Archive

The name of Dr. Hector P. Garcia has a historical connection to Mercedes along with a local library named in his honor. The legendary physician and civil rights leader was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1984. He was born in the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas. His family moved to Mercedes when he […]

The road to one of the Rio Grande Valley’s best and most authentic Italian restaurants began in Brownsville, just after World War II. John Cortino of Chicago arrived in South Texas in the post-war era to supervise the construction of a multi-story building in Brownsville. With him was his wife, Mary, and it was at […]

The 1527-foot long Mercedes Floodway Bridge has felt the weight of many a load over its rails in the years that it has spanned the Mid-Valley. Steel, scrap metals, bulk plastics and agricultural products of all types have rolled across the long rail bridge since it was built and opened in the early 1950s. The […]

Raybec Investment Company knows the real estate market of the Rio Grande Valley. The Skokie, IL.-based developers have built apartment and retail projects throughout the Valley and Corpus Christi over the last 20 years. Raybec knew where it wanted to be when it came to developing its newest project in South Texas. The Mercedes Place […]

Atanacio Hinojosa Jr., can give you a history lesson covering the different eras of banking in the Rio Grande Valley. The one he knows best is the chapter about community banking. He lived it across 35 years as a vice president and loan officer at three Mid-Valley banks, with his longest tenure being at the […]

Captain Seth Thornton and his U.S. Dragoons made their way through chaparral thickets of what was then a much contested South Texas. Thornton and his men had been dispatched out of Fort Texas by General Zachary Taylor about 30 miles due west from where Brownsville now sits. The U.S. troops would eventually get to a […]

By Ricardo D. Cavazos Matt Brown saw an opportunity and Aloe King of Mercedes has the key ingredient. Brown had done business with Aloe King from San Antonio. His SA Fulfillment is a wholesaler shipper of a variety of health care products, which included aloe from Mercedes. In early 2020, Brown could see the demand […]

Estero Llano Grande State Park of Mercedes is known for its great birding, nature trials and habitat restoration in becoming one of the more popular go-to places for wildlife enthusiasts in the Rio Grande Valley. After walking into the main entrance of Estero Llano, there are snapshots of history to go with the splendors of […]

The Rio Grande Valley’s most historic and still surviving national bank traces its start back to Mercedes. First National Bank of Mercedes opened in 1920 and one hundred years later it lives on in Texas National Bank. The original charter that got First National started would carry through a name change to Mercedes National Bank […]

Heriberto Reynoso built his first robot when he was 14. The Brownsville native always had a fascination with tinkering and figuring out how to make things work. In college, he majored in computer science with an emphasis on artificial intelligence. Reynoso landed a coveted internship one summer during his college years at NASA’s Jet Propulsion […]