Relampago, Texas, Hidalgo County. (original) (raw)
Historical markers in Relampago
Photo courtesy Ken Rudine, March 2008
History on an Onionskin
Rel�mpago is the Spanish word for "lightning flash." The land had originally been part of a 1790 land grant that remained undivided until 1848. When Juan Jos� Ball�, the original grantee died, this portion of the grant fell to his son, Vicente Hinojosa. Vicente�s son, Cirildo is credited to be the first settler on the portion of land that was to become Relampago.
In 1852 Thaddeus Rhodes of Brownsville purchased a large plot and two years later a rancher named Jos� Mar�a Mora bought the neighboring plot (1,400 acres). Rhodes and Mora merged their holdings into the Relampago Ranch. By 1880 the community had 158 residents.
In the mid 1880s the community was serviced by the Brownsville stage line. In 1902 a parcel of land was sold to the American Rio Grande Land and Irrigation Company and six years later the town was platted by a subsidiary of ARGL&I. The town was all but washed away by a 1909 flood, which accounts for the notable lack of buildings today. A post office was briefly open from 1910 to 1908.
The old store (established by Mora in the 1880s) closed in the late 1920s. 200 people continued to live here into the 1960s but the development of a colonia rivaled the town, eventually taking the identity of the town by right of population. In the mid 1980s the population was down to 135.
The Relampago Cemetery has been used for several generations of the Mora and Rhodes families and the land is now used primarily for the growing of onions, particularly the 1015 variety.
Relampago Ranch historical marker
Photo courtesy Ken Rudine, March 2008
Historical Marker: from Mercedes, take FM 491 S about 3 miles, then go W on US 281 about 1.2 miles
Relampago Ranch
Originally part of a Spanish land grant, Relampago (lightning) Ranch community lay along the stage and military route from Rio Grande City to Brownsville. In 1852 Thaddeus Rhodes (1828-1904) acquired acreage here when he came as Hidalgo county clerk. Later he served as commissioner and judge. He and Jose Maria Mora (1824-1884), who bought adjoining land about 1856, helped bring economic and social stability. Mora and later his son Melchor, a deputy sheriff and Texas Ranger, farmed, ranched and had the only general store in the area. Descendants still live on the property.
(1980)
El Horcon Tract and Rio Rico historical marker
Photo courtesy Ken Rudine, March 2008
Historical Marker: US 281, 0.5 Miles E of intersection of US 281 and FM 491 (S. side of Rd), Mercedes
El Horcon Tract and Rio Rico
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which ended the Mexican War (1846-48) designated the main channel of the Rio Grande as the Mexico-U.S. boundary. Disputes arising from frequent changes in the river's course led to the Treaty of 1884 which recognized only those river diversions resulting from natural occurrences. The International Boundary Commission was established in 1889 to administer the Treaty of 1884. In 1906 the American Rio Grande Land and Irrigation Company dug an unauthorized canal about two miles south of here which altered the natural course of the Rio Grande. As a result, a 419-acre section of U.S. property called El Horcon tract was isolated south of the river. Although still U.S. territory according to the Treaty of 1884, the tract and the popular gambling and resort community of Rio Rico which flourished there during the 1920s and 1930s became increasingly subject to Mexican administration and jurisdiction. After the U.S. granted Mexico territorial rights over El Horcon tract and Rio Rico in 1970, a native of Rio Rico sued the U.S. government to guarantee his U.S. citizenship. This lawsuit began an eight-year legal battle that eventually led to U.S. citizenship for about 200 people born in Rio Rico prior to 1970.
(1994)
Military Highway of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Historical Marker
Photo courtesy Ken Rudine, March 2008
Historical Marker: roadside park on US 281, 4 mile S of Mercedes
Military Highway of the Lower Rio Grande Valley
Plains Indians made trails near the banks of the Rio Grande that were used by Spanish explorers in the 18th century. Early settlers built a road close to the river bank connecting their ranches. Later called the Military Road, it ran from Brownsville to Laredo, linking frontier forts and stagecoach and mail lines. An inland route for cotton shipping during the Civil War, parts of it also were used for cattle drives. It served as the military telegraph road between Forts Brown and McIntosh in the 1870s. Paved by the 1940s, the highway is a significant part of the region's history.
(1997)
Toluca Ranch marker
Photo courtesy Ken Rudine, March 2008
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