Laredo--It's Not Flat: "A short history"

The consensus of most first comers to Laredo is that it is flat. Flat to me is a relative condition. Laredo is certainly not flat like most of South Texas—especially along the Gulf of Mexico. The cotton fields surrounding Corpus Christi, 150 miles due east of Laredo, are as flat as an endless board. Laredo is not flat to me. Also, in the higher parts of Laredo you can see mountains quite clearly, at least at sunset on a dust free day. The mountains are 70 miles to the southwest, part of what grow to become the Rockies. The range you can enjoy seeing from Laredo is call the Sierra Morena—Spanish for the “brown mountains." Most Laredoans, I found, don’t ever look at these mountains; it does require being at the right place at the right time. To someone who is not used to “relative” flatness, the Sierra Morena is a solace to view as the sun is setting.

Laredo is one of the oldest cities in Texas. It was founded in 1755 by Tomas Sanchez with three families. Originally named San Agustin de Laredo, after a city in northern Spain, it has become known simply as Laredo. As a small, non-military Spanish settlement, early Laredoans were on their own in protecting themselves against Apache and Comanche Indian raids, and as late as 1892, Laredo appointed “vigilantes” to protect homes from Indian attacks. In 1789, Laredo counted approximately 800 inhabitants, engaged mainly in either ranching or trade. Then in 1840, it became the capital of a new country—The Republic of the Rio Grande, as a group of dissidents from the Mexican States of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo Laredo succeeded from Mexico. The Republic lasted 283 days, until its chief leaders were shot, hung, or in one prominent case—beheaded. The three star flag of the Republic still flies, however, over the country’s modest Capitol or headquarters house next to the La Posada Hotel.

After the Mexican-American War, which ended by treaty in 1848, the boundary of the United States was moved 100 miles south from the Nueces River to the Rio Grande. Those Laredoans who wished to remain Mexican citizens, moved to the south side of the Rio Grande and founded the present day City of Nuevo Laredo, or “New Laredo." This event resulted in the creation of a close relationship between the citizens of the two cities, since many are related by blood or marriage. The two Laredos are jointly promoted as “Los Dos Laredos."

The predominately Mexican American citizens of Laredo, Texas, found themselves in a “hot” war between 1861-1865, as part of the Confederacy in the American Civil War, or the War Between the States—as it is preferred to be called in the South. On March 18, 1864, the Battle of Laredo was fought between Major Alfred Holt leading 200 Union solders, and Colonel Santos Benavides who defended Laredo with 42 men. Colonel Benavides and his Confederate volunteers held back three Union charges at Zacate Creek, east of Laredo, and went down in history as the victors of the battle. The 5000 bales of cotton, stored in Laredo for sale by the Confederate States of America, had been saved.

Modern Laredo started with the arrival of the railroads in 1881. The Texas-Mexican Railway (still operating today), and the Great Northern Railway (later absorbed by the Union Pacific), connected Laredo to Mexico City to the south, and to the rest of the United States to the north. Trade flourished in the city, with emigrants from Europe and other U.S. States increasing Laredo’s population to 11,319 inhabitants by 1890—an increase of nearly 4 times the 1880 count. So many of today’s Laredo institutions date from the early 1880’s, including various churches, the newspaper, the water works, the Webb County Courthouse, the Laredo Independent School District, and in 1889, the first wagon bridge across the Rio Grande. The turn of the century brought a booming “Bermuda onion” agricultural industry, a coal mining operation northwest of town, and in 1921, Oliver W. Killam discovered oil and gas in Webb County. Oil and gas has resulted in some of Laredo’s earliest families becoming very wealthy. These 7 or 8 families consolidated their land holdings as their wealth increased, and today, a great portion of all land in the county is owned by a relative few. The uneven economic growth of Laredo since the 1880’s also created a large differential of income. The result is that a small portion of the population is very prosperous, and the largest segment of the population remains poor. In 1981 Laredo was the third poorest region in the United States, exceeded in poverty by only Brownsville, Texas, and a county in eastern North Carolina. At the turn of this century, 2000, Laredo was the second poorest region in the country, while having been the second fastest growing region in the U.S. (after Las Vegas) during the 1990’s.