Louis de Planque
Corpus Christi, Nueces County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Born in Prussia in April 1842, Louis de Planque immigrated to Mexico during the American Civil War era. By 1864 he was working in Matamoros and soon opened a photography studio in Brownsville, Texas. During the American Civil War, the confederate cotton trade transformed Brownsville and Matamoros into boomtowns, which helped de Planque’s business. In addition to photographing both union and confederate troops stationed in the area, de Planque also sold tintypes, Cartes de Visite, frames and stereoptic equipment and slides. Despite sustaining heavy damage to both his studios and losing valuable equipment in the 1867 hurricane, he managed to photograph the storm damage. In the two years after the storm, he opened studios in Indianola and Corpus Christi. As de Planque prepared to close his Indianola studio, the 1875 hurricane struck there and he and his wife barely survived. Using a lantern show to raise money, de Planque purchased new equipment and revived his Corpus Christi studio, where he spent the rest of his career. Called “Don Luis” in Corpus Christi, the six-foot, 200-pound de Planque was known to love parties and cut a striking figure by attending many events dressed in eccentric costumes, such as leather leggings and a serape topped with a feathered tyrolean hat. Local lore stated that no local or visiting celebrity could escape a session in de Planque’s studio. He died of a stroke in Corpus Christi on May 1, 1898. He married twice and trained his second wife, Frenchwoman Eugenie J. Robert, as a photographer. She continued to operate his photography business for a number of years after his death. (2014)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Prussian-born Louis de Planque came to the Rio Grande borderlands during the Civil War, when Confederate cotton pouring through Brownsville and Matamoros made boomtowns of both. He photographed Union and Confederate troops alike and weathered devastating hurricanes in 1867 and 1875 that twice destroyed his studios. Rebuilding each time, the flamboyant "Don Luis" spent his final decades as Corpus Christi's celebrated portrait photographer, training his wife Eugenie to carry on the business.
Why it matters
De Planque's camera preserved a rare visual record of the Civil War-era borderland and its people, and his career shows how immigrant artisans built the visual culture of frontier Texas.
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Related people
- · Louis de Planque
- · Eugenie J. Robert
Related events
- · American Civil War
Themes & tags
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