The River Pierce Foundation

San Ygnacio, TX Crossing borders of awareness by bringing awareness to the border

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Event set for Thursday, March 22, at Gallery 201

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Michael Tracy’s art isn’t his only legacy. He is restoring the Spanish colonial heritage of tiny San Ygnacio. So why don’t they love him there?

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We were delighted to see snow fall in San Ygnacio on the 8th of December of 2017. The last time was thirteen years ago! It was enchanting to see the Historical District and town covered in the glistening snow. Children and adults alike were seen playing snowball fight and making snowmen. Surely an event to remember.

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An ambitious joint Mexico/America dam and lake project is suddenly in Wall jeopardy. Will a way in life in the South Texas border towns be lost forever.

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Decades later, in 1851, Villarreal, a blacksmith, built a simple iron sundial that was placed over an arched stone doorway of “El Fuerte,” the oldest structure in this colonial river town. According to local lore, the device, which keeps Mexico City time, was Villarreal’s tribute to the celestial body that had guided him and his companion to freedom. The dramatic ongoing resurrection of the structure, the oldest in San Ygnacio, is being funded by a $269,130 grant from the National Park Service, plus nearly as much in matching funds from sponsors. River Pierce officials hope the restored fort will stimulate a cultural and business revival in San Ygnacio, a sleepy settlement of whitewashed Mexican-style structures, modest houses and mobile homes about 30 miles south of Laredo. Among the town’s better-known admirers was architect O’Neil Ford, who oversaw the renovation of San Antonio’s La Villita and designed the campuses of Trinity University and UTSA, among many prominent projects. Despite nearly two centuries of trials, including raids by Indians and border bandits, war, accidental fires, hurricanes, river floods, ill-advised modifications and general neglect, the fort complex, which occupies half a city block, is largely intact. A bumper sticker on his huge black welder’s truck, parked nearby, read: Pipeliner wives have lots of problems. Known formally as the Treviño-Uribe Rancho, the old thick-walled structure on a bluff above the Rio Grande is one of the last good examples on the border of colonial Mexican ranch architecture. The surviving mesquite door was secured by a mesquite cross bar and opens on heavy wooden pins at the top and bottom. When the Texas-Mexico Railroad reached Laredo in 1881, its connection to the outside world finally was assured, ending the era of isolation, wagon trains and pack mules. The town got a reprieve after 200 residents signed a petition asking to be spared condemnation, noting its elevation placed it above the reservoir’s highest anticipated levels. Unlike some historical buildings in San Ygnacio that were altered or modernized over the decades, the old Treviño-Uribe Rancho was relatively untouched, preserving it as a jewel to be rediscovered.

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This award acknowledges a historic resource that has been properly restored to a specific time period. Projects must fully demonstrate adherence to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Restoration. A special emphasis is placed on completed projects where owners, architects and contractors practice exceptional care in respecting the original fabric and setting of a historic structure.