Historical Markers in Laredo, Texas

Webb County · 1936

Formed from Nueces county; created January 28, 1848, organized March 16, 1848. Named in honor of James Webb, 1792 - 1856, attorney general and secretary of state of the Republic of Texas 1838-1841. Laredo, the county…

Fort McIntosh Barracks · 1962

The last remaining of three brick barracks constructed in 1880 by the U.S. Army to quarter troops engaged in scouting and escort duty along the Rio Grande. The structure originally had four large rooms, divided by a…

San Augustin Cathedral · 1963

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Casa Ortiz · 1964

On King of Spain's grant to Don Jose Reyes Ortiz, merchant and go between for Mexico and Texas. Home to 5 Ortiz generations. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1964

Casa Vidaurri · 1964

On grant from Spain. Built 1874 by Texas military leader Santos Benavides. Sold 1883 to Eulalio Benavides. Still owned by descendants. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1964

Capitol, Republic of the Rio Grande · 1965

Federalists opposed to regime of Santa Anna in Mexico City were headed by Jesus Cardenas as president. Recruited aid in Texas, won victories in Mexico, after 2 years made peace with Centralists. Recorded Texas Historic…

Fort McIntosh · 1974

Established March 3, 1849, by troops of the 1st U.S. infantry from ringgold barracks under command of Lt. E. L. Viele. The star-shaped earthen fortress built on a bluff overlooking the Rio Grande (1/2 mile northwest),…

Benavides Brothers · 1976

Members of a prominent Laredo family, the three Benavides brothers were the descendants of Tomas Sanchez, who founded the city in 1755. Santos (1823-1891) and Refugio Benavides (b. 1824) and their half-brother Cristobal…

August C. and Julia Richter Mansion · 1985

A native of San Antonio, August C. Richter (1863-1940) moved to Laredo in 1888. He acquired full ownership of an early fixed price department store, "El Precio Fijo." His wife, Julia, played a major role in the city's…

City Hall and Market House · 1990

In the early 1880s several railroad lines were built into Laredo from both the United States and Mexico, resulting in a major economic boom for the city. Laredo's population tripled in size with the arrival of U.S. and…

Refugio Benavides · 1990

A native of Laredo, Jose Del Refugio Benavides was a descendant of Tomas Sanchez, who founded the city in 1755. As a member of one of Laredo's most celebrated families, he was instrumental in the city's development…

Saint Peter the Apostle Catholic Church · 1992

This congregation, the second Catholic church organized in Laredo, began in 1897 as an English speaking parish to serve non Spanish speaking families who arrived in Laredo during the 1880s. The church structure,…

Santos Benavides · 1994

Santos Benavides, son of Jose Jesus and Marguerita Benavides and great-great grandson of Laredo founder Tomas Sanchez, was born in Laredo on November 1, 1823. He married Augustina Villareal in 1842. Benavides, appointed…

The Laredo National Bank · 1995

Villa de San Agustin de Laredo, founded here by area rancher Tomas Sanchez in 1755, was an agrarian-based community for its first 125 years. The convergence of three railroad lines here in the 1880s significantly…

Biggio-Kowalski-De La Garza House · 1996

Chester C. Biggio, a railroad official and the city's first fire chief, had this home built in 1909 for his family. He died in 1923, and in 1938 his widow Laura Blossman Biggio sold the house to Louis and Dorothy…

Site of Darwin Community · 1996

Known since Spanish times, coal mining in this area of the Rio Grande above Laredo dates to the early 19th century. Coal was floated down river on barges or hauled overland until the Pecos and Rio Grande Railroad was…

Zuniga House · 1996

Roberto Zuniga moved to Laredo in 1916 from Monterrey, Mexico and established a custom brokerage business in 1918 with his brother Alfonso Zuniga. Roberto and Elvira Zuniga hired the local John O. Buenz Lumber Company…

Bruni Plaza · 1997

When Juan Fernando de Palacios, Governor of Nuevo Santander, New Spain, designated Laredo as a villa in 1767, he laid out a central plaza as an integral part of the city's plan. During the era of Spanish colonization,…

Jarvis Plaza · 1997

New York native Samuel Matthias Jarvis (1822-1893) received an engineering degree from Columbia University and joined General Zachary Taylor's army when the United States declared war against Mexico. After the war…

Laredo Fire Department · 1998

The first Laredo fire company was organized in 1883. It was known as the Gate City Volunteer Fire Department and initially was comprised of only two men, O. P. Reid and Mauricio "Frenchy" Didieu. Reid and Didieu worked…

Leyendecker House · 1999

John Z. Leyendecker, a German immigrant who settled in the Texas Hill Country in 1845, came to Laredo between 1848 and 1850. A prominent merchant, Confederate army officer and civic leader, he built this house in 1866.…

Benavides-Herrera House · 2000

A fine example of the vernacular Mexican structures in Laredo's San Agustín historic district, this house was built about 1879. Rancher Natividad Herrera built the house for his wife, Ester Benavides de Herrera…

City Cemetery · 2000

The earliest burial grounds in Laredo were known as camposantos (Saints' Fields) by Spanish settlers. Laredo's first camposanto was probably the one at San Agustín Church. In 1892 the Laredo City Council decreed that…

St. Augustine Parochial School · 2000

The arrival of the railroad in Laredo in 1881, along with the influx of exiles into the city after the Mexican Revolution, contributed to an increase in the city's population and the need for another Catholic school. In…

Holding Institute (Laredo Seminary) · 2001

The Women's Board of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and missionaries Annie Williams and Rebecca Toland, established the Laredo Seminary in 1880 as a boarding school for young women. The school opened…

Laredo Telephone Exchange · 2001

Telephone service came to Laredo in 1884, just eight years after Alexander Graham Bell obtained the first telephone patent. Housed here in the home of Lázaro and Maria del Refugio de la Garza (later the home of the…

The Ramón Family · 2002

The Ramón Family Engaged in much of Laredo's early history, the Ramón family occupied residential property at this site by 1869. Patriarch of the family was Ildefonso Ramón, who was in the Laredo area by 1800 and served…

Calvary Catholic Cemetery · 2005

Laredo experienced substantial growth in the late 1800s and soon the city needed a new cemetery. The process of creating Laredo’s fourth camposanto, however, was not an easy one. Efforts to build the cemetery date to…

El Paso de Jacinto · 2006

Throughout history, travelers sought natural fords that allowed safe passage across rivers and streams. Around 1746, Jacinto de Leon discovered such a crossing in this vicinity; it was probably used for centuries before…

Laredo's Washington's Birthday Celebration · 2006

In 1897, Laredo's local lodge of the Great Council of Texas of the Improved Order of Red Men decided to organize a celebration of George Washington's birthday. On February 21, 1898, the Red Men held a two-day festival…

San Bernardo Avenue · 2006

San Bernardo Avenue, which began as a commercial road in Laredo, became known as the San Antonio Highway by 1938, replacing the earlier route along Santa Maria Avenue. Due to the anticipated increase in tourism, San…

Laredo Air Force Base · 2007

During World War I, Kelly Field (San Antonio), reached its peak training capacity and the U.S. Army built several auxiliary landing fields in South Texas, including one in Laredo north of Fort McIntosh. In 1940, as the…

Raymond and Tirza Martin High School · 2007

In the 1930s, Laredo’s growing scholastic population dictated the need for a new high school, as students outgrew the campus built on Zaragoza Street twenty years before. Superintendent William Patrick Galligan oversaw…

Juan Francisco Farías Residence · 2009

Soldier and Laredo alcalde Jose Andres Farias and his wife Guadalupe Sanchez married at San Agustin Church in 1803 and had seven children; the oldest, Juan Francisco Manuel de la Trinidad Farias, was born in January…

Radcliffe Killam · 2011

RADCLIFFE KILLAM OLIVER WINFIELD “O.W.” KILLAM AND HARRIET SMITH KILLAM, THE PARENTS OF RADCLIFFE KILLAM, WERE BORN AND EDUCATED IN MISSOURI, AND MOVED TO LAREDO IN 1920. WITH THEM TRAVELED THEIR SON, RADCLIFFE KILLAM,…

Coal Mining in Las Minas: San Tomas Coal Field · 2014

Cannel coal was mined from the Santo Tomas coal field between 1881 and 1939 and several mining towns, collectively known as Las Minas, developed during this time. The towns were located in the vicinity of the points of…

El Primer Congreso Mexicanista · 2014

In the late 19th and early 20th century, shifting racial hierarchies, large-scale property transfer, and agricultural industrialization led to an extended period of conflict between Texans of Mexican descent and those…

Jovita Idar · 2014

Born in Laredo, Texas, on September 7, 1885, Jovita Idar was a journalist, educator and activist on behalf of the Mexican-origin population in South Texas. Born to Nicasio and Jovita (Vivero) Idar, Idar and members of…

Pvt. David Bennes Cantu Barkley · 2017

Born in Laredo on March 31, 1899, David Bennes Cantu Barkley was the son of Josef Barkley, a career Army man stationed at Fort McIntosh, and Antonia Cantu. After the birth of David's sister Amelia, the family moved to…

Bishop Peter Verdaguer

Born in the Cataluna region of Spain, the most Rev. Peter Verdaguer de Prat studied in the United States. He was ordained (1862) in San Francisco and ministered at Catholic Indian missions in California. While serving…

Laredo Election Riot, 1886

Annual elections for city officials, held here since 1767, were followed by rioting in 1886. Citizens were divided among two rival parties. The Guaraches, named for the Mexican Indian sandals, were led by Dario…

Republic of the Rio Grande

In January 1840 Senor Antonio Canales and other Federalists met near Guerrero to found the Republic of the Rio Grande. Canales and friends were loyal to the Mexican constitution of 1824, which had been set aside by…

The Texas Mexican Railway

Leading merchants in Corpus Christi began planning the Corpus Christi and Rio Grande Railroad in the 1850s to boost the south Gulf Coast as a center for commerce. Lack of funding and an economic slump prevented progress…

Villa De Laredo, Original Site of