Timeline of Laredo, Texas explained

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Laredo, Texas, USA.

18th-19th centuries

• 1755 - May 15: Villa de Laredo founded by Tomás Sánchez and others in Spanish colonial Nuevo Santander, Viceroyalty of New Spain.^[1]
• 1760 - Chapel built.
• 1767 - San Agustin Church founded.
• 1790 - Population: 708.
• 1821 - Laredo becomes part of independent Mexican Empire.
• 1840 - Laredo becomes capital of the Mexican insurgent Republic of the Rio Grande during the Mexican Federalist War.
• 1846 - Laredo taken by U.S. Texas Rangers during the Mexican–American War.
• 1847 - U.S. forces occupy town.
• 1848
  • Laredo becomes part of the U.S. per Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo at end of Mexican–American War.
  • Webb County, Texas created.^[2]
• 1849 - U.S. military Camp Crawford established.
• 1852 - Laredo "chartered as a Texas city."
• 1860 - Population: 1,256.
• 1872 - San Agustin Church rebuilt.
• 1880
  • Corpus Christi-Laredo railway begins operating.
  • Population: 3,521.
• 1881
  • Mexico-Laredo railway begins operating.
  • St. Peter's neighborhood development begins.
  • City plan for Laredo and Nuevo Laredo, "'Plano de los Dos Laredos' created by E.R. Laroche."^[3]
• 1882
  • Laredo Seminary and city water works^[4] established.
  • County Courthouse built.
• 1883 - Daily Laredo Times newspaper begins publication.^[5]
• 1888 - Laredo Improvement Company formed.^[6]
• 1889
  • Street railway begins operating.
  • "Foot and wagon bridge built across the Rio Grande" at Convent Avenue.
• 1890 - Population: 11,319.
• 1898 - Onion farming begins (approximate date).
• 1900 - Population: 13,429.

20th century

• 1904 - Laredo Academy established.^[7]
• 1907 - Laredo United States Post Office, Court House and Custom House built.
• 1908 - Discovery of natural gas in vicinity of Laredo.
• 1909 - Webb County Courthouse built.
• 1910 - Population: 14,855.
• 1911 - Liga Femenil Mexicanista (women's group) founded in Laredo.^[8]
• 1915 - Laredo public library active (approximate date).^[9]
• 1920
  • Texas Mexican Railway International Bridge opened.
  • Population: 22,710.
• 1922
  • International Bridge opens.
  • Azteca Theater opens.
• 1937 - Foundry Workers' Union of Laredo formed.^[10]
• 1938 - KPAB radio begins broadcasting.
• 1946 - Fort McIntosh, Texas de-activated.
• 1947 - Laredo Junior College established.
• 1950 - Population: 51,910.
• 1954 - Flood.
• 1956 - KGNS-TV (television) begins broadcasting.
• 1969 - Texas A&M International University established.
• 1970
  • River Drive Mall in business.
  • Population: 69,678.
• 1977 - Mall del Norte in business.
• 1978 - Aldo Tatangelo becomes mayor.
• 1980
  • Webb County Heritage Foundation established.
  • Population: 91,449.
• 1990
  • Saul N. Ramirez, Jr. becomes mayor.
  • Population: 122,899.
• 1993
  • Laredo Community College active.
  • Cinemark Movies 12 (cinema) in business.^[11]
• 1998 - Betty Flores becomes mayor.
• 2000
  • Roman Catholic Diocese of Laredo established.^[12]
  • Population: 176,576.

21st century

• 2001 - City website online (approximate date).^[13]
• 2005 - Henry Cuellar becomes U.S. representative for Texas's 28th congressional district.^{[14] [15]}
• 2006 - Raul G. Salinas becomes mayor.
• 2007 - Cinemark Mall Del Norte (cinema) in business.
• 2008 - Rio Grande Detention Center opens, housing up to 1900 federal prisoners for the U.S. government ^[16]
• 2010 - Population: 236,091.^[17]
• 2014 - Pete Saenz becomes mayor.^[18]

See also

• Laredo, Texas history (es)
• List of mayors of Laredo, Texas
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Webb County, Texas
• Nuevo Laredo, Mexico history (es)
• Timelines of other cities in the South Texas area of Texas: Brownsville, Corpus Christi, McAllen, San Antonio

Bibliography

• Book: Texas State Gazetteer and Business Directory. 1890. R.L. Polk & Co.. Detroit. Internet Archive. Laredo. https://archive.org/stream/texasstategazett32rlpo#page/n193/mode/2up.
• Book: A Twentieth Century History of Southwest Texas. 1907. Lewis Publishing Company. Chicago. Laredo. https://books.google.com/books?id=-1tNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA67.
• Laredo . 16 . 215 . 1910 . . 1.
  • Stanley Cooper Green, Laredo, 1755–1920 (Laredo: Nuevo Santander Museum Complex, 1981)
• Gilberto Miguel Hinojosa, A Borderlands Town in Transition: Laredo, 1755–1870 (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1983)
• Jerry Don Thompson, Laredo: A Pictorial History (Norfolk: Donning, 1986)
• Book: Helen Simons. Cathryn A. Hoyt. A Guide to Hispanic Texas. 1996. Abridged. University of Texas Press. 978-0-292-77709-5. Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley. 69–120. .
• Book: Betty Dooley Awbrey. Stuart Awbrey. Why Stop?: A Guide to Texas Roadside Historical Markers. 2013. 6th. Taylor Trade Publishing. 978-1-58979-790-1. Laredo. 267+. .

External links

• Web site: Historical Maps of Texas Cities: Laredo . . University of Texas at Austin .
• Web site: Laredo . . Austin, TX .
• Web site: Laredo, TX . Handbook of Texas Online . . Carlos E. Cuéllar .
• Items related to Laredo, various dates (via Digital Public Library of America).

Notes and References

1. Book: Herbert Eugene Bolton. Herbert Eugene Bolton. Texas in the Middle Eighteenth Century: Studies in Spanish Colonial History and Administration. University of California publications in history ;v. 3. 1915. University of California Press.
2. Web site: Texas: Individual County Chronologies . Atlas of Historical County Boundaries . Scholl Center for American History and Culture . . Chicago . June 27, 2016 .
3. Web site: United States - Texas - Webb County - Laredo . Portal to Texas History . University of North Texas Libraries . Denton .
4. Web site: Local History . Webb County Heritage Foundation . Laredo . June 27, 2016 .
5. Web site: US Newspaper Directory . Washington DC . Chronicling America . Library of Congress . June 27, 2016 .
6. Web site: History of Laredo . City of Laredo. June 27, 2016 .
7. Book: Texas Almanac and State Industrial Guide. 1910. Belo & Company.
8. Web site: Timeline . Women in Texas History . Ruthe Winegarten Memorial Foundation for Texas Women's History . Austin . June 27, 2016 .
9. July 1915 . Texas Libraries . News Notes. 1 . Texas Library and Historical Commission .
10. Web site: Laredo . Texas Archival Resources Online . University of Texas Libraries . University of Texas at Austin . June 27, 2016 .
11. Web site: Movie Theaters in Laredo, TX . CinemaTreasures.org . Cinema Treasures LLC . Los Angeles . June 27, 2016 .
12. Web site: Chronology of Catholic Dioceses: USA . . Norway . June 27, 2016 .
13. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20010217015007/http://ci.laredo.tx.us/ . Official City of Laredo Home Page . 2001-02-17 . dead . .
14. Web site: Members of Congress . . Civic Impulse, LLC . Washington, D.C. . June 27, 2016 .
15. Book: Official Congressional Directory: 110th Congress . Official Congressional Directory . Washington, D.C. . Government Printing Office . 2007 . Texas . 1991/1992- : S. Pub. . 2027/uc1.l0101186906?urlappend=%3Bseq=291 . http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.l0101186906?urlappend=%3Bseq=291 . HathiTrust.
16. Web site: Rio Grande Detention Center. GEO Group. 30 July 2016. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160722020305/http://www.geogroup.com/maps/locationdetails/31. 22 July 2016.
17. Web site: Laredo city, Texas . QuickFacts . U.S. Census Bureau . June 27, 2016 .
18. Web site: History of Laredo Mayors . City of Laredo. June 27, 2016 .