Marker Inscription
Here was Santa Rita; First Anglo-American settlement on lower Rio Grande and county seat of Cameron County; 1848 1849
Historical Marker
Santa Rita
The roadside stories worth pulling over for.
About this site
Santa Rita is a historical marker in Brownsville, Cameron County, dedicated in 1936. It is one of 116 historical markers documented in Cameron County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 194 historic sites cataloged across the county.
The site sits at 25.9505, -97.5587 near Brownsville. The nearest cataloged historic site is Villa Nueva Cemetery (cemetery), about 0.3 miles away. Others within a short drive include Estefana Goseaschochea Cemetery, Estéfana Goseascochea Cemetery, and El Carmen Cemetery.
This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5061004586. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
History
Santa Rita stood on the Rio Grande a few miles west of present Brownsville and became the first seat of government of Cameron County when the county was created in 1848. Its land was part of Spanish-era claims by Jose Narciso Cavazos and Jose Salvador de la Garza. After Brownsville won a county-seat election in December 1848, some Santa Rita residents reportedly put their buildings on wheels and rolled them to the winning town; nothing of Santa Rita remained by the 1930s.
Sources: tshaonline.orghmdb.org
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