Falfurrias to Encino Road
Encino, Brooks County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Visible from this site is a small section of roadway that dates from the earliest efforts of the State Highway Program to oversee road construction. In 1918, one year after the establishment of the Texas Highway Department, plans were drawn for the Brooks County segment of what would become U.S. 281. That portion of the road constructed in 1918 was a soft sand thoroughfare terminating at Encino (6.5 mi. S). A caliche surface was applied in 1920, and the concrete paving now in evidence was laid in 1928. The remaining portion of the Falfurrias to Encino Road is a reminder of early road construction methods and transportation networks into the Rio Grande Valley. (2002)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
A surviving stretch of roadway here dates to the very first years of organized state road-building in Texas. In 1918, just a year after the Texas Highway Department was created, engineers drew plans for the Brooks County segment of what became U.S. 281 — a soft sand track that gained a caliche surface in 1920 and concrete paving in 1928. The old fragment records the rapid evolution from wagon-era dirt to modern paved highway.
Why it matters
It documents the birth of the state highway system that knit the Rio Grande Valley into national commerce and transformed rural American mobility in the automobile age.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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