Tejano Heritage
Spanish and Mexican Land Grants Shaped Cameron County's Land History
Much of Cameron County's land was first granted under Spanish and Mexican rule. Fights over those land grants shaped life here for decades after the Mexican-American War.
Before Texas statehood, Spanish colonial authorities and later the Mexican government gave out large land grants along the north bank of the Rio Grande. After the 1848 war and treaty, a land commission looked at those claims. Many grants were confirmed. But legal fights over land titles dragged on into the late 1800s. Some Hispanic families lost land they had held for generations.
The community that grew here was deeply bilingual and bicultural. After 1904, when the railroad arrived, many Anglo settlers came from the Midwest. Their arrival changed the balance of the community. After 1910, social relations came to be increasingly dominated by ethnic separation. Mexican Americans in Cameron County responded by forming civil rights groups. One key gathering was tied to the 1927 Harlingen Convention. Today about 88 percent of the county's residents identify as Hispanic.
Source to confirm: Handbook of Texas — Cameron County