TEXAS TROPICAL TRAIL REGION HERITAGE TOURISM PROGRAM

November 15, 2011 – Partner Event and Business Meeting – Donna, Texas

You are cordially invited to attend Number Seventy-five (75) in a series of monthly Partner Events, including Tours and Educational Presentations, celebrating the heritage of South Texas. This informative gathering of the Texas Tropical Trail Region Heritage Tourism Program will be held in Donna, Hidalgo County, Texas on Tuesday, November 15, 2011. Please let us know if you will be joining us for lunch.

Our visit to Donna, named for attractive divorcee Donna Hooks Fletcher, will take us to the first ever American Legion Hall built in the world and to the museum named for Donna Hooks Fletcher and also will give us the opportunity to learn more about one of history’s mysteries ~ the origin of the old West’s Chisholm Trail. You won’t want to miss this day in Hidalgo County!

American Legion Donna Border Post No. 107

The day will begin at 10:00 am with a welcome and refreshments at the very first American Legion Hall, built in 1920, located at 318 S. Main Street in Donna. American Legion Donna Border Post No. 107 Vice Commander Oscar Adame will be on hand to welcome us.

The American Legion is a mutual-aid organization of veterans of the United States armed forces chartered by the US Congress. It was founded in 1919 to benefit those veterans who served during a wartime period as defined by Congress. The organization is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana and also has offices in Washington DC. The group has nearly 3 million members in over 14,000 Posts worldwide.

The first American Legion Hall in the world was built in Donna in 1920 by Border Post No. 107. It was dedicated in 1920 and was recorded as a Texas Historic Landmark in 1969.

Donna Hooks Fletcher Museum

From the American Legion Hall, we will drive a few blocks to tour the Donna Hooks Fletcher Museum, the Donna Plaza and to have lunch at the Cedar House Bar & Grill.

Situated along the Chisholm Trail, this area was a gathering point for 19th century cattle drives headed north. In 1903 Thomas J. Hooks moved his family to the area because of the farming potential. He secured a stop on the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railroad where the Lott Town and Improvement Company founded Donna in 1903.

Railroad entrepreneur Uriah Lott named the town after Hooks’ daughter. When Donna Hooks Fletcher divorced in 1908, she received land from her father that she turned into a prosperous produce and dairy operation. Local history is honored at her namesake facility – Donna Hooks Fletcher Museum.

Museum artifacts include the town’s first telephone, a bar supposedly used in the 1914 Blue Goose Saloon and household appliances including an ice box, clothes wringer wash tub and butter churn. Prominently displayed is the Bible that Donna Hooks Fletcher held in one hand while the other hand held a pistol during the tense 1910s when Mexican revolutionaries raided across the nearby Rio Grande River.

The Chisholm Trail – Yesterday & Today

(The following is the prelude to the 2006 PBS television documentary “History Detectives”.)

In the decades following the Civil War, more than six million cattle were herded from Texas to the railhead in Kansas in one of the greatest known migrations of animals in the United States.

These 19th century cattle drives along the Chisholm Trail only lasted twenty years but had tremendous impact across the country. It lifted Texas out of post-Civil war poverty, provided much-needed affordable beef to the Northeast and gave birth to the classic American cowboy legend.

In the small town of Donna, Texas, near the Mexican border, a marker declares that the famous trail ran through this area yet many dispute the idea that the trail ever made it this far south. Is the marker another bit of famed Texas bravado or misguided history? Local historian Laura Lincoln wants to set the record straight.

History Detectives heads deep into the heart of Texas to help solve this local mystery and shed light on this lively chapter in American history.

Laura Lincoln, formerly of the Donna Hooks Fletcher Museum, was the local historian who asked this question of the History Detectives back in 2006. She will be with us to tell the answers uncovered by the History Detectives.

Following Laura’s presentation, Fran Isbell of the Hidalgo County Historical Commission will tell us about the recently-designated Texas Historical Commission’s official Texas Historical Marker for the Donna Chisholm Trail. City of Donna Planning Director Fernando Flores will also be with us to show us the official marker.

Educational Programs

Our educational programs will be:

- History of the American Legion – Vice Commander Oscar Adame – American Legion Donna Border Post No. 107

- “PBS Documentary program – History Detectives (2006 episode) – Donna & the Chisholm Trail” – Laura Lincoln – former Donna Hooks Fletcher Museum employee

- “Current THC Historical Marker for the Chisholm Trail in Donna” – Fran Isbell – Hidalgo County Historical Commission member

- History of Donna

Our sponsors and hosts for this day will be American Legion Donna Border Post No. 107, City of Donna, Donna Fletcher Hooks Museum and Cedar House Bar & Grill.

Texas Tropical Trail Region Heritage Tourism Program

The Texas Tropical Trail Region (TTTR) heritage tourism program is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation developed in conjunction with the Texas Historical Commission and organized in February 2005 with an eleven-member volunteer Board of Directors, a salaried Executive Director and over 500 partners in tourism throughout the 20 county South Texas area known as the Texas Tropical Trail Region. The first public “partner” meeting was held in March 2005 at the La Posada Hotel in Laredo, Texas.

This Region covers over 23,000 square miles and is home to over 1.7 million people. Four sub-regions or Byways (the Gulf Coast Byway, the Rio Grande Byway, the Wild Horse Desert Byway and the Brush Country Byway) are located within the Region.

Kingsville is the home of the Texas Tropical Trail Regional office located in the Kingsville Chamber of Commerce office building at 635 E. King Avenue, Suite 102.

It is the intent of the Texas Tropical Trail Region Board of Directors to showcase the heritage, natural beauty and diverse culture of South Texas for the benefit and enjoyment of Texans and travelers. To achieve this goal, the Board must first join hands with our tourism partners, community leaders, and state and local entities to identify, preserve and interpret our natural, historical and cultural resources.

These monthly meetings/educational presentations are the workshops to help make this goal a reality. These meetings are open to the public, and you are urged to encourage folks in your city and county to join us.

Schedule of Events.

10:00 – 10:30 am – Welcome & Refreshments– American Legion Donna Border Post No. 107 – 318 S. Main

10:30 – 10:45 am – Educational Program – History of the American Legion – Oscar Adame, Vice Commander, American Legion Donna Border Post No. 107

10:45 – 11:00 am – Drive to parking lot of Cedar House Bar & Grill – 114 S. 7th Street – Park & Walk

Walk to Donna Hooks Fletcher Museum – 129 S. 8th Street

11:00 – 11:30 am– Tour Donna Hooks Fletcher Museum – Elvira Tovar – and meet & visit with members of Museum Board

11:30 – 11:50 am – Walk across the street to Donna Plaza & view historical plaques (including the original Chisholm Trail plaque) and historical buildings – Fernando Flores, City of Donna Planning Director

11:50 – 12 noon – Walk to Cedar House Bar & Grill – 114 S. 7th Street

12 noon – 12:45 pm – Lunch

BBQ brisket & sausage, beans, rice, potato salad, drink & dessert

Introductions and Community Updates – 12:30 pm

Lunch will be $12 per person (including tax and gratuity)

12:45 – 1:00 pm – Drive back to American Legion Donna Border Post No. 107 – 318 S. Main

1:00– 1:30 pm – Educational Program – “PBS Documentary program – History Detectives (2006 episode) – Donna & the Chisholm Trail” – Laura Lincoln, former Donna Hooks Fletcher Museum employee – American Legion Hall – 318 S. Main

1:30 – 1:45 pm – Educational Program – “Current THC Historical Marker for the Chisholm Trail in Donna” – Fran Isbell, Hidalgo County Historical Commission member – American Legion Hall – 318 S. Main

1:45– 2:00 pm –Educational Program – “History of Donna” – American Legion Hall – 318 S. Main

2:00 – 3:30 pm –Business Meeting – American Legion Hall (the public is welcome to attend) – 318 S. Main

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

An RSVP is necessary so that we can be adequately prepared with seating arrangements and lunch.

Please respond to Nancy Deviney at nancydeviney@yahoo.com as soon as possible but no later than Friday, November 11, 2011.

Directions are available to the various sites. Please wear comfortable walking shoes.

We hope you will join us for this educational and informative day. No fees or membership are required. There will be a $12 charge, per person (including tax and gratuity) for lunch.

Please feel free to share this invitation with your friends and colleagues but remind them that an RSVP is necessary.

Thank you.

Nancy Deviney
Chairman, Board of Directors, Texas Tropical Trail Region (www.texastropicaltrail.com)

Nancy Deviney
nancydeviney@yahoo.com
361 547-8033 – home
361 701-0555 – cell
361 394-5672 – fax

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