Brown Plaza marks Del Rio’s first public gathering place

Brown Plaza became Del Rio’s first public gathering place when it was dedicated on Cinco de Mayo in 1908, and the Val Verde County Historical Commission places it on a site that once held a Pre-Columbian Indian Village. Local people built a bandstand or kiosko, and the plaza hosted concerts that drew crowds, formal promenades, political and social gatherings, and travelers stopping to rest and cook over charcoal fires.

Del Rio grew where the Rio Grande meets San Felipe Creek, and the San Felipe Springs, northeast of town, supplied the water that made settlement possible. The Texas State Historical Association identifies the springs as stretching two miles along the creek, the third largest in Texas, and the sole water supply for Del Rio and Laughlin Air Force Base. The Texas State Historical Association gives the springs an average flow of more than 63,200 gallons per minute in 1977, compared with an average of 41,080 gallons per minute from 1889 through 1977.

The same water source drew some of the earliest Europeans to the area. Gaspar Castaño de Sosa stopped at San Felipe Springs in 1590, a mission was established there in 1808, and the settlement of San Felipe del Rio followed in 1834. Del Rio became the county seat of Val Verde County in 1885, and Camp Del Rio, about four miles from the Rio Grande at San Felipe Springs, was reestablished on June 30, 1908. During the Mexican Revolution, the camp reached a peak of 30 officers and 844 soldiers in 1916 and 1917.

Brown Plaza also carries the memory of Santos S. Garza, born Nov. 2, 1881, who came to Del Rio in 1898 and built a business life that included a theater, general store, dairy, ranch and bar. In 1978, the City of Del Rio named a community amphitheater at Brown Plaza on the site of Garza’s old Teatro Casino.