DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker at Jarvis Plaza has to say — and friend, this one's worth pulling over for. Samuel Matthias Jarvis was born in New York in 1822, and if you'd told him then that his name would one day be carved into the heart of a South Texas city, he probably would've laughed you right off the Hudson. But life has a way of taking a man far from where he started.
Jarvis earned an engineering degree from Columbia University — sharp mind, steady hand — and then General Zachary Taylor's army came calling when the United States declared war against Mexico. Jarvis went. And that decision changed everything.
After the war, he didn't head back north. He worked in Vallecillo, Nuevo Leon, where he met and married a woman named Inocencia Flores. Then came the Civil War, and after that chapter closed, the Jarvis family settled in Laredo.
Now, a man with an engineering degree and a surveyor's eye doesn't stay idle long in a growing border city. Jarvis took on public office — county surveyor among his several posts in both Laredo and Webb County. He got to work surveying streets and parks, and in 1869 he produced a map of Laredo so thorough and so precise that the City Council officially adopted it.
He was expanding something older than anyone then living — a traditional Spanish town plan that Juan Fernando de Palacios had laid out all the way back in 1767. Jarvis was building on more than a century of intention. While he was shaping the city on paper, he was also leading it in person — serving as mayor of Laredo from 1868 to 1872.
And here's the part that tends to stick with people: he donated the very land for this plaza you're standing near. By 1881, folks were already calling it Jarvis Plaza. It became the center of a second business district, and in the early nineteen hundreds the Post Office, the Customs house, and nearby hotels rose up around it.
Then came the railroads in the 1880s, and Jarvis was right there, instrumental in the development that followed — a man who had arrived as a soldier and stayed as a builder. Samuel Matthias Jarvis died in 1893. But Jarvis Plaza?
It's still here, still serving the citizens of Laredo, just as it has for more than a century. Not a bad legacy for a man from New York.
What the marker says
New York native Samuel Matthias Jarvis (1822-1893) received an engineering degree from Columbia University and joined General Zachary Taylor's army when the United States declared war against Mexico. After the war Jarvis worked in Vallecillo, Nuevo Leon, where he married Inocencia Flores. Their family settled in Laredo following the Civil War. Jarvis held several public offices in both Laredo and Webb County including county surveyor. He was responsible for surveying streets and parks in the city, and produced a map of Laredo that was officially adopted by the City Council in 1869. He expanded the traditional Spanish town plan laid out in 1767 by Juan Fernando de Palacios. Jarvis served as mayor of Laredo from 1868-72. He donated land for this plaza and it was referred to as Jarvis Plaza as early as 1881. The plaza was the center of a second business district and the Post Office/Customs house, and nearby hotels were constructed in the early 1900s. Jarvis was instrumental in the development of Laredo and Webb County, spurred by the arrival of the railroads in the 1880s. The plaza continues to serve the citizens of Laredo as it has for more than a century. (1997)