Rosalio Longoria House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm gonna pass it along to you. There's a house sitting in La Feria, Cameron County, that has seen more of the Rio Grande Valley's story than just about any other structure still standing. The oldest residence in La Feria, they call it, and it has earned that title the quiet way, just by lasting.

It was built in 1909, by a local carpenter named Felipe Perez, and the man he built it for was Rosalio Ponce Longoria. Now, Rosalio was born in 1872 and lived all the way to 1965, and if you want to talk about a life that spanned transformation, well, you're looking at the right man's house. He was a contractor, and his particular trade was clearing land.

Land that developers needed opened up so they could lay down railroads and build out all manner of Rio Grande Valley improvements. The Valley as folks came to know it, Rosalio Longoria was out there before the trains, before the towns filled in, working the raw ground. Felipe Perez built him a board and batten house to come home to.

It wasn't grand by any count, but it was purposeful, the way working people build things. Two main rooms. Two small bedrooms.

A long front porch, the kind that catches whatever breeze the Valley decides to offer. And out back, a kitchen with a brick chimney standing over a wood burning stove. That was the house in 1909, and that was the house for a good long while.

Then, about 1950, the family added on. A bathroom. A small porch.

A little family room. The house grew the way families do, one need at a time. It's still there in La Feria, that board and batten house on the oldest plot of residential ground in town.

Felipe Perez built it to stand, Rosalio Longoria lived in it long enough to see the whole Valley change around him, and the house is still making the argument that some things built right just don't quit.

What the marker says

The oldest residence in La Feria. Built in 1909 by local carpenter Felipe Perez for Rosalio Ponce Longoria (1872-1965), a contractor who cleared land for developers to build railroads and other Rio Grande Valley improvements. His board and batten house originally had two main rooms, two small bedrooms, the long front porch and a kitchen with brick chimney for a wood burning stove. The bathroom, a small porch, and the little family room were added about 1950.