Public Market and Town Hall
Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Authorized 1850. On land deeded forever for this purpose. Butchers, other vendors moved in during 1851. Building complete with top story and bell tower, 1852. Town hall over market used for Presbyterian church services. In high wind of 1867 lost its second floor. Restored 1868. Remodeled 1912, 1948. Original foundations and walls still survive in the modern market.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Authorized in 1850 on land deeded in perpetuity for public use, Brownsville's market drew butchers and other vendors by 1851, and a two-story building topped with a bell tower was finished in 1852. The town-hall floor above the market even hosted Presbyterian services in the young border town. A fierce windstorm tore off the second story in 1867, but the structure was rebuilt and remodeled repeatedly, its original foundations and walls still embedded in the modern market.
Why it matters
A public market anchored the civic and commercial life of this frontier border town, and its survival links today's Brownsville directly to its founding generation on the Rio Grande.
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