Brownsville () is a city in Cameron County in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. It is on the western

Gulf Coast The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coast, coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The list of U.S. states and territories by coastline, coastal states that have a shor ...

in South Texas, adjacent to the

border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...

with Matamoros, Mexico. The city covers , and has a population of 186,738 as of the 2020 census. It is the 139th-largest city in the United States and 18th-largest in Texas. It is part of the Matamoros–Brownsville metropolitan area. The city is known for its year-round subtropical climate, deep-water

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

, and Hispanic culture. The city was founded in 1848 by American entrepreneur Charles Stillman after he developed a successful river-boat company nearby. It was named for

Fort Brown Fort Brown (originally Fort Texas) was a military post of the United States Army in Cameron County, Texas, during the latter half of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century. Established in 1846, it was the first US Army military ...

, itself named after Major

Jacob Brown Jacob Jennings Brown (May 9, 1775 – February 24, 1828) was known for his victories as an American army officer in the War of 1812, where he reached the rank of general. His successes on the northern border during that war made him a national ...

, who fought and died while serving as a

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

soldier during the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

(1846–1848). As a

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

, the city and county governments are major employers. Other primary employers fall within the service, trade, and manufacturing industries, including a growing

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astr ...

and space transportation sector. It operates international trading through the

Port of Brownsville The Port of Brownsville is a deep water seaport in Brownsville, at the southern tip of Texas. Geography The port is the southern terminus of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The port is located near the river mouth of the Rio Grande and Lower R ...

. The city experienced a population increase in the early 1900s, when steel production flourished. It is frequently cited as having one of the highest poverty rates in the United States. Due to significant historical events, the city has multiple houses and battle sites listed under the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. It was the scene of several key events of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, such as the

Battle of Brownsville The Battle of Brownsville took place on November 2–6, 1863 during the American Civil War. It was a successful effort on behalf of the Union Army to disrupt Confederate blockade runners along the Gulf Coast in Texas. The Union assault precipit ...

and the

Battle of Palmito Ranch The Battle of Palmito Ranch, also known as the Battle of Palmito Hill, is considered by some criteria as the final battle of the American Civil War. It was fought May 12 and 13, 1865, on the banks of the Rio Grande east of Brownsville, Texas, an ...

. The city was also involved in the Texas Revolution, as well as the Mexican–American War. Brownsville's idiosyncratic geographic location has made it a wildlife refuge center. Several state parks and historical sites are protected by the

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) is a Texas state agency that oversees and protects wildlife and their habitats. In addition, the agency is responsible for managing the state's parks and historical areas. Its mission is to manage ...

. Brownsville is notable for its high

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...

proportion, which at 93.9%, is the third-highest proportion of Hispanic Americans out of any city in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

outside of

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

History

Founding

In 1781, Spanish government officials granted José Salvador de la Garza 59 leagues of land (408 sq mi). He used the land to construct a ranch several miles northwest of the area. During the early 1800s, Brownsville was known to residents as ''los tejidos'' (English: "

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or sw ...

lands"). The area was inhabited by a few settlers around 1836 when Texas declared its independence from Mexico. On February 4, 1846, President

James K. Polk James Knox Polk (November 2, 1795 – June 15, 1849) was the 11th president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. He previously was the 13th speaker of the House of Representatives (1835–1839) and ninth governor of Tennessee (183 ...

instructed American General

Zachary Taylor Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was an American military leader who served as the 12th president of the United States from 1849 until his death in 1850. Taylor was a career officer in the United States Army, rising to th ...

and his troops to begin moving south towards Brownsville. Once Taylor arrived, he built Fort Texas. It was later renamed

in honor of Major Jacob Brown, one of two soldiers who died during the

siege of Fort Texas The siege of Fort Texas marked the beginning of active campaigning by the armies of the United States and Mexico during the Mexican–American War. The battle is sometimes called the siege of Fort Brown. Major Jacob Brown, not to be confused w ...

. Charles Stillman arrived in Matamoros in 1828 from

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

to help his father in the mercantile business. Brownsville became part of Texas after the signing of the

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ( es, Tratado de Guadalupe Hidalgo), officially the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits, and Settlement between the United States of America and the United Mexican States, is the peace treaty that was signed on 2 ...

in 1848. During that year, Stillman formed a partnership with Samuel Belden and Simon Mussina to form the Brownsville Town Company. They reportedly sold lots valued at $1,500. The city of Brownsville was originally established in late 1848 by Stillman, and was made the county seat of Cameron County on January 13, 1849. The state originally incorporated the city on January 24, 1850. This was repealed on April 1, 1852, because of a land-ownership dispute between Stillman and its former owners (including

Juan Cortina Juan Nepomuceno Cortina Goseacochea (May 16, 1824 – October 30, 1894), also known by his nicknames Cheno Cortina, the Red Robber of the Rio Grande and the Rio Grande Robin Hood, was a Mexican rancher, politician, military leader, outlaw a ...

, a Mexican rancher). The state reincorporated the city on February 7, 1853; this remains in effect. The issue of ownership was not decided until 1879, when the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

ruled in favor of Stillman.

Mexican–American War

Nebel Mexican War 01 Battle of Palo Alto

On April 25, 1846, Captain Seth B. Thornton received reports of Mexican troops crossing the Rio Grande. Thornton and 63 U.S. dragoons moved to Rancho de Carricitos and discovered several houses in the area. Mexican General Anastasio Torrejón crossed the Rio Grande the previous day. He commanded 1,600 cavalry and infantry troops to surround Thornton's troops in fractions. Due to heavy force from Torrejón's troops, Thornton's troops surrendered. Eleven American casualties were reported; 45 troops and Thornton were held as prisoners. Reports of the incident were sent to President James K. Polk, who announced, "American blood has been spilled upon the American territory". On May 13, the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

declared war against Mexico. American General Zachary Taylor retreated from Fort Texas on May 1, 1846; Mexican General Mariano Arista began preparing artillery and troops from across the Rio Grande. On May 3, Arista and the Mexican Army began the siege of Fort Texas, during the first active campaign in the Mexican–American War. This was counteracted by the United States 7th Infantry Regiment. Despite heavy strikes, Mexican General Pedro de Ampudia outlined a traditional siege to move forward. General Zachary Taylor was notified of the incident and began moving towards Fort Texas. Mexican troops intercepted them near

Palo Alto Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was es ...

, about north of present-day Brownsville, resulting in the first battle of the war. The following day, Mexican troops had retreated. Taylor's troops charged up to them, resulting in the

Battle of Resaca de la Palma The Battle of Resaca de la Palma was one of the early engagements of the Mexican–American War, where the United States Army under General Zachary Taylor engaged the retreating forces of the Mexican ''Ejército del Norte'' ("Army of the North ...

, which took place within the present city limits. When Taylor arrived at the besieged Fort Texas, he found that two soldiers, including the fort's commander, Major Jacob Brown, had died. Brown, who suffered an injury when a cannonball hit his leg, died three days after his injury on May 9. In his honor, General Taylor renamed the facility as Fort Brown. An old cannon at the

University of Texas at Brownsville , mottoeng = Cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy. , established = , closed = (merged with UT–Pan American to form The UTRGV) , type = Public State University , presid ...

and Texas Southmost College marks the spot where Major Brown received his fatal wound. On July 13, 1859, Juan Cortina saw Brownsville city Marshal Robert Sheers arrest and beat an elderly man who had been a ranch hand at his mother's ranch. Cortina approached the marshal, questioning his motives, before shooting him twice after he refused to release the man. The first shot reportedly missed Sheers, but the second struck his shoulder, causing him to fall to the ground. Cortina and the elderly man rode off on a horse. The following year, Cortina returned with troops, executing four Anglo men and simultaneously releasing several Mexican prisoners. He then issued a proclamation explaining his reasons for the attack.

American Civil War

During the

, Brownsville served as a smuggling point for Confederate goods into Mexico. Most significantly, cotton was smuggled to European ships through the Mexican port of Bagdad to avoid Union

blockade A blockade is the act of actively preventing a country or region from receiving or sending out food, supplies, weapons, or communications, and sometimes people, by military force. A blockade differs from an embargo or sanction, which are leg ...

s. The city was located at the end of the "Cotton Road", southwest of the

Cotton Belt The Cotton Belt is a region of the Southern United States where cotton was the predominant cash crop from the late 18th century into the 20th century.

. In November 1863, Union troops landed at

Port Isabel Port Isabel may refer to: Places *Port Isabel, Texas, USA; a city in Cameron County *Port Isabel, Sonora, Mexico; a former port (1864-1879) at the mouth of the Colorado River * Port Isabel Independent School District, Cameron County, Texas, USA *Po ...

and marched towards Brownsville to take control of Fort Brown. In the ensuing

, Confederate forces abandoned the fort, blowing it up with of explosives. In 1864, Confederate forces commanded by Colonel

John Salmon Ford John Salmon Ford (May 26, 1815 – November 3, 1897), better known as "Rip" Ford, was a member of the Republic of Texas Congress and later of the State Senate, and mayor of Brownsville, Texas. He was also a Texas Ranger, a Confederate colonel ...

reoccupied the town, and he became mayor of Brownsville. Robert E. Lee and his Confederate army surrendered to Union commander

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

on April 9, 1865, signing a hand-written document at the Appomattox Court House, officially ending the American Civil War. Theodore Barrett was ordered to move 500 62nd Regiment troops of colors towards Brazos Island. On May 11, Barrett's troops moved inland towards Brownsville and spotted Confederate soldiers. John Salmon Ford received news of this and prepared to attack. On May 15, 1865, 34 days after the signing of the surrender, the

took place. Confederates killed or wounded around 30 opponents and captured more than 100 other troops. This is accepted by some historians as the last battle of the American Civil War. President Grant sent Union General

Frederick Steele Frederick Steele (January 14, 1819 – January 12, 1868) was a career military officer in the United States Army, serving as a major general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was most noted for retaking much of secessionist Arka ...

to Brownsville to patrol the United States–Mexico border after the Civil War to aid the '' Juaristas'' with military supplies.

20th century

Texas, like other Southern states, passed a new constitution and Jim Crow laws that established racial segregation and disenfranchised African Americans at the turn of the 20th century, generally by raising barriers to voter registration. While Hispanic residents were considered white under the terms of the United States annexation of Texas, legislatures found ways to suppress their participation in politics. On August 13 and 14, 1906, Brownsville was the site of the Brownsville affair. Racial tensions were increasing between white townsfolk and black infantrymen who were stationed at Fort Brown. On the night of August 13, one white bartender was killed, and a white police officer was wounded by rifle shots in the street. Townsfolk, including the mayor, accused the infantrymen of the murders. Without affording them a chance to defend themselves in a hearing, President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

dishonorably discharged the entire 167-member regiment due to their alleged " conspiracy of silence". Investigations in the 1970s revealed that the soldiers were not responsible for the attacks, and the

Nixon Administration Richard Nixon's tenure as the 37th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1969, and ended when he resigned on August 9, 1974, in the face of almost certain impeachment because of the Watergate Scanda ...

reversed all dishonorable discharges. Fort Brown was decommissioned after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

in 1945. In 1948, the city and college acquired the land.

21st century

Brownsville has received significant media attention surrounding immigration policies and border-wall funding costs. In 2006, President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

signed into law the Secure Fence Act of 2006. The act administered the construction of a border fence extending from

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

in California through the entry of the

. In 2008, the

United States Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...

issued a proposal to add of border fence and reallocate portions of the University of Texas at Brownsville campus. The proposal would have transferred of university land, including several historical monuments and the university's golf course, to Mexico. The proposal was altered after

Andrew Hanen Andrew Scott Hanen (born December 10, 1953) is an American attorney and jurist serving as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Early life and education Hanen was born on December ...

, a federal district judge, rejected the department's idea. In 2016, Republican presidential candidate

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

proposed building a border wall along the United States-Mexico border. Trump's proposed wall, if passed, would consist of "of hardened concrete, and ... rebar, and steel" across the southern border, including Brownsville. On January 25, 2017, days after assuming office, Trump issued

Executive Order 13767 Executive Order 13767, titled Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements, was issued by United States President Donald Trump on January 25, 2017. The order directs a wall, colloquially called the "Trump wall", to be built along the ...

, directing construction for a border wall. Brownsville was also the center of controversy surrounding the new administration's continuation of the Obama policy of housing children separate from adults (except mothers) who entered the country unlawfully. The issue surrounded

Casa Padre Casa Padre is a shelter for unaccompanied or separated immigrant minors in custody of the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement, a division of Health & Human Services, located in Brownsville, Texas. The site opened in March 2017, and is still hous ...

, the largest juvenile immigration detention center in America, which is located within Brownsville's city limits. Downtown Brownsville has received several revitalization projects from the city government to increase tourism and safety. The

Texas Historical Commission The Texas Historical Commission is an agency dedicated to historic preservation within the state of Texas. It administers the National Register of Historic Places for sites in Texas. The commission also identifies Recorded Texas Historic L ...

named Brownsville as part of its Main Street Program in 2016. Several historic buildings were restored, including the Stegman Building, a historic building named after Baldwin G. Stegman, one of the city's first

streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport a ...

line developers. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) selected Brownsville as one of six cities for their "Greening America's Communities" program. The agency worked on a revitalization project for Market Square, a building constructed in 1850. The city also received a $3.4 million grant from the Façade Improvement Program for this project.

Geography

Brownsville is one of the southernmost cities in the contiguous United States; only a handful of municipalities in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Miami-Dade Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most populous county in ...

and Monroe Counties (plus Everglades City in

Collier County Collier County is a county in the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 375,752; an increase of 16.9% since the 2010 United States Census. Its county seat is East Naples, where the county offices were moved from Ev ...

) are located farther south than Brownsville. The city has a total area of , of which are land and are water, according to the United States Census Bureau of 2017. The city is situated at the intersection of different climates (subtropical,

Chihuahuan Desert The Chihuahuan Desert ( es, Desierto de Chihuahua, ) is a desert ecoregion designation covering parts of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. It occupies much of far West Texas, the middle to lower Rio Grande Valley and the lo ...

, Gulf Coast plain, and Great Plains); this produces high bird migration rates. Its idiosyncratic network of ''resacas'' (English: oxbow lakes),

distributaries A distributary, or a distributary channel, is a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel. Distributaries are a common feature of river deltas. The phenomenon is known as river bifurcation. The opposite of a distributar ...

of the Rio Grande, provide habitat for numerous nesting/breeding birds of various types typically during the spring and fall migrations. Brownsville's vegetation is classified as

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...

Metropolitan area

Brownsville is in one metropolitan statistical area as defined by the United States Census Bureau. The Brownsville–Harlingen–Raymondville combined statistical area consists of Cameron County and Willacy County. It includes the Brownsville metropolitan area and the micropolitan area of Raymondville. The city of Raymondville is the county seat of Willacy County. The Brownsville-Harlingen-Raymondville combined statistical area is home to 445,309 people (2017 estimated), making it the 106th-largest combined statistical area in the United States. Based on the

Uniform Crime Report The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program compiles official data on crime in the United States, published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). UCR is "a nationwide, cooperative statistical effort of nearly 18,000 city, university and co ...

conducted by the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

in 2013, the Brownsville metropolitan area ranked last on its list of the "Most Dangerous Cities" in Texas, with "240 incidents of violent crime per 100,000 people" and a murder rate of 1.4. Robbery crimes make up 25% of overall crime in the city, with a rate of 58.1 per 100,000 residents.

Flora and soil

Broadleaf evergreen plants, including palms, dominate Brownsville neighborhoods to a greater degree than other locations in Texas, including nearby cities such as Harlingen and

McAllen McAllen is the largest city in Hidalgo County, Texas, United States, and the 22nd-most populous city in Texas. It is located at the southern tip of the state in the Rio Grande Valley, on the Mexico–United States border. The city limits extend ...

. Brownsville is home to the ''

Sabal mexicana ''Sabal mexicana'' is a species of palm tree that is native to far southern North America. Common names include Rio Grande palmetto, Mexican palmetto, Texas palmetto, Texas sabal palm, palmetto cabbage and palma de mícharos. The specific epi ...

'', the only species of

palmetto palm The Arecaceae is a family of perennial flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are called palm trees ...

native to Texas with a significant trunk (''

Sabal minor ''Sabal minor'', commonly known as the dwarf palmetto, is a small species of palm. It is native to the deep southeastern and south-central United States and northeastern Mexico. It is naturally found in a diversity of habitats, including maritime ...

'', also native to Texas, is nearly trunkless. Though it used to cover a large portion of the land next to the Rio Grande, the city contains one of the last native stands of ''S. mexicana''. ''

Citharexylum berlandieri ''Citharexylum berlandieri'' is a species of flowering plant in the verbena family, Verbenaceae, that is native to the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas in the United States and Mexico as far south as Oaxaca. Common names include Tamaulipan fiddl ...

'' (Tamaulipan fiddlewood), ''

Rivina humilis ''Rivina humilis'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Petiveriaceae. It was formerly placed in the pokeweed family, Phytolaccaceae. It can be found in the southern United States, the Caribbean, Central America, and Tropics, tropical S ...

'' (pigeonberry), and '' Leucophyllum frutescens'' (Texas sage) are also native flora. Soils are mostly of clay to silty clay loam texture, moderately alkaline ( pH 8.2) to strongly alkaline (pH 8.5 and with a significant degree of salinity in many places; other types of soils present around the city include Cameron clay and sporadic amounts of Laredo silt loam. Due to Brownsville's proximity to the coast, Lomalta clay is common around the swamp areas of the vicinity. Several parts of the city have a high risk of localized flooding because of flat topography, ubiquitous low- permeability clay soils, and inadequate infrastructure funding. According to the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

, Brownsville's soils are primarily

alluvium Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. ...

and windblown deposits. The majority of the city's soil is made of floodplain deposits from the Rio Grande; it consists of clay, sand, silt, gravel, and organic matter. Windblown deposits are made up of "active dunes and dune complexes" that contain mostly clay and silt near the coastal region and combination of clay, sand, and silt inland.

Climate

Brownsville has a humid subtropical climate (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

''Cfa''). Winters are warm, and summers are hot and humid.Peel, M. C., Finlayson, B. L., and McMahon, T. A.: /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Americas_K%C3%B6ppen_Map_original_colors.png Updated world map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification ''Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.'', 11, 1633–1644, 2007. Due to its location on the

about 2.49° north of the

Tropic of Cancer The Tropic of Cancer, which is also referred to as the Northern Tropic, is the most northerly circle of latitude on Earth at which the Sun can be directly overhead. This occurs on the June solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted tow ...

, the climate closely borders a

tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of p ...

. Due to its proximity to the deserts of Chihuahua and

Gulf Coastal Plain The Gulf Coastal Plain extends around the Gulf of Mexico in the Southern United States and eastern Mexico. This coastal plain reaches from the Florida Panhandle, southwest Georgia, the southern two-thirds of Alabama, over most of Mississippi, wes ...

s, Brownsville's geographic location lies near the boundary of a hot

semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of sem ...

. Snow is a very rare event in Brownsville. Its

wet season The wet season (sometimes called the Rainy season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. It is the time of year where the majority of a country's or region's annual precipitation occurs. Generally, the sea ...

is concentrated during the late summer and early fall, peaking in September, when the threat from

tropical cyclone A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depen ...

s is greatest. In most years, November through April is the

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The te ...

. As such, Brownsville receives modest annual rainfall, averaging about annually based on records between 1991 and 2020. The monthly daily average temperature ranges from in January to in August. Heat waves during the summer have caused 141 days of high temperatures over and fewer than five days of temperatures above . The city is located along the boundary of

USDA hardiness zones A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most wide ...

9b and 10a. The hottest temperature on record in Brownsville occurred on March 27, 1984, when the city reached . On the other extreme, freezing temperatures occur once or twice a year typically. On December 25, 2004, Brownsville recorded its first instance of measurable snow in 109 years with , and the first recorded White Christmas. Brownsville's lowest temperature on record occurred on February 13, 1899, when the city reached . Based on 30-year averages obtained from the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

National Climatic Data Center The United States National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), previously known as the National Weather Records Center (NWRC), in Asheville, North Carolina, was the world's largest active archive of weather data. Starting as a tabulation unit in New Or ...

weather records, ''24/7 Wall St.'' ranked Brownsville the fifth-hottest city in America in 2016. In 2011, Brownsville became one of the first cities in the United States to require stores to charge a fee for single-use plastic shopping bags. The ordinance was enacted to reduce pollution and litter around the city. The city repealed the ordinance in 2018 after it was ruled illegal by the Supreme Court of Texas. ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'' identified Brownsville as one of 12 metropolitan areas in the United States with the cleanest air. In 2018, the Brownsville–Harlingen area was among the "Cleanest U.S. Cities for Ozone Air Pollution" in the

American Lung Association The American Lung Association is a voluntary health organization whose mission is to save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease through education, advocacy and research. History The organization was founded in 1904 to figh ...

's "State of the Air" in 2018.

Demographics

Brownsville is the 18th-most populous city in Texas. It ranks as one of the top U.S. cities in terms of the percentage of Hispanic residents. According to the Pew Research Center, its metropolitan area holds the 26th-largest Hispanic population with roughly 373,000 (88.7%) sharing this distinction. Of that percentage, 96.7% are Mexican and 0.8% are Puerto Rican.

2020 census

As of the

2020 United States census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to of ...

, there were 186,738 people, 53,506 households, and 42,240 families residing in the city.

2010 census

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

of 2010, 175,023 people, 49,871 households, and 41,047 families were residing in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...

was 1,207.1 people/sq mi (466.0/km²). The 53,936 housing units averaged 372.0/sq mi (143.6/km²). The

racial makeup A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...

of the city was 88% White, 0.4% African American, 0.4% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 9.1% from other races, and 1.5% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 93.2% of the population. Of the 38,174 households, 50.1% had children under 18 living with them, 59.3% were married couples living together, 20.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.3% had a male householder with no wife present, and 15.7% were not families. About 13.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.7% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 3.62, and the average family size was 3.99. In the city, the age distribution was 34.6% under 18, 11.2% from 18 to 24, 27.5% from 25 to 44, 17.2% from 45 to 64, and 9.5% who were 65 or older. The median age was 28 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.5 males.

Income and employment

Despite a fast-growing economy, Brownsville has one of the highest poverty rates in the nation. The median income for a household in the city was $24,468, and the median income for a family was $26,186. Males had a median income of $21,739 versus $17,116 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the city is $9,762. It is frequently cited as having the highest percentage of residents in the nation below the

federal poverty level In the United States, poverty has both social and political implications. In 2020, there were 37.2 million people in poverty. Some of the many causes include income inequality, inflation, unemployment, debt traps and poor education.Western, B ...

. About 31.6% of families and 35.7% of the population were below the federal

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 48.4% of those under 18 and 31.5% of those 65 or over. Based on data collected from the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of t ...

's American Community Survey, the Brownsville metropolitan area ranked as the second-poorest urban area in the country, behind the McAllen metropolitan area. In 2017, the city's unemployment rate was 6.2% with 18.1% adults holding a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

. It reported a 5.8% jobless rate the following year. Despite high unemployment rates, the urban area is also one of the fastest growing in the United States.

Economy

Brownsville-Harlingen, TX, TX, USA - panoramio (6)

Brownsville's economic activity is derived from the service and manufacturing industries. Government and the

University of Texas Rio Grande Valley The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) is a public research university with multiple campuses throughout the Rio Grande Valley region of Texas and is the southernmost member of the University of Texas System. The University of Texas ...

are both large contributors to the local economy. Other prominent industries in Brownsville include education and aerospace and space transportation. During the first decade of the 1900s, the city's population increased after a boom in the

agriculture industry Intensive agriculture, also known as intensive farming (as opposed to extensive farming), conventional, or industrial agriculture, is a type of agriculture, both of crop plants and of animals, with higher levels of input and output per unit of ag ...

. Brownsville's subtropical climate has made it a commercial hub for the citrus industry. The Port of Brownsville produces significant revenue for the city of Brownsville. The port, located from the city, provides a link between the road networks of nearby Mexico and the

Gulf Intracoastal Waterway The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway is the portion of the Intracoastal Waterway located along the Gulf Coast of the United States. It is a navigable inland waterway running approximately from Carrabelle, Florida, to Brownsville, Texas. The waterwa ...

of Texas. The port has become an important economic hub for South Texas, where shipments arrive from other parts of the United States, Mexico, and other foreign countries. The port also participates in ship recycling; it has five of the country's eight ship-recycling companies. It received a $1.8 million grant from the

United States Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for bus ...

to support business and infrastructure development. The grant is expected to create 700 jobs and generate $3 million in private investments.

International trade

Brownsville's economy is based mainly on its

international trade International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories because there is a need or want of goods or services. (see: World economy) In most countries, such trade represents a significant ...

with Mexico under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Due to Matamoros' ''maquiladora'' (English: textile factory) boom, Brownsville experienced growth in the air cargo industry during the late 1980s. It is home to one of the fastest-growing

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to ...

sectors in the United States. Brownsville has been recognized as having one of the best pro-business climates in the United States, and the city has been ranked among the least expensive places to live in the country. President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

signed a bill in 2016 allowing for the deepening of the

Brownsville Ship Channel The Port of Brownsville is a deep water seaport in Brownsville, Texas, Brownsville, at the southern tip of Texas. Geography The port is the southern terminus of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The port is located near the river mouth of the Rio ...

from to .

Sports

The Sams Memorial Stadium is located in Brownsville. It has a capacity of 10,000 and it opened in 1957. The stadium is used mostly for American football and soccer.

Technology

20170102 satellite tracking antenna 02JAN2017

Entrepreneur

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc.; founder of The ...

announced the construction of

SpaceX South Texas Launch Site Starbase is a spaceport, production, and development facility for Starship rockets, located at Boca Chica, Texas, United States. It is in construction in the late 2010s and 2020s by SpaceX, an American aerospace manufacturer. When conceptuali ...

, a private

space launch Space launch is the earliest part of a flight that reaches space. Space launch involves liftoff, when a rocket or other space launch vehicle leaves the ground, floating ship or midair aircraft at the start of a flight. Liftoff is of two main ...

facility east of Brownsville on the Gulf Coast in 2014. The launch facility is estimated to produce for the city of Brownsville and generate approximately in annual salaries from the roughly 500 jobs to be created by 2024. The facility itself is projected to employ 75–100 full-time workers in the early years with up to 150 full-time employees/contractors by 2019. , the University of Texas at Brownsville and the

Brownsville Economic Development Council Brownsville () is a city in Cameron County, Texas, Cameron County in the U.S. state of Texas. It is on the western Gulf Coast in South Texas, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border, border with Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Matamoros, Mexico. Th ...

(BEDC), in collaboration with SpaceX, are building

radio-frequency Radio frequency (RF) is the oscillation rate of an alternating electric current or voltage or of a magnetic, electric or electromagnetic field or mechanical system in the frequency range from around to around . This is roughly between the upp ...

(RF) technology facilities for STARGATE (Spacecraft Tracking and Astronomical Research into Gigahertz Astrophysical Transient Emission). The facility is intended to provide students and faculty access to radio frequency technologies used in

spaceflight Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly spacecraft into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such as satellites in o ...

operations, and will include

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioi ...

and

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, p ...

tracking Tracking may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Tracking, in computer graphics, in match moving (insertion of graphics into footage) * Tracking, composing music with music tracker software * Eye tracking, measuring the position of t ...

. The city's economic development council also purchased five lots in

Boca Chica Village Boca Chica Village, formerly Kennedy Shores, Kopernik Shores, is a small, unincorporated community in Cameron County, Texas, United States. It was formed in the late 1960s, and is still extant as of 2021, although the village proper has changed ...

totaling near the SpaceX launch site and renamed it as the Stargate subdivision. The beach location will include a tracking center. Stargate received several startup grants including from the United States

Economic Development Administration The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that provides grants and technical assistance to economically distressed communities in order to generate new employment, help retain exist ...

Principal employers

According to the BEDC,Brownsville Economic Development Council
the top employers in the city as of May 2015 were:

Parks and recreation

Brownsville has 37 parks connected by a system of parkland and of bike lanes. The city also has three gymnasiums, two public pools, and 55 athletic fields. Brownsville's proximity to the coast has allowed the city to register several locations under the list of

protected areas of the United States The protected areas of the United States are managed by an array of different federal, state, tribal and local level authorities and receive widely varying levels of protection. Some areas are managed as wilderness, while others are operated wi ...

Resaca de la Palma State Park Resaca de la Palma State Park is one of three state parks belonging to the World Birding Center and managed by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. At 1,200 acres, Resaca de la Palma State Park is the largest of the World Birding Center sites ...

is one of six nature preserves (and three state parks) that are part of the World Birding Center. It is also the largest

nature preserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological o ...

of the park system, with approximately of native semitropical brushland. The area was part of the Battle of Resaca de la Palma. The

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...

lists the site of the

Battle of Palo Alto The Battle of Palo Alto ( es, Batalla de Palo Alto) was the first major battle of the Mexican–American War and was fought on May 8, 1846, on disputed ground five miles (8 km) from the modern-day city of Brownsville, Texas. A force of so ...

as a National Historic Park. The agency purchased of the site's land, with two-thirds belonging to private landowners. It is native to the ''

Prosopis glandulosa ''Prosopis glandulosa'', commonly known as honey mesquite, is a species of small to medium-sized, thorny shrub or tree in the legume family (Fabaceae). Distribution The plant is primarily native to the Southwestern United States and Northern M ...

'' (honey mesquite) bush, ''

Opuntia engelmannii ''Opuntia engelmannii'' is a prickly pear common across the south-central and Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It goes by a variety of common names, including desert prickly pear, discus prickly pear, Engelmann's prickly pear in ...

'' (prickly pear), and '' Yucca treculeana'' (yucca). The city encompasses two national wildlife refuges. Located in northeast Cameron County,

Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge is the largest protected area of natural habitat left in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. The refuge is located almost entirely in Cameron County, Texas (near Harlingen), although a very small part of its n ...

protects several endangered species, including the Texas ocelot (''Leopardus pardalis albescens''), a rare wild

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

, and the

Aplomado falcon The aplomado falcon (''Falco femoralis'') is a medium-sized falcon of the Americas. The species' largest contiguous range is in South America, but not in the deep interior Amazon Basin. It was long known as ''Falco fusco-coerulescens'' or ''Fal ...

(''Falco femoralis''). The refuge measures . The Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge is located in northwest Cameron County and measures . The refuge contains trails that are connected to the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail. The

Boca Chica State Park Boca Chica is an area on the eastern portion of a subdelta peninsula of Cameron County, Texas, Cameron County, at the far south of the US State of Texas along the Gulf Coast. It is bordered by the Brownsville Ship Channel to the north, the Rio Gra ...

and Brazos Island State Park are state parks that were transferred by separate lease agreements to the Lower Rio Grande Valley refuge center in 2007. They measure and , respectively.

Laguna Madre The Laguna Madre is a long, shallow, hypersaline lagoon along the western coast of the Gulf of Mexico in Nueces, Kenedy, Kleberg, Willacy and Cameron Counties in Texas, United States. It is one of seven major estuaries along the Gulf Coast ...

is located on the eastern side of the county. It is a long, shallow,

hypersaline A hypersaline lake is a landlocked body of water that contains significant concentrations of sodium chloride, brines, and other salts, with saline levels surpassing that of ocean water (3.5%, i.e. ). Specific microbial species can thrive in hi ...

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') ...

, and is one of the most protected lagoon ecosystems in the United States.

Government

Brownsville has a

council–manager government The council–manager government is a form of local government used for municipalities, counties, or other equivalent regions. It is one of the two most common forms of local government in the United States along with the mayor–council gover ...

. The mayor and a six-member city commission are selected in nonpartisan elections. Four members are elected from geographic districts; the remaining two members are elected at-large. Since Brownsville is the county seat of Cameron County, many county offices are in Brownsville. The city's public library system has two branches. The primary law enforcement agency for the city is the Brownsville Police Department. The Brownsville Fire Department has nine stations around the city; its central office is located on the eastern side of the city. TX-Brownsville 1931 Ref

Most of Brownsville is represented by two county commissioners of the five-member

Commissioners' Court Commissioners' court, or in Arkansas a quorum court, is the governing body of county government in three US states: Arkansas, Texas and Missouri. It is similar in function to a board of county commissioners. A similar system was in place in the ...

(one member, the

County Judge The term county judge is applied as a descriptor, sometimes as a title, for a person who presides over a county court. In most cases, such as in Northern Ireland and the Victorian County Courts, a county judge is a judicial officer with civil ...

, represents all of Cameron County). County offices are partisan; the Democratic and Republican Parties hold primaries in March of the year that their office term expires. The City of Brownsville falls under two

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abo ...

districts. Each representative has a two-year term and is elected in the same manner as other partisan elected officials. The elected representatives include, District 37: Alex Dominguez (D) (since 2019), and District 38: Eddie Lucio, III (D) (since 2007). Brownsville is represented by Texas Senatorial District 27, the incumbent senator is

Eddie Lucio Jr. Eduardo Andres Lucio Jr. (born January 20, 1946) is a Democratic politician who served in the Texas Senate, representing the 27th District from 1991 to 2023. Lucio also previously served in the Texas House of Representatives from 1987 to 1991 ...

(D) (since 1991). The city is represented by

Texas's 34th congressional district Texas's 34th congressional district is a district that was created as a result of the 2010 Census. The first candidates ran in the 2012 elections; the winner, Democrat Filemon Vela Jr., was seated for the 113th United States Congress. The dist ...

. The incumbent Representative is Filemon Vela Jr. (D) (since 2013). The city holds several federal office buildings. The

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...

operates post offices in Brownsville. Downtown Brownsville is served by the Old Federal Courthouse; it is now used as a City Hall. The

National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for the ...

operates an

office An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific du ...

and a

Nexrad NEXRAD or Nexrad (Next-Generation Radar) is a network of 160 high-resolution S-band Doppler weather radars operated by the National Weather Service (NWS), an agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) within the United S ...

weather radar Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar (WSR) and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type (rain, snow, hail etc.). Modern weather radars are mostly pulse- ...

site in east Brownsville. They provide forecasts and radar coverage for Deep South Texas and the adjacent coastal waters. Other federal building located within the city limits of Brownsville include: Social Security Administration and the Reynaldo G. Garza – Filemon B. Vela United States Courthouse. Military buildings and battle sites include the Brownsville Armed Forces Reserve Center (AFRC) host units from the

United States Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces. Since July 2020 ...

and the Texas Army National Guard, and the

Reserve Officers' Training Corps The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. Overview While ROTC graduate officers serve in al ...

(ROTC).

Education

Primary and secondary education

Brownsville Independent School District (BISD) serves most of the city. Enrollment in the 2018–2019 school year was 44,402 students, 95% of whom are economically disadvantaged. Enrollment at BISD reached a high of 49,991 students in 2010–2011, and has declined an average of 1,000 students per year since 2014–2015. It is the 17th largest school district in Texas. There are seven high schools within the district: James Pace, Lopez,

Gladys Porter Gladys Muriel Porter, MBE, née Richardson, daughter of Walter Richardson and Christina Macpherson, (August 4, 1893, Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada – April 30, 1967, Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada) was the first woman in the Maritimes to be ...

, Simon Rivera, Homer Hanna, Veterans Memorial and Brownsville Early College. A portion of northern Brownsville is served by the Los Fresnos Consolidated Independent School District. South Texas Independent School District, a magnet school district, operates a medical academy in northern Brownsville. There are several private parochial elementary and middle schools located throughout the community. The

Roman Catholic Diocese of Brownsville The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brownsville ( la, Dioecesis Brownsvillensis, es, Diócesis de Brownsville) is a Latin Church suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, in Texas, USA. The ...

operates Catholic schools in the Rio Grande Valley, including Brownsville.

Colleges and universities

Six colleges and universities are located within the Brownsville boundaries. The

, part of the

University of Texas system The University of Texas System (UT System) is an American government entity of the state of Texas that includes 13 higher educational institutions throughout the state including eight universities and five independent health institutions. The UT& ...

, was founded in 2014 after the merger of the

and

University of Texas–Pan American , mottoeng = Education, the Guardian of Society , established = , closed = , type = Public university , endowment = $65 million , president = Dr. Havidan Rodriguez ...

. It is the 10th-largest university in Texas, having 25,137 undergraduates, 3,068 graduate students, and 439 professionals enrolled in 2018. In 2017, ''

The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education ''The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education'' is an American biweekly magazine that focuses on Hispanic education in institutions of higher learning. It is notable for its annual Top 100 list of colleges and universities A university () ...

'' ranked the university third in the country in awarding bachelor's degrees to Hispanic students. Texas Southmost College is a

community college A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior se ...

located near the southern border of Brownsville. As of 2018, it had a total enrollment of 7,132. Students usually transfer to the neighboring University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. The city operates three vocational schools. These include the South Texas Vocational Technical Institute, Brightwood College campus (formerly known as Kaplan College), and

Southern Careers Institute Southern Careers Institute (SCI) is a private, for-profit post-secondary career and technical education institution with eight locations in Texas, US, founded in 1960. The school is accredited by the Council on Occupational Education and approved ...

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) is a public academic health science center in Houston, Texas, United States. It was created in 1972 by The University of Texas System Board of Regents. It is located in the T ...

, School of Public Health (UTSPH), is one of five regional campuses established by the Regional Academic Health Center program in 2001; it is located on the Brownsville campus of the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley. The campus offers a PhD program in epidemiology and a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) in health promotion, the only program of its kind available in South Texas. The campus directs its attention to health concerns in the Rio Grande Valley, including

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

obesity Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's ...

, and cardiovascular disease. It also centers its concerns on genetics and its relationship to infectious and chronic disease.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Major highways

Brownsville is served by Interstate 69E, sharing its alignment with

U.S. Route 77 U.S. Route 77 (US 77) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway which extends for in the central United States. As of 2005, Its southern terminus is in Brownsville, Texas, at Veteran's International Bridge on the Mexican border, w ...

. The highway connects to the cities of Kingsville and Corpus Christi. U.S. Route 77 was a proposed part of the North American Free Trade Agreement's completed Interstate 69 corridor. Other highways that serve the Brownsville area are U.S. Route 83,

U.S. Route 281 U.S. Route 281 (US 281) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway. At it is the longest continuous three-digit U.S. Route. The highway's northern terminus is at the International Peace Garden, north of Dunseith, North Dakota, at t ...

, SH 4 and SH 48. Interstate 169/ SH 550 is a toll road that connects North Brownsville to the Port of Brownsville; it forms a loop around the outer city limits of Brownsville. An interchange in nearby Olmito carries traffic from Interstate 69E onto the highway.

Mass transit

Established in mid-Brownsville in 1978, the

Brownsville Urban System Brownsville Metro, or "B Metro" for short, is a mass transit system based in and serving Brownsville, TX. It is currently the largest mass transit system in Cameron County and the Rio Grande Valley, Texas, and is the only mass transit system i ...

(BUS), currently known as the Brownsville Metro, consists of three hubs that run 13 routes covering a large portion of Brownsville. The system provides 11

paratransit Paratransit is the term used in North America, also known by other names such as community transport ( UK) for transportation services that supplement fixed-route mass transit by providing individualized rides without fixed routes or timetables. ...

vans to disabled passengers, complying with the standards for the Americans with Disabilities Act. It is the only mass transit system in its county and one of the largest in the Rio Grande Valley. Annual ridership for 2015 was 1,384,474.

Intercity transit

The

Brownsville/South Padre Island International Airport Brownsville/South Padre Island International Airport is east of downtown Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas. The Brownsville/South Padre Island International Airport serves two airlines, six air taxis and offers three fixed-base operations ...

(BRO) provides passengers with daily nonstop service to

American Eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

hubs

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport , also known as DFW Airport, is the primary international airport serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and the North Texas Region in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the largest hub for American Ai ...

, United Express to

George Bush Intercontinental Airport George Bush Intercontinental Airport is an international airport in Houston, Texas, United States, serving the Greater Houston metropolitan area. Located about north of Downtown Houston between Interstate 45 and Interstate 69/U.S. Highway 5 ...

in Houston, and

World Atlantic Airlines Caribbean Sun Airlines Inc., trading as World Atlantic Airlines is an American airline operating on-demand and scheduled charter services. Its corporate headquarters are located in Virginia Gardens, Florida. History The airline was founded in S ...

, which operates charter and on-demand flights to

Miami International Airport Miami International Airport , also known as MIA and historically as Wilcox Field, is the primary airport serving the greater Miami metropolitan area with over 1,000 daily flights to 167 domestic and international destinations, including most c ...

. The airport received a $12.7 million grant from the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...

for the construction of a new terminal facility. The project is expected to commence construction by late 2018.

Bike share and trails

The City of Brownsville currently has of hike and bike trails and on-street bike lanes. In 2016, a bike-share program was established in Brownsville in collaboration with the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Six bike stations were installed. The contract was renewed with another company to provide a "dockless ride-share program" in late 2018.

Railroad

Several attempts were made to attract a railroad, but the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway did not reach Brownsville until 1904. In 1910, a railroad bridge was constructed between Brownsville and Matamoros (Mexico), and regular service between the two towns began. The introduction of the rail link to Brownsville opened the area for settlement by northern farmers, who subsequently arrived in the lower Rio Grande Valley in large numbers. The new settlers cleared the land of brush, built extensive irrigation systems and roads, and introduced large-scale truck farming. In 1904, H. G. Stillwell Sr. planted the first commercial citrus orchard in the area, thus opening the way for citrus fruit culture, one of the valley's leading industries. The expansion of farming in the area, and the railroad link to the north, brought new prosperity to Brownsville and spurred a host of civic improvements. Brownsville was served by the

Missouri Pacific Railroad The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad ...

night train from Houston, the ''Pioneer'' (#315/316) until 1964, and a daily train from Houston, the '' Valley Eagle'' (#321/322), until 1962. Today, the Brownsville and Rio Grande International Railroad (reporting mark BRG) is a terminal switching railroad headquartered in Brownsville. It operates of line at the Port of Brownsville, and interchanges with

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

and TFM. BRG traffic includes steel, agricultural products, food products, and general commodities.

International bridges

Brownsville has three international bridges that connect to Mexico. These include the

Brownsville & Matamoros International Bridge The Brownsville & Matamoros International Bridge, also known as B&M International Bridge, Brownsville-Matamoros International Bridge and Express Bridge, is one of three international bridges that cross the U.S.-Mexico border between the cities ...

(B&M),

Gateway International Bridge Gateway International Bridge is one of three international bridges that cross the U.S.-Mexico border between the cities of Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros, Tamaulipas. It is owned and operated by Cameron County. Over the past century, it ha ...

and the

Veterans International Bridge at Los Tomates The Veterans International Bridge at Los Tomates is one of three international bridges that span the Mexico–United States border between the cities of Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros, Tamaulipas. It is also known as simply as the Veterans Brid ...

Utilities

Electricity, water, and wastewater services in Brownsville are provided by the

Brownsville Public Utilities Board The Brownsville Public Utilities Board, or Brownsville PUB, is the main utility company in the city of Brownsville, Texas. It is the largest of three electric providers (in terms of local customers) in the city of Brownsville, as well as the large ...

. Since it is a

public utility A public utility company (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and r ...

, the city commission appoints six members of the utilities board with the mayor serving as the seventh member (ex-officio). As of 2016, it is the 68th-largest public power utility in the country by number of customers served (48,232). Its power generation was ranked 51st in the US with 1,638,579 megawatt-hours.

Renewable resource A renewable resource, also known as a flow resource, is a natural resource which will replenish to replace the portion depleted by usage and consumption, either through natural reproduction or other recurring processes in a finite amount of ti ...

s were projected to increase with partial help from the proposed addition of a 400-megawatt Tenaska combined-cycle electric generating plant in 2015. A series of wind turbines was also built in the northeast part of Cameron County. The board operates three treatment plants in Brownsville; it also owns 92.91% of the Southmost Regional Water Authority groundwater treatment facility. Several

liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the vol ...

companies are currently in the process of establishing pipelines in the city. Two were denied a review of their applications after missing several deadlines.

Arts and culture

Brownsville is known for its strong Mexican culture. Charro Days is a two-nation fiesta celebration held in Brownsville in cooperation with Matamoros, Mexico. It is accompanied with ''El Grito'', a joyous shout originating in Mexican culture. Musicians and actors of Mexican heritage make appearances. Sombrero Festival is a continuation of Charro Days. It is a three-day event consisting of performances from tejano,

corrido The corrido () is a popular narrative metrical tale and poetry that forms a ballad. The songs are often about oppression, history, daily life for criminals, the vaquero lifestyle, and other socially relevant topics. Corridos were widely popular ...

and other traditional Mexican artists as well as a variety of contests. In 2016, a Mexican art gallery donated a statue called ''Mr. Charro'' that was unveiled at a park.

The city hosts the Latin Jazz Festival every year around early October in Downtown Brownsville. It is a three-day celebration of local

Latin jazz Latin jazz is a genre of jazz with Latin American rhythms. The two main categories are Afro-Cuban jazz, rhythmically based on Cuban popular dance music, with a rhythm section employing ostinato patterns or a clave, and Afro-Brazilian jazz, which ...

performers, art and dance. The festival began in 1997, founded by American musician

Tito Puente Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. (April 20, 1923 – June 1, 2000), commonly known as Tito Puente, was an American musician, songwriter, bandleader, and record producer of Puerto Rican descent. He is best known for dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz ...

. Brownsville has a growing number of arts galleries, including the Puente Art Studio, the B&E Art Studio, and the Rusteberg Art Gallery. The Brownsville Museum of Fine Arts features exhibitions of Egyptian and Astronomical art. It was formerly known as the Brownsville Art League, formed by a group of eight women. The museum underwent a renovation in 1960, featuring a studio. In 2002, it changed its name to its current name and underwent another renovation. According to the

Association of Art Museum Directors The Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) is an organization of art museum directors from the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The AAMD was established in 1916 by the directors of twelve American museums and was formally incorporated in 1969 ...

, women account for 38% of leadership positions. Brownsville also has several museums dedicated to historic artifacts and military equipment. The Historic Brownsville Museum opened to the public in 1986. The building was used as a Spanish Colonial Revival passenger depot and was later abandoned. It features

Spanish architecture Spanish architecture refers to architecture in any area of what is now Spain, and by Spanish architects worldwide. The term includes buildings which were constructed within the current borders of Spain prior to its existence as a nation, when ...

and education programs. Several renovations were made over time, including the addition of a Spanish-style fountain, a courtyard and an engine building. The Commemorative Air Force Museum houses World War II

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engine ...

and holds tours on the early events of wars in Asia and Europe. It also documents the stories of pilots who were part of the 201st Mexican Fighter Squadron. Built in 1850 by Henry Miller, the Stillman House Museum was owned by Charles Stillman and Mexican consul Manuel Pérez Treviño. It was the site of meetings with Mexican general and president

Porfirio Diaz Porfirio is a given name in Spanish, derived from the Greek Porphyry (''porphyrios'' "purple-clad"). It can refer to: * Porfirio Salinas – Mexican-American artist * Porfirio Armando Betancourt – Honduran football player * Porfirio Barba-Jac ...

. The Stillman's great-grandson purchased the house after the previous homeowners sold it and donated it to the city after several renovations. It opened to the public in 1960. The home sustained damage from Hurricane Dolly in 2008 and reopened to the public the following year after it was restored. Costumes of the Americas Museum is an indigenous clothing museum. Inspired by Bessie Kirkland Johnson, the museum was opened in 1997 featuring clothing from indigenous people in several Mexican states and other Latin American countries.

Filming location

Media

Print

The Brownsville Herald ''The Brownsville Herald'' is a newspaper based in Brownsville, Texas, circulating in the Cameron County area. Jesse O. Wheeler, a newspaperman from Victoria, purchased Brownsville's ''Cosmopolitan'' newspaper in 1892 and renamed it the ''Brown ...

'' is the city's major daily newspaper. It has a circulation of 15,880 with 16,409 on Sundays. Other newspapers that share content within Brownsville include '' The Monitor'' (headquartered in

), the ''

Valley Morning Star The ''Valley Morning Star'', established in 1909 as the ''Harlingen Star'', is an American newspaper published in Harlingen in the U.S. state of Texas. In 1938, ''The New York Times'' reported on a printer's strike at the newspaper that was organ ...

'' (headquartered in Harlingen) and ''The Rider'', the official weekly campus paper of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

Radio

FM stations include: * KBNR (88.3) –

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

-language Christian * KJJF/ KHID (88.9) –

Relevant Radio Relevant Radio (corporate name Relevant Radio, Inc.) is a radio network in the United States, mainly broadcasting talk radio and religious programming involving the Catholic Church. It is the largest Catholic radio network by owned station base. R ...

XHMLS XHMLS-FM (91.3 MHz) is a radio station in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It ...

(91.3) – Latin pop *KESO (92.7) – Classic Hits (70s/80s Hits) * XHAAA (93.1) – Regional Mexican *

XHO-FM XHO-FM (93.5 MHz) is a Spanish news/talk radio radio station that serves the Brownsville, Texas (United States) / Matamoros, Tamaulipas (Mexico) border area. History XEO received its concession on August 24, 1946. The station was initially owne ...

(93.5) –

News/talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

* KFRQ (94.5) –

Classic Rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prima ...

KVMV KVMV (96.9 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a Christian adult contemporary format. Licensed to McAllen, Texas McAllen is the largest city in Hidalgo County, Texas, United States, and the 22nd-most populous city in Texas. It is located at ...

(96.9) –

Contemporary Christian Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

* XEEW-FM (97.7) – Latin pop *

KKPS KKPS (99.5 FM) "Fuego 99.5" is a radio station broadcasting a Bilingual Rhythmic CHR format. Licensed to Brownsville, Texas, United States, the station serves the McAllen-Brownsville-Harlingen area. The station is currently owned by Entravision ...

(99.5) – Hot AC *

KTEX KTEX (100.3 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a country music format. Licensed to Mercedes, Texas, United States, the station serves the McAllen, Weslaco, Harlingen, Brownsville, Texas, area. The station is owned by iHeartMedia. It shares a ...

(100.3) –

Country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...

* KNVO (101.1) – Spanish Adult Hits *

KBFM KBFM (104.1 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Edinburg, Texas, carrying a bilingual English/Spanish language rhythmic contemporary format known as "Wild 104". Owned by iHeartMedia, the station serves the Lower Rio Grande Valley. KBFM ...

(104.1) –

Rhythmic Top 40 The Rhythmic chart (also called Rhythmic Airplay, and previously named Rhythmic Songs, Rhythmic Top 40 and CHR/Rhythmic) is an airplay chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The chart tracks and measures the airplay of songs played on ...

KJAV KJAV (104.9 FM, "Ultra 104.9") is a radio station licensed to serve Alamo, Texas, United States. The station is owned by Bi-Media, LLC, through licensee Bi-Media Licensee, LLC. The principals of Bi-Media are the Bichara family, which also owns t ...

(104.9) – Adult Contemporary/Spanish AC Hits * KXIQ-LP (105.1) *KRIX (105.5) – Classic Rock * XHNA (105.9) – Regional Mexican *

KHKZ KHKZ (106.3 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a hot adult contemporary format. Licensed to San Benito, Texas, United States, the station serves the Rio Grande Valley. The station is currently owned by iHeartMedia. It shares a studio with its s ...

(106.3) –

Hot AC Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet sto ...

KVLY KVLY may refer to: * KVLY-TV, a television station (digital channel 36, virtual 11) licensed to Fargo, North Dakota, United States :See also: KVLY-TV mast, transmitter for the station and second highest man made structure in the world * KVLY (FM) ...

(107.9) – AC AM stations include: *

KURV KURV (710 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Edinburg, Texas, and serving the Rio Grande Valley border area. It broadcasts a talk radio format and is owned by Grupo Multimedios, through licensee Leading Media Group Corp. The ...

(710) – News/Talk *

KVNS KVNS (1700 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a sports format. Licensed to Brownsville, Texas, United States, the station is currently owned by iHeartMedia and features programming from Fox News Radio, Premiere Radio Networks and Westwood One. ...

(1700) – Sports Talk

Television

Brownsville has three licensed broadcast full power television stations: *

KVEO-TV KVEO-TV (channel 23) is a television station licensed to Brownsville, Texas, United States, serving the Lower Rio Grande Valley as a dual affiliate of NBC and CBS. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Harlingen-licensed primary Ante ...

(Channel 23; DT 24) –

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

affiliate ** 23.2

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

affiliate *

KNWS-LD KNWS-LD, virtual channel 64 ( UHF digital channel 27), is a low-power Novelisima- affiliated television station licensed to Brownsville, Texas, United States. The station is owned by HC2 Holdings. KNWS-LD's programming is also seen on KAZH ...

(Channel 64; DT 27) –

Azteca America Azteca is the Spanish word for Aztec. In English, Azteca or Aztecas may refer to: Animals * ''Azteca'' (ant), a genus of ants * Azteca horse, a breed of horse Games * Azteca, a world in the online game of ''Wizard101'' Sport * Aztecas de la U ...

affiliate ** 67.2 CW affiliate * KXFX-CD (Channel 67; DT 20) –

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

affiliate

Notable people

* James Carlos Blake, novelist, received his elementary education at Saint Joseph Academy *

Shelbie Bruce Shelbie Carole Bruce (born November 12, 1992) is an American former actress who had a lead role in the 2004 film ''Spanglish''. Early life Shelbie was born in Brownsville, Texas, was homeschooled, and trained as a child model, but later moved ...

, actress *

José Tomás Canales José Tomás Canales (March 7, 1877 – March 30, 1976) was an American businessman, lawyer, and politician based in Texas. He served five terms in the State House, where he was the only Mexican-American representative at the time. He is best kno ...

, lawyer, writer, politician *

Oscar Casares Oscar Cásares (born May 7, 1964) is an American writer and associate professor of creative writing. He is the author of '' Brownsville: Stories'', '' Amigoland'', and ''Where We Come From''. Cásares teaches at the University of Texas at Aust ...

, author and professor the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...

; published two books about Brownsville, including ''Amigoland'' (2009) * Buddy Garcia, 2012 member of the

Texas Railroad Commission The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC; also sometimes called the Texas Railroad Commission, TRC) is the state agency that regulates the oil and gas industry, gas utilities, pipeline safety, safety in the liquefied petroleum gas industry, and sur ...

* Reynaldo G. Garza (1915–2004), Judge appointed to the

United States District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district co ...

in 1961 by President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

, and to the

United States Court of Appeals United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

by President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 1 ...

in 1978 * Tony Garza, former

United States Ambassador to Mexico The United States has maintained diplomatic relations with Mexico since 1823, when Andrew Jackson was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to that country. Jackson declined the appointment, however, and Joel R. Poinsett bec ...

* Gilberto Hinojosa, county judge of Cameron County from 1995 to 2007;

Texas Democratic Party The Texas Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Texas and one of the two major political parties in the state. The party's headquarters are in Austin, Texas. President Lyndon B. Johnson was a Texas Democ ...

chairman since 2012 * Mifflin Kenedy (1818–1895), South Texas rancher and steamboat businessman *

Pierre Yves Kéralum Pierre Yves Kéralum OMI (1817–1872) was a French-born Catholic missionary and member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. He served in South Texas from 1853 to 1872, traveling long distances on horseback to minister to Catholics livi ...

(1817–1872), priest and architect who designed the Immaculate Conception Cathedral * Bernard L. Kowalski (1929–2007), film and television director *

Kris Kristofferson Kristoffer Kristofferson (born June 22, 1936) is a retired American singer, songwriter and actor. Among his songwriting credits are " Me and Bobby McGee", " For the Good Times", " Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and " Help Me Make It Through the ...

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...

singer, songwriter and actor, 2004

Country Music Hall of Fame The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the world's largest museums and research centers dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of American vernacular music. Chartered in 1964, the museum has amas ...

Inductee * Eddie Lucio III, member of the

, member of the

Texas State Senate The Texas Senate ( es, Senado de Texas) is the upper house of the Texas State Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing single-member districts across the U.S. state of Texas, with populations of approximately 806,000 per con ...

Bianca Marroquín Bianca Marroquín is a Mexican musical theatre and television actress known for being the first Mexican actress to have a starring role on Broadway theatre, Broadway. She has performed in the musical ''Chicago (musical), Chicago'' for over twenty ...

, theater and television actress * Grace Napolitano,

United States Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

for

California's 32nd congressional district California's 32nd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California based in Los Angeles County. The 32nd district takes in the city of Malibu and the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Pacific Palisades, Beverly Gl ...

* Jose Rolando Olvera Jr., United States District Judge for the Southern District of Texas appointed by U.S. President

in 2015 * Américo Paredes (1915–1999), author of ''George Washington Gómez'' *

Rudy Ruiz Rudy Ruiz is a writer, advocate, and social entrepreneur. Ruiz is known for writing ''The Resurrection of Fulgencio Ramirez'' and ''Valley of Shadows'', magical realism novels which received critical acclaim and literary awards. In 2014, Ruiz auth ...

, author, entrepreneur and advocate; attended Saint Joseph Academy *

Efren Saldivar Efren Saldivar (born September 30, 1969) is an American serial killer who murdered patients while working as a respiratory therapist at Adventist Health Glendale, named at that time Glendale Adventist Medical Center in Glendale, California. Ear ...

, nurse and convicted serial killer * Ramón Saldívar, scholar of Chicano literature and culture, awarded the

National Humanities Medal The National Humanities Medal is an American award that annually recognizes several individuals, groups, or institutions for work that has "deepened the nation's understanding of the humanities, broadened our citizens' engagement with the human ...

by President Barack Obama in 2011; professor at Stanford University *

Julian Schnabel Julian Schnabel (born October 26, 1951) is an American painter and filmmaker. In the 1980s, he received international attention for his "plate paintings" — with broken ceramic plates set onto large-scale paintings. Since the 1990s, he has been ...

neo-expressionism Neo-expressionism is a style of late modernist or early-postmodern painting and sculpture that emerged in the late 1970s. Neo-expressionists were sometimes called ''Transavantgarde'', '' Junge Wilde'' or ''Neue Wilden'' ('The new wild ones'; 'Ne ...

painter and

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-nominated, Golden Globe winner and director of '' The Diving Bell and the Butterfly'' * Bruce Sterling, author of the ''

Mirrorshades ''Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology'' (1986) is a cyberpunk short story collection, edited by American writer Bruce Sterling. Contents * "The Gernsback Continuum" by William Gibson * "Snake-Eyes" by Tom Maddox * "Rock On" by Pat Cadigan * "T ...

'' anthology and one of the pioneers of the

cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and c ...

genre * Emeraude Toubia, actress (''

Shadowhunters ''Shadowhunters'', also known as ''Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments'', is an American supernatural drama television series developed by Ed Decter, based on the book series ''The Mortal Instruments'' written by Cassandra Clare. It premiered ...

'') * Benjamin D. Wood (1894–1986), one of the pioneers of learning technologies and automated testing methods *

Jaime Zapata Jaime Jorge Zapata (May 7, 1978 – February 15, 2011) was an Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent who was ambushed and murdered by the Mexican criminal group Los Zetas in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. ...

(1979–2011),

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration tha ...

agent who was ambushed, shot, and killed by

Los Zetas Los Zetas (, Spanish for "The Zs") is a Mexican criminal syndicate, regarded as one of the most dangerous of Mexico's drug cartels. They are known for engaging in brutally violent "shock and awe" tactics such as beheadings, torture, and indiscr ...

in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. He was returning from a meeting in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

; Victor Avila, another agent who accompanied him, was wounded in the same incident

Sister city

* Heroica Matamoros, Tamaulipas,

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

References

Notes

Citations

External links

*
Brownsville Convention and Visitors Bureau

Brownsville Chamber of Commerce

Brownsville Public Library System

''Brownsville, Texas'' in The Handbook of Texas Online

National Weather Service - Brownsville
{{Authority control 1845 establishments in the Republic of Texas Cities in Cameron County, Texas Cities in Texas County seats in Texas Mexico–United States border crossings Populated coastal places in Texas Populated places established in 1845 Lower Rio Grande Valley Texas populated places on the Rio Grande