Poised at the entrance to the Lower Rio Grande Valley is RAYMONDVILLE, and the nearby LA SAL VIEJA, a great salt lake, which for the most of two centuries provided salt for South Texas and northern Mexico. From Raymondville it is only a twenty minute drive to the Gulf of Mexico at PORT MANSFIELD.
Next are HARLINGEN and SAN BENITO, two palm-studded cities, situated side by side, frilled with tropical plants and fruits. Plush motels, lavish restaurants, reminiscent of Las Vegas with dazzling neon finery, dramatize the wide, sparkling, clean streets. The warm winter season is entertaining with its fiestas and cultural festivities. In San Benito a beautiful wide resaca (Spanish for old river bed) is one of the largest and most picturesque left by the Rio Grande in its meandering around. Besides being the home of the Valley cotton industry, tremendous canning plants are located in this area. Every February the Municipal Golf Course is the scene of the nationally famous “Life Begins at Forty” invitational tournament.
Once this beautiful valley setting was a tangle of thorny mesquite and cactus, but irrigation has turned it into a productive tropical resortland. The slogan of the Valley is “land of fruit, flowers and funshine.” Amid nature’s lavish display of grapefruit, oranges, lemons, limes, tangerines and tangelos, solemnly sit weathered old missions. Art here often takes the form of the weird figurine shapes of cactus huddling near the ground or jutting against the sky.
About two-thirds of the people in the Lower Rio Grande Valley are of Latin-American descent. As a result, the Valley is bilingual. Even stop signs read “stop” and “alto.” Noted for their friendliness, the populace of the Valley (at this writing) is numbered around a half million.
At the scene of the first shots fired in the Mexican War sits BROWNSVILLE, largest city in the Valley, named after Fort Brown, a military establishment that was earlier named Fort Taylor. Here are battle sites marking places where General Zachary Taylor defeated the Mexicans during his victorious march through the Valley. Just outside the city is Palmetto, a site that has the distinction of being the actual last battleground of the Civil War, when three hundred Confederates stationed at Fort Brown defeated seventeen hundred Federalists who tried to capture the cotton stored in Brownsville warehouses. This was six weeks after the surrender of Lee at Appomattox; due to poor communications of the time news of the surrender had not reached Texas. Now Fort Brown serves as Texas Southmost College. The old buildings and breastworks of the fort still remain.
A gentler history of Brownsville can be experienced in the STILLMAN HOUSE, built by the city’s founder over a hundred years ago and now carefully restored. In the patio of the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce sits a little locomotive, relic of the RIO GRANDE RAILROAD, first in South Texas. The CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION has survived here since 1850. Nearby, also, is the convent INCARNATE WORD, where the first nuns came in 1860. A state marker identifies the site. Brownsville’s high-brows leisurely nested in the OLD VIVIER OPERA HOUSE, scene of culture and recreation until 1916.
In Brownsville, the old-world charm of the Spaniards, the exotic traditions of the Indians, the youth and industry of the Americans are blended and mingled into a unique and colorful culture. Under Spanish architecture one hears soft Castilian spoken. The strong influence of ancient Mexican-Indian cultures survives in the rich-hued dresses of the local women, colorful comic wear, quaint customs, and many spicy border dishes. Exquisite inns with modern facades nestle in lush vegetation. The PORT OF BROWNSVILLE, western terminus of the Intracoastal Canal, serves as an outlet to world markets for the South Texas and northern Mexico area.
A short distance from Brownsville is SANTA MARIA, recalling the days of its importance when river boats were the principal means of transportation along the Rio Grande. Now it is interesting because of the lovely little church built in 1880 by the Oblate Fathers.
Close to LOS FRESNOS, a farming community, is BAYVIEW, where live industrialists, writers, artists, and retired executives. Luxurious estates dot a twenty-two mile stretch of a beautiful resaca. The Los Fresnos Charity Horse Show, with its international flavor, is held in mid-June.
Over the golden Queen Isabella Causeway, across from Padre Beach on Padre Island, reigns PORT ISABEL, explored by Spaniards in the early sixteenth century. Before 1800 it was settled as a fishing resort community. Its old lighthouse, built in 1852, has been preserved as a state park in the center of the city—probably the smallest state park in Texas. This historic structure was built to guide ships coming in from the Gulf of Mexico through Brazos Santiago Pass. Port Isabel still serves as a port for ships from the seven seas. Ocean going vessels constantly ply through Brazos Santiago Pass. Succulent shrimp is the commercial life of Port Isabel, which is often referred to as the “Shrimp Capital Of The World.” Around the clock the shrimpers unload their valuable cargo. The city is also home of the Texas International Fishing Tournament held in August. At one time Port Isabel was designed to become a modern Venice, with channels dredged through it which may still be seen.