Weslaco Water Tower
Weslaco, Hidalgo County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This ground level water storage reservoir was constructed in 1928, nine years after Weslaco was founded. Built through the efforts of mayor David E. Kirgan and city water commissioner William Detlef, it was a symbol of Kirgan's municipal reforms. The facility was used until 1938 when work was begun on the adjacent overhead tank. A project of the Works Progress Administration, it was completed in 1941 during the mayoralty of John L. Compere, Jr. The site now serves as a reminder of Weslaco's early development as a progressive city. (1982)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built in 1928, nine years after Weslaco was founded, this ground-level reservoir was a centerpiece of Mayor David Kirgan's push for modern municipal services in the young Rio Grande Valley town. It served the city until 1938, when work began on an adjacent overhead tank — a Works Progress Administration project finished in 1941. Together the structures mark Weslaco's early drive to build itself into a progressive, well-run city.
Why it matters
It shows how new Texas towns and, later, New Deal public-works programs built the everyday infrastructure that turned raw settlements into functioning cities.
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Related people
- · David E. Kirgan
- · William Detlef
- · John L. Compere, Jr.
Related events
- · Works Progress Administration
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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Weslaco
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Weslaco sits on part of the old Spanish land grant called Llano Grande, but the town itself is a twentieth-century creation, founded in 1919 by the Couch brothers and Robert L. Reeves. Its unusual name comes from the initials of the W. E. Stewart Land Company, which held the site as the Rio Grande Valley's land-and-irrigation boom drew developers south. Incorporated in 1921 and settled nearly a decade after its neighbors, Weslaco built a diversified economy that still counts descendants of its first families among its residents.
Weslaco City Hall
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By 1928 Weslaco had outgrown the frame community building that first stood on this spot, and civic leaders replaced it with a proper city hall in the Spanish Colonial style then favored across the Rio Grande Valley. Architect R. Newell Waters dressed it in cast-stone sculpture at the entry and cupola and colorful Spanish tile along the interior stairway. Town founder Ed Couch and Mayor David Kirgan presided over its completion.
Weslaco City Cemetery
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Weslaco, named for the W.E. Stewart Land Company, was founded in December 1919 as land developers opened the Rio Grande Valley to new settlers. The city laid out this cemetery in 1921 just beyond the original townsite, and its first burial came that same year. Among those interred are city founders Edmond Cooper Couch and Robert Lee Reeves, and the grounds — now holding more than 6,000 graves — are dotted with markers noting military service and fraternal ties.