of John Jr on the basis that he waited too long. That hardly seems fair.

There used to be a train depot. The town became a stop on the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway, which connected all the towns from Brownsville to Houston. The depot was built in 1907. Passenger service ended in the mid-1960s and, sadly, the depot was demolished in the 1970s.

Sarita was originally part of Willacy County. The courthouse was built in 1917. When Kenedy County was carved out of Willacy County in 1921, the existing courthouse became the courthouse for Kenedy County. It’s one of the only courthouses in Texas to have served two counties.

There are 238 people that live in Sarita. There are no retail outlets at all. No grocery stores, no convenience stores - nothing. 

They have the courthouse, the museum, a school and the church, Our Lady of Guadalupe. The nearest grocery store is in Kingsville which is 20 miles away. The nearest gas station is in Riviera which his about 5 miles away.

To say it's peaceful is an understatement since we didn't see any people while we were there on a Saturday. Still, I'm glad we stopped in to see it. I only wish we'd had the time to check out the museum.

If you're in the area, stop and check it out!

Kingsville, Texas: Gem City of the Southwest

The next stop on our trek down the Texas coast was Kingsville. While not technically on the coast, it was worthy of a stop for a tour of the King Ranch.

Kingsville is the county seat of Kelberg County and was named for Richard King. It was founded to provide infrastructure for the King Ranch and to serve as the headquarters for the newly founded St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway.
 
Richard King was a river boat captain. During the Mexican American War he was enlisted as a ship master running supplies to the US Army along the Rio Grande. After the war, he and his partner, Mifflin Kenedy, created a steamboat firm. They basically had a monopoly on the river traffic along the Rio Grande.

During the Civil War, King sold cattle to the Confederacy while also helping ship cotton along the “Cotton Road” that went through Mexico. The Union soldiers invaded his ranch, but King had fled to Mexico. This bridge was part of the Cotton Road.
 
As early as 1853, Richard King began buying land for his ranch. It consists of 825,000 acres and is the largest ranch in Texas. According to our guide, when King bought a herd of cattle in Mexico, he offered jobs, education, lodging and a “full belly” to any of the Mexican ranch hands that wanted to come with him. And they did.

The tour of King’s Ranch was a little disappointing as we were 12 people crammed into a bus. If you didn’t have a window seat, you weren’t seeing much of anything. We only got down once to check out a weaver’s cabin and to get a little history of the ranch.

Our guide was a lovely man, a retired cowboy who actually worked the ranch, but he wasn’t the best tour guide. Inside the cabin, he described the need for blankets to keep the horses from getting saddle sores. The guy they hired made these cool blanket on the loom and then taught others how to do the same.

The main house of the ranch, from what we could see, is quite beautiful. It’s 37,000 square feet and has 25 rooms. It was built in 1915 and replaced the original house that had burned in 1912. I would have loved to get off the bus and walk around and get good pics of the house but it was not allowed. Not sure why. I pulled this photo from the internet. The cannon was given to Captain King to help protect the ranch. Nobody lives in the house now. There are 200 descendants that come here annually for a shareholders meeting. They can stay here but not live here permanently. I would have LOVED a tour of the house! 

The building next to the house is built like a fortress and it was. Whenever there was trouble, everyone would come to this building and from here they would defend the ranch. Other times, it was a company store. The store closed, according to our guide, because it couldn’t compete with Walmart and Amazon.

There are still people that work for the ranch that live on site in home built for that purpose. Once you retire or quit, you have to give up your house for your replacement. Our guide lived on site but had to leave once he retired. In addition to cattle, they raise quarter horses here. They had one horse, Assault, that won the triple crown. This guy is a breeder. We saw lots of animals on our tour: horses, cattle, turkeys, javelinas and peacocks. King Ranch was the inspiration of the book Giant by Edna Ferber.

As I mentioned, Kingsville is the county seat of Kleberg County named for Robert Kleberg, a veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto. His son, also named Robert, was the manager of the King Ranch.

The Kleberg County Courthouse was built in 1914. In 2016, an emergency grant was awarded to address severe structural issues. At least they fixed the problems and didn’t just tear it down. 

There is a branch of Texas A&M University here. Who knew? Their mascot is the javelina. We drove around a bit. It's a small campus but big enough to give that college vibe. The buildings are all labeled with what they are and when they were built, which I thought was pretty cool.

This is the 1904 Train Depot Museum, which I think is only open on a blue moon. The depot was built in 1904 for the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railroad. It became part of the Missouri Pacific Railroad in 1926. Passenger service was phased out in 1966.

This cool looking building is the Henrietta King High School. It was built in 1909 and named for Richard King's wife, Henrietta, who was an influential figure in her own right. When Richard King escaped to Mexico during the Civil War, she stayed behind. It was her land that was donated for the railroad. After King died, she managed the ranch with Robert Kleberg. Girl power!

This was the local Dr Pepper bottling company. It opened in 1928 and bottled Dr Pepper, 7-up and Delaware Punch. It closed when the company restructured and consolidated their operations. 

There are about 28K people that live in Kingsville. It was an interesting town. There's a Naval Air Station there and it's one of the biggest employers for the town. The second biggest employer is Texas A&M University. Main Street has lots of old buildings that I would love to get the history on. 

They have an H-E-B that was super busy as we drove by. They also have Walmart and your assorted fast food chains. The only national restaurant chain I saw was Chili's. There was a lot of interesting history here. It just seemed to be lacking a little something that I can't put my finger on.

Still, don't take my word for it. If you're in the area, check it out!