Old house, new meaning

One of the great joys of history is its fluidity. I know I’ve written on this topic before, but please bear with me. As time passes, new and innovative interpretations of events and places are brought forth. More importantly, new audiences emerge that have not heard the stories that historical institutions have to tell.

When this happens, organizations must analyze and reinterpret their holdings with these new methods and seek to tell their stories to these new audiences.

Soon the Brownsville Historical Association will reinterpret the history of the Stillman House. This project will also make the information available in both English and Spanish so as to make it accessible to visitors from throughout the region.

While many people in the community are familiar with the history of the Stillman House and its significance in Brownsville’s history, BHA felt it was important to broaden its audience by focusing on the reinterpretation of the house’s significance.

While many might argue about the need to reinterpret something whose history is pretty well established, it became clear through the tours and current interpretation of the Stillman House that there was room for expansion of the interpretation of the structure. It is important to note that reinterpretation does not necessarily mean a revision, or rewriting the history.

The BHA was awarded a Community Project Grant from Humanities Texas for its project: “A Bicultural Heritage: Interpretation of the Stillman House.” The goal of the project is to foster a deeper understanding of the building, and local history, by examining its relation to local and Gulf Coast architecture.

Instead of our usual tours that provide only the factual information about the Stillman House, this project will interpret the history of the house through the various architectural influences that are evident in the design. Along with this new interpretation of the building, all text panels will be bilingual.

The bilingual aspect of the project is exciting, and it is one of the organizational improvements that BHA has worked to implement in order to reach a multicultural audience. In a border city that boasts a large Spanish-speaking population, a bilingual interpretation of the Stillman House is long overdue.

BHA will be working with Historic Preservation Consultant Gregory Free. He will prepare a narrative of the physical history of the building and will apply innovative interpretations of the architecture of the Stillman House. In his work, Mr. Free has studied the domestic architecture of the Gulf Coast from Matamoros, Mexico to Key West, Florida. Through this project, he will show how the Stillman House embodies a mixing of styles that reflect the many cultures of the Rio Grande Valley and Gulf Coast region.

This new interpretation, as well as the new tours that will be designed for this project can be applied not only to the Stillman House, but also many of Brownsville’s numerous historic buildings.

By studying the style of the building’s architecture and its features, scholars working on this exciting project will seek to determine the face of early Brownsville and offer a better understand of the socioeconomic and historical makeup of the city. By determining the facts about the Stillman House’s architectural origins, visitors will be offered a more in-depth history which includes the various cultures and ethnicity of those who inhabited Brownsville.

This new understanding will increase our knowledge of border and Gulf Coast histories, and promote a deeper appreciation for those who were responsible for building along the border.

Through this project, BHA hopes the public will have a better understanding of the social, cultural and historical facets of Brownsville’s past and how its current identity has been shaped by them. By interpreting the features of the Stillman House, BHA endeavors to increase knowledge of how architecture reflects the entirety of the community and region’s culture.

Priscilla Rodriguez is the Executive Director of the Brownsville Historical Association. She can be reached at prodriguez@brownsvillehistory.org.