Historic Hidalgo

Historic Hidalgo. . The City of Hidalgo is located on lands settled by Spanish colonizer José de Escondon in 1749. In 1848, Scottish-born merchant John Young founded a town site on Spanish land grants as a trading post and ferry landing opposite Reynosa, Mexico. Originally named Edinburgh, the town's name was changed to Hidalgo in 1876 in honor of Mexican patriot Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, for whom Hidalgo County is also named. The county was formed in 1852 and Hidalgo remained its only town until 1905, serving as county seat from 1852 until 1908. , From 1848 until early in the 20th Century, the frontier community grew as a trade center, ferry crossing and steamboat landing. The railroad arrived in 1913, and the first bridge over the Rio Grande at Hidalgo was built in 1926, connecting it with Reynosa. , In 1910, an irrigation pumphouse was established on the banks of the Rio Grande in Hidalgo. Water from the river was pumped into a canal system to irrigate thousands of acres of chaparral, which were cleared and sold for agriculture, making possible the growing of sugar cane, cotton, citrus and vegetables in the semi-arid land. When the pumps were electrified and moved downstream in 1933, the original pumphouse with its historical steam engines and pumps was closed, but has been preserved as a museum. , Hidalgo contains notable examples of border-style brick architecture from the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, especially the former county courthouse and jail, the former Catholic Church, the Odell, Rodriguez and Vela stores and the old Hidalgo School and Teacherage.