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La
Lomita Chapel
Photo courtesy Ken
Rudine, February 2007 |
History in a Pecan
Shell
"Little
Hill" adjoins the historical site of a former mission and ranch headquarters maintained
by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. The property comprised of two Spanish land
grants awarded in 1767. The "little hill" is on what became known as the La Lomita
grant. The La Lomita grant came into the possession of John Davis Bradburn in
1842. Bradburn, died that year and is buried somewhere on the property. His Mexican
widow sold the land in 1845 to René Guyard, a French merchant in Reynosa. Upon
Guyard's death in 1861, his will left the La Lomita grant to Oblate priests.
The French Oblates had been ministering to the Catholics of the Rio Grande
country since 1849. The priests used La Lomita as a meeting place since it was
a midway point between their mission in Brownsville
and Roma. In 1884 the designation La Lomita was extended
to the entire property (two original grants). |
As yet
there was no chapel at La Lomita. Managing the enterprise from Brownsville
proved to be impossible and attempts to raise crops were disasters. In 1899 the
ranch was made the residential headquarters of a new Oblate mission district for
all of Hidalgo County. It was at this time that the old chapel was built.
The Oblates sold most of their La Lomita ranch property in 1907 to provide
funds to develop churches and schools that were springing up along the newly-arrived
railroad. Developers James W. Conway and John J. Hoit named the new townsite along
the railroad Mission, to honor the Oblate's work.
The Oblates retained 100 acres in the new town and 300 acres along the river,
including the La Lomita hill and chapel. When the Oblates moved to Mission
around 1910, the ranch and chapel at La Lomita deteriorated from neglect. In 1912
a large three-story brick building was built to house a novitiate program. |
In
1975 La Lomita was added to the National Register.
In 1976 the city
of Mission added visitor amenities and landscaping to make La Lomita a municipal
historical park.
A 1978 a book written by local author Cleo Dawson
was made into a movie titled She Came to the Valley. It was filmed on location
in Mission
and La Lomita. |
DVD
A movie filmed on location in La Lomita |
|
| The
old chapel at La Lomita was repaired and furnished in 1928 "as a precious relic
of the past and a Shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe." A hurricane in 1933 caused
damage which was repaired in 1939. |
La Lomita,
Texas Forum
Haunted Chapel of La LomitaDear
TE, I was reading in your magazine about the ghostly encounters [at the La Lomita
Chapel] that people have reported. Well about 2 years ago, I was in a similar
situation but in broad daylight. I was recording through the fence because the
park had already closed when I had arrived. Later at home when I viewed the tape,
there appeared to be a woman standing in the doorway of the chapel. At first,
I thought it was the fence, but the more I watched it, the more it looks like
a nun. And when I played it in slow motion, I was convinced that it was a nun
but without a face. She seemed to be facing to the left corner. A week later,
I went back to see if there was something in the corner [of the doorway] and found
that that is where a crucifix is located. Currently we are looking for the video
so that I can submit it to get other opinions. I am a strong believer of the supernatural
and after reading [about the other encounters] I am convinced that what I saw
was a ghost. - Amanda Munoz, Mercedes, Texas, December 04, 2006
Subject:
Haunted Chapel
My wife and I live in Mission, Tx. One time we heard a
story that there was a chapel that was haunted. Now this place is located about
three miles south of Mission in a town called Madero. One night my wife, a couple
of friends from Houston and I decided to go and see if this was true. It was around
11 p.m. when we got there and saw this big chapel with a balcony. The gates were
closed and it look like it has been abandoned for a while. The first thing we
saw was a man standing in the balcony with his arms wide open. We all got scared
and quickly started to drive off. Suddenly a very big noise came about and we
saw a light flashing in our windshield. We really had never believed in ghosts,
but this was something very special. - R Reyna, March 14, 2003
© John Troesser
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