Mercedes

Spanish explorers first came to the area where Mercedes is now located in the 1600s. The expeditions found that the land was covered with heavy brush similar to that of this photograph. Mesquite, cactus, huisache, and other native plants covered the land thickly. When the Spanish colonists arrived in the 1700s, they decided to use the land for ranching with some subsistence farming where water was available. (MSTH.)

The Spanish made several expeditions or entradas into the Rio Grande Valley in the 17th century. They reported finding many rancherías, or settlements of nomadic bands that historians first called Coahuiltecans. After rereading Spanish chronicles, later historians discovered more than 50 different indigenous groups inhabited this region. The Carrizo/Comecrudo were most associated with the Rio Grande river delta. Once thought extinct, descendants have resurfaced although they were displaced to other Texas areas. (Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas.)

Spanish explorer Alonso de León led four expeditions between 1686 and 1689 to explore the area around the mouth of the Rio Grande, also known as the Rio Bravo. After finding the ruins of a French settlement on his fourth expedition, the Spanish king commanded that settlers be brought in to establish a more solid claim to this area. In 1746, José de Escandón, the Count of Sierra Gorda, was commissioned to explore the area between Tampico and the San Antonio River. The province of Nuevo Santander, which corresponds generally to the Mexican state of Tamaulipas and south Texas, is pictured in this adaptation of a 1792 Spanish map. (Courtesy University of Texas-Pan American.)

José de Escandón was a Spaniard who chose a military career and immigrated to New Spain in 1715. By 1740, he had risen through the ranks and was lieutenant captain general of the Sierra Gorda frontier. His successful strategies for pacification of the region while remaining fair-minded with all groups brought him the title of Count of Sierra Gorda as well as the charge of leading colonists to the Rio Grande region. After determining which areas were suitable for settlement and carefully choosing which colonists to take, Escandón brought in more than 400 families and founded Camargo, Reynosa, Mier, Revilla, Laredo, and Nuestra Señora de los Dolores on the banks of the lower Rio Grande. For this reason, he is often called the “father” of the lower Rio Grande Valley. Beginning in 1755 with the founding of Laredo, Spanish colonists began establishing ranching communities on the northern banks of the river, including the area where Mercedes is today. (University of Texas-Pan American.)

This map shows the porciones, or long narrow strips of land, and larger land grants owned by the original Spanish colonizers of southern Hidalgo County in the late 1800s. In 1778, Juan José Hinojosa, a captain and chief justice at the villa of Reynosa, petitioned the king of Spain for the Llano Grande grant where the city of Mercedes is now located. This grant contained 25 leagues of land with about 15 miles of river frontage. Hinojosa died before he was finally granted the land in 1790, and his children inherited the land in eight equal shares. Mexico’s separation from Spain in 1821, the Texas Independence of 1836, and the Mexican–American War of 1846 created turmoil in the region. In 25 years, these first families’ citizenships changed three times. At the end of the Mexican–American War, they were forced to prove their land ownership in Texas state courts. Although most of them retained title to their land grants, many lost acreage when they were forced to pay their attorneys and taxes in land. (Hidalgo County Historical Commission.)

By the end of the 19th century, there were hundreds of ranches on the northern side of the Rio Grande. Although the brush land was thick with mesquite, cactus, huisache, and native grasses, the land was suitable for grazing cattle. Every ranch had access to water, either directly from the river or from the resacas, the old river channels of the Rio Grande. (MSTH.)

In the 19th century, the most obvious choice as a building material in the valley was mesquite wood. Even though it was twisted rather than straight, it was abundant, strong, and durable. The wood is so hard that it is sometimes called “Texas Ironwood.” Corrals and fences made of mesquite such as the one seen here were common sights on valley ranches of that era and are still seen today. (National Archives.)

This map is a partial replica of one of the hand-drawn maps used by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate from around 1849 to serve the Catholics living on the scattered ranches of south Texas. These missionary priests had established headquarters in Brownsville before the advent of the railroad or even of paved roads. They traveled their lonely trails through the wild brush land alone, mounted on horseback. Their circuits usually lasted about six weeks during which time they traveled 100 miles or more. The Oblate Trail in the Rio Grande Valley stretched from Port Isabel and Brownsville up the river to Laredo, a distance of more than 200 miles. They also traveled north to service ranches and townsites farther away from the river. In 1949, the Brownsville Historical Association designated the trail by erecting road markers. (Hidalgo County Historical Commission.)

The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate were founded in France in 1816 by Blessed Eugene de Mazenod. In south Texas, they were commonly known as the Cavalry of Christ because they served their parishioners as circuit-riders on horseback. Their black soutane habits, black rounded hats, and silver Oblate cross worn round their necks were widely recognized in the region. (MSTH.)

Fr. Pierre Yves Keralum was an Oblate priest who, despite his advanced age, continued to serve his people. In November 1872, he set out on his circuit and never returned, being last seen at a ranch north of Mercedes. His remains were found in 1882. In 1920, a memorial was erected to the much-loved Padre Pedrito at the Catholic cemetery in Mercedes. (Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church.)

Before Mercedes was founded, many ranches were located in the area, including the Anacuitas (Anacahuitas), Los Burros or Guadalupe, Parajitos, Relámpago, Rosario, San José or Solises, Tampacuás (also known as Campacuás), and Toluca Ranches. This aerial view shows the Toluca Ranch, located about a mile south of US 281 (Military Highway) and a quarter mile east of Farm to Market Road 1015. It is remarkable for having survived almost intact until the present time and is a good model of what a hacienda ranch of the past century would have looked like with its main house, its chapel, a school, a store, the ranch hands’ houses, work sheds, vegetable gardens, and corrals. At one time, Toluca Ranch had a post office from which mail was distributed to surrounding ranches by horseback, or farther away by stagecoach or steamboat. At its largest, Toluca Ranch had around 12,000 acres with river frontage and stretched northward 17 miles. (MSTH.)

Pictured here are Sóstenes Cano (right) and Florencio Sáenz. After working for many years as a bookkeeper for don Antonio Cano of the Tampacuás Ranch, don Florencio Sáenz married Sóstenes Cano, youngest daughter of Antonio and Mauricia Fernández Cano. Don Antonio Cano of Reynosa had purchased acreage in 1862 from the descendants of Juan José Hinojosa of the Llano Grande land grant; specifically, from Cirildo Hinojosa’s fifth share. As her inheritance, Sóstenes received a tract of land in the southern part of the Tampacuás Ranch that the couple named the Toluca Ranch. The name of the ranch is likely a reference to the town of Toluca in south-central Mexico. The word “Toluca” comes from the indigenous word “Tollocan,” which means “place of the god Tolloh” in náhuatl, the language of the Aztecs. (Both, MSTH.)

St. Joseph’s Chapel was built in 1896 by don Florencio Sáenz in thanksgiving for when he was finally able to dig a well that yielded sweet, drinkable water. Many previous attempts had only yielded salty, brackish and undrinkable water. The chapel was designed by the Oblate priest Pierre Keralum. The pews accommodate 85 people. Don Florencio’s grandson Santiago Fernández and his great-granddaughter Florence stand in the doorway in this photograph taken in 1951. (MSTH.)

The interior of St. Joseph’s Chapel is decorated with statues purchased in Spain by the Sáenz-Fernández family. Some of the statues were donated to Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church in the town of Mercedes in 1947 in thanksgiving after doña Manuela Fernández’s five sons all returned safely from World War II. (MSTH.)

This is the wedding portrait of Manuela Cano Champion (left) and Amador Fernández, a Spanish émigré. Don Florencio and doña Sóstenes Sáenz were unable to have any children, so they decided in 1882 to adopt their three-month-old niece Manuela Cano Champion, daughter of Pedro and Gumecinda Cano Champion. Manuela met and married Amador Fernández in 1908. They eventually had eight children: José Florencio, José Augustín, Guadalupe Anastasio, Joaquín Jorge, Ernesto Mónico, Santiago “Jimmy,” Manuela Lourdes, and Amador Tomás. All the children were well educated and several participated in Mercedes city and school district positions. Some of the children and grandchildren continue living in Toluca Ranch to this day. Toluca Ranch was well known for having a brick factory that supplied bricks for many buildings in Mercedes and for a ferry landing where steamboats stopped to load farm and ranch products and unload supplies. (MSTH.)

In 1914, the Sáenz-Fernández family built this home in Mercedes on the corner of Missouri Avenue and Fourth Street. They were forced to move to town after their Toluca Ranch was attacked four different times by roving bands of Mexican revolutionaries. The spillover violence of the Mexican Revolution, which lasted from 1910 to 1920, greatly affected the lower Rio Grande Valley region. (Carolyn C. López.)

The Fernández family is depicted in this reunion photograph taken in the early 1950s. Amador and Manuela Fernández are seated in the center with their eight children, sons-in-law, daughtersin-law, and grandchildren surrounding them. In the early 1900s when Mercedes was still young, Amador Fernández had a dry goods store just opposite the First National Bank on Texas Avenue. (Mercedes Enterprise.)

Water has always been a precious commodity in the lower Rio Grande Valley since its settlement in the 18th century. In areas where there was no access to river water or lakes, wells had to be dug but these often produced brackish or salty water. Frequently, communities had to rely on water sellers such as this one who brought water in barrels to sell. (MSTH.)

Most ranches had developed into small communities by the end of the 19th century. Ranch workers and their families also lived on the ranch. Workers included vaqueros, or cowboys, blacksmiths, cooks, storekeepers, brick makers, carpenters, and masons among others. When Mercedes was founded, there were several ranches in the surrounding areas including among others: Toluca, Tampacuás, Los Burros, Anacuitas (Anacahuitas), Relámpago, Parajitos, Los Ebanos, and El Fuste. (National Archives.)

When the lower Rio Grande Valley became part of the United States in 1848, the Spanish and Mexican land grant holders were forced to defend their land claim in state courts. Many landholders were land-rich but cash-poor and were forced to pay their American lawyers’ fees in acreage. The document above was Juan José Hinojosa’s (sometimes spelled Ynojosa) Llano Grande Land Grant title, finally approved and certified by the Texas State Legislature in 1852 for his heirs. Large land grants such as this one were awarded only to favorites of the king or other crown officials. Called mercedes reales, or “royal grants,” or mercedes de tierra, “land grants,” these larger grants were intended to support hacienda-type ranching ventures. Before the 20th century in Hidalgo County alone, there were 43 porciones granted through the Reynosa jurisdiction, 12 intermediate grants, and 14 large land grants such as Hinojosa’s. (Hidalgo County Historical Commission.)

The map shown here of Hinojosa’s Llano Grande grant is called the Dupouy Partition. It was originally prepared in 1848 by Alfredo Dupouy, the court surveyor in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico. By 1919, Hinojosa’s children had already sold land to others as noted here. This map was used as part of the abstract of title obtained by the American Rio Grande Land and Irrigation Company on March 5, 1919, to show clean title to its purchase of lands in the Rio Grande Valley. Share one belonged to Julia de la Garza; share two belonged to Matías Cavazos; share three belonged to Leonardo Manso; share four belonged to Manuel Hinojosa, Francisca Hinojosa, and Ygnacia Hinojosa; share five belonged to Vicenta Hinojosa, share six belonged to Gregoria Longoria and Cipriano Hinojosa; share seven belonged to Juan Hinojosa, and share eight belonged to Rosa Maria Hinojosa. There was also a separately sectioned area called the Adams Tract, owned by William T. Adams and his wife, Virginia Adams. Mercedes is located in portions of shares five, six, and seven. (Hidalgo County Historical Commission.)

Although in the 1900s large-scale ranching in the Valley was gradually replaced by commercialized farming with the arrival of northern land developers, the love of the ranching era still survives today in many Mercedes residents. Pictured in 1975, seated on his Lineback Dun horse, is Rosendo Gonzales and his grandson Paul. Gonzales belongs to the Mid-Valley Horseman’s Association. (Rosendo Gonzales.)

By 1868, as shown in this early postcard, the railroad had reached Brownsville. On July 8, 1904, the Sam Fordyce Branch of the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway reached Section 14, the stop that would later become Mercedes, nicknamed “Sweetheart of the Branch.” The coming of the railroad would be the first step in the development of the Rio Grande Valley into a highly profitable agricultural region. (Vito Buenrostro.)