Bruni

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Bruni, Webb County, Texas. Now, every good settlement's got a story that starts somewhere else entirely, and this one starts in Bozzi, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, in the year 1856. That's where Antonio Mateo Bruni came into this world.

Life dealt him a hard hand early on. His parents died when he was still a young boy, and in 1872, young Antonio made his way across an ocean and a continent to San Antonio, Texas, to live with an uncle. Five years after that, he and his brother Luigi pushed further south, all the way to Laredo, where the two of them opened up a mercantile store.

Antonio Bruni was just gettin' started. In 1879 he married Consolacion Henry, and together they raised nine children. He acquired interest in the sheep and cattle industry.

He was appointed Webb County tax assessor in 1882. Then came county commissioner. Then county treasurer.

The man had a way of accumulating responsibilities the way ranchers accumulate land. Speaking of land, around 1881 the Texas Mexican Railroad built a station on one of Bruni's ranches. Antonio Bruni saw an opportunity, the way a man like that always did, and he opened a commissary right there at the site.

A little commerce beside the tracks. A settlement beginning to take shape. When the first school in the area opened in 1886, folks called the place Bruniville.

A post office followed in 1900, with a man named Moglia Lodovico serving as the very first postmaster. The town was finding its footing. Then in 1922, the Bruni Townsite Company, established by C.

R. Cole and Dudley Tyng, purchased and surveyed over 150 acres sitting approximately one quarter mile west of where that school and post office had already taken root. They were laying out something more deliberate now.

Something with ambition. And then the ground itself made an announcement. The discovery of oil in the area during the 1920s brought real growth to the town of Bruni.

Antonio Mateo Bruni, the boy from Bozzi who'd come to San Antonio in 1872 and pushed south to Laredo and watched a railroad station on his ranch grow into a community, lived to see that. He passed in 1931. But the earth wasn't done giving.

Mining of commercial-grade uranium beginning in the 1970s gave the area another economic boost. One resource, then another, each in its own time. And the community kept building something more lasting than oil or uranium.

In 1974, the Bruni, Torrecillas, and Aguilares school districts joined together to form the Webb Consolidated Independent School District. Then in 2005, when the Mirando schools joined the district, the Bruni-based WCISD became the only education facilities operating outside of Laredo in all of Webb County. A boy loses his parents, crosses an ocean, opens a store, runs a ranch, watches a railroad come through, and somewhere in all of that, a town takes his name and keeps on growing long after he's gone.

That's Bruni, Texas.

What the marker says

This historic settlement was named for Antonio Mateo Bruni (1856-1931), a native of Bozzi, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Bruni's parents died when he was a young boy, and in 1872, he moved to San Antonio to live with an uncle. Five years later, Bruni, along with his brother Luigi, moved to Laredo, where they opened a mercantile store. Antonio Bruni married Consolacion Henry in 1879, and the couple had nine children. Bruni acquired interest in the sheep and cattle industry, and was appointed Webb County tax assessor in 1882. Bruni went on to serve as a county commissioner and as county treasurer. The Texas Mexican Railroad built a station on one of Bruni's ranches ca. 1881, and Bruni took the opportunity to open a commissary at the site. When the first school in the area opened in 1886, the fledgling settlement was called Bruniville. A post office was first established in 1900, and Moglia Lodovico served as the first postmaster. In 1922, the Bruni Townsite Company, established by C. R. Cole and Dudley Tyng, purchased and surveyed over 150 acres approximately one quarter mile west of the site of the school and post office that had already been built. The discovery of oil in the area during the 1920s brought growth to the town of Bruni. Mining of commercial-grade uranium beginning in the 1970s gave the area another economic boost. In 1974 the Bruni, Torrecillas (Oil Town) and Aguilares school districts joined to form the Webb Consolidated Independent School District. When the Mirando schools joined the district in 2005, the Bruni-based WCISD became the only education facilities operating outside of Laredo in Webb County. (2009)