Raymond and Tirza Martin High School

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Back in the 1930s, Laredo had a problem that sounds like a good problem to have: too many students. The campus on Zaragoza Street, built twenty years before, just couldn't hold them anymore.

The scholastic population had grown, and grown, and kept right on growin'. Something had to be done. Enter Superintendent William Patrick Galligan, who oversaw construction of a brand new high school, right here on this site.

Now, the land itself had a story before a single brick was laid. It had been donated as a public park by a man named Samuel M. Jarvis, who had served as both Laredo mayor and Webb County judge.

So before it was a school, it was a gift to the public. That tradition of civic generosity was already baked into the ground. Funding the thing was no small feat.

Three hundred and fifty-three thousand dollars. That came through a bond election and a partnership with the Public Works Administration, a federal agency. Depression-era money, carefully assembled, carefully spent.

The school board had to decide what to name this new institution, and they landed on a name with deep Laredo roots. Raymond Martin, a French immigrant who had settled in Laredo in the 1850s and built himself a life as a landowner, businessman, and political leader. They named it for him and for his wife, Tirza, born Tirza Garcia, member of a prominent local family.

Together, Raymond and Tirza had ten children. And here is where it gets almost too perfect for a story: at the very moment the school bearing their name was going up, their son Albert was serving as mayor of Laredo, and their son Joe was president of the school board. The Martin family wasn't just honored by the building.

They were actively shaping the city that built it. The design fell to architects Giesecke and Harris out of Austin, working alongside associate architects Trout and Leyendecker right there in Laredo. What they produced was something to look at.

Classical revival meets art deco, a massive L-shaped floor plan clad in local face brick with cast stone trim and details. Inside, there were classrooms, administrative offices, a cafeteria, and a gymnasium and auditorium combined, one thousand seats, maple floor. The whole campus was built to hold sixteen hundred students.

Construction began in August of 1935. The doors opened in March of 1937. For the next twenty-seven years, this was the only high school campus in Laredo.

Every student in this city who wanted a high school diploma walked through these halls, until Nixon High opened in 1964. Over the decades, Martin High School sent scholars, professionals, athletes, artists, civic leaders, and valued citizens out into the world. Not bad for a building that started as a park, named for a French immigrant who arrived in the 1850s, brought to life by a family that had its hands in half the city.

That's Laredo for you. Roots run deep, and they tend to bear fruit.

What the marker says

In the 1930s, Laredo's growing scholastic population dictated the need for a new high school, as students outgrew the campus built on Zaragoza Street twenty years before. Superintendent William Patrick Galligan oversaw construction of a new high school at this site on land previously donated as a public park by Laredo mayor and Webb county judge Samuel M. Jarvis. Funding for the $353,000 school came through a bond election and partnership with the Public Works Administration, a federal agency. The school board named the facility for Raymond Martin, a french immigrant who settled in Laredo in the 1850s and prospered as a landowner, businessman and political leader, and his wife, Tirza (Garcia), member of a prominent local family. The couple had ten children, and at the time of the school's construction, son Albert was mayor of Laredo and son Joe was school board president. Designed by architects Giesecke and Harris of Austin, with associate architects Trout & Leyendecker of Laredo, the building exhibits classical revival and art deco styling. Architectural features of the massive l-shaped floor plan include local face brick and cast stone trim and details. Interior space provided for classrooms administrative offices, a cafeteria, a combination 1000-seat maple floor gymnasium and auditorium, and capacity for 1600 students. Construction began in August 1935, and the school opened in March 1937. This was Laredo's only high school campus until Nixon High opened in 1964. Over the years, graduates of Martin High School have distinguished themselves as scholars, professionals, athletes, artists, civic leaders and valued citizens.