Historical Preservation Plan of 1977- The Unwritten Record

In 1977, the Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council through planning grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Urban Planning Assistance Program and other planning grants from the State of Texas, created the Historical Preservation Plan which presented an inventory of the districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects in the tri-county area which were significant in American history, architecture, archaeology, and culture. The Plan located the sites, identified their present condition, and outlined the plan of action to preserve these properties. It also identified those properties included in, or possibly eligible for inclusion in, the National Register of Historic Places. We will share some of the chapters included in this plan that give valuable historical information about Cameron, Hidalgo and Willacy Counties.

Historical Awareness in the Lower Rio Grande Valley – The Unwritten Record.

Archaeological evidence suggests that man first came to the Texas coastal region about 12,000 years ago.  At the time, the glaciers of the last great ice age were waning, and sea level was several hundred feet from the present coast.

Earlier man lived along the river in order to have an assured water supply and transportation route. The earliest inhabitants were probably nomadic hunters who depleted game in one region and then moved on. They left scattered artifacts and a few fill sites that mark their presence. Many of their remains probably lay beneath the bays and offshore beneath the waters of the Gulf of Mexico in areas that were once dry land.  These first inhabitants may have imposed extreme impact on the environment. It is thought that these early hunters used fire to stampede and kill large number of mammoths, camels, bison, and other animals, many species of which subsequently became extinct.