Felipe Valerio Store and Garage

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Felipe Valerio Store and Garage out in Duval County. Now, picture this. The year is 1905, and out in the brush country of South Texas, roughly halfway between San Diego and Freer, a man named Felipe Valerio and his wife Jesusa are buildin' something.

Not just a building, mind you. They're buildin' the heartbeat of a little community called La Rosita. Felipe had been born in 1878, Jesusa in 1886, and together they put up a store that became, as the marker puts it, an integral part of that small community.

Groceries, goods, the necessities of rural life. If you lived out in that stretch of Duval County and you needed something, you knew where to go. But Felipe wasn't just a storekeeper.

From 1917 to 1929, he served as the local postmaster. So he was sellin' you your flour and handing you your mail. The man was practically the whole town in one set of boots.

Then came the 1930s, and the oil boom found that part of Texas. Business picked up considerably, and the Valerios added a gas station and a garage to the operation. The store was also serving as a bus station by this point.

La Rosita had itself quite a little hub. For over fifty years, that store stood its ground. Jesusa would live all the way to 1973.

Felipe made it to 1953. But the store, well, the store had a different fate. When State Highway 44 came through, it changed the way people moved across that country.

And in 1956, the Valerio store closed its doors. Sometimes the road that connects a place is the same road that passes it by.

What the marker says

(1.5 mi. southeast) Built in 1905 by Felipe Valerio (1878-1953) and his wife Jesusa (1886-1973), the Valerio store was an integral part of the small community of La Rosita. Located approximately halfway between San Diego and Freer, the store provided groceries and other goods for residents of this rural area. An increase in business from the area oil boom in the 1930s led to the addition of a gas station and garage. The store also served as a bus station, and Felipe Valerio was local postmaster from 1917 to 1929. Construction of State Highway 44 led to the closing of the store in 1956. (1994)