About 200 miles north along the Rio Grande River is Laredo. What we knew of this town (city) is from the song “Streets of Laredo” and westerns. Have you ever really listened to that song? A strange ballad that has such a good sound. Laredo is so much more than what we knew! While Historic Laredo still has the narrow, brick streets, the population in 2017 was 260,654 and it’s the 10th largest city in Texas. The area is building and growing. We’re staying at Lake Casa Blanca International State Park at the outside of town by the new airport. We’ve never known a state part that’s part of a city. It’s so quiet at the part that we slept in to 8:00, unusual for us.
Speaking of westerns, remember “Rio Bravo”? We learned today that Rio Bravo is the Spanish name for Rio Grande. Now we know.
When researching what to do in Laredo, we found the Republic of the Rio Grande Museum, which is where went this morning. You may remember that we mentioned this republic in part 1 of Rio Grande blogs. Now it’s time to learn the rest of the story.
Edwardo and Andrea were our hosts at the museum. We must have spent 30 minutes talking with them and getting more behind-the-scenes information about the Republic of the Rio Grande. Thanks for your time and insights!
Laredo was founded in 1755 when Captain Tomas Sanchez, a Spaniard, settled here. Laredo is the only remaining Spanish colonial settlement north of the Rio Grande.
When Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821, Laredo struggled to survive Indian raids. The new government wasn’t able to/didn’t want to (we don’t know) send troops to help out. Since Mexico was a new government, it probably didn’t have these types of resources.
When Santa Ana came into power, he centralized power in himself instead of letting the different regions govern themselves as they had since 1820s. Other republics in Mexico were also breaking away from this centralized power.
The geographical area was from Brownsville on the Gulf to the southern part of Big Bend National Park, north to San Antonio and Austin, south to include much of Mexico that wanted its freedom.
The building that houses the museum served as the capital building in 1840 of this short-lived republic.
Once the Centralists defeated a French blockade in southern Mexico, they turned their full attention on the Republic of the Rio Grande. and beat them decisively. But, of course, this isn’t the end of the story for this area.
The U.S. annexing Texas in 1845 led to war against Mexico since Mexico was trying to regain territories that had wanted to leave Mexico and were now in U.S. hands. In the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the Rio Grande became the boundary, and Laredo became part of Texas. Mexico was reimbursed for the miles of territory they lost.
Mexicans wanting to remain local to Mexico moved across the river and established Nuevo Laredo in 1848. By the way, Mirabeau Lamar was from Georgia!
Laredo and the Civil War
Forts in Laredo
The deadliest gun battle ever in the old west happened in 1886 between the Boots and the Sandals, two political factions. They become the Independent Club later on when it was in their interest to cooperate so they could win the bid to build a bridge over the Rio Grande. In this battle, 30 people were killed, including innocents in buildings. The shooting happened in the plaza just outside our museum and in front of the local Catholic Church.
Growth of the city: the railroad transformed Laredo from a villa to a booming “gateway” city in 1881.
Coal by 1873, and onions by 1898. Thank goodness for the trains!
Gas and oil in 1921
Local holidays: my hairdresser at Great Clips said the George Washington’s Birthday Celebration is still a big deal in Laredo and is something we should come back to see.
Laredo incorporated in 1852; it established an extensive water works by 1882.
This museum building was first a home and then a capital. They’ve put some period displays in the additional rooms.
These “natural” water filters are still used in the interior of Mexico according to the description. The staff said it didn’t work all that well but they hadn’t filled the basin completely.
Now we know how they kept their ruffles in place.
since the women had to have room for their full skirts
Boy does it have stories to tell. One story is that it
stored munitions during one of the wars.
Border info: Edwardo and Andrea told us that they don’t have a wall in Laredo and don’t feel they need it since at their location the Rio Grande looks like a calm river but is really deep in the middle and treacherous because of all the trees, etc., that are in it but are below the view. They felt that the real problem is at the border crossing because many who are looking inside trucks and cards aren’t seeing what’s there. Hmmm.
Anyway, here are some pictures from Laredo.
Then we got hungry and found Danny’s, a Laredo institution started by a local boy who made good and now has 6 restaurants in the city. They want to export this Tex-Mex restaurant further north. Look for it if you’re in Texas!
We were the only Caucasians until some policemen came in for lunch; has to be good food for this mix of people! 
Barney’s lunch, yummy.
Shout out to local businesses: great haircuts at a Great Clips, afternoon drinks and WiFi at Starbucks, new tires for RV at Discount Tire after getting a nail in one tire that went all the way through.
We’re going to have a down day on Sunday at the State Park and then take off for Del Rio and another state park on Monday.
