Bair Farms: a Porción of Edinburg
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Bair Farms: A Porción of Edinburg i Discovering the Rio Grande Valley Reports from the Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools Program Report # 1 The Norquest Family: A Porción of Edinburg Report # 2 The Cantu Family: A Porción of Edinburg Report # 3 Atwood Acres: A Porción of Edinburg Report # 4 The Eubanks Family: A Porción of Edinburg Report # 5 Bair Farms: A Porción of Edinburg Report # 6 The Roegiers Family: A Porción of Edinburg For more information on the CHAPS Program, visit us at www.utrgv.edu/chaps Bair Farms: A Porción of Edinburg A report prepared for The Bair Family And for UTRGV and the CHAPS Program class titled: Discovering the Rio Grande Valley: The Natural and Cultural History of South Texas Written by (in alphabetical order): Ismael Aleman, Samuel Ayala, Evan Berg, Miguel Calvillo, Cesar Cepeda, Stephanie Chapa, Ryann Fink, Pedro Guajardo, Jesus Gutierrez, Ana Hernandez, Michael Johnson, Victor Limon, Karla Lira, Santiago Lopez, Christopher Munoz, Carl Neeley, Colin Newton, Octavio Ortiz, Edwardo Pichardo, Ethan Portillo, Harry Rakosky, Javier Ramirez, Selina Ramos, Gabriel Rodriguez, Ray Ruiz, Sorsha Salinas, Rafael Soto, Marianna Watson, and April Wilson. Principal Investigators from the CHAPS Program: Juan L. González, Bobbie Lovett, Kenneth R. Summy, Russell K. Skowronek and Roseann Bacha-Garza Published by CHAPS Program at The University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley Edinburg, TX 2016 Copyright ©2016 by UTRGV’s Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools Program (CHAPS) All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal. First Printing: 2016 ISBN 978-0-9982070-1-8 UTRGV’s Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools Program 1201 West University Drive Edinburg, TX 78539 www.utrgv.edu/chaps Dedication This report is dedicated to the memory of Mrs. Shirley Bair who passed away on April 14, 2016, prior to the publication of this report. She was the wife of Dwayne Bair and was very supportive in the development of this publication. Dwayne and Shirley were married for 62 years. She is survived by her husband, two sons, two daughters, seven grandchildren and six great-grandsons. (see Appendix J) Dwayne and Shirley Bair at the Captain’s reception on a cruise in 1994 This report is also dedicated to the original homestead of Lee Martin and Dorothy Bair built in 1926 that stood for 90 years on Chapin Road, Edinburg, Texas (Located between Business Highway 281 and US Highway 281) Photo taken on May 13, 1930. Courtesy of Dwayne Bair. Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ vii Foreword ..................................................................................................................................ix Preface........................................................................................................................................ x List of Figures and Appendices ...................................................................................... xiii Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 1: From Indigenous Roots to Anglo Settelement ........................................ 3 Chapter 2: Family Life ........................................................................................................ 18 Chapter 3: God Made a Farmer: ..................................................................................... 41 Chapter 4: Environmental Factors that Govern the Lower Rio Grande Landscape .............................................................................................................................. 58 Chapter 5: Irrigation and the IBWC .............................................................................. 69 Chapter 6: The Progressive Dwayne Bair ................................................................... 94 Chapter 7: Healthcare ..................................................................................................... 102 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 108 Appendices ......................................................................................................................... 110 Bibliography ………………………..……………………………………………………………..……229 Acknowledgements We would like to thank Daniel Cardenas, Assistant Art Director for the design of the front cover of this report as well as to Elisa Flores and Dr. Kimberly Selber of UTRGV’s The Studio Marketing and Communications Department for their support of all projects developed by the CHAPS team. Thanks to CHAPS Program undergraduate assistant Juanita Rea who was helpful with the layout of this report for publication and to graduate assistant Miriam Cepeda who compiled the bibliography for this report. We would also like to thank the Border Studies Archive for their ongoing support of this project. Foreword As Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), I am honored and delighted to highlight and support the work of the Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools (CHAPS) Pro- gram. Their outstanding and extensive work focuses on the establishment, growth, and development of the Rio Grande Valley, specifically the City of Edinburg. Faculty, students, and staff in the CHAPS Program have studied, reviewed, and captured the evolution of the history, culture, environment, and politics of this expanding and diverse region we call the Rio Grande Valley. This important volume presents the Bair Farms: A Porción of Edinburg. This is a continuation of a series of ongoing work by the CHAPS Program, including reports on the Norquest, Cantu, Atwood, and Eubank families. With this report, CHAPS marks the 5th con- secutive year of producing these comprehensive studies of pioneer farming families in UTRGV’s hometown of Edinburg, Texas. We certainly look forward to many more volumes in this series for years to come. The CHAPS Program is a community engagement entity at its core. The CHAPS team conduct extensive multidisciplinary projects not only through research of land title documents, archival photographs, and other primary and secondary sources, but also through biological, geological, and archaeological evidence. New primary sources are also created by conducting, recording, and transcribing thorough oral history interviews, which are housed in UTRGV’s Border Studies Archive’s permanent Spanish Land Grant Collection. These interviews capture the history of each family’s farming experiences as well as the cul- tural traditions they brought to the Rio Grande Valley. The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s core priorities focus on expanding ed- ucational opportunities and research that impacts the Rio Grande Valley and beyond, and community engagement, among others. These priorities are integral to the CHAPS Program. UTRGV places great importance on engaged scholarship; the CHAPS Program has been a leader in this initiative from its inception under the auspices of our legacy institution, The University of Texas - Pan American. The CHAPS Program continues to grow and thrive and make significant contributions to the Rio Grande Valley and beyond. In recognition of their outstanding work, the CHAPS Program was recognized in 2016 with the Chairman’s Award for Community Education, by the Texas Historical Commission. This is an excellent accom- plishment and recognition for the exceptional work that characterizes the CHAPS Program. We know you will enjoy learning more about our significant history in the City of Edinburg. Happy reading. Havidán Rodríguez, PhD Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Preface Nearly one hundred and ten years ago in 1908 Dennis Chapin and John Closner founded what today is Edinburg, Texas about twelve miles north of the Rio Grande in Hidalgo County. What was open range land was, by the second decade of the twentieth century, a platted community and county seat, served by a railroad, and irrigated with water from the Rio Grande. Soon it would become a prosperous part of the Magic Valley where citrus, cotton, sorghum, and vegetables were grown in abundance for consumers in the Midwestern United States and beyond. Among those early arrivals was the Bair family of College Springs, Iowa. In 1920 they joined others, including the Heacocks who had arrived in 1913 and made the Rio Grande Valley their home. The families who were bonded together in the marriage of Dorothy Heacock and Lee Martin Bair were entrepreneurs in retail hardware and agriculture. They experienced droughts, hurricanes, and freezes with their attendant economic shortcomings which changed and often shortened lives. Their son Dwayne Bair would lead a life that included farming, citrus production, and banking. This is his story but also one of many others that called the Rio Grande Valley home. Now as we push forward into a new millennium, the agricultural way of life which epitomized the Magic Valley in the twentieth century is fading. Instead of growing fruits and vegetables we are growing housing developments and strip malls. Soon, like the Bair family home on Chapin Road, those who participated