Rabb Plantation
Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Today, commonly referred to as the Rabb Plantation, this was originally known as Rancho San Tomas and, then, San Tomas Plantation. It encompassed 20,353 acres stretching north from the banks of the Rio Grande to the Arroyo Colorado. In 1885, Mifflin Kenedy conveyed San Tomas to his stepdaughter, Maria Vicenta Starck. In 1892, after the marriage of Frank Rabb to her daughter, Lillian, Maria Vicenta Starck transferred 1/2 undivided interest in San Tomas to Frank Rabb. That same year, the Rabb and Starck families built a Queen Anne style house that served as the working headquarters of the plantation. It represented the living style and upward mobility of the entrepreneurs and political elite of south Texas at the end of the 19th century. Its Victorian architecture signified a shift from the sprawling Southwest ranchos and "Border Brick" tradition, and is the only example of its type in Cameron County. The Rabb Plantation encompassed numerous outbuildings, including a brick outhouse, foreman's house, stable and workers' buildings. Many of these buildings have disappeared. At San Tomas, Rabb followed the lead of the neighboring Bruley Plantation and experimented with irrigation systems, agricultural crops and new livestock breeds, trying to adapt them to the south Texas climate. These beginnings helped propel the agricultural boom that emerged in the early 20th century. Frank Rabb died in 1932 and the land around the house passed to his estate, and then to his second wife, Margaret McCormick Rabb. In the 1970s, the acreage around the house was conveyed to the National Audubon Society and established as a sanctuary for wildlife. In 2010, the house was conveyed to the Gorgas Science Foundation. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2012
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Once the sprawling Rancho San Tomas, this Rio Grande estate covered more than twenty thousand acres when cattleman Mifflin Kenedy conveyed it to his stepdaughter in 1885. After Frank Rabb married into the family, the Rabbs and Starcks raised a Queen Anne house in 1892 to serve as the plantation's headquarters—the only Victorian showpiece of its kind in Cameron County, and a break from the region's older 'border brick' ranch tradition. Here Rabb experimented with irrigation, crops, and livestock that helped set the stage for the Valley's farming boom.
Why it matters
The house marks south Texas's transition from vast Spanish-Mexican ranchos to the irrigated commercial agriculture of the twentieth century.
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Related people
- · Frank Rabb
- · Lillian Starck Rabb
- · Mifflin Kenedy
- · Maria Vicenta Starck
Themes & tags
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