Historical Markers
ALTA VISTA APARTMENTS
Constructed in 1931 for the Gaskill-Hodgson Company, this Mediterranean Style structure is the oldest apartment building in Port Isabel. A survivor of numerous coastal storms and hurricanes, the complex originally consisted of three each one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and efficiency apartments. Prominent features of the two-story stucco building include its asymmetrical massing, arched-entry porches, covered balconies, and red tile roof. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark – 1988.
Year Marker Erected:1988
Marker Location: 700 Polk Street, Port Isabel
CHARLES CHAMPION
The son of Joseph Champion, an Italian immigrant who settled in Texas in 1855, Charles Champion was born on February 2, 1870, in Old Point Isabel. He served as district clerk in Hidalgo County before purchasing the Hess General Store in Old Point Isabel in 1894. He renamed it “The Champion Store,” and continued to operate the business in the small frame structure. In 1899, Champion erected this two-story brick building and named it “The Key of the Gulf.” The first floor housed the general merchandise store, the U.S. Customs House, and the post office. Champion served as the second postmaster of Point Isabel. In the early 1900s, Champion provided the impetus for the fishing industry that employed many local citizens and became an integral part of the local economy.
By 1908 Champion and Judge J.B. Wells owned the Santa Isabella land grant, which included Point Isabel. Long a proponent of a deep water port in Point Isabel, Champion died in 1926 before its completion in 1933. Champion was buried next to his wife Margaret Orive and other family members in the Point Isabel Cemetery.
Year Marker Erected:1996
Marker Location: 317 E. Railroad Ave.
PALANGANA CEMETERY / SANTA ISABEL CEMETERY
Directions: Approx 179 feet north of Hwy 100. Faces Island Ave. Approximately 126 feet west of Basin St.
Size: .07 acre
Number of Graves: 10
Dates of Burials: 1916 to mid 20th century
Date designated: 17 April 2006 Marker not yet installed.
OLD POINT ISABEL LIGHTHOUSE
The beacon for the commerce of the Rio Grande; Erected by the United States Government in 1852; Extinguished during the Civil War; Discontinued, 1888-1895; Permanently discontinued, 1905
Year Marker Erected: 1936
Marker Location: 421 E. Queen Isabella Blvd.
OLD POINT ISABEL (PORT ISABEL)
Site of a ranch settlement, owned by Don Rafael Garcia, called “El Fronton de Santa Ysabel” (Bluff of Saint Isabel) about the year 1828. The Mexican custom station was located here in 1844, after the villages of Brazos Santiago and Boca Del Rio were swept away by storms. Goods landed here were at once freighted inland to Matamoros. After the Mexican War (1846-1848), the United States Post Office of “Point Isabel” was created on April 9, 1849. Efforts to build a railroad line to Brownsville in the 1850s did not succeed, but after the Civil War, in 1866, public demands for a rail line to Brownsville were met by Rio Grande steamboat interests, who chartered but refrained from building the road. In 1871, competitors formed the Rio Grande Railroad Company, obtained a charter, and put the line into service in 1873 from Brownsville to a terminus here (450 feet south of this marker). The line served until 1933 when a deep water channel was built to Brownsville.
Year Marker Erected:1972
Marker Location: SE corner of P100 and S. Garcia St.
POINT ISABEL, C.S.A.
After Texas seceded and joined the Confederacy, the Federal Navy in late 1861 blockaded this port with the U.S. “Santiago de Cuba”. Commerce stoppage caused removal of customs offices to Brownsville and some civilians to neutral Bagdad, Mexico. The Confederates ceased to use the lighthouse, and it became a watch tower for blockade runners, and thus Laguna Madre their haven. Boats from the U.S.S. “Brooklyn”, in May 1863, attacked vessels in port and a Confederate unit near the lighthouse. The Confederates tried to blow up the tower–a defense measure–but only succeeded in damaging fixtures. The French, supporting Maximilian in Mexico, prohibited the landing of war material at Bagdad. Defying both the French and U.S. Naval patrols, Mexican lighters from the Rio Grande landed here in Sept. 1863 with a large cargo of C.S.A. arms. In Nov. 1863, U.S. forces from the expedition of Gen. N.P. Banks occupied Point Isabel. The blockade was lifted and the port reactivated. In Aug. 1864, the Confederates drove the Federals across the bay to Brazos Island. The next march, Federal Gen. Lew Wallace (later author of “Ben Hur”) met Confederate officers here to talk peace.
Year Marker Erected: 1964. Marker Location: At library, corner of Maxan Street and Yturria Street.
POINT ISABEL LIGHTHOUSE
Built 1852 – Retired 1905
Built of brick brought from New Orleans by schooner. The beacon’s 16 mile range guided ships into the harbor and to the Rio Grande, bringing commerce to sw Texas. Darkened during the Civil War, it was used as a lookout by both Union and Confederate forces, and again during World War I.
Placed in Honor of the American Merchant Marine United States Daughters of 1812, Texas Society Coryne Aston Boggs Choate, State President.
Year Marker Erected: 9 February 1992
Marker Location:
POINT ISABEL LIGHTHOUSE
The Point Isabel Lighthouse is one of the oldest functioning lighthouses on the Texas Gulf Coast. It played a significant part in military operations around the mouth of the Rio Grande during the Civil War and for over a century, with some interruptions, has served the region as an aid to seamen.
BIBLIOGRAPHY ON FILE IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER
PORT ISABEL CEMETERY
Encompassing almost one acre of land, the Port Isabel Cemetery is located on property granted to Don Rafael Garcia by the government of Mexico in 1829. The land was known as the Santa Ysabel Grant, and Garcia soon established a ranch he named El Fronton de Santa Isabel (Saint Elizabeth’s Bluff). Garcia continued to reside at his home in Matamoros, Mexico, and the ranch was operated by hired workers.
According to local tradition, the workers on El Fronton de Santa Isabel Ranch began to use this site as a burial ground as early as the 1840s. No grave markers from that time period survive, however, and the oldest marked graves in the cemetery date to the 1880s. The ground was consecrated for use as a Catholic cemetery by French Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in December 1849, although it has served as a community burial ground for people of all faiths throughout its history.
Later owners of the land included members of the Champion (Campeoni) Family, who immigrated to America from Italy in the early 19th Century. The Champion Family donated the cemetery property to the Catholic Church in 1926. It remains an important element of Port Isabel’s cultural history.
Year Marker Erected: 1990
Marker Location: Corner of Houston Street and Musina St.
PORT OF MATAMOROS
The Port of Matamoros was established in 1824. Commercial cargo, shipped mainly from New Orleans and other U.S. ports, was unloaded at the port and transported overland to Matamoros, Reynosa, Camargo, Monterrey, and Mier. Mexico maintained a garrison and at least one Navy vessel at the port. This area was the site of numerous naval encounters between the U.S. and Mexico in 1836-37, during and after the Texas Revolution. Jurisdiction over the port was finally settled in 1846 when forces of U.S. General Zachary Taylor occupied the area at the outset of the Mexican War.
Year Marker Erected: 1994. Marker Location: On shore north of causeway, at end of east Maxan St.
QUEEN ISABEL INN
Built by 1906 to lodge Rio Grande Railroad Company passengers and tourists, especially fishermen and hunters, the Queen Isabel Inn was first known as “Point Isabel Tarpon & Fishing Club”. The hotel hosted family train excursions from Brownsville as early as 1907. Prominent visitors to the inn included president-elect Warren G. Harding in November of 1920. By 1930, indoor plumbing, electrical service, and a popular dining room made the hotel an attractive destination for vacationers.
The Rio Grande Valley Fishing Rodeo was organized here in the summer of 1934 to promote tourism. The hotel was the headquarters for the contest, later renamed the Texas International Fishing Tournament.
Hurricanes in 1933 and 1967 removed the hotel’s original porches and pitched roof. The hotel has served as the site for many important civic and social events and has been associated with the lives of persons significant to Port Isabel’s history. The Queen Isabel Inn sparked the beginning of the hotel and tourism industry in the area and endures as an important landmark business in Port Isabel history.
Year Marker Erected: 1991
Marker Location: 300 S. Garcia St.
QUEEN ISABELLA CAUSEWAY
Designated and named in honor of Queen Isabella of Castile who financed Christopher Columbus’ Expedition into this part of the New World in the year 1492.
SITE OF FORT POLK
A Mexican village developed on this point, settled by mexican ranchers in the 1700′s. The village was abandoned prior to the U.S. Declaration of war with Mexico in 1846. U.S. Forces led by general Zachary Taylor occupied the point on March 24, 1846. Taylor erected a depot here to receive supplies from New Orleans. The six-sided Fort, named for President Polk, consisted of 4 sides of Earthen Embankments and 2 sides open to the shoreline. The Fort was abandoned in 1850 but the settlement it attracted eventually developed into Port Isabel. Remnants of the Fort were visible until the 1920s.
Year Marker Erected: 1994
Location: Corner of North Tarnava and P100, Port Isabel Lighthouse State Park.
OTHER SITES OF HISTORIC INTEREST: Yacht Club (700 N. Yturria St.), Swing Bridge (Garcia St.), Shrimp Basin (Port Road), Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage (421 E. Queen Isabella Blvd.), Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church (705 S. Longoria St.), Zachary Taylor’s Well (located between the Port Isabel Historic Museum & the Treasures of the Gulf Museum), Isla Vista Apartments (542 Polk St.).
ALTA VISTA APARTMENTS
Constructed in 1931 for the Gaskill-Hodgson Company, this Mediterranean Style structure is the oldest apartment building in Port Isabel. A survivor of numerous coastal storms and hurricanes, the complex originally consisted of three each one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and efficiency apartments. Prominent features of the two-story stucco building include its asymmetrical massing, arched-entry porches, covered balconies, and red tile roof. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark – 1988.
Year Marker Erected:1988
Marker Location: 700 Polk Street, Port Isabel
CHARLES CHAMPION
The son of Joseph Champion, an Italian immigrant who settled in Texas in 1855, Charles Champion was born on February 2, 1870, in Old Point Isabel. He served as district clerk in Hidalgo County before purchasing the Hess General Store in Old Point Isabel in 1894. He renamed it “The Champion Store,” and continued to operate the business in the small frame structure. In 1899, Champion erected this two-story brick building and named it “The Key of the Gulf.” The first floor housed the general merchandise store, the U.S. Customs House, and the post office. Champion served as the second postmaster of Point Isabel. In the early 1900s, Champion provided the impetus for the fishing industry that employed many local citizens and became an integral part of the local economy.
By 1908 Champion and Judge J.B. Wells owned the Santa Isabella land grant, which included Point Isabel. Long a proponent of a deep water port in Point Isabel, Champion died in 1926 before its completion in 1933. Champion was buried next to his wife Margaret Orive and other family members in the Point Isabel Cemetery.
Year Marker Erected:1996
Marker Location: 317 E. Railroad Ave.
PALANGANA CEMETERY / SANTA ISABEL CEMETERY
Directions: Approx 179 feet north of Hwy 100. Faces Island Ave. Approximately 126 feet west of Basin St.
Size: .07 acre
Number of Graves: 10
Dates of Burials: 1916 to mid 20th century
Date designated: 17 April 2006 Marker not yet installed.
OLD POINT ISABEL LIGHTHOUSE
The beacon for the commerce of the Rio Grande; Erected by the United States Government in 1852; Extinguished during the Civil War; Discontinued, 1888-1895; Permanently discontinued, 1905
Year Marker Erected: 1936
Marker Location: 421 E. Queen Isabella Blvd.
OLD POINT ISABEL (PORT ISABEL)
Site of a ranch settlement, owned by Don Rafael Garcia, called “El Fronton de Santa Ysabel” (Bluff of Saint Isabel) about the year 1828. The Mexican custom station was located here in 1844, after the villages of Brazos Santiago and Boca Del Rio were swept away by storms. Goods landed here were at once freighted inland to Matamoros. After the Mexican War (1846-1848), the United States Post Office of “Point Isabel” was created on April 9, 1849. Efforts to build a railroad line to Brownsville in the 1850s did not succeed, but after the Civil War, in 1866, public demands for a rail line to Brownsville were met by Rio Grande steamboat interests, who chartered but refrained from building the road. In 1871, competitors formed the Rio Grande Railroad Company, obtained a charter, and put the line into service in 1873 from Brownsville to a terminus here (450 feet south of this marker). The line served until 1933 when a deep water channel was built to Brownsville.
Year Marker Erected:1972
Marker Location: SE corner of P100 and S. Garcia St.
POINT ISABEL, C.S.A.
After Texas seceded and joined the Confederacy, the Federal Navy in late 1861 blockaded this port with the U.S. “Santiago de Cuba”. Commerce stoppage caused removal of customs offices to Brownsville and some civilians to neutral Bagdad, Mexico. The Confederates ceased to use the lighthouse, and it became a watch tower for blockade runners, and thus Laguna Madre their haven. Boats from the U.S.S. “Brooklyn”, in May 1863, attacked vessels in port and a Confederate unit near the lighthouse. The Confederates tried to blow up the tower–a defense measure–but only succeeded in damaging fixtures. The French, supporting Maximilian in Mexico, prohibited the landing of war material at Bagdad. Defying both the French and U.S. Naval patrols, Mexican lighters from the Rio Grande landed here in Sept. 1863 with a large cargo of C.S.A. arms. In Nov. 1863, U.S. forces from the expedition of Gen. N.P. Banks occupied Point Isabel. The blockade was lifted and the port reactivated. In Aug. 1864, the Confederates drove the Federals across the bay to Brazos Island. The next march, Federal Gen. Lew Wallace (later author of “Ben Hur”) met Confederate officers here to talk peace.
Year Marker Erected: 1964. Marker Location: At library, corner of Maxan Street and Yturria Street.
POINT ISABEL LIGHTHOUSE
Built 1852 – Retired 1905
Built of brick brought from New Orleans by schooner. The beacon’s 16 mile range guided ships into the harbor and to the Rio Grande, bringing commerce to sw Texas. Darkened during the Civil War, it was used as a lookout by both Union and Confederate forces, and again during World War I.
Placed in Honor of the American Merchant Marine United States Daughters of 1812, Texas Society Coryne Aston Boggs Choate, State President.
Year Marker Erected: 9 February 1992
Marker Location:
POINT ISABEL LIGHTHOUSE
The Point Isabel Lighthouse is one of the oldest functioning lighthouses on the Texas Gulf Coast. It played a significant part in military operations around the mouth of the Rio Grande during the Civil War and for over a century, with some interruptions, has served the region as an aid to seamen.
BIBLIOGRAPHY ON FILE IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER
PORT ISABEL CEMETERY
Encompassing almost one acre of land, the Port Isabel Cemetery is located on property granted to Don Rafael Garcia by the government of Mexico in 1829. The land was known as the Santa Ysabel Grant, and Garcia soon established a ranch he named El Fronton de Santa Isabel (Saint Elizabeth’s Bluff). Garcia continued to reside at his home in Matamoros, Mexico, and the ranch was operated by hired workers.
According to local tradition, the workers on El Fronton de Santa Isabel Ranch began to use this site as a burial ground as early as the 1840s. No grave markers from that time period survive, however, and the oldest marked graves in the cemetery date to the 1880s. The ground was consecrated for use as a Catholic cemetery by French Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in December 1849, although it has served as a community burial ground for people of all faiths throughout its history.
Later owners of the land included members of the Champion (Campeoni) Family, who immigrated to America from Italy in the early 19th Century. The Champion Family donated the cemetery property to the Catholic Church in 1926. It remains an important element of Port Isabel’s cultural history.
Year Marker Erected: 1990
Marker Location: Corner of Houston Street and Musina St.
PORT OF MATAMOROS
The Port of Matamoros was established in 1824. Commercial cargo, shipped mainly from New Orleans and other U.S. ports, was unloaded at the port and transported overland to Matamoros, Reynosa, Camargo, Monterrey, and Mier. Mexico maintained a garrison and at least one Navy vessel at the port. This area was the site of numerous naval encounters between the U.S. and Mexico in 1836-37, during and after the Texas Revolution. Jurisdiction over the port was finally settled in 1846 when forces of U.S. General Zachary Taylor occupied the area at the outset of the Mexican War.
Year Marker Erected: 1994. Marker Location: On shore north of causeway, at end of east Maxan St.
QUEEN ISABEL INN
Built by 1906 to lodge Rio Grande Railroad Company passengers and tourists, especially fishermen and hunters, the Queen Isabel Inn was first known as “Point Isabel Tarpon & Fishing Club”. The hotel hosted family train excursions from Brownsville as early as 1907. Prominent visitors to the inn included president-elect Warren G. Harding in November of 1920. By 1930, indoor plumbing, electrical service, and a popular dining room made the hotel an attractive destination for vacationers.
The Rio Grande Valley Fishing Rodeo was organized here in the summer of 1934 to promote tourism. The hotel was the headquarters for the contest, later renamed the Texas International Fishing Tournament.
Hurricanes in 1933 and 1967 removed the hotel’s original porches and pitched roof. The hotel has served as the site for many important civic and social events and has been associated with the lives of persons significant to Port Isabel’s history. The Queen Isabel Inn sparked the beginning of the hotel and tourism industry in the area and endures as an important landmark business in Port Isabel history.
Year Marker Erected: 1991
Marker Location: 300 S. Garcia St.
QUEEN ISABELLA CAUSEWAY
Designated and named in honor of Queen Isabella of Castile who financed Christopher Columbus’ Expedition into this part of the New World in the year 1492.
SITE OF FORT POLK
A Mexican village developed on this point, settled by mexican ranchers in the 1700′s. The village was abandoned prior to the U.S. Declaration of war with Mexico in 1846. U.S. Forces led by general Zachary Taylor occupied the point on March 24, 1846. Taylor erected a depot here to receive supplies from New Orleans. The six-sided Fort, named for President Polk, consisted of 4 sides of Earthen Embankments and 2 sides open to the shoreline. The Fort was abandoned in 1850 but the settlement it attracted eventually developed into Port Isabel. Remnants of the Fort were visible until the 1920s.
Year Marker Erected: 1994
Location: Corner of North Tarnava and P100, Port Isabel Lighthouse State Park.
OTHER SITES OF HISTORIC INTEREST: Yacht Club (700 N. Yturria St.), Swing Bridge (Garcia St.), Shrimp Basin (Port Road), Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage (421 E. Queen Isabella Blvd.), Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church (705 S. Longoria St.), Zachary Taylor’s Well (located between the Port Isabel Historic Museum & the Treasures of the Gulf Museum), Isla Vista Apartments (542 Polk St.).
