Marker Title:	Fort Brown Reservation
City:	Brownsville
County:	Cameron
Year Marker Erected:	1964
Designations:	na
Marker Location:	Ft. Brown-TX Southmost College 1600 East Elizabeth Street
Marker Text:	Named by Gen. Zachary Taylor during Mexican war, for Maj. Jacob Brown, who died in 1846 defending the post. Permanent 385-acre reservation laid out 1848 by Col. Wm. Davenport, around original earthworks. Young officers in the Taylor occupancy included D.C. Buell, U.S. Grant, Geo. G. Meade, Geo. H. Thomas, later Civil War general in the U.S. Army; and Braxton Bragg, T.H. Holmes, James Longstreet, J.C. Pemberton and E. Kirby Smith, future confederate generals. In the late 1850's Robert E. Lee served here. In March 1861, Texas confederates under Col. John S. Ford occupied the post; later C.S.A. Commanders were Cols. P.N. Luckett and Aug. Buchel, Gens. H.P. Bee and J.B. Magruder. In November 1863 the post was burned. Federals under Gen. N.P. Banks had a camp of tents at Fort Brown until July 1864. After that, Gen. J.S. Slaughter and Col. Ford reoccupied the post with confederates until the war ended. Soon after the confederate surrender at Appomatox, U.S. Gen. Phillip Sheridan brought in troops for a show of force against the French in Mexico City. In 1867-69, new permanent Fort was built by Capt. Wm. A. Wainwright. City and college acquired reservation in 1948. Northern boundary International Boulevard.

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32. Fort Brown, Buildings 85 and 86

 

Marker Title:	Fort Brown, Buildings 85 and 86
City:	Brownsville
County:	Cameron
Year Marker Erected:	1965
Designations:	Recorded Texas Historic Landmark
Marker Location:	Fort Brown, Gorgas Road, Brownsville.
Marker Text:	Morgue and linen storage. 1867 Fort Brown Buildings 85 and 86. Brick fringe, cornice. Autopsies in yellow fever study were made here by Dr. Wm. C. Gorgas, Capt. Hennessey, Lt. Crowder, Dr. Melon, defying orders of superior officer. Dr. Gorgas became immune.

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33. Gem, The

 

Marker Title:	The Gem
County:	Cameron
Year Marker Erected:	1991
Designations:	Recorded Texas Historic Landmark
Marker Location:	400 East 13th Street; Brownsville
Marker Text:	Built in 1848 for J.E. Garey and Company, this structure under subsequent ownership has housed a "drinking house", boutique and was the residence of Brownsville's first mayor, Robert S. Leman. The Gem is an excellent local example of mid-19th century commercial architecture influenced by vernacular traditions. Features include a five-bay facade, second floor balcony with full-length shutters, first floor french doors, and detailed corbelled brickwork.

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34. Grammar School, Old

 

Marker Title:	Old Grammar School
City:	Brownsville
County:	Cameron
Year Marker Erected:	1984
Designations:	na
Marker Location:	730 East 8th Street, Brownsville
Marker Text:	Although public education in Cameron County had begun in 1854, the city of Brownsville was able to set up its own public school system in 1875, with classes held in various buildings throughout the city. In 1887 Captain William Kelly, chairman of the board of trustees, began a reorganization of the school system and called J. Frank Cummings to be superintendent of the Brownsville Schools. Cummings, a native of Brownsville, led the board of trustees to erect a centrally located school building on property that was donated by the city council. In October 1889 the Brownsville Public School, which housed the Grammar, Junior, and Senior High classes, opened at this site. The building originally had 12 rooms on two floors, crowned by a cupola, and was expanded as enrollment increased. Supt. Cummings and 12 teachers taught the 9 grades. The first graduates, Aggie Willman and Annie Russell, received their diplomas in 1890. Although the original building was razed in 1929, the present school was constructed with some of the bricks from the old school. In continuous use as a location for education since 1889, this site maintains an important link to the city's early history.

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35. Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes

 

Marker Title:	Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes
City:	Brownsville
County:	Cameron
Year Marker Erected:	1981
Designations:	Recorded Texas Historic Landmark
Marker Location:	700 West Jefferson, Brownsville
Marker Text:	This brick and stone Grotto was constructed about 1869-70 on the grounds of the convent of the congregation of the incarnate word and blessed sacrament, a cloistered order. Built under the supervision of Sister Theresa Solis and opened to the public in 1926, it contains petrified wood from Roma (120 miles northwest) and stones from European Grottos and the Grave of St. Theresa. The convent was demolished in 1969 and the Grotto was relocated here.

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36. Hebrew Cemetery

 

Marker Title:	Hebrew Cemetery
City:	Brownsville
County:	Cameron
Year Marker Erected:	1996
Designations:	na
Marker Location:	2nd and East Madison Streets, Brownsville
arker Text:	Jewish settlers came to the Brownsville/Matamoros area in the mid-1840's. In 1868 one half acre of land next to the city cemetery was purchased by the Hebrew Benevolent society from Charles Stillman for $1. Victims of an 1858 yellow fever epidemic, who were originally buried in the city cemetery, were later reinterred here. This was the only Jewish burial ground to serve the lower Texas Valley and Matamoros until 1950. Among the many civic and business leaders buried here are immigrants from Europe and Veterans from every American War since 1845.

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37. Historic Brownsville Museum

 

Museum Name:	Historic Brownsville Museum
Mailing Address:	641 E Madison Street
City:	Brownsville
Zip code:	78520
Area Code:	956
Phone:	548-1313
County:	Cameron

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38. Immaculate Conception Cathedral

 

Marker Title:	Immaculate Conception Cathedral
City:	Brownsville
County:	Cameron
Year Marker Erected:	1962
Designations:	Recorded Texas Historic Landmark
Marker Location:	1218 East Jefferson Street, Brownsville
Marker Text:	Mass was first celebrated in this area in 1849 by the oblates of Mary Immaculate. This church building was completed ten years later. Father Peter Yves Keralum designed the structure, which features Gothic Revival styling. The rectory was the site of the first Texas oblate seminary and served as a haven for priests fleeing revolutions in Mexico. Immaculate Conception first became a Cathedral in 1874 when bishop Dominic Manucy lived here. The designation was not granted again until 1965, when Brownsville was named the seat of the newly formed diocese.

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39. Immaculate Conception Church

 

Resource Name:	Immaculate Conception Church
Address:	1218 E. Jefferson St.
Architect:	Keralum,Father Pierre Y.
County:	Cameron
City:	Brownsville
Architectural Style:	GOTHIC REVIVAL
Narrative:	The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception exemplifies Gothic Revival architecture in the ecclesiastical form. Built between 1856 and 1859, the church is located in the old part of Brownsville's downtown district, near the Rio Grande River. The Cathedral is Latin cross in plan, with the principle public entrance on the north side. The single story structure has buttressed brick walls which rise to a height of forty feet. The foundation, continuous bearing with footings under piers, is also brick. The gabled roof is pitched approximately twelve in twelve, and is covered in asbestos shingles; the original tiles no longer exist. The roof reaches to seventy feet at its peak. Brick parapets are laid in a continuous wheel pattern with open work. The main facade is marked by a square brick entrance tower, eighty-eight feet in height. Below this tower, a Gothic arched, heavily molded, recessed entry, with a pair of nine paneled wooden doors. The reveals are molded brick and wood, and the tympanum is also wood. Above this entry is a large, stained glass Gothic window flanked by two stained glass lances windows. There are thirty-eight stained glass windows in the church. With the exception of the large pointed arch window at the entrance, they are all simple lances windows, placed symmetrically, with brick trim. Inside, along the nave, there are eight clustered piers which help support the roof. The rib vaulted ceiling is paneled with canvas, painted blue, and lined with gold leaf. The interior walls are plastered and painted white. The floor is green terrazzo, except at the altar, where it is covered with red carpet. The original altar was wooden, ornately carved and trimmed in gold leaf. In 1960, in accordance with Church liturgical reforms, it was replaced with a simple flat marble table. The original pulpit was designed by the church's architect, and was replaced with a simple podium, also in 1960. The hand-pulled bells in the belfry are original; they were taken from a steamship in the late 1800's. Seven of the nine original crystal and bronze chandeliers remain. They were imported from Paris when the church was built. The wooden pews are original; -the seating capacity is over four hundred. In 1958 the Altar of the Sacred Heart was installed. During the same period the Madonna Chapel was dedicated; it was a gift of the Stillman family in memory of Charles Stillman, an early pioneer and founder of Brownsville. The imported marble altar is surrounded by four stained glass windows. Centered over the gold-leaved retable is a painting of the Madonna and Child. The chapel is set off from the nave of the church by a high grille surmounted by the coat of arms of Mariano S. Garriga, Bishop of Corpus Christi at the time. There is a rectory located directly behind the cathedral, built in 1861. It is constructed of the same bricks as the church. Two wings were added to this building at an unknown date. A vestry was added in 1890. Originally, the rectory was three stories high, but in 1933 a hurricane blew the roof off. Consequently, the third floor ceiling was lowered and this floor was used as an attic. Currently, the priests reside on the refurbished second floor, and the first floor contains offices. A spacious arched gallery opens from the rectory to an inside patio. In 1935 the second floor of the gallery was enclosed with brick and glass windows were installed. The walks within the grounds were originally brick, and now are brick and concrete. There is a memorial to the Oblate Missionaries in the northeast corner of the churchyard, and a vault of the Simon Celaya family in the northwest corner. The grounds arc enclosed by an iron fence with stucco covered pilasters. In 1963 restoration of the exterior of the Cathedral was carried out. In 1965 the interior was restored to compare favorably with the original beauty. This included total replacement of the canvas ceiling, and painting and decoration of ceiling, walls and columns. A new roof was put on the building. This was the first complete restoration done on the church. In 1970 the church was damaged by fire, and another restoration was begun. At this time the exterior of the church was sandblasted, and painted, and what appears to be cement stucco was applied to the exterior along the base. This stucco waterproofing was a response to moisture in the walls. Its application aggravated the problem, causing the moisture or rising damp to climb to the height of the stucco and to exit trough the interior plaster. Recently the damaged plaster was replaced with cement plaster, a treatment that further seals the walls and ultimately causes the moisture to rise higher. The Gothic Revival Structure of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception is an outstanding example of mid- nineteenth century architecture, few of which remain in the Rio Grande Valley. It was designed by Father Pierre Y. Kerralum, who studied architecture in France before entering the seminary. Texas boasts many Gothic Revival churches. Few, however, are as highly evolved as the Immaculate Conception. The Brownsville church is also and early use of the style; it was not widely used inn Texas until the 1880's. Built between 1856 and 1859, the cathedral dates back to only ten years after the incorporation of Brownsville, and stands as a milestone to the development of the Catholic Church in Texas. It was the first permanent settlement of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in the United States. In 1849, at the request of the bishop J.M. Odin of Galveston, whose diocese included the entire state of Texas, four priests of the Oblate of Mary Immaculate came to Brownsville from Canada. For several months they lived in a unused barn and said Mass in an abandoned store building. In March of 1850, a lot was purchased and plans for a chapel were made. This small chapel was completed in June of that year. By 1856, they had outgrown the original building; plans and specifications were made for a larger, permanent chapel. Construction began on July 6. 1856. On June 12, 1859, the church was completed. Bishop Odin blessed it and dedicated it to the Immaculate Conception. In 1861, the rectory of the church was erected. Besides serving as a residence for the local priests, it also served as a refuge priests fleeing the turmoil of several Mexican revolutions. The second floor of the rectory was the site of the first Oblate seminary in the United States. In 1874, the church was named a Cathedral when Bishop Dominic Mauncy became the first Vicar Apostolic in Brownsville. The title was revoked eight months later when the Bishop moved his residence to Corpus Christi. In 1912, Corpus Christi became a diocese, and Brownsville did not regain its rank until 1965 when the Diocese of Brownsville was established. The Cathedral was affiliated with St. Peter's Basilica in Rome in 1924. It continues to serve as an active focus for the community. BIBLIOGRAPHY ON FILE IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

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39. Kowalski-Dennett Home

 

Marker Title:	Kowalski-Dennett Home
City:	Brownsville
County:	Cameron
Year Marker Erected:	1966
Designations:	Recorded Texas Historic Landmark
Marker Location:	507 Southeast Elizabeth Street, Brownsville
Marker Text:	French mansard house built 1893 for Louis and Amelia Kowalski by S.W. Brooks, designer of many public structures. Kowalski, a customhouse broker, was Cameron County treasurer, then district clerk for more than 40 years. Also prominent in the area were Jesse and Mary Dennett, who bought the house in 1926. Dennett's maternal grandfather came here 1846 in Mexican war; paternal grandfather came 1866 with U.S. Army of observation.

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40. La Madrileña

 

La Madrileña

Resource Name:	La Madrileña
Address:	1002 E. Madison
Architect:	McCoy,Santiago; Adams,Modesto Estevan
County:	Cameron
City:	Brownsville
Architectural Style:	OTHER
Narrative:	La Madrilena, also historically known as the Adrian Ortiz Grocery, is a one-story, L-plan brick commercial building. It stands on a flat corner lot in an older neighborhood of residential and small-scale commercial buildings. Although the structure itself shares many characteristics of late l9th-Century commercial architecture found along the Texas-Mexico border, the! ornamental brick parapets that define its distinctive character are exceptional. After a long period of neglect, the structure was recently rehabilitated. No historic outbuildings remain. La Madrilena or the Adrian Ortiz Grocery is a one- story, L-plan brick building facing southeast on the corner of the grid-patterned streets of East Madison and Tenth. Its walls are 13 inches thick and constructed of handmade brick laid in a common bond pattern. The building is covered by a shallow hipped roof and rests on a brick foundation. The principal facades, northeast and northwest, extend five bays and are identical. Each bay is punctuated by double wooden door with two panels in the lower half and 4-lights in the upper half with transoms, replicas of the original door assemblies. The glazing of each door is covered by a wooden blind with four panels in the upper two thirds and two panels in the lower one-third, again replicas of the original doors. Each bay is framed by brick pilasters with reverse stairstep upper corners joined by corbelled cornices. The pilaster elements continue up the facade and terminate in gabled pinnacles arranged in height in an A-A-B-B-A-A pattern. The taller "B" pinnacles are connected by a brickwork paneled parapet and to the inside "A" pinnacles by a brick cornice following a gentle downward arc. The southeast and southwest facades are of unadorned brickwork. A single, 4-paneled door is centered on the southeast end. A new lower, one-story L-plan structure is inset in the original building's inside angle and covered in stucco. It is surmounted by a shallow tripped shed roof abutting the inside walls of the original building. This is a 1987 replacement of an earlier addition at the same location, demolished about 1965. The addition has a 4- panel door with sidelights facing southeast and a window facing southwest. The building was unoccupied for approximately 30 years following Mr. Ortiz's death in 1957. During that period, the original roof decayed beyond repair and, while exterior walls remained intact, interior features were completely lost. The 1987 rehabilitation as approved by the Texas Historical Commission and the National Park Service Rocky Mountain Regional Office resulted in the insertion of modern offices within the old walls. Ceiling heights were retained, and wooden floors and beaded wooden ceilings reconstructed. Interior brick walls were painted, and sheetrock-clad partitions built as part of its conversion to law offices. Overall, the rehabilitation effort reflected a thoughtful concern for replicating original features when known and using contemporaneous elements when not known. Brick paving surrounds the building, and a parking lot is at the northwest of the property. Various outbuildings were constructed and demolished over the years. The remainder of the property is covered with grass and has few major plantings. La Madrilena, constructed in 1892, is associated with prominent Brownsville merchant Adrian Ortiz (1860- 1957). In translation, La Madrilena means "native of Madrid" and was so named because Spain was the birthplace of Ortiz. The building eloquently represents the vernacular commercial architecture of the Lower Rio Grande Valley along the Texas-Mexico border, and today serves as one of the finest examples of l9th century commercial architecture in the city of Brownsville. La Madrilena is located in Brownsville at the southernmost part of Texas in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. This Valley, generally defined as south of the Nueces River in Texas and north of Monterrey in Mexico, is recognized as a distinctive cultural region derived from the overlay of Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo-American occupation. One distinction is its vernacular architecture which has attracted the attention of a number of scholars. Most of their studies have focused on domestic architecture, however some generalizations concerning commercial architecture macy be drawn from various works. Commercial buildings along the Rio Grande probably evolved from the late 18th century simple adobe or jacal structures containing both domestic quarters and commercial activities in one room, and segregated commercial and living spaces in at least two rooms. This trend appears to have been set by the 1850's when the commercial buildings in early settlement areas (San Ygnacio, NR 1973; Old Guerrero, Mexico) reflected the use of course-stone load-bearing walls, hewned wooden lintels and double doors, and shallow parapets concealing flat roofs drained by canales (some probably had gabled, thatched roofs). The finest of these sported decorative quoins, cornices, and occasionally wooden door moulds. The locational preference appears to have been for prime, corner lots on the central plaza while the preferred forms were either an L-plan enclosing a private area or a rectangular plan and symmetrically placed double doors opening to the street. The overriding cultural influences on these buildings were the Spanish and Mexican building traditions. By the late 19th century, commercial architecture evolved to using double-wythe the brick load-bearing walls, machine-sawn wooden door and window surrounds, and a tall parapet concealing a flat or hipped roof. While the preference for corner locations and especially the L-plan continued, the change to using brick allowed designers to build two stories high and define cornices and pilasters with corbelled brick. With an additional floor, wrought iron balconies often were added and domestic and commercial spaces were able to be segregated by floors. These buildings indicate an artful confluence of Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo-American cultures. The Spanish influence is reflected in the European practice of combining commercial and residential spaces under one roof. The Mexican is demonstrated by a traditional design response to the local climate and construction of local materials. And the Anglo-American influence is probably best shown in the architectural details of the building, most likely a result of classical models from American- published pattern books. Since nearby American fort construction of standard-sized bricks and classical detailing, still well-represented at Fort Brown (NHL 1960) and Fort Ringgold, apparently precedes the use of these materials and details on private buildings in the Rio Grande Valley, their influence should be considered as well. The architecture of La Madrilena displays many of the characteristics of the commercial buildings of the late 19th century along the Rio Grande. It is constructed of brick in an L-plan while symmetrically placed double doors serve as fenestration and highlight the facade. The most noteworthy feature, however, are the tall sculptural parapets with nine ornamental brick pinnacles which are exceptional. Although the architect and builder are undocumented, it has been determined through the business papers of H.M. Field,, who maintained a brick yard and building supply business a few blocks away, that local builders Santiago McCoy and Modesto Estevan Adams constructed the building. The regional architectural characteristics probably come from the local builders who were doubtless familiar with the commercial buildings in nearby Roma (NR, 1972) and Rio Grande City (Silverio de la Pena Drugstore, NR 1980). La Madrilena, however, surely reflects part of the personality, background, and influence of the owner, Adrian Ortiz. Ortiz was born in Spain in 1860, a son of Claudio and Andrea Barreda Ortiz. He left Spain before his 18th birthday, reportedly to avoid conscription, and moved to Texas' southernmost city, Brownsville, then with a population of 4,900. There he joined several Spanish families already settled. One of these was headed by a relative, Juan H. Fernandez, a proprietor of a general merchandise store called La Villa de Llanes. Ortiz lived with and worked for Fernandez for a few years before marrying Manuela Buitureira (1867-1945), a daughter of fellow Spaniards Daniel and Cesaria Cisneros Buitureira. In 1892, Ortiz began to organize his own business by deciding to have a one-story brick store constructed beyond the city's central business district, in a largely residential neighborhood on land acquired from famed Brownsville/New York City capitalist James Stillman. The L- plan form of the new building allowed him to sell groceries, hardware, and sundries in the main part of the store along East Madison Street and ready-to-wear clothes, as well as clothes especially made by a seamstress supervised by Manuela Ortiz, in the back portion of the ell along Tenth Street. Most of the store's customers were farmers who maintained accounts that were paid when their crops were harvested. The goods were sold in bulk and weighed with a large scale on a long wooden counter running almost the full length of the East Madison Street side. To obtain unusual merchandise, Ortiz developed business relationships with his Spanish relatives and friends. He obtained wine, dried codfish, and special imported items from Juan H. Fernandez as well as other merchandise from prominent local businessmen Francisco Yturria and Andres Cueto (La Nueva Libertad, NR 1984). La Madrilena developed into a gathering place for neighbors that was managed under the watchful eye of Ortiz until his death on January 18, 1957, at the age of 97. He and his wife are both buried in the old city cemetery on Madison Street. After his death, the store was closed and allowed to fall into disrepair. The 3-bedroom, frame house which Ortiz built adjoining the store deteriorated and was demolished about 1965. The Ortiz Grocery is recognized by residents of the city as a significant historic structure and has been identified in a number of historic site surveys. Its most significant recognition, however, came from the inclusion in a 1977 Historic American Building Survey Project. By the time La Madrilena was acquired by lawyer Reynaldo Cantu about 1987, little more than the exterior walls remained standing, although those were surprisingly intact. Carntu employed the construction firm Donald Ferguson, Inc., to rehabilitate the structure in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation. That work now complete. La Madrilena is again a source of pride to the people of Brownsville, and it is hoped that the project will act as a catalyst for the restoration and adaptive use of other historic buildings in the neighborhood.

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41. La Nueva Libertad

 

La Nueva Libertad

Resource Name:	La Nueva Libertad
Address:	1301 E. Madison St.
County:	Cameron
City:	Brownsville

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42. Launching Site of First U.S. Army Warplane

 

Marker Title:	Launching Site of First U.S. Army Warplane
County:	Cameron
Year Marker Erected:	1967
Designations:	Recorded Texas Historic Landmark
Marker Location:	Fort Brown - Southmost College, Gorgias Street, Brownsville.
Marker Text:	From Old Fort Brown Cavalry Drill Field, near this spot, was made the first flight of a U.S. Army plane to be fired upon in armed hostilities, April 20, 1915. Two Signal Corps officers, Lts. Byron Q. Jones and Thos. Milling, flew a Martin T.O. Curtiss 75 on the border to spot movements of Mexican revolutionist Pancho Villa. They reached 2,600 feet; were up 20 minutes. Though they did not cross the Rio Grande, the plane was hit by machine gun and small arms fire. Their patrols lasted 6 weeks. Planes were used more effectively in fighting against Villa in 1916.

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43. Manautou House

 

Manautou House

Resource Name:	Manautou House
Address:	5 E. Elizabeth St.
Architect:	Holliday,E. Guy
County:	Cameron
City:	Brownsville
Architectural Style:	PRAIRIE SCHOOL
Narrative:	The Manautou House is a one- and two-story brick house located at the intersection of two of the most important streets in Brownsville, Texas. It is distinguished by its massing, proportions, and coloring. These qualities remark the unusual stylistic derivation of the house, which reflects an architectural styling derived from the early 20th-century designs of Frank Lloyd Wright. The Manautou House has experienced few alterations and continues to demonstrate the indirect impact of Wright's pioneering principles. The Manautou House is located on a prominent corner, in an older residential neighborhood of Brownsville. The principal elevation of the house faces southwest toward Elizabeth Street, while a secondary elevation faces northwest toward Palm Boulevard. The three-block campus of Brownsville High School (1916, Atlee B. Ayres, architect), Brownsville High School and Junior College (1928, Phelps and Dewees and Atlee B. Ayres and Robert M. Ayres, architects), and Brownsville Junior High School (1922, M. L. Waller, architect) lies across Palm Boulevard from the Manautou House. The First Presbyterian Church (1928, Kelwood Company, builders), another neighborhood landmark, is situated diagonally across the street from the Manautou House. The Manautou House consists of a squarish central block from which wings project at the western and northern corners. The central block is two stories high, while the wings are one story in height. The principal entrance, at the southwest corner of the Elizabeth Street elevation, is recessed, and gives access to a reception hall running halfway along the northwest side of the central block to a lateral stair. The living room is stretched across the rest of the Elizabeth Street side of the central block. Behind it, in the northeast corner, lies the dining room, which is accessible from the living room through a pair of French doors. The straight staircase, perpendicular to the entrance hall, is set in the middle of the central block between the living room and the kitchen. It is reached from the entrance hall and from a breakfast room in the northwest corner of the house via a small platform raised several steps above the level of the first floor. The kitchen is between the breakfast room and the dining room on the northeast side of the house. A service porch, which also contains a bathroom, occupies the one-story wing projecting from the breakfast room. A sun room occupies the other one-story wing, which projects off the reception hall opposite the living room. On the second floor, bedrooms are set in each of the four corners of the house. A single bathroom lies at the head of the stairs midway along the southeast side of the house. The recessed entrance bay introduces a setback in plan. On the second story, the back is occupied by a dressing alcove opening into the master bedroom. The house is built of red brick laid in common bond, while soldier courses occur as lintels above major openings. Broad and simple molded bands of white cast concrete provide a decorative contrast with the wall surface. The bands occur at the sill levels of all major window openings, and are also used as coping slabs on the stepped piers framing the living rooms windows on the Elizabeth Street elevation, on the rim of the planter box below this window and the low parapet walls flanking the front entrance, and as the secondary sun-room entrance on the side of the house on Palm Boulevard. This contrast in color is reiterated in the white wooden fascias and soffits of the eaves. A decorative, rectangular panel defined by a slightly relieved band of soldier coursing, accented with cast-concrete corner blocks, occurs above the living-room windows on the Elizabeth Street elevation. The roofs are clad with lustrous, red, shingle tiles of terra cotta. The massing of the Manautou House is blocky, and the proportions are squarish with a tendency toward horizontal extension. The most notable massing elements are a pair of stepped piers framing the living-room window, and the projecting wings and the parapet walls at the entrance. The composition of the blocky piers receding back into the mass of the house as they is a distinctly Wrightian element, especially in this way in which a planter box is used to bind this compositional unit together at ground level. Another Wrightian conceit is the planting urns set on the pier setbacks and on the parapet walls. The roofs are hipped, and the broadly projecting, unbroken eave lines enhance the horizontal quality of the house. The entrance recess is reflected in the roofing profile of the central block; the roofs of the one-story wings are merged carefully into the second-story walls to maintain the sense of a low, spreading silhouette. Along the Palm Boulevard elevation, the one-story roof recurs as a hood extending from the breakfast-room bay window to the rear wing. A low chimney stack serves the living room fireplace on the southeast side of the house, while a second, narrower stack on the northeast side contains a ventilation flue. The fenestration contributes to the prevailing architectural theme. The main living-room window is horizontally elongated and divided by wooden glazing bars into four compartments: a transom panel spanning the entire width of the aperture, two narrow casements, one at each end of the aperture, and a long central panel of fixed glass in the center. Above this aperture, a double-hung, one-over-one window is inset deeply, one on each side of a central pier. The window openings of the one-story sun porch consist of ranks of vertically elongated double-hung windows, with four on the Elizabeth Street elevation and two framing a centered door on the Palm Boulevard elevation. A polygonal bay window projecting beneath the roof hood looks out from the breakfast room toward Palm Boulevard. Most other windows are one-over-one, double hung, sliding-sash units made of wood. The front door is set into a wide, shallow, flat-headed recess. The living room and sun porch contain the most distinctive interior details. A fireplace on the narrower, southeast end wall of the living room is framed by built-in bookcases. The ceiling is divided into a central compartment and six subsidiary compartments by dark, wooden framing elements. The sun porch is paved with octagonal tiles in three colors, whereas the kitchen and the front steps are paved with square tiles. Most other floors are surfaced with wood planking. Walls and ceilings are finished in plaster. A two-story, two-car garage with an attached servant's apartment rests on the northeast corner of the property, and is served by a concrete driveway extending to Palm Boulevard. The garage is of brick construction with a hipped tile roof, and is coordinated with the architectural style of the house. The Manautou House was built between 1924 and 1925 for Mr. and Mrs. E. Manautou. E. Guy Holliday was the architect and contractor. The house has been maintained with few alterations and is still occupied by Mrs. Manautou. The Manautou House is a rare Texan derivative of the architectural manner which came to be called the Prairie style. This was invented by the Chicago architect Frank Lloyd Wright around the turn-of-the-century to provide an architecture liberated from the historical styles, and one which recognized in its massing and composition the character of the mid-American landscape in which it was conceived. Its somewhat delayed appearance in Brownsville, in the middle 1920s, is due to a chain of circumstances which linked the architect and builder of the house, E. Guy Holliday, to El Paso architecture during the 1920s, where the Prairie style achieved a brief florescence. The house was built for a successful Brownsville merchant, E. Manautou, whose family still resides there. The Manautou House is a distant echo of the architectural revolution initiated in the suburbs of Chicago in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright's search for a distinctly modern architecture led him to devise a style characterized by blocky masses supporting low, horizontally hovering planes. This configuration was supposed to symbolize shelter on the broad plains of the Middle West. Wright influenced a group of young architects in Chicago, and as his work received attention in the architectural press, his influence and practice spread. As early as 1900, Wright was commissioned to design a building in Texas which, however, was never built. Nevertheless, Wrightian architecture began to appear in the state thanks principally to three architects. Two of these--Charles Erwin Barglebaugh, who was associated with architects Lang and Witchell of Dallas; and George Willis, who practiced in Dallas and San Antonio--had actually worked for Wright. The third, Henry C. Trost, of El Paso, spent time in Chicago during the 1880s and 1890s. Trost was the most talented and prolific exponent of the Prairie school in Texas, Followed by Barglebaugh who, in 1919, established an independent practice in El Paso. Edward Guy Holliday (1851-1961), who designed and built the Manautou House, was born in Fairfield, Ohio. Holiday's earliest professional experience was as a draftsman for the Kinnear and Gager Company of Columbus, Ohio. In 1911, Holliday moved to El Paso where he was employed by the contractor Otto P. Kroeger. During his tenure with Kroeger, Holliday was involved with the construction of a number of locally important buildings, including the 12-story Anson Mills Building (1912), and the eight-story Hotel Paso del Norte (1912) and the six-story Popular Dry Goods Company department store. These three buildings were designed by Trost's firm, Trost and Trost, this experience helped familiarize Holliday with Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture. From 1917 until 1919, Holliday served in France in the U. S. Army. In 1919, he returned to El Paso and to Kroeger's employment, spending the next four years supervising the construction of army cantonments and airfields along the U. S.- Mexico border from Nogales, Arizona to McAllen, Texas. In 1923, Holliday married and moved to Brownsville, where he would practice for the next ten years, working both as an architect and as a contractor. Construction notices in newspapers of the time, and in the Texas General Contractors Association Monthly Bulletin, indicate that Holliday was quite active. Among the buildings which can be attributed to him are a house for the developer A.D. Dickinson, Jr. (1925), the Broadfoot Building at East Elizabeth and Tenth Street (1927), the Yturria House on Palm Boulevard (1930), and a remodeling of the Celaya House on East Washington Street for a subsequent owner, Rentfro B. Creager, who was Texas's foremost Republican figure of the 1920s. Holliday designed many of the original buildings at Olmito, a resort community between Brownsville and San Benito after 1927 by the Al Parker Securities Company, including Olmito Junior High School (1928). As far as can be determined, the Prairie school massing and detail of the Manautou House were unique in Brownsville. The owner, Mrs. Irene Gonzalez de Manautou, recalls that Holiday showed her a booklet of house designs from which she selected the one that most appealed to her. Holliday adapted the design to the site by reorienting the entrance so that it would be located on the front (Elizabeth Street) elevation rather than on the side street. This pragmatic approach to design helps explain why the Prairie style figured rather negligibly in Holiday's career. By the 1920s Wright's Prairie school was in eclipse. In South Texas, the so-called Mediterranean or Spanish type became the dominant style of the later 1920s. Most of Holiday's subsequent buildings reflect this trend. The most pronounced characteristics of the Prairie School found in the Manautou House are its horizontally, achieved with the projecting eaves of the roof and the linear alignment of the cast-concrete trim, and the treatment of the framed bay on the Elizabeth Street elevation. The window enframement of the Manautou House also reflects Wrightian precedence, but at a greater remove. Wright would often project bays of windows forward of a wall to offset the dominant horizontally, frequently incorporating planter boxes in this composition. He also used brick piers to frame the end elevations of gabled bays. He did not, however, simply attach piers to a wall surface on each side of major windows, as in the present example. This approach appears, however, in Lang and Winchell's J. W. Higginbotham House (1913) on Swiss Avenue in Dallas. Another house in Munger Place by Lang and Winchell, the Aldredge House on Live Oak, consists of a central block from which one-story, hipped roof wings project. This relation of the wings to the central block is strikingly similar to that of the Manautou House, as is the treatment of tiled roofs, although the central blocks of the two houses are different. Ironically, the Manautou House most closely resembles a house in Warsaw, Illinois, designed in 1914 by another obscure architect of Wrightian inclination, Ernest Wood. The resemblance was probably accidental, but it does suggest a common source for both Wood's and Holiday's designs. The plan of the Manautou House, a square containing a central, laterally, turned stair, with lower wings attached, closely resembles one which Wright devised for a model house design. That was the Fireproof House of $5000, published in the issue of the Ladies' Home Journal for April 1907. Wright used variations of this plan in his Hunt House (1907), Stockman House (1908), Ziegler House (1909), and Brigham House (1915). Holiday's Texas career was cut short by the economic crisis of the 1930s. He returned to El Paso in 1933, but eventually settled in Southern California. He reestablished an independent practice in San Diego in 1958, which he continued until his death. The modernism of the Manautou House, although it inspired no imitations, was not wholly lost on Brownsville. In 1937, the Austrian-born Los Angeles architect Richard J. Neutra, who had worked briefly with Wright at the time the Manautou House was built, designed the first house in Texas to be influenced by the Modern Movement, for George Kraigher in Brownsville. The owner of the Manautou House, Enrique Manautou (1885- 1962), was the founder of the department store of E Manautou, and for nearly a half-century was one of the leading retail merchants of Brownsville. Manautou was born in Ciudad Mier, Tamaulipas, where his father, an Alsatian immigrant, ran a general store. At the age of 17, Enrique Manautou immigrated to the United States. For about two years he worked in a store in Rio Grande City, Texas. His preparation for the wholesale and retail business was obtained while working for the wholesale firm of M. Halff and Brothers in San Antonio, between 1905 and 1913. In 1913, Manautou began his own dry goods store in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. In the course of the next 11 years he opened stores in Mission, Mercedes, Harlingen, Donna, Brownsville, and McAllen, and also acquired a wholesale store in San Antonio. Following the death of his first wife, Manautou married Irene Gonzalez of Monterrey, Mexico, in 1920. After the birth of the first of their six children, Mr. and Mrs. Manautou settled in Brownsville. In February 1924, Manautou purchased lots at Elizabeth Streets and Palm Boulevard, for $3500, on which to build his family's house. Two years later, he decided to concentrate his business interests in Brownsville. Manautou sold all his other stores, and in 1927- 1928 built the two-story building on Market Square which E. Manautou would occupy until its dissolution in 1967. Manautou had additional business interests. For a time he operated a men's clothing store called Bon Marche in Holiday's Broadfoot Building. He also invested in real estate and had property interests on South Padre Island. Manautou was a Mason and a Shriner, and he was the first Mexican American to serve as president of the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce. Since the death of Enrique Manautou, Mrs. Manautou has occupied the house with various family members.

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44. Neale House

 

Marker Title:	Neale House
City:	Brownsville
County:	Cameron
Year Marker Erected:	1964
Designations:	Recorded Texas Historic Landmark
Marker Location:	In Ft. Brown, south end of Porter Street, Brownsville.
Marker Text:	Southern Colonial house of Wm. Neale, Englishman who was in Navy of Mexico in early 1820's, operated Matamoros to Boca Del Rio Stage Line, and lived here 1834 to 1896. Built of imported lumber. Of fine workmanship. During 1859 Cortina's War, Wm. Peter Neale, a son of the builder, was killed in right front room.

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45. Old Brulay Plantation

 

Resource Name:	Old Brulay Plantation
Address:	E of Brownsville off TX 4
Architect:	Brulay,George N.
County:	Cameron
City:	Brownsville
Architectural Style:	NO STYLE LISTED
Narrative:	Presently the structures consist of ten abandoned plantation buildings comprised of five single story brick tenant residences having shingle roofs, a two story brick barn, storage area and residence, a two story brick residence, a two story brick structure probably serving as a sugar mill and refinery, a single story brick structure with a furnace and chimney now used as a garage and (10) the two story main residence (the Brulay house). It lies adjacent to a levee marking the south margin of the complex and to a branch road of the old South most Road. Vegetation around the site includes grass, palm trees and oak trees mostly located adjacent to the structures. Cultivated fields are to be found north of the structures. The buildings are missing window panes and in some instances, doors. Many of the windows are boarded up. Many of the shingle roofs are in bad condition. Two of the structures have small single story tin roofed frame additions. During the principal period of occupation the buildings would all have had shingle roofs. Several originally had galleries or porches across one side of the structure. The brick of the main structure probably would have been painted and the structures would have been surrounded by sugarcane fields. The Brulay plantation was purchased in 1870 by a French emigrant, George N. Brulay of Paris. In 1872 he built the first sugar mill (commercial) in the area to produce piloncillo on his 300 acre plantation. The plantation was severely damaged in 1880 by a severe hurricane. Shortly after purchasing the plantation, Brulay began irrigating his fields revolutionizing agricultural practices in the lower Rio Grande valley. He expanded his activities by purchasing, equipment for refining sugar in New Orleans and building a brick sugar mill and refinery after the frame structures burned. He continued to make improvements to the plantation creating "... the finest in the southland." His agricultural operation was so successful he was able to build a large 3 story town house (razed between 1923 and 1968). The enterprise flourished until his death. The site contains considerable archeological potential for providing insight into the material culture of the late 19th century, of a French emigrant and insight into the technology Brulay developed to revolutionize agricultural practices with the introduction of irrigation. He was apparently the first to introduce commercial production of sugar to the valley, the first to use irrigation and developed a high level of industrial technology to the milling and refining of the sugar he produced. The structures are well preserved considering that they have been abandoned some time. They provide a unique unit consisting of all the major structures of the plantation. BIBLIOGRAPHY ON FILE IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER

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