Timeline of Brownsville, Texas

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

18th-19th centuries

1771 - JosÃÂ© Salvador de la Garza settles in area per EspÃÂritu Santo land grant.
1846
March: Fort Taylor established by Zachary Taylor.
May 8: Battle of Palo Alto.
1848 - Brownsville founded by Charles Stillman.
1849
Travellers of the California Gold Rush pass through town.
Stillman house built.
Brownsville Lyceum founded.
1850
Market Square built.
Sentinel newspaper begins publication.
Population: 2,734.
1853 - "Police force" established.
1859
First Cortina War.
Immaculate Conception Church built.
1863 - November 2Ã¢ÂÂ6: Battle of Brownsville; Union wins.
1865
May 12Ã¢ÂÂ13: Battle of Palmito Ranch fought near Brownsville; Confederates win.
Saint Joseph Academy established.
1867 - Hurricane.
1870
Point Isabel-Brownsville railway built.
Population: 4,905.
1874 - Roman Catholic apostolic vicariate of Brownsville established.
1875 - Porfirio DÃÂaz plots Mexican coup from his temporary base in Brownsville.
1877 - Alonso house built.
1878 - Sabas Cavazos Cemetery established.
1883 - Cameron County Courthouse built.
1890 - Population: 6,134.
1892 - Daily Herald newspaper begins publication.
1900 - Population: 6,305.

1903 - St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway begins operating.
1906 - August: Brownsville Affair (racial unrest).
1907 - Snakeville in business.
1910
Brownsville & Matamoros International Bridge opens.
Dittmann Theater (cinema) built.
Population: 10,517.
1913 - County Jail built.
1914 - New Cameron County Courthouse built.
1926 - Junior College of the Lower Rio Grande Valley established.
1927 - KGFI radio begins broadcasting.
1930 - Population: 22,021.
1934 - El Heraldo de Brownsville newspaper begins publication.
1936 - Port of Brownsville opens.
1938 - Matamoros-Brownsville Charro Days Festival begins.
1945 - U.S. Army Fort Brown decommissioned.
1946 - Teatro Victoria in business.
1949 - Charro Drive-In cinema and Majestic Theatre in business.
1950
Texas Southmost College active.
Population: 35,086.
1960
Stillman House Museum opens.
Population: 48,040.
1965 - Roman Catholic Diocese of Brownsville established.
1970 - Population: 52,522.
1971 - Gladys Porter Zoo established.
1978 - Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Site established. (Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park since 2009.)
1979 - Brownsville Urban System (transport) established.
1980 - Population: 84,997.
1990 - Population: 98,962.
1991
University of Texas at Brownsville active.
Pat Ahumada becomes mayor.
1997 - City website online (approximate date).
1999 - Blanca Vela becomes mayor.
2000 - Population: 139,722.

2001 - El Nuevo Heraldo newspaper in publication.
2007 - Pat Ahumada becomes mayor again.
2010 - Population: 175,023.
2013 - Filemon Vela, Jr. becomes U.S. representative for Texas's 34th congressional district.
2018 - Trey Mendez elected mayor.
2023 - John Cowen Jr. elected mayor.

W. H. Chatfield, The Twin Cities of the Border and the Country of the Lower Rio Grande (New Orleans: Brandao, 1893)
+ chronology
Betty Bay. Historic Brownsville: Original Townsite Guide (Brownsville, Texas: Brownsville Historical Association, 1980)
Robert B. Vezzetti and Ruby A. Wooldridge, Brownsville: A Pictorial History (Virginia Beach, Virginia: Donning, 1982)
Milo Kearney, ed., Studies in Brownsville History (Pan American University at Brownsville, 1986)
Milo Kearney and Anthony Knopp, Boom and Bust: The Historical Cycles of Matamoros and Brownsville (Austin: Eakin Press, 1991)
Milo Kearney, ed., Still More Studies in Brownsville History (University of Texas at Brownsville, 1991)