Thursday, June 13, 2019 - 8:00am
By Andy Rhodes, Medallion Managing Editor
Photos by Patrick Hughey
THC Commissioner Lilia Garcia is standing on a balcony overlooking the Rio Grande. As she recalls stories about the formerly fluid movement between Brownsville and Matamoros, she sighs deeply. It’s been many years since she crossed the river to visit friends in Mexico. Although...
Friday, May 17, 2019 - 4:22pm
By Andy Rhodes, Managing Editor, The Medallion
In the early months of each year, the Rio Grande Valley’s population increases by about 100,000 people. Commonly known as Winter Texans, these semi-permanent residents flock from northern locales to Brownsville, McAllen, Mission, and other nearby cities for warmer temperatures and cultural opportunities.
Many...
Wednesday, March 27, 2019 - 4:13pm
By Debra Drescher, State Coordinator, Texas Main Street Program
Historically, courthouses served as the central meeting places and architectural anchors for downtowns. In fact, they were often placed first in a community’s urban plan.
Today, Texas courthouses continue to anchor downtown activities. In many cases, they provide the primary park space in a historic business...
Wednesday, March 20, 2019 - 9:11am
By Andy Rhodes, Managing Editor, The Medallion
While exploring the Lone Star State’s historic downtowns, many travelers are understandably drawn to the architectural beacons of courthouse towers. Some visitors may continue strolling throughout a historic business district in search of cafes and boutiques without noticing the buildings in between.
Even fewer will realize that...
Tuesday, February 19, 2019 - 9:43am
This article was originally featured in the November/December 1995 issue of The Medallion.
Not one, not two, but a record-breaking eight historical markers were dedicated recently in historic Thurber, a coal mining ghost town located 75 miles west of Fort Worth.
Founded in the 1880s by the Texas and Pacific Coal Company, Thurber at its height was the largest town...
Thursday, February 14, 2019 - 10:15am
This article was originally featured in the September/October 1992 issue of The Medallion.
Maurice de Leleu was one of three children, the son of 19th-century Flemish immigrants who traveled from Belgium to New York City. In 1908, his parents died, and he was taken in by the Children’s Aid Society, a charitable institution for waifs.
In 1912, De Leleu and a group of...
Thursday, January 31, 2019 - 11:54am
This article was originally featured in the January 1990 issue of The Medallion.
Texans are preparing to celebrate the 300th anniversary of one of the oldest and most significant roads in Texas. Known as the Camino Real (King’s Highway), and also called the Old San Antonio Road, it was one of the most important factors in the early development of the state.
It was...
Friday, November 9, 2018 - 2:31pm
By Lila Rakoczy, THC Military Sites Program Coordinator
Signs of the First World War are all around us—hiding in plain sight, in fact. One obvious but overlooked place is local cemeteries. For those with an interest in World War I, grave markers are an invaluable source of information about the men and women who served.
After World War I, the repatriation of American dead...
Friday, November 9, 2018 - 2:18pm
By Bob Brinkman, THC Historical Markers Program Coordinator
We don’t know if Henry Grady Oxford and Robert Lee Melbern knew each other in life. At the outbreak of World War I they both lived in Coryell County, and their farms were about 10 miles apart. We do know that these young men living parallel lives on Central Texas soil embarked upon similar lives of service for their country...
Thursday, November 8, 2018 - 5:12pm
By Lila Rakoczy, THC Military Sites Program Coordinator
On November 11, 1918, a 30-year-old Texan in the Intelligence Section of the 360th Infantry Regiment reflected in his diary on the day’s events:
“The orders called for continuing the artillery fire with the same intensity until eleven in the morning, when the hostilities would be suspended for thirty-five days....
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