Run
Donna, Hidalgo County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This area in the mid-1800s was part of the Asadores Ranch owned by Salvador and San Juana Cavazos. In 1898, east Texas rice farmers A.F. Hester, Sr. and T.J. Hooks bought land in the vicinity. They and others began La Blanca Agricultural Company and the Arroyo Canal Company to build an irrigation system. They also helped usher the railroad into the area. Ed and George Ruthven moved to the area by 1904. Ed established a store and was postmaster for the community of Run (a contraction of his surname), and George built irrigation pumps. Andrew Champion also owned a general store. A school opened in 1905, but many area residents began moving to Donna following a devastating flood four years later. (2006)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Once part of the Cavazos family's mid-1800s Asadores Ranch, this stretch of the Rio Grande Valley was transformed at the turn of the 20th century when East Texas rice farmers and other newcomers organized irrigation companies and coaxed the railroad into the area. The tiny community of Run took its name from postmaster Ed Ruthven, whose store, a school, and his brother's irrigation pumps briefly anchored local life. A devastating flood in 1909 sent many residents drifting toward nearby Donna, and Run faded soon after.
Why it matters
Run's brief life captures how irrigation and the railroad reengineered the Lower Rio Grande Valley from ranchland into farm country, and how quickly frontier settlements could rise and vanish.
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Related people
- · Ed Ruthven
- · George Ruthven
- · A.F. Hester, Sr.
- · T.J. Hooks
Related events
- · 1909 flood
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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