DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Two brothers walked into a brand-new town with a plan. Enrique Guerra — born in 1886 — and his younger brother Modesto, born in 1888, showed up in McAllen in 1908, when the town itself was still finding its footing, and they opened a grocery business.
Just the two of them to start. But a good thing has a way of drawing family in. By 1910, their father Diódoro — born in 1867 — had joined his sons, and together the three of them made it official: D.
Guerra and Sons Store. Now that name carries some weight. A father and his boys, building something from the ground up in the Rio Grande Valley.
By 1912, they were ready to put down roots in a real way — they moved the operation into a brand-new building, right here. And that building was not shy about announcing itself. Brick and concrete, rectangular plan, with a recessed doorway that draws you in before you even decide to enter.
Concrete brackets. A cornice dressed up with starburst and garland designs — this was not a plain-front, forgettable storefront. Somebody wanted that building to be remembered.
And then, up top, a course of dentil brick molding, and above that, a molded brick sign — baked right into the structure — recording the business name and the year it was built. The building itself carries the story in its bones. Modesto passed in 1927.
Diódoro in 1932. Enrique in 1935. One by one, the men who built D.
Guerra and Sons were gone. And yet the store kept going. It ran until 1964 — more than half a century after those two brothers first hung out a shingle in a new Texas town.
The bricks are still here. The sign is still here. Some things, if you build them right, just refuse to disappear.
What the marker says
Brothers Enrique (1886-1935) and Modesto (1888-1927) Guerra opened a grocery business in the new town of McAllen in 1908. Their father, Diódoro (1867-1932), joined them in 1910, and the men established D. Guerra and Sons Store. The business moved into this new building in 1912 and operated until 1964. The rectangular plan brick and concrete commercial building has a distinctive front façade with a recessed doorway, concrete brackets, and a cornice with starburst and garland designs. A course of dentil brick molding is surmounted by a molded brick sign recording the historic business name and date of construction.