DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. You're rolling through Hidalgo County now, and the ground beneath your wheels has been through more than most towns ever survive — so settle in. The story starts in 1852, when this place was known as Edinburgh, and it was doing just fine as the county seat of Hidalgo County.
Quiet. Established. Going about its business on the banks of the Rio Grande.
Then, in 1861, the name changed — and it changed for a reason worth knowing. The town was renamed Hidalgo, in honor of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, born in 1753, a parish priest who in 1810 led the movement for Mexican independence. He died in 1811.
A parish priest who shook a nation loose from its colonial roots, and this town decided his name was worth carrying forward. So Edinburgh became Hidalgo, and Hidalgo remained the county seat, right there on that river, for decade after decade. And the Rio Grande, well — the Rio Grande had its own plans.
September of 1887. The river overflowed. And when it was done, the town of Hidalgo was almost completely washed away.
Not damaged. Not flooded. Almost completely washed away.
The Rio Grande, patient as it is powerful, had simply taken most of the place back. Hidalgo held on long enough to keep the county seat designation until 1908, then that too passed on. The State of Texas erected this marker in 1936 — a marker for a town that a river tried its level best to erase, named for a priest who changed history, born on ground that has never stopped being contested.
That's Hidalgo. Some stories get washed away. This one didn't.
What the marker says
County seat of Hidalgo County 1852-1908 * Known as Edinburgh in 1852 * * Name changed in 1861 to Hidalgo in honor of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, 1753-1811, parish priest who led the movement in 1810 for Mexican independence * * Almost completely washed away by an overflow of the Rio Grande in September, 1887. Erected by the State of Texas 1936