San Ygnacio
San Ygnacio, Zapata County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In the late 1820s, Jesús Treviño bought land and a hacienda from the heirs of José Vásquez Borrego. Treviño and his family, as well as several residents from nearby Revilla, Mexico (Guerrero), established a ranch and settlement and named it for Revilla's patron saint, San Ignacio de Loyola. In 1830, Treviño moved the ranch upriver, and for his headquarters he constructed a building of native sandstone. In 1851, his son-in-law, Blás María Uribe, had José Villarreal build and place a sundial on the entrance. Uribe later added other structures, forming the compound known today as Fort Treviño, or El Fuerte. Uribe also joined in discussions surrounding the formation of the Republic of the Río Grande. He and his brothers-in-law, Vicente Gutiérrez and Manuel Benavides García, were active leaders in San Ygnacio, which became a regional trade center, with access to land and river routes. In 1873, Uribe deeded land for Nuestra Señora del Refugio Catholic Church. Largely populated by farmers and laborers, and following many years as a duty-free border zone, San Ygnacio continued to prosper late into the 19th century. The settlement, bypassed by the railroad in the 1880s, remained viable through its farming and ranching enterprises. Throughout the years, the area was often involved in political and military operations. In the early 1950s, plans for Falcon Reservoir posed a threat to the historic townsite. A committee headed by Mercurio Martínez successfully petitioned government officials to spare the community. Despite flood damage incurred in 1954, San Ygnacio has remained intact. Today, it is a unique example of a mid-19th century Texas border town, with numerous native sandstone structures, and is considered the oldest inhabited settlement in Zapata County. (2005)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In the late 1820s Jesús Treviño acquired land along the Rio Grande and, with families from nearby Revilla (Guerrero), Mexico, founded a ranch settlement named for San Ignacio de Loyola. His son-in-law Blás María Uribe expanded the native-sandstone compound known today as Fort Treviño and joined the leaders debating the short-lived Republic of the Rio Grande. Bypassed by the railroad and later spared from the waters of Falcon Reservoir through local petition, San Ygnacio survives as the oldest inhabited settlement in Zapata County and a rare intact mid-nineteenth-century Texas border town.
Why it matters
San Ygnacio preserves the Tejano ranching frontier of the Rio Grande, where Mexican settlers built enduring stone communities that predate and outlasted the border itself.
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Related people
- · Jesús Treviño
- · Blás María Uribe
- · Mercurio Martínez
Related events
- · Republic of the Rio Grande
- · Construction of Falcon Reservoir
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Jesus Trevino Home
San Ygnacio, TX
Jesús Treviño, founder of San Ygnacio on the Rio Grande, built this home in 1830 and used it as a refuge for family and neighbors during the frequent Indian raids of the borderlands. His son-in-law Blas María Uribe later added a loopholed fort, and in 1851 set a polished native-stone sundial into its north wall. The compound stands as one of the oldest surviving structures of the lower Rio Grande frontier.
Old Ramireño
San Ygnacio, TX
Old Ramireño stood on Porción 5, land granted to Don José Luis Ramírez by the King of Spain in 1784 as part of José de Escandón's colonization of Nuevo Santander. Ramírez, his wife María Bacilia Martínez, and their ten children crossed the Rio Grande to build a home here, and their descendants formed the community's core. The settlement saw the Mier Expedition camp there in 1842 and U.S. military activity during the border raids of 1916–17 before Falcon Reservoir forced its relocation in 1953, drowning the original stone ranch house.
Zapata County
Zapata, TX
Carved from Webb and Starr counties and organized in 1858, this South Texas county along the Rio Grande took its name from Antonio Zapata, a pioneer stockman who backed the short-lived Republic of the Rio Grande. Its first county seat, Carrizo, was later renamed Zapata as well. The naming honors a borderland figure from the turbulent decades when the lower Rio Grande was contested ground between Mexico and the young Texas state.
Site of Uribeño.
Zapata vicinity, TX
Uribeño traces its origin to 1803, when a stretch of the Rio Grande known as Porción 41 was granted to José Nicolás Clemente Gutiérrez de Lara for his service in the Spanish army. Despite Indian raids, drought, and flooding, his family established a ranch, and after Mexico won independence in 1821 the growing community took the family's name, numbering 152 people by 1860 with a cemetery, schoolhouse, and store. In the 1950s the federal government's Falcon Dam flooded Uribeño and four neighboring settlements; only its cemetery was relocated to mark where the town had stood.