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EAGLE
PASS, TEXASMaverick
County Seat, South
Texas
Hwy 277, 57 and FM 1021
140 miles SW of San
Antonio via Hwy 90
Population: 22,413 (2000)
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An
early morning street scene downtown
TE Photo |
History
in a Pecan Shell
Names:
The name Eagle Pass was
named after migrating eagles or one particular eagle that flew to and from its
nest while the military was deciding what to name their first camp. The town was
predated by this camp which was two miles downstream from what became Fort Duncan.
Maverick County was named after Samuel Maverick, signer of the Texas
Declaration of Independence, legislator and the man whose name became a synonymous
with unbranded calves. |
A
timeline of significant historical events in Eagle Pass
1845: Camp Eagle Pass is established during the Mexican War
1849:
Fort Duncan is established as a permanent installation (2 miles upsteam from the
former camp)
1850: Trading post is opened by a San Antonio merchant
and Piedras Negras is established
1851: Stage line to San Antonio
is established
1855: Volunteer rangers pursue Indians into Mexico
and burn Piedras Negras
1856: Maverick County is formed
1863:
Renegades attack Confederate Fort Duncan and townspeople drive them back to Mexico
1865: General Shelby buries a Confederate flag in the Rio Grande -
a symbolic burial of the Confederacy.
1868: Federal troops reoccupy
the fort after its use by Confederate forces during the Civil War.
1871:
Maverick County is organized and Eagle Pass becomes county seat
1875:
Population reaches 1,500 - Outlaw John King Fisher unofficially controls the Eagle
Pass area
1882: The Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway
is built from Spofford
(Kinney County)
1884: Population reaches 2,000
1885: Courthouse
is built
1900: Population of Eagle Pass is 2,729
1920:
Population reaches 5,765
1941: Eagle Pass Army Air Field was constructed
twelve miles north of Eagle Pass
Eagle Pass was 94 percent Hispanic
in 1980. |
Eagle
Pass Sights & Scenes |
The
Kress Building in Eagle Pass.
TE
photo, March 2002
About Kress
Buildings |
Harry's
Cafe
TE
photo, March 2002 |
Sign
painter at work
TE
photo, March 2002 |
Huge
Watch
TE
photo, March 2002 |
C.S.P.
Johnson Building Threshold
TE
photo, March 2002 |
Eagle
Pass 1888 Building
TE
photo, March 2002 |
A
building with silo
TE
photo, March 2002 |
Fort
Duncan post bridge
TE Photo, March 2002 |
A
downtown "Cafe" neon sign
TE Photo, May 2003 |
S.
Marquez Building
TE
photo, May 2003 |
Warehouse
At Dusk
TE
photo, May 2003 |
| Eagle
Pass Vintage Images |
| | The
Eagle Pass Centennial
Photo Courtesy William Peterson |
Early
Eagle Pass Businessmen
According to local historian Al Kinnsel, these men
were photographed each New Year's Day for years.
Photo Courtesy Maverick County Historical Museum |
Main
Street in 1916
Postcard courtesy www.rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/ |
Eagle
Pass school in the 1920s
Postcard courtesy rootsweb.com/%7Etxpstcrd/ |
Irrigation
Canal near Eagle Pass Texas
1916
postcard courtesy rootsweb.com/%7Etxpstcrd/ |
Eagle
Pass Nearby Destinations
Fort
Duncan - Restored buildings form the centerpiece of Eagle Pass' city park.
Buildings include the Fort Duncan Museum. Piedras
Negras - The
Mexican town across the border which claims to be the birthplace of the nacho.
Guerrero,
Coahuila, Mexico
- 30 miles East of Piedras Negras on Mexico Highway 2
Uvalde
40 miles NE
Brackettville
46 miles N on Hwy 131
Del
Rio 56 miles N on Hwy 277
Book Hotel Here > Eagle
Pass Hotels |
Eagle
Pass Tourist Information
Eagle
Pass Chamber of Commerce:
PO Box 1188 Eagle Pass, TX 78853
Office: 400 Garrison Street Eagle Pass,
TX
Phone: 1-888-355-3224 (830) 773-3224
Website: http://www.eaglepasstexas.com/
Eagle Pass Hotels
> Book Hotel Here |
Eagle
Pass Texas Forum
Subject:
Aztec Theatre
My memories
of the "Aztec" are growing up down the resaca in the "Jardin" neighborhood. We
never really had any money back then, so for the weekends, we'd camp-out in the
park just across the water and catch fish for dinner. I remember my Grandmother,
God rest her soul, took me to "bailes" a couple of times on the rooftop….Oh what
a priviledge it would have been to have seen it in its heyday!! I think my mother
has a charcoal drawing I did back when I was around 15 years old. If I find it,
I'll try and scan it and send it to you guys! Thanks for the memories! - George
L. Rodriguez, Jr. Chesapeake, Virginia, July 31, 2006
Subject:
Prada Marfa
As me and my
mom were on our way to Eagle Pass we passed the shoestore [Prada Marfa] and we
were not sure if it was what we had seen. We wanted to make a U-turn and see if
it was really there. Well, on our way back it was there. We stopped and took pictures
of it. To us it was a store in the middle of nowhere, but [we] enjoyed it as well.
I told my brother about it and he doesn't belive it's really there. - Marisa
Flores, May 11, 2006
When
you were down in Eagle Pass did you cross the border and go to Guerrero,
about 25 miles down river from Piedras Negras, to visit the mission San Juan
Baptista?
This mission was the original mission and the headquarters
from which the fathers operated in their forming and governing the missions in
Texas including the Alamo. It is a ruin now but the Mexican government has made
some attempts to save it. - Sincerely, Bick Eubanks, June 24, 2002
"Nearby
is the site of the Battle of Dove Creek, although it is on private land. This
fight took place in January of 1865 and involved a Confederate Frontier Battalion
and a large number of Kickapoo Indians who were en route to Mexico (where
they remain today)."
I found the above in your description of Sherwood.
While it is true that the Kickapoo do live near Nacimientos, Coahuila, Mexico,
they also live near Eagle Pass, Texas and in Kansas and travel between all locations
freely.
I really enjoy Texas Escapes and thank you for your dedicated
work on it. - Respectfully Yours, Bick Eubanks, June 22, 2002
Our special thanks to local historian Al Kinnsal and the Fort Duncan Museum
for providing us with many of the photos in our Eagle Pass town site.
Texas
Escapes, in
its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing Texas, asks that anyone
wishing to share their local history and vintage/historic photos,
please contact
us.
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