Manautou Building

Duane's take

The official marker tells the story, and I'll tell it to you the way it deserves to be told. Pull off the highway a minute and listen close, because this one's got the whole Rio Grande Valley in it. Enrique Manautou came to Texas from Mexico in 1902.

Just a man, a new country, and whatever he carried with him across that border. Now, the Lower Rio Grande Valley in those years was a place in motion — the railroad had arrived, and with it, commerce. And then came the refugees of the Mexican Revolution, whole families and whole futures crossing north.

Into that churning world, in 1913, Enrique Manautou started somethin'. A string of dry goods stores, right there in the Valley. That alone would be a story.

But Manautou wasn't finished. In the early nineteen twenties, he moved to Brownsville with his wife, Irene G. Manautou.

And by 1928, he was ready to make his mark permanent. He opened the E. Manautou Department Store right in the historic Market Square District of Brownsville.

And he didn't just open a store — he built a building. A real building. He brought in Page Brothers Architects out of Austin, and what they designed was a two-story Chicago style structure: brick, cut stone, prism glass clerestory, and plate glass display windows.

That last detail matters — plate glass display windows say, plain as day, come look at what we have. Come in. Enrique Manautou became a prominent citizen of Brownsville.

And here's the line that really lands: he became the first Mexican-American to serve as president of the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce. Think about what that took. The year 1902, crossing into a new country.

Eleven years of building a business up from nothing across the Valley. A move to Brownsville. A department store in the heart of the market district.

And then, eventually, leading the chamber of commerce of that same city. The building is still there. Brick and cut stone and prism glass, standing in the Market Square District just like it did in 1928.

Some things are built to last, and some men build things to prove it.

What the marker says

ENRIQUE MANAUTOU CAME TO TEXAS FROM MEXICO IN 1902. WITH AREA COMMERCE BOLSTERED BY THE ARRIVAL OF THE RAILROAD AND MEXICAN REVOLUTION REFUGEES, HE BEGAN A STRING OF DRY GOODS STORES IN THE LOWER RIO GRANDE VALLEY IN 1913. MANAUTOU MOVED TO BROWNSVILLE IN THE EARLY 1920s WITH HIS WIFE, IRENE G. MANAUTOU. IN 1928, HE OPENED THE E. MANAUTOU DEPARTMENT STORE IN THE HISTORIC MARKET SQUARE DISTRICT. PAGE BROTHERS ARCHITECTS OF AUSTIN DESIGNED THE TWO-STORY CHICAGO STYLE BUILDING OF BRICK, CUT STONE, PRISM GLASS CLERESTORY AND PLATE GLASS DISPLAY WINDOWS. MANAUTOU WAS A PROMINENT CITIZEN AND THE FIRST MEXICAN-AMERICAN TO BE PRESIDENT OF THE BROWNSVILLE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. RECORDED TEXAS HISTORIC LANDMARK - 2012