Two

FOUNDING A TOWN

Mercedes was founded in 1907 to serve as the headquarters of the American Rio Grande Land and Irrigation Company. The company was formed expressly for the purpose of constructing an irrigation system pumping water from the Rio Grande to irrigate about 250,000 acres of land in Hidalgo and Cameron Counties. The first ARGL&I building seen here was located facing Texas Avenue near the corner with Second Street. (MSTH.)

Benjamin Franklin Yoakum was born in Tehuacana, Texas, in 1859. He worked all his life in the railroad industry and knew every facet from surveying to engineering, construction, traffic, operating, and finance. Yoakum visited the Rio Grande Valley on various occasions and knew that by extending the railroad into the valley, commercialized agriculture was possible. With the help of Col. Sam Fordyce, he convinced a group of St. Louis investors to develop the American Rio Grande Land and Irrigation Company with a capital stock of $1,250,000. Early stockholders included Benjamin F. Yoakum, Sam Fordyce, Thomas W. Carter, Thomas H. West, Edward Whittaker, Edmund E. Elliot, Silas P. Silver, and DuVal West. The company was granted incorporation by the State of Texas on September 30, 1905. Although Yoakum never lived in Mercedes, he and his New York socialite daughter Bessie Yoakum frequently visited the town to see friends. (MSTH.)

Yoakum knew that three things would be needed to make commercialized agriculture succeed in the Rio Grande Valley: an extensive irrigation system to water the farmlands, a railroad system to take the produce to northern markets, and a cheap labor force to clear the land, dig the canals, and work the fields once they were planted. Clearing the land, called “grubbing,” was achieved by a large Mexican labor force that worked for pennies a day. (MSTH.)

Col. Sam Robertson was the contractor for the earthwork on the Main North Canal built by the American Rio Grande Land and Irrigation Company. As seen in this photograph, he used 300 mule teams to dig a strip of land seven miles long from the river to the railroad in Mercedes to lay the Main Canal in 1906. (MSTH.)

The first order of business in developing Mercedes and the surrounding mid-Valley area was to build a pumping plant on the Rio Grande. This was achieved in 1906 when the pumping plant was completed about eight miles south of Mercedes. A settling basin was also built west of the plant, with the Main Canal to carry water north by means of gravity; that is, utilizing the natural slope of the land to propel the water along the canals. The water must first be lifted out of the Rio Grande by the pumping plant. The pumping plant had a capacity of 300,000 gallons of water per minute, or 432,000,000 gallons every 24 hours. By 1923, the canal system totaled over 300 miles of canals, not including the smaller laterals serving individual farm tracts. (MSTH.)

William Francis Shaw served as chief engineer and vice president of the American Rio Grande Land and Irrigation Company in 1908. He also served the company as general manager from 1912 to 1930. He was the contact man for the American Company in setting up the canal system in the Mercedes area, and he assisted in laying out the town site of Mercedes and in organizing the electricity and water systems. (Mercedes Enterprise.)

The river pumping plant had four pumps, two of which were 36 inches in size and were the largest pumps in the world at that time. Electrical power to run the pumps was run down from the electrical plant built in Mercedes. This 1915 photograph with unidentified persons shows some of the intricate machinery required to do the job. (MSTH.)

The American Company decided to name their headquarters “Díaz” in honor of Mexican president Porfirio Díaz, seen here, who was friendly toward American investors. Fearing the development of a revolt in Mexico and the inadvisability of that name, “Mercedes” was then chosen, supposedly to honor Díaz’s wife; but Díaz was married first to Delfina Ortega and later to Carmen Romero. The origin of the name remains a mystery today. (National Archives.)

In this c. 1912 postcard, the photograph was taken facing west from the top of the Mercedes power plant next to the Main Canal. The Mercedes Hotel can partially be seen in the middle background. To the right of the hotel across Second Street can be seen the American Rio Grande Land and Irrigation headquarters, the Mercedes Drug Store, and the Hotel Annex. (Vito Buenrostro.)

In December 1907, the original townsite of Mercedes was platted by American Company chief engineer Chester B. Davis. Streets were named and the map recorded in the Hidalgo County Courthouse. The large sign in this photograph encourages visitors to purchase land and homes in this growing community. (MSTH.)

One of the first buildings in the new town was the Mercedes Hotel. When the engineers, railroad men, and other professionals came to Mercedes to work, there were no homes available yet. Many lived in boxcars on sidings when they first arrived, and they were greatly relieved when the hotel was completed. The hotel served very well until suitable homes could be built. (Vito Buenrostro.)

Silas Percy Silver served as the general manager of the American Rio Grande Land and Irrigation Company in 1905 and was instrumental in completing the irrigation system. He also ensured that land was sold, businesses were started, and city and school services were properly provided in Mercedes’ early days. Under his direction, the American Company also donated land to churches and for cemeteries. Silver was born on November 3, 1866, in Mobile, Alabama. He was a graduate of Washington University with a degree in architecture. Examples of Silver’s architectural talent are still evident in many of the buildings in Mercedes. Silver was the Hidalgo County judge when county residents voted to move the county seat from Hidalgo to Chapin (now Edinburg) in 1908. He served one term, from 1908 to 1909. Silas Percy Silver died on December 20, 1938, in Shreveport, Louisiana. (MSTH.)

When Silas P. Silver, his wife, and young daughter arrived in the fledgling town of Mercedes in 1905, they were forced to live in a boxcar on a railroad siding because there were no homes built yet. Within a year, the American Company, as it was frequently called, had built the Silver family a company home, which is the house pictured on the right of the photograph. By 1908, Silver built his own home, the house on the left. The Silver house is still standing, located on South Missouri Avenue on the corner of Third Street. These homes both adhered to the restrictions placed by the city on new residences. The city ordinance required homes to be built of brick or stucco and not cost less than $2,000, which was a considerable amount in those days. Business buildings must be of brick or stucco and not cost less than $3,000. The early founders hoped to make the Mercedes downtown area a showplace that would attract new homeowners, farmers, and businessmen. (MSTH.)

In this photograph, Silas Percy Silver rides his horse into a flume built as part of the canal system. One of the engineering advancements of this time was the use of reinforced concrete in the construction of the head gates, siphons, and flumes. The introduction in 1906 of this man-made “rock” by the American Company was new to Texas. (MSTH.)

In the early days, there were no city services such as trash pickup or street repair, so a city ordinance was passed that required all male persons between 21 and 45 to work on, repair, and clean the public roads and streets. Ministers and firemen were exempt; however, just $2.50 would exempt any citizen for a year. (MSTH.)

Some of the irrigation system construction was contracted out to Col. Sam Robertson until the crews of the American Company took over, extending the canals to Mile 12 North and Mile 2 1/2 West by 1912. This photograph shows the Main Canal, which runs just east of Mercedes. It was from 90 to 120 feet wide in places and from 15 to 20 feet deep. (MSTH.)

In this 1910 scene on a postcard, cars are parked at a slant down the center of Texas Avenue, the main street. City records show that uniform traffic laws were not adopted until 1930 and officers did not start handing out traffic tickets until 1939. Parking meters were installed in 1946, undoubtedly much to the dismay of downtown shoppers. (Vito Buenrostro.)

Postcards were very popular as a means of communicating with friends and family during the early 20th century. This is the cover of a used postcard that unfolded accordion-style to show many scenes of Mercedes around 1909. The stamp was cut off, but the postmark can still be partially seen. (Vito Buenrostro.)

Within a few years of its founding, Mercedes was already producing large quantities of vegetables and fruits for shipping to northern and international markets. The Bermuda onion had already been introduced to south Texas in 1898 near Cotulla. With irrigation, onion farms like Theodore M. Plummer’s (seen here) were highly successful, yielding about 3,000 crates per acre during a growing season. (Vito Buenrostro.)

The gentlemen in this photograph are Mercedes’s first mayor and city council after incorporation in 1909. From left to right are John Puckett, Gouverneur K. Wattson, Mayor William Lingenbrink, Dr. Edward C. Schoonmaker, Fred Cutting, and Lytle Harrison. They are sitting at the City Park, a popular gathering area because of its lush grass and palm trees. (Vito Buenrostro.)

The Mercedes Railroad Depot was built to accommodate the thousands of visitors that came to the Valley, but the railroad was also important for the transport of produce to northern markets, and many packing sheds located just north of the railway lines. In the early years, it was popular to take day trips on the train to Brownsville for shopping and socializing purposes. (MSTH.)

In this panel of an accordion postcard, the Mercedes Commercial Club, forerunner of the Mercedes Chamber of Commerce, listed all of the amenities to be had in the new city. Mercedes had grown very quickly by 1909 with more than 1,000 inhabitants, but the American Company still had many farm tracts to sell and hoped to attract buyers from the northern and Midwestern states. The use of postcards was one of the marketing strategies, since the new citizens of Mercedes were sure to send them to friends and family where they would be seen by potential investors. The scene below shows the train depot in the background with the “beautiful tropical park,” as described above, shown in the foreground of the photograph. (Vito Buenrostro.)

Most of the vegetables and fruits produced in the Valley faced a long train trip to northern and sometimes international markets. This required the produce to be iced down for shipping. Icehouses such as this one were common sights near the packing sheds and railroad tracks. With the advent of mechanically refrigerated boxcars in the late 1940s, icehouses became largely obsolete. (MSTH.)

The first business owners in the new town of Mercedes were John D. White, general foreman of all laborers and construction work; Fred Cutting and Charles Campbell, who built the first lumber yard, the Mercedes Lumber Company as seen here; and Alex Champion, who built the first general merchandise store. The first blacksmiths were Ben Brooks Jr. and Pablo López. (Vito Buenrostro.)

As shown in this postcard, on June 22, 1910, the first bale of cotton in the United States for the season was ginned in Mercedes. Cotton was sometimes planted between rows of cabbage or corn that was harvested first while the cotton grew to maturity. This gave the cotton a head start at being ginned first in the nation. (Vito Buenrostro.)

The Mercedes Enterprise is the local newspaper whose origins go back to 1908 when Isadore Moritz, previously of the Brownsville Herald, decided to start up a periodical in the fledgling town. The Enterprise is still being published today with its original name. In this issue, the big story was the ginning of the nation’s first bale of cotton for the 1910 season in Mercedes. (Mercedes Enterprise.)

In this aerial view of Mercedes looking southeastward, packing sheds are seen in the bottom left area, located alongside the railroad tracks. The Main Canal can be seen running behind the power plant, the building with the arches in front. The main roadway going from top left to bottom right is Second Street after it was designated US Highway 83. This photograph was taken around 1935. (Weslaco Museum.)

In this early scene looking north on Texas Avenue, the Empire Theater is seen on the right side of the street next to the columns of the First National Bank. The Empire changed to the Capitol after the hurricane of 1933, and later to the State Theater. Across the street on the corner is the mercantile store opened by Amador Fernández of the Toluca Ranch. (MSTH.)

The Sanborn map shown here was commissioned and completed in July 1917 for the purpose of obtaining fire insurance for Mercedes buildings. It shows the contours of the early city. The darker areas were the original downtown area and more expensive residential areas. The railroad track may be seen cutting across east and west about three-quarters of the way up the map. The main irrigation canal (not marked) of the American Rio Grande Land and Irrigation Company ran north and south to the right of Capisallo Road. Generally speaking, the Anglo-Americans had their businesses and homes south of the railroad tracks with the exception of the packing sheds which were just north of the railroad track; and the Mexican American community was located north of the railroad tracks. This type of separation occurred in every town of the lower Rio Grande Valley of this era, with exceptions sometimes made when the Mexican American family or business owner was well-to-do. (City of Mercedes.)

In the above 1922 photograph of the Mercedes downtown area, the cars are parked at a slant and next to the sidewalks rather than in the middle of the street. This is Texas Avenue looking north. The two-story building on the right with light-colored brick is the second building used by the Hidalgo County Bank and Trust. It was located on the northeast corner of Texas Avenue and Third Street. In 1928, the bank built a new brick three-story building across the street on the southwest corner of Texas and Third Streets as seen in the photograph below. This edifice still exists today although it has been remodeled to face a new parking lot south of the building. (Above, MSTH; below, Mercedes Enterprise.)

This small frame building, which faced Third Street downtown, was first used by the Hidalgo County Bank and Trust Company in 1907. When the new brick building on South Texas Avenue was built later that same year, the frame building was used as a primary classroom with Miss Boyd as teacher. (Mercedes Enterprise.)

After holding classes in several buildings in town, a more permanent structure was finally completed facing Texas Avenue. This school, built in 1912, housed students from primary grades to high school grades. It was named for Harriet Claycomb Buck who was the mother of Nannie Mer Buck, the Mercedes superintendent of schools from 1915 to 1923. The building was demolished after irreparable damage in the hurricane of 1933. (Mercedes ISD.)

Elizabeth Riess (left), Gustavus K. Riess, and their two children Marion and Malcolm relocated to Mercedes from the northeast in 1910. Both “Gus” and “Lizzie” were active in their community, serving on the school board and city council from 1912 to 1914. Gus was a railroad station agent, and Lizzie is reputed to have developed the first pink grapefruit in the Rio Grande Valley. (Riess family.)

Although schoolchildren in Mercedes had been attending school in makeshift classrooms beginning in 1907, the first student to complete her studies and graduate from the Mercedes school district in 1914 was Marion Riess, daughter of Gus and Lizzie Riess. She later became a teacher and principal in Mercedes. She married Rev. Herbert Haslam of Philadelphia, had five children, and helped with her husband’s ministry while also continuing to teach. (Mercedes ISD.)

In 1914, only one person graduated from high school—Marion Riess. The next year, Mercedes High School graduated four students—Pearl Hearing, Nellie Linemann, Martha Wright, and Albert Rothrock. The program shown here describes the graduation ceremonies held on May 21, 1915, at the Moving Picture Theater. The program included poetry recitations, songs, several speeches, piano pieces, presentation of the diplomas, and a short play with the graduates participating. This play was the forerunner of the “Senior Play” tradition at Mercedes High School, although the play is no longer presented during the graduation ceremonies because of time constraints. On May 18, 1915, the junior class had honored the senior class with a banquet given at the Mercedes Hotel. On the menu were fruit cocktail, fried chicken, cream gravy, hot biscuits, currant jelly, mashed potatoes, string beans, pears, olives, and the new sensation from New York City: Waldorf salad. (Mercedes ISD.)

South School, later renamed for Leon R. Graham, the superintendent of schools from 1941 to 1951, was built in 1921 facing Ohio Avenue between Ninth and Tenth Streets. Since its construction and through various remodeling projects and additions, Graham School served as a primary school, a junior high, a high school, and a migrant school. (Mercedes ISD.)

North School, later renamed John F. Kennedy Elementary School, was built in 1910 but underwent numerous remodeling projects. School board minutes first called it the “Mexican” school, and later the “Preparatory” school. It served only Mexican American children from the north side of town until 1971 when the district desegregated and went to “single-line” (one or two grades) campuses rather than multi-grade neighborhood schools. (Mercedes ISD.)

In 1909, the first Presbyterian congregation of 19 members was organized by Rev. William W. Doggett. The church seen in this photograph was built in 1912, located on the corner of Fourth Street and Missouri Avenue with the Rev. Samuel M. Glasgow as the first resident pastor. (Vito Buenrostro.)

This photograph shows the first building of the First United Methodist Church built in 1936. It was later used for the Spanish-speaking congregation with the name El Buen Pastor Iglesia Metodista, or the Good Shepherd Methodist Church. A new structure was built on Sixteenth Street in the 1960s. (Vito Buenrostro.)

Raquel Gonzales Palacios stands in the center front during an Easter Pageant with other unidentified girls in the spring of 1932. They are holding palm leaves and flowers as is traditional for this religious holiday. According to family members, the steps where the girls posed are most likely those of the rectory at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church. (Irma Palacios.)

The First Baptist Church of Mercedes was organized in 1907 with four charter members: Mrs. Fred Cutting, Mrs. Jimmy Johnson, and Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Boothe. They were served by missionaries until the building of the present church seen in the photograph. The new complex includes an auditorium, Sunday school classrooms, kitchen, and fellowship hall; it was erected in 1920 during the pastorate of the Rev. John C. Boyd. (Mercedes Enterprise.)

The Immanuel Lutheran Church, first called the German Lutheran Church, was the first Lutheran church established in the Rio Grande Valley in 1910. The first pastor, Rev. Ernest J. Moebus stands on the steps in this early photograph. Using the Mercedes church as his headquarters, Rev. Moebus founded many preaching stations in the Valley. Most of the town’s population of German heritage attended this church in the early days. (Library of Congress.)

The Immanuel Lutheran Church was moved to its present location at South Washington Avenue and Third Street where this brick structure was completed in 1929. Later additions included a parochial school, meeting rooms and a kitchen. Well known in the community is the excellent school that, although it has had to close on past occasions, is fully operating again. (Mercedes Enterprise.)

Pictured here is a Baptist mission group in 1916 in a temporary building on North Missouri Avenue with Howell and Zepeda family members among others. This group would meet in the Mercedes Community Building at first but later built the Primera Iglesia Bautista Mexicana, or First Mexican Baptist Church. (Eddie Howell Sr.)

The Primera Iglesia Bautista Mexicana shown here was built around 1918, with Joseph Henry Howell as the first missionary preacher. Howell’s father, William Albert Howell, had been a Union soldier captured by the Confederacy who escaped to Mexico and later wound up in Port Isabel. He opened a dry goods store there and raised a family, with Joseph Henry eventually relocating to Mercedes. (Carolyn C. López.)

The first frame building of Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church was erected on the north side of Hidalgo Street in 1909 on land donated by the American Rio Grande Land and Irrigation Company. The new church was built in its present location on Vermont Avenue and Third Street as seen here, and it was formally dedicated on October 22, 1922. (Our Lady of Mercy Church.)

Pictured here on horseback is Fr. Adrian Bornes of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. He and Fr. Paul Hally were the first resident priests assigned permanently to Our Lady of Mercy Church at Mercedes in 1909. They served not only Mercedes but the surrounding missions as well, traveling to them on horseback. (Our Lady of Mercy Church.)

The first baptisms were performed and recorded in this registry at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church in February 1909. The children baptized were José Méndez, Pedro Gregorio García, and Eugene Harold Thomas. All three were born in late 1908 but had to wait for the priest to arrive early the next year in order to be baptized. The first two entries are written in Spanish and the third is written in English, undoubtedly to conform to the identities and ethnicities of the parents. The entries contain the date of baptism, the date of birth for the child, the condition of legitimacy, the parents’ names, the “padrinos” or sponsors’ names, and the priest’s signature, Fr. Adrian Bornes, OMI. Baptismal records such as these are very important resources not only for genealogists or those who wish to trace their ancestry but also for historians. In many baptismal registries, if the family was an important one, the grandparents’ names would also be included. (Our Lady of Mercy Church.)

This was the first Mercedes Telephone Directory issued in November 1909. It was reprinted in the 25th anniversary issue of the Mercedes News-Tribune on September 16, 1932. After only two years of founding, Mercedes had more than 1,000 inhabitants and more than 30 businesses that included two hotels, several drugstores, dry goods and general merchandise stores, a newspaper office, hardware and lumber companies, pharmacies, churches, hospitals, and doctors. Notice in the listings that the town still accommodated those who used horses, buggies, and wagons with a livery stable. In 1909, the streets in Mercedes were not yet paved, but business was brisk and the downtown area was very active. At that time, Mercedes was considered the “Queen City” because it was the premier mid-Valley town and the fastest growing settlement in Hidalgo County. (Mercedes Enterprise.)

Mercedes had become very prosperous very quickly. The Mercedes Commercial Club had succeeded in attracting a large number of “newcomers” to the town through its aggressive marketing strategies. The town was well-tended and progressive, with important Valley-wide meetings sponsored by the American Rio Grande Land and Irrigation Company often held at the Mercedes Hotel pictured here. (MSTH.)

Cato Palacios goes for a ride in the 1932 Chevrolet two-door coupe owned by his father, Abraham Palacios. By 1915, Mercedes had streets paved with caliche (or gravel) and had added streetlights to the downtown area. In 1933, Second Street was widened to asphalt-paved two lanes with shoulders, and it became US Highway 83. (Irma Palacios.)

The Baker, Montgomery, and Closner families enjoy a picnic at Lake Campacuás c. 1915. The lake, also known as Tampacuás or Carter’s Lake, is about two miles north of Mercedes. It is part of the delta system of resacas and arroyos that once were channels of the Rio Grande. It is about two miles long and is 700 feet wide at its broadest point. (MSTH.)

Pictured here in 1920 is Julián Villarreal (standing) with his daughter Adela. Julián and his bride, Dolores, arrived in Mercedes in 1912 and established a small grocery store at 117 North Texas Avenue. He also operated a bakery and often served as a foreman for agricultural work crews. Adela, now Mrs. Ramírez, says they took the picture while waiting for a train to Brownsville, where she was to see a doctor for an ear infection. (Mercedes Enterprise.)

These gentlemen belonging to the Mercedes Mexican American Chamber of Commerce posed for a group picture in 1926. Mexican American businessmen in Mercedes organized early compared to other Valley cities in order to mutually support their business efforts. In the early years, most Mexican American businesses were located north of the railroad tracks because of residential segregation. (Mercedes Enterprise.)

Pictured here is Alma Whatley’s fifth-grade class at North Ward School in 1935. The front row includes, from left to right, Whatley, Andrea Barrera, Guadalupe Galván, Cuitláhuac García, Guadalupe Castañeda, unidentified, Juventino de León Jr., Juan Torres, and Adelita Marroquín. In the back rows are unidentified students. Whatley later taught English classes for many years at the Mercedes High School. (Delia de León.)

Word of the bonanza, or “abundance of work,” in the newly formed town of Mercedes reached the ears of workers on existing ranches as well as Mexican nationals. Many came seeking work, and they were readily hired to clear the land, work on the new farms, construct businesses and residences, and do general labor. (MSTH.)

Some labor families were able to move into town where their housing was better. For those who lived in town, there was ample work at canning factories, produce sheds, and downtown stores and businesses. This home at 106 North Ohio Avenue, built around 1918, belonged to Calixta Ruelas Ortega, who willed it to her brother Severo Ruelas and family in 1936. (Carolyn C. López.)

Many labor families lived in small huts, or jacales, made of available mesquite wood or old boards with thatched roofs. Water was available from wells or had to be purchased from water sellers. Winters were especially difficult because of the cold and wet. Many of these jacales did not survive the hurricane of 1933. (National Archives.)

José García was a schoolteacher in Mexico who fled with his family in 1910 to the United States when the Mexican Revolution brought great disorder in Mexico. Together with several brothers, they opened multiple businesses in Mercedes including a drugstore, a clothing store, and many grocery stores. (García family.)

The García family opened this store, A.G. García and Brothers Confectionery, on the corner of Hidalgo Street and Texas Avenue in 1920. The original store was started in 1913 and had customers from as far away as Brownsville and Rio Grande City. This store later burned down and was not rebuilt. (García family.)

A drugstore and fountain was run in one corner of the García store. Pictured from left to right are José T. Leal, Octavio García, Leopoldo Solís, Elizandro Peña, Odón G. García (seated), and an unidentified patron standing to the back. (García family.)

When the American Rio Grande Land and Irrigation Company was scouting a location for its pumping plant in 1906, it wished to avoid the possibility of the river suddenly changing course. Without seeking permission, the company dug a channel at the Horcón Tract site to divert the river flow, illegally changing an international boundary. The company paid a fine and the channel stayed. (Hidalgo County Historical Commission.)

A bridge was built to connect the small town of Río Rico on the Mexican side in the Horcón Tract site to Thayer on the American side. Both sides of the river had custom houses, and the bridge allowed both Mexicans and Americans to buy products available only in the other’s country. (Hidalgo County Historical Commission.)

Many visiting land parties and excursion groups were taken to Rio Rico for entertainment. In this photograph, an excursion group is watching a cockfight, and undoubtedly laying wagers on the outcome. In addition to cockfights, northerners could attend dog races and bullfights and could dine and dance. During Prohibition, Río Rico was a popular destination for many Valley residents. (Hidalgo County Historical Commission.)

The Rio Grande flooded regularly before Falcon Dam was built upriver in 1954. This photograph shows the Thayer–Río Rico Bridge in 1941 when a severe flood caused great devastation in the area. Both American and Mexican businesses in Río Rico suffered great losses. (Hidalgo County Historical Commission.)

The 1941 flood caused the riverbanks to erode and the Río Rico Bridge to collapse completely. Previous floods had curtailed tourism in Río Rico, but the collapse of the bridge ended almost all river crossings. Only those willing to cross over on small boats provided any commerce to Río Rico businesses. (Hidalgo County Historical Commission.)

William “Andy” Tullis (left) and immigration officer White stand in front of the customs booth at the Río Rico Bridge in 1932. Tullis was manager of the B&P Bridge Company and oversaw operations there for many years. When the Río Rico Bridge collapsed in 1941, a new site was selected two miles upriver. The B&P completed the Nuevo Progreso Bridge in 1952. (Hidalgo County Historical Commission.)

Judge Silas P. Silver, general manager of the American Rio Grande Land and Irrigation Company, rides as a passenger while driven by his chauffer in a Packard Touring car in this c. 1930 image. In his later years, Silver suffered a stroke and was partially disabled, but he remained active in city and county politics for many years. (MSTH.)

Silas P. Silver’s grandson Albert Stephens, seen here wearing short pants, was the son of Silver’s only daughter, Mary Ellen, who married Charles Stephens of Louisiana. Here, Albert is shown on a trip to Silver’s hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, in the 1920s. The boy on the horse is unidentified. (MSTH.)