By Juan Montoya
O the way back from Bastrop, where we and the chillun spent Thanksgiving with the kinfolk, we stopped at Rosie's Diner in downtown Cuero for their chicken-fried steak with gravy and the kiddos had the usual burger, just pickles and ketchup, please.
The town has a definite old-time flavor enhanced by the historic reconstruction of turn-of-the century buildings along the city's main drag.
About two doors down from the diner is a museum. It is also a vintage building and is called the Chisholm Trail Museum.
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Inside, the curator – or perhaps the volunteer showing folks around – gave us a mini tour of the exhibits and told us how the film makers of the Lonesome Dove movie had been hired to prepare a short film of the town's link to Texas history.
It was actually a rather nice, professionally done film and the museum's exhibit told of how Cuero was the pivot point for the cattle streams of the old cattle drives that started from various spots on the Texas map.
"We're from Brownsville," we told her. "Actually, we have a marker in Alice Wilson "Hope" Park that indicates it was the start of the trail."
"Brownsville?," she asked. "I didn't know that Brownsville was on the trail."
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A booklet prepared by the Texas historical
Commission was among the literature available for visitors and we leafed through it. Sure enough. Among the pages was the map that pointed out the cities that made up the Chisholm Trail. Brownsville was at the very beginning.
"Do you guys have a museum down there?," she asked.
"No, we don't," we said. "There is a marker near the Border Wall that indicates the start. But that's about it."
"Well, that's just a shame," she said. "You tell folks about our museum and maybe they can come up here and they'll learn about it."
The pamphlet reads:
"The original Chisholm Trail crossed the entire state of Texas south to north, from Brownsville to Nocona, before heading to parts farther upcountry and out of state. But the Rio Grande and its borderlands, the soul of the Tropical Trail region, was where many cattle drives began. Every year, longhorn cattle were gathered all along this southernmost region and driven northward.
O the way back from Bastrop, where we and the chillun spent Thanksgiving with the kinfolk, we stopped at Rosie's Diner in downtown Cuero for their chicken-fried steak with gravy and the kiddos had the usual burger, just pickles and ketchup, please.
The town has a definite old-time flavor enhanced by the historic reconstruction of turn-of-the century buildings along the city's main drag.
About two doors down from the diner is a museum. It is also a vintage building and is called the Chisholm Trail Museum.
Inside, the curator – or perhaps the volunteer showing folks around – gave us a mini tour of the exhibits and told us how the film makers of the Lonesome Dove movie had been hired to prepare a short film of the town's link to Texas history.It was actually a rather nice, professionally done film and the museum's exhibit told of how Cuero was the pivot point for the cattle streams of the old cattle drives that started from various spots on the Texas map.
"We're from Brownsville," we told her. "Actually, we have a marker in Alice Wilson "Hope" Park that indicates it was the start of the trail."
"Brownsville?," she asked. "I didn't know that Brownsville was on the trail."
A booklet prepared by the Texas historical Commission was among the literature available for visitors and we leafed through it. Sure enough. Among the pages was the map that pointed out the cities that made up the Chisholm Trail. Brownsville was at the very beginning.
"Do you guys have a museum down there?," she asked.
"No, we don't," we said. "There is a marker near the Border Wall that indicates the start. But that's about it."
"Well, that's just a shame," she said. "You tell folks about our museum and maybe they can come up here and they'll learn about it."
The pamphlet reads:
"The original Chisholm Trail crossed the entire state of Texas south to north, from Brownsville to Nocona, before heading to parts farther upcountry and out of state. But the Rio Grande and its borderlands, the soul of the Tropical Trail region, was where many cattle drives began. Every year, longhorn cattle were gathered all along this southernmost region and driven northward.
The livestock were pushed onward to Kansas in order to reach the nearest railroad shipping depots so folks in Boston and Philadelphia could continue enjoying their beefsteak. Museums and state historic sites across the Tropical Trail region commemorate the Chisholm's cattle-driving history as many of our Rio Grande Valley and coastal communities played an integral part in its heritage."
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We looked at the narrative on Brownsville and found out that it was actually a story about Brownsville's Founder Charles Stillman and his relationship with cattle barons Richard King and Mifflin Kenedy and talked about his house in Brownsville. That's it.
It's not like other people haven't realized the historical significance of the start of the trail here. In September 2001, two members of the Chisholm Trail Association placed another plaque, one of more than 400 placed along the cattle route, at Hope Park with Frank Yturria. It is now damaged and is next to the one by the Texas Historical Commission.
Our question is "why?"
Why does Brownsville continue to ignore its history while other towns like little Cuero celebrate it and make it a stop for historical tourism? It's futile to name all the things that make it the most historic city in Texas second only to San Antonio. Every city along the Texas Independence Trail has sites and museums for the traveling public to stop and learn about, spending a few bucks for gas or food while they're at it. And don't forget the souvenir for Tia Socorro who didn't get to come along on this trip.
We could talk about Porfirio Dias making revolution from Brownsville and eventually toppling the Mexican government to establish his dictatorship. Or Juan Cortina, who eventually became governor of Tamaulipas, occupying Brownsville for three days from his mother's ranch in San Pedro, etc., but we don't.
We're content to have a ranch house honoring Stillman, a slave owner and turncoat against the Union who profited from the blood of Americans during the Civil War as our historic signature and ignore the wealth of historic events that occurred here. If you can stomach the ugly Border Wall, go to Hope Park and look at the plaque of the Chisholm Trail. Then see what the folks in Cuero have done with the little piece of history that passed by their streets hundreds of years ago.
We looked at the narrative on Brownsville and found out that it was actually a story about Brownsville's Founder Charles Stillman and his relationship with cattle barons Richard King and Mifflin Kenedy and talked about his house in Brownsville. That's it.It's not like other people haven't realized the historical significance of the start of the trail here. In September 2001, two members of the Chisholm Trail Association placed another plaque, one of more than 400 placed along the cattle route, at Hope Park with Frank Yturria. It is now damaged and is next to the one by the Texas Historical Commission.
Our question is "why?"
Why does Brownsville continue to ignore its history while other towns like little Cuero celebrate it and make it a stop for historical tourism? It's futile to name all the things that make it the most historic city in Texas second only to San Antonio. Every city along the Texas Independence Trail has sites and museums for the traveling public to stop and learn about, spending a few bucks for gas or food while they're at it. And don't forget the souvenir for Tia Socorro who didn't get to come along on this trip.
We could talk about Porfirio Dias making revolution from Brownsville and eventually toppling the Mexican government to establish his dictatorship. Or Juan Cortina, who eventually became governor of Tamaulipas, occupying Brownsville for three days from his mother's ranch in San Pedro, etc., but we don't.
We're content to have a ranch house honoring Stillman, a slave owner and turncoat against the Union who profited from the blood of Americans during the Civil War as our historic signature and ignore the wealth of historic events that occurred here. If you can stomach the ugly Border Wall, go to Hope Park and look at the plaque of the Chisholm Trail. Then see what the folks in Cuero have done with the little piece of history that passed by their streets hundreds of years ago.