Old Falcon

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. This is the story of Old Falcon, Zapata County, Texas; and friend, it is one long story. We are talking about a piece of ground that has been claimed, named, survived, renamed, and finally swallowed by a lake, all in the span of roughly two hundred years.

Pull over if you need to. This one's worth your full attention. It starts in 1746, when Col.

Jose de Escandon received a commission straight from the Viceroy of New Spain himself (not a suggestion, not an invitation, but a commission) to lead the colonization of this area. Three years later the first settlers arrived, and they were assigned land on which to build their homes. Then in 1767, a formal survey was conducted, and out of that survey came something new under the Texas sun: individual land grants, allocated to the settlers themselves.

That moment marked the start of private property ownership in this area. Not a small thing. Not a small thing at all.

Now, around 1800, a man named Jose Eugenio Ramirez established a ranch on the north bank of the Rio Grande. He named his headquarters Ramireno, and a settlement grew up around his home. Sounds peaceful enough, doesn't it?

Except it wasn't. Throughout the entire nineteenth century, that settlement was plagued by Indian raids; and the situation got particularly dire during the years of the Mexican Revolution, 1810 to 1821, when military protection was withdrawn. You read that right: the protection left first, and then the trouble came harder.

Those settlers held on anyway. Fast forward to the early 1900s. A man named Ildefonso Ramirez opened a general store, and life carried on.

Then in 1915, a post office was established, and with a post office comes a name on the map; and the name the village received was Falcon. Not Ramireno anymore. Falcon.

Named in honor of Jose Eugenio's wife, Maria Rita de la Garza Falcon. So she had been part of this place's story from nearly the beginning, and in 1915 the place finally said so out loud. But here is where the story takes its hardest turn.

In 1952, Falcon Dam was completed, and the town was flooded. The residents were forced to relocate to a new site; this site, right here, where that marker stands. Two hundred years of roots, under water.

What survives is the history: the ties to eighteenth-century Spanish colonialism, the land grants, the raids endured, the store kept open, the name given in honor of a woman worth honoring. Old Falcon is gone from the map the way it used to appear, but the people who were forced to leave it carried it with them. That's not nothing.

That's everything.

What the marker says

In 1746, Col. Jose de Escandon was commissioned by the Viceroy of New Spain to lead the colonization of this area. The first settlers arrived 3 years later and were assigned land on which to build their homes. A survey conducted in 1767 resulted in the allocation of individual land grants to the settlers, which marked the start of private property ownership in the area. About 1800, Jose Eugenio Ramirez established a ranch on the north bank of the Rio Grande and named his headquarters Ramireno. The settlement that grew up around his home was plagued throughout the 19th century with Indian raids, particularly when military protection was withdrawn during the years of the Mexican Revolution (1810-1821). In the early 1900s, Ildefonso Ramirez opened a general store, and, when a post office was established in 1915, the name of the village was changed to Falcon in honor of Jose Eugenio's wife, Maria Rita de la Garza Falcon. After Falcon Dam was completed in 1952, the town was flooded, and residents were forced to relocate to this site. The history of Old Falcon, however, with its ties to 18th-century Spanish colonialism, remains an important part of their heritage. (1983)