DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Los Ejidos de Reynosa Vieja, out here in Hidalgo County. Now settle in, because this one goes back a good ways. Back to 1749, when a man named Colonel José de Escandón founded a settlement called Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Reynosa.
That's a mouthful, but it was a real place, and the people who came to live there needed land to work. So surveyors got busy and marked off more than ten thousand acres — ten thousand — set aside as Los Ejidos, the town commons, where settlers could farm and ranch to their hearts' content. The remaining land stretched along both sides of the Rio Grande, and each of the eighty porciones — that's eighty individual allotments — had river access.
Every single one. Now that wasn't an accident. River access meant life out here.
It meant water, it meant movement, it meant trade. And speaking of trade — Los Ejidos wasn't just a place to grow things and run cattle. It was a commercial hub, a transfer site right in the thick of the area's salt trade.
Salt, moving through this commons like it owned the place. There was also a mission tied to all of this, San Joaquín del Monte, and it carried its own weight. It played a prominent role in Christianizing native tribes, and it served as school and church for the settlers themselves — all at once, all out of one place.
Then came 1802. Flooding. The villa moved.
Reynosa picked up and relocated, leaving behind what folks would come to call Old Reynosa — known today as Reynosa Díaz. But here's the thing that makes this story land just right: that old ground didn't go quiet. Those former ejidos are still out there, still holding people.
La Joya, Abram-Perezville, and Peñitas all exist today on that same land that Colonel Escandón's surveyors once staked and measured. Ten thousand acres, eighty allotments, one flooded villa — and the land just kept on living.
What the marker says
In 1749, Col. Jose de Escandon founded Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe de Reynosa. Surveyors marked off over 10,000 acres for Los Ejidos, the town commons, for settlers to farm and ranch. The remaining land bordered each side of the Rio Grande and each of the 80 porciones (allotments) had river access. Besides ranching, Los Ejidos was important commercially as a transfer site for the area's salt trade. The commons mission, San Joaquin del Monte, played a prominent role in Christianizing native tribes and as a school and church for settlers. In 1802, the villa moved due to flooding. Old Reynosa (now Reynosa Diaz) continues to exist, with La Joya, Abram-Perezville and Penitas now existing on the former ejidos. (2010)