Rancho de Santa Maria
Santa Maria, Cameron County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Part of Spain's 1777 La Feria Grant (12.5 leagues), partitioned into 6 units 1843. Here in 1850's was a sub-post of Fort Brown (28 mi. SE) and Fort Ringgold (65 mi. NW). This was proposed site in 1860's for "Homeville", this locality's first small-acreage promotion. Present compound, built 1870 by L.J. Hynes, has buildings for dairy, kitchen, ammunition. Hynes, first Postmaster (1876), had stage depot, general store, telegraph office, shipping wharf on river. Chapel was built 1880. In 1892, Frank Rabb bought the ranch. In 1916 border troubles, U.S. Army established headquarters here.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This ground was part of Spain's 1777 La Feria Grant, partitioned in 1843, and by the 1850s hosted a sub-post serving Forts Brown and Ringgold on the Rio Grande frontier. In 1870 L. J. Hynes built the compound that still stands, with buildings for a dairy, kitchen, and ammunition; as first postmaster in 1876 he ran a stage depot, general store, telegraph office, and river wharf. Frank Rabb bought the ranch in 1892, and in 1916 the U.S. Army made it a headquarters amid the era's border troubles.
Why it matters
Rancho de Santa Maria layers Spanish land grants, frontier military posts, and border commerce into one site, tracing the long contested history of the lower Rio Grande.
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Related people
- · L. J. Hynes
- · Frank Rabb
Themes & tags
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