Camp Ebenezer
Alamo, Hidalgo County, Texas
Marker Inscription
From 1902 to 1909 Peter Ebenezer Blalock and George L. Hawkins bought 32,000 acres of land here. By 1908 they had built shipping pens at this site and named the railroad depot Ebenezer. Their ranching plans ended in 1909 when the tract was sold to the Alamo Land and Sugar Company. Under the direction of C. H. Swallow (1868-1957), the company colonized the land after 1914. Excursion trains brought prospective farmers, housed here at "Camp Ebenezer." The depot was moved one mile east in 1919 to serve the new town of Alamo. The camp served until the 1930s as temporary housing for land buyers. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In the early 1900s, ranchers Peter Ebenezer Blalock and George L. Hawkins amassed 32,000 acres in the lower Rio Grande Valley and built shipping pens beside a railroad depot they named Ebenezer. When their ranch was sold in 1909, the Alamo Land and Sugar Company transformed the tract into farmland, luring prospective buyers south on excursion trains and lodging them at "Camp Ebenezer." The depot's 1919 move a mile east seeded the town of Alamo.
Why it matters
The camp captures the land-colonization boom that turned the Rio Grande Valley from open range into one of America's great agricultural regions, driven by railroads and aggressive real-estate promotion.
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Related people
- ¡ Peter Ebenezer Blalock
- ¡ George L. Hawkins
- ¡ C. H. Swallow
Themes & tags
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