Contents
Introduction
Cycle One: Prelude
Cycle Two: The Elitist Founding of Matamoros
Cycle Three: The Controversial Establishment of the Non-Mexican Commercial Class
Cycle Four: The Traumatic Founding of Brownsville
Cycle Five: The Violent Era of the Matamoros Free Trade Zone
Cycle Six: The Evanescent Boom of the Late Nineteenth Century
Cycle Seven: The Lengthy Agricultural Boom
Cycle Eight: The Recent Industrial Boom
Maana
Endnotes
Bibliography
Index
Illustrations
18th Century Spaniard and Indian
Spaniards Landing on the Rio Grande
Rancheros Putting up Jacales
Rancheros Fighting off Indians
Buying Horses
The Gringo Store
Soldiers and Girls Swimming
Juan Cortina Attacking Brownsville
Rush of Civilians to the Ferry
Embarking on a Steamboat
Baker Shooting Alfredo Cerda
Federalists Crossing the Old Bridge
Getting Ready for Charro Days
Crowds Cheering Crdenas G.
Shopping at the Mercado Jurez
Boat on the Rio Grande
Acknowledgments
We would like to express our thanks for their gracious help with this project to Dr. Homer Pea, president of the University of Texas-Pan American at Brownsville, Dr. Phil Hamer, Dr. Harriett Denise Joseph, Dr. Manuel Medrano, Isabel de la Torre Hansen, Ruby Wooldridge, Henry Krausse, Yolanda Gonzlez, George Gause, Dorothy Hammond, Dr. Mimosa Stephenson, Jos Luis Briones, Felipe Prez, and Kathleen, Sean, and Vivian Kearney.
Introduction
The Brownsville-Matamoros area exudes a languid charm all its own. Visitors are regularly captivated by the graceful curves of its resaca ox-bow lakes, the semitropical luxuriance of its purple bougain-villeas under stately palms, the fun and sun of its neighboring beaches, and the allure of its Tex-Mex blend of Anglo and Mexican cultures. Yet, familiarity with the ciudades gemelas/twin cities often breeds contempt, even in those still bound by their spell. The vistas of waterless and sewerless huts stretching out along streets of mud under a sky heavy with miasmic heat, co-existing with neighborhoods of columned mansions and zones of a lively night life, could qualify these twin cities as modern-day equivalents of the biblical twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Images also come to mind of Dantes Inferno, for the Rio Grande has become a veritable River Styx of death, sweeping along past the unconcerned City of Dis the corpses of those who have fallen victim to crime or who have drowned while trying to escape to a better life. This shift from a favorable to a jaundiced perspective is as old as recorded human reactions to the region, suggesting an inherent will-o-the-wisp factor. It has been observed that this local cyclical phenomenon has found historical expression in a constant repetition of a boom of expectations followed by a bust of disillusionment. The goal of this study is to identify the major local cycles of boom and bust and to analyze their roots.
Historical geography argues that history is geography in motion, and given the persistence of their boom and bust pattern the twin cities may act as a case in point. The geographic determinants affecting the cycles of boom and bust might be identified as follows:
1. The cultural factor The attraction of biculturalism is soured by exploitation of one group by another. The arid land which stretches from interior Mexico north to the Nueces River forms a single environmental zone for the desert-cultured northern Mexican, and thereby destines the majority of the population of the area to be shaped by Mexican culture, as cultures and environments have traditionally tended to be linked. Similarly, the existence of the long Rio Grande River provides a natural border to which forest peoples from north of the Nueces are drawn by the magnet of a distinct boundary as well as by the lure of river trade. The area framed on the north by the start of the woodlands and on the south by the Rio Grande Delta thus forms a natural zone of ethnic and linguistic overlap. In addition, the river mouth and Gulf port attract ethnic groups coming in by sea from various lands. The resulting blend of peoples heightens the cultural flavor of the area. At the same time, it opens the possibility of exploitation of the less advantaged by the more educationally and industrially advanced groups. This inequality in turn has the effect of breeding tensions and perpetuating a backwardness of the masses. It also tends to create a polarity between establishment parties and have-not parties, with a potential for interconnections between similar factions on the two sides of the river.
2. The economic factor The promise of business opportunities is countered by the difficulties of isolation. The presence of a river delta with rich soils capable of sustaining a significant population stirs high expectations for the productivity of the region. However, the extensive surrounding arid lands, suitable only for sparse cattle ranching, isolate the Rio Grande Delta from the major population centers to both north and south, making outside support more difficult to achieve. A similar antinomy is seen in the areas proximity to an attractive offshore island. Padre Island is seemingly suitable for leisure-time development, but the unstable nature of the shifting sand of that barrier island combines with the threat of hurricanes to discourage development. The economies of the two cities are interlinked by the fact that the only good sea port is located to the north of the river mouth, while the major hinterland extends to the south and west of the Rio Grande River (which flows into the Gulf more from the north than from the west). This interdependence is reinforced by the isolation of the delta from other areas. Yet the national boundary formed by the river separates the two banks. This geographic dilemma poses a major problem in the economic planning of the two cities.
3. The military factor Located at the closest border crossing between two nations, the area has attracted military investment from both national capitals in times of tension, only to see them withdrawn with the resolution of the crisis. Yet the military presence often proves to be more destructive of regional prosperity than productive, by emphasizing confrontation over the cooperation needed for economic integration.
