We begin our tour in the early 1800’s when Port Isabel was originally called “El Fronton de Santa Isabel”. In those years there was a 25 - 30 ft clay bluff that  jutted out into the Laguna Madre as far out as to the end of the Pirates Fishing Pier. From the bluff, there was a hill as you can see from the base of the Lighthouse that formed an “L” leading West to Musina and through the historic cemetery and out north to the Laguna Madre Bay.

The earliest documented owner of the land as we now know as Port Isabel was Don Raphael Garcia, a Mexican landowner and merchant who was granted the Santa Isabel Land grant in the late 1820s by the Spanish government.

The lighthouse was built in 1852 and operated in 1853  for the shipping industry.  It was used as a lookout by soldiers from both the Union and Confederate  sides.

In the late 1870s, the daughters of Don Raphael Garcia, donated lands in the original land tract to establish parks and they named all the streets to commemorate Texas historical figures, presidents, and some locals. 

During the 1950s when the old causeway  was completed, Maxan St. and Garcia Street were the main streets where traffic would go to get to the causeway.  Instead of using the abandoned railroad track area to lay down a road, they went ahead and destroyed the majority of Port Isabel’s downtown area including  a theatre, two story  buildings, etc.

Rio Grande Railroad Company was established in1870s and was intended to be used to transport cargo from ships from Port Isabel to Brownsville.  The track went half a mile into the  Laguna Madre Bay one of the original engines is restored and on disply at the Historic Brownsville Museum.

Built in 1920s, the Port Isabel Yacht Club was once a private club used to lure investors from the North to come visit and purchase land in the area.  It also was the site of many speakeasys during Prohibition.  Before the Yacht Club was built this was used as campsites  by the military during all three wars.

The Old Champion Building was built by Charles Champion, who once owned all of Port Isabel. In the 1890s it served as a residence on the second level and a dry goods store on the lower level. This was the site of a customs house, first telephone in the area and used as a train depot. It still displays a mural painted in 1906 by Jose Garcia Morelos who had one arm.  Behind the Champion building is the site of a well that was dug by Zachry Taylors army. 

Our historic cemetary dates back to the 1840’s. It is near the Old Military Road. Many artifacts from the U.S. Mexican War and Civil War were found in the location.  This was also a campsite for  the military.

- historical information provided by The Port Isabel Museum.