Name: La Grulla, Texas
Address: La Grulla, TX

Turning Thornscrub to Farmland RoadyGoat

Look at the lush green fields surrounding La Grulla. They look natural, but they are actually a massive feat of engineering. This region, the Tamaulipan thornscrub, is naturally semi-arid. Without human intervention, it could never support the kind of large-scale agriculture you see today. The solution is a complex irrigation system, a network of canals and powerful pumping stations built over the last century. The process starts at the Rio Grande, where massive pumps lift water out of the river. From there, it flows through a web of primary and secondary canals, often using gravity to feed smaller and smaller channels that deliver water directly to the fields. This system transformed the landscape and the economy, turning dry brushland into one of the most productive agricultural zones in the country. Every crop you see is a testament to the hydraulic engineering and careful water management that makes life and industry possible here in the Rio Grande Valley.

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The King's Land Grants RoadyGoat

The fields and property lines around La Grulla have a strange shape, and it goes back to how the Spanish crown settled this northern frontier of New Spain. Instead of square plots, the crown issued long, narrow rectangles called porciones, each with a short frontage on the Rio Grande and running miles inland - so that as many families as possible would touch the one resource that mattered out here: the river. La Grulla sits on what was Porcion 80, granted in 1767 to Francisco de la Garza Martinez, son of Blas Maria de la Garza Falcon, who had already put the first settlement in this area on the ground in 1763. The town proper came together in the 1780s, and Matias Longoria is remembered as its first settler. That old survey created a landscape of long, skinny ranches and farms, a pattern you can still faintly trace in property maps today. It's a physical reminder that you're not just in Texas - you're standing on what was once the far northern edge of the Spanish Empire.

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Alto Bonito, TX RoadyGoat

Alto Bonito, Texas, a quiet community nestled in the Rio Grande Valley, has a surprising legacy of individuals who left their mark far beyond its dusty roads. It's not a place that shouts its history, but rather whispers it through the generations. One notable figure was Maria Elena Flores, a formidable labor organizer in the mid-20th century. Her tireless work with farmworkers in the surrounding agricultural fields, advocating for fair wages and better conditions, made her a pivotal, though often unsung, force in the region's socio-economic landscape. Her family’s small, unpretentious home, still standing on the outskirts of town, serves as a silent testament to her unwavering commitment to justice.

Villareal, Bruno

1928

Bruno Villareal, accordionist, was born in La Grulla, Texas, on October 6, 1901. According to stories told by Narciso Martínez , "father" of Texas-Mexican conjunto music, during the 1930s Villareal lived on a ranchito three miles from Santa Rosa, at the north end of the lower Rio Grande valley. Although he was half blind, he walked every day into town to play his accordion for whatever money was offered. At times, he was also hired out to play at bailes de negocio or other kinds of celebrations. Villareal was nicknamed "El Azote del Valle" (the Scourge from the Valley) and is today still remembered by people as far north as Amarillo, where he once played in the streets with a tin cup attached to his piano accordion, an instrument he used from the late 1930s onward. He originally played a two-row button accordion, but switched to a piano accordion later in his career. In the early 1930s, conjunto players such as he used the left-hand bass and right-hand treble chord elements of the accordion. Villareal was among the first accordionists to become popular in South Texas through phonograph records, and he made the first recording of the accordion in 1928. By the 1930s, often backed by a bajo sexto (twelve-string bass guitar), he was an acknowledged master. During this time música norteña or conjunto became the music of choice among the Mexican-American working class. This music enjoyed a great popularity in the area known to Mexicans as el Norte , the region bounded by South Texas and the Mexican states of Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, and Coahuila. Villareal apparently was the first accordionist to secure a long-term relationship with a major label. The OKeh label recorded him on June 12, 1930, and continued to do so for the next several years. Consequently, he is generally recognized as the first conjunto accordionist on records. His style was traditional, with almost equal emphasis on melody and bass. Villareal and fellow accordionists José Rodríguez and Jesús Casiano relied heavily on their left-hand, bass-and-chord elements for the accordion sets. This set them apart from Narciso Martínez, who began almost immediately to de-emphasize that side of the accordion in favor of more marked and better articulated melody lines at the treble end. After World War II , Mexican-American music continued to evolve, and the accordion continued to play a central role. However, as some accordionists, such as Narciso Martínez and Santiago Jiménez , grew in popularity, others such as Jesús Casiano and Villareal, who were unwilling or unable to meet new musical challenges, all but disappeared from the commercial market. In his later years, Villareal lived at his home in Robstown. He died on November 3, 1976.

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Casa Blanca, TX

1754

Casa Blanca was two miles southwest of Sandia and twenty miles northeast of Alice in extreme northeastern Jim Wells County. The Casa Blanca or White House was part of a settlement established at the site around 1754 by Tomás Sánchez de la Barrera y Gallardo , captain of Laredo, who was ordered to find a suitable site for a new settlement. After surveying the country Sánchez selected a site on the banks of Peñitas Creek. A settlement was established there, and the White House was constructed of caliche blocks known as ciares . The house was built in the shape of a square with a courtyard in the center; the well in the courtyard also served as a the end of a tunnel out of the building. Toward the end of the eighteenth century the house was used as a mission. The Spanish crown granted the land to Juan José de la Garza Montemayor and his sons Agustín, Perfecto, and Manuel on April 2, 1807. They used the Casa Blanca as a ranchhouse. According to records the land was occupied by their heirs until 1852. However, local legend has it that the Montemayor family was driven away by a band of outlaws, who in turn were driven out by hostile Indians. Subsequently various families occupied the house and the surrounding area, and a post office operated at the site from 1860 to 1866. The area continued to be inhabited by several families, and in 1893 the post office was reactivated. In 1896 the land was purchased by John L. Wade. Because Casa Blanca was already established as a stopping point Wade established Wade City adjacent to it, platting streets and setting aside land for stores and churches. In 1896 Casa Blanca-Wade City had a combined estimated population of 150, a Methodist church, a general store, a gin, and a lumberyard. Wade City did not prosper, however, and by 1914 its population had decreased to thirty-five. The post office ceased operation in 1922. Around 1936 Wade's heirs petitioned for the site of Wade City to revert to them, arguing that the town never developed and showed no promise of doing so and that the land would be more valuable as ranchland. The petition was granted, and Wade City reverted to pastureland; Casa Blanca continued to be an independent community, but by 1945 only ruins remained.

Tsha Handbook → · 3.0 mi away

La Grulla, TX

1780

La Grulla is three miles south of Alto Bonito and U.S. Highway 83 in the southeastern corner of Starr County. It was founded in the 1780s by Spanish pioneers, probably descendants of followers of José de Escandón . Matias Longoria was the first settler. The Spanish-speaking community extended on both sides of the Rio Grande before 1848. The town takes its name from the Spanish word for crane, the sandhill crane having once been common on the ponds a mile north of town; the ponds had been drained for farming by 1988. The post office, established by 1912, is named Grulla, but the community is called La Grulla. The community had ten businesses and a population of 250 in 1940. The town incorporated about 1966. In the early 1990s there were many vegetable farms around the community, which at that time also comprised six businesses, as well as the Holy Family Catholic Church, a Mennonite church called Iglesia Hermanos Mennonitos de Grulla, a junior high school, and an elementary school. The Oblate Trail between Brownsville and Laredo passed through La Grulla, and the old brick church is so marked with an 1849–1949 medallion. In 1991 the community reported seven businesses and a population of 1,390; in 2000 there were sixteen businesses and 1,211 inhabitants.

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Los Ebanos Ferry Crossing

1740

Apparently this is an ancient ford. First recorded usage was by Spanish explorers and colonists under Jose de Escandon in 1740s on the Rio Grande. A salt trail led from here to El Sal del Rey (40 miles northeast). The ford was used by Mexican war troops, 1846; by Texas Rangers chasing cattle rustlers, 1874; by smugglers in many eras, especially during the American prohibition years, 1920s and '30s. The ferry and inspection station were established in 1950. Named for the ebony trees here, this is known as the only government-licensed, hand-pulled ferry on any boundary of the United States. (1974)

Historical Marker → · 5.7 mi away

Hidalgo County's First Oil Well

1934

John M. Lawrence No. 1 oil well was brought in September 18, 1934, near this site by veteran driller Otto C. Woods. Well flowed 1,000 or more barrels a day. At first the oil formed a lake beside the well. County has produced 20 million barrels of oil. (1968)

Historical Marker → · 7.5 mi away

Havana

1767

Located on land known as Porcion 46, ceded by the crown of Spain to Don Jose Matias Tijerina in 1767, the community of Havana was named for Havana, Cuba, where Tijerina had stopped on his journey from Europe. Among the early settlers here were the families of Josefa de la Garza Salinas and Civil War Union soldier Patricio Perez. A frame church was built in 1891 and named for St. Joseph. Descendants of early settlers still live in the area. Many Havana pioneers are buried here in the Havana Cemetery. (1988)

Historical Marker → · 8.9 mi away

La Grulla, Texas

Music in La Grulla

Songs About La Grulla

Artists From La Grulla

Rivers & Roads in Song near La Grulla

History of La Grulla