One of the newest museums to be found in the Rio Grande Valley provides a unique look into the history of the City of Brownsville. The Old City Cemetery Museum is located at the intersection of Monroe and 6th Streets just one block from the old cemetery in Brownsville.
Just driving by and looking at the cemetery with its aboveground burial sites, due to the high water table, creates interest as few communities in the United States have these types of graves. John Jefferson, Old City Cemetery Museum office manager, said guided tours of the museum are available on Fridays at 10 a.m. The tours are free to the public.
The tour guide explains that as many as eight people may be buried in a single grave. The guide explains the details and guidelines involved in opening and closing these multi-person graves.
Brownsville is one of the oldest cities on the Rio Grande and has had a rich history that many of the newer communities formed at the turn of the last century do not have. The city got its start back in the 1830s when American businessmen working and doing business in Matamoros, decided that because of the hostilities between the two countries they would be better off living on the north side of the river. The cemetery reflects that rich history.
A walk through the cemetery shows the number of Free Masons, Woodmen of the World and members of the International Order of Odd Fellows who once lived in Brownsville. It introduces a number of people prominent in Brownsville’s history, whose political backgrounds were quite varied.
One of the oldest graves is that of William Neale who fought in the Mexican War of Independence and later the Mexican-American War. He settled in Brownsville and served as mayor of the city in 1858-59 and again in 1865-69 before being shot in the Cortina Raids.
Another of the older graves in the cemetery is that of John R. Butler, who was a veteran of the War of 1812 with England.
Because of its tropical climate, the city was often ravaged with diseases such as yellow fever. Hundreds of people died in the epidemics that occurred in 1853 and 1858. Many were buried in the Old City Cemetery. Many of those who died were children.
Brownsville had a prominent Jewish community that came in the 1800s. As a result of negotiations between the Hebrew Benevolent Society and Brownsville founder, Charles Stillman, a Hebrew Cemetery was created in a corner of the Old City Cemetery. It was walled off and decorated with symbols appropriate to the Jewish religion. The first person to be buried in the Hebrew Cemetery was Joseph Alexander. He was killed in a bandit raid shortly after he worked with the Hebrew Benevolent Society to create the Hebrew Cemetery.
The cemetery also had a "Potter’s Field," where the community paupers were buried. This area was used until 1967, when flood waters from Hurricane Beulah stirred up dirt in the low-lying area and washed pauper’s coffins into the resacas.
The trend in the 1800s was to have cemeteries look like lavish gardens. Ornate and intricate headstones with a variety of different architectures can be found in the Old City Cemetery. Some of the styles include Romanesque, Greek Revival, Classical Revival, Gothic Revival and Egyptian Revival.
Among the graves to be seen in the cemetery is that of Henrich Portscheller, a German-born architect who designed many of the older European-style buildings found in Brownsville, Rio Grande City and Roma.
One of the more elaborate headstones belonged to the graves of Annie D. Closner, wife of John Closner, who was a developer, sheriff and "boss" of Hidalgo County for many years.
Several Civil War veterans are buried in the cemetery. Dr. Charles Combe, who was surgeon general for Zachary Taylor’s troops during the Mexican-American War, is buried there.
Col. John L. Haynes, who organized the only Union cavalry in Confederate Texas, is buried there.
The cemetery is the final resting place of Rev. Hiram Chamberlain, father of Henrietta King, who founded the famed King Ranch, with her husband, Richard.
Another colorful character, Adrian Vidal, son of Richard King’s business partner, Miflin Kenedy’s wife by her first marriage, is buried there. Vidal served in both the Union and Confederate Armies before joining the Cortinas and Juaristas in Mexico. He was captured and shot in Camargo but his body was returned to Brownsville for burial.
Santiago Brito, the first Hispanic sheriff of Cameron County is buried there. Using his detective skills, Brito solved a train robbery where 10,500 Mexican eagle dollars and a package of gold were taken. He found an unusual tool. By tracing the tool to its manufacturer, he was able to figure out who had robbed the train.
Politics in Brownsville has not always been peaceful. At one time there was a Red Party and a Blue Party. One hapless fellow, Carlos Guillen, made the mistake of switching from the Red Party to the Blue Party. Then he got arrested for some reason. An a
ngry mob from the Red Party he deserted broke into the jail and shot him in his cell.
In addition to looking at the unique architecture and the famous people buried in the Old City Cemetery, the museum also looks at cemetery symbolism. Most people will recognize angels as messengers from God and doves as symbols of peace, but do they know that bees are a symbol of the resurrection or that anchors represent life eternal?
One exhibit explains that the custom of wrapping a casket in a flag when someone dies in service of country originated during the Napoleonic Wars of 1796 to 1856 where the dead were carried from the battlefield wrapped in a flag.
Taps, the song played at military funerals is called taps because when a bugler was not available to play the song, the rhythm was often tapped out on a drum.
Admission to the museum is free, but the tour of the Old City Cemetery is $7 a person or $4 for people in groups of 15 or more. Tours take place on Fridays at 10 a.m. For more information call the Old City Cemetery Museum at (956) 541-1167.