1872: A railroad line between Brownsville and Point Isabel

In the 1860s, after the Civil War ended, the river steamboats of Mifflin Kenedy and Richard King continued to move passengers and cargo up and down the Rio Grande. They had a monopoly on steamboat traffic, and their rates were very high.

In 1871 a group of Brownsville businessmen decided to make an effort to break the Kenedy-King monopoly, and joined together to build a narrow-gauge railroad between Brownsville and Point Isabel.

The company, organized in 1871 with Simon Celaya as president, made plans to build a 22-mile railroad. They anticipated the railroad would provide faster and more convenient transportation than that provided by river steamboats, and hoped to attract considerable business.

The line was to be built across the Palo Alto prairie, an area just a few feet above sea level.

The route was relatively straight, but it ran across several areas of marshy land, requiring construction of trestles and wooden bridges. The roadbed was built several feet above the level of high water anticipated during storms.

However, this proved to be no match for a series of hurricanes that hit the area in 1873, 1874 and 1880. The winds and high water caused much damage to the railroad tracks and the equipment.

There are few records regarding the actual construction, which began in 1871. Equipment was delivered to Point Isabel by ship, and construction likely began at that end.

Construction was under the direction of H.M Field. Rails for the tracks arrived in early 1872. Large numbers of men were employed for the construction work. Mesquite wood, acquired in Mexico, was to be used for ties and pilings. The railroad company purchased a river steamboat, which was used for transporting the timber down the Rio Grande to Point Isabel.

Merchants in Brownsville and those transporting cargo on the river looked forward to establishment of the railroad, anticipating it would reduce the rates charged by Kenedy and King.

However, the people who earned their livelihood working for Kenedy and King resisted the threat of competition from this new mode of transportation. The Kenedy and King interests did everything they could to persuade the city council to prohibit the line from entering the Brownsville city limits.

Political maneuvering was required to deal with the Brownsville City Council. The railroad interests were successful, and in August 1871 the council passed an ordinance authorizing the Rio Grande Railroad to lay tracks within the city limits.

The first passengers were carried on July 4, 1872.

The railroad regularly carried passengers and cargo between Brownsville and Point Isabel. Much of the cargo originated in Mexico, crossing the river on ferries and arriving in Brownsville, where it was loaded on the train. Trains ran on a daily basis, carrying freight, passengers and mail.

After the railroad began operations, Brazos Santiago became the busiest ocean shipping point in this area, replacing Corpus Christi

The company’s facilities included a quarter-mile-long wharf at Point Isabel, where the railroad tracks reached out into the bay. Small boats operated between this wharf and ships anchored at Brazos Santiago.

Incoming cargo was unloaded from ships of the Morgan Steamship Line and others, placed on the small boats and brought to Point Isabel, where it was loaded onto the railroad cars for the trip to Brownsville.

Outgoing cargo was picked up in Brownsville and carried by rail to the wharf in Point Isabel, where it was placed on the small boats and taken to ships at anchor in the Laguna Madre. This was a slow process requiring much loading and unloading, and providing employment for many men.

Carl Chilton has written several books on Brownsville history, and is working on a manuscript describing our journey from stagecoaches and steamboats to jet aircraft.