DUANE
Get the App
Duane's take
The official marker's the word on this one, and here's how I tell it. Now, Webb County has seen its share of characters come and go, but few houses hold the kind of layered history as the one we're talking about today. The Biggio-Kowalski-De La Garza House.
Even the name alone tells you this place has had some lives to it. Chester C. Biggio was a man who kept things moving and kept things from burning down.
He was a railroad official, and on top of that, he served as the city's first fire chief. First one. And in 1909, he had this home built for his family.
You get the feeling Chester C. Biggio was a man who built things meant to last. The house itself is what's called an American foursquare form, a sturdy, no-nonsense style that suits a man like that just fine.
Chester died in 1923, and his widow, Laura Blossman Biggio, kept the house going for years after. Then in 1938, Laura sold it. The buyers were Louis and Dorothy Kowalski, and they moved in with their six children.
Six. That foursquare floor plan had its work cut out. The Kowalskis lived there together until 1948, filling those rooms with all the noise and motion a family that size brings.
After that chapter closed, the house sat waiting for its next story. It found one in 1965, when Leonor de La Garza bought the place. And when Leonor passed, her sister Fidela inherited it in 1973.
Three families, different names, different decades, the same four-square walls holding all of it. That's the thing about a well-built house. It just keeps on.
What the marker says
Chester C. Biggio, a railroad official and the city's first fire chief, had this home built in 1909 for his family. He died in 1923, and in 1938 his widow Laura Blossman Biggio sold the house to Louis and Dorothy Kowalski. They lived here with their six children until 1948. Leonor de La Garza bought the house in 1965; her sister Fidela inherited it in 1973. The house is a good example of the American foursquare form. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1996