Weslaco

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Picture the lower Rio Grande Valley, and a stretch of South Texas land with a name that goes back to the days of Spanish grants. Llano Grande, they called it.

Big plains. And it sat there, patient as the land tends to be, waiting for the right chapter of its story. That chapter came in 1919.

Four men, R. C. Couch, Dan Couch, Ed Couch, and Robert L.

Reeves, formed a partnership and founded what would become the city of Weslaco. Now, you might wonder about that name. Weslaco.

Sounds almost like it grew up out of the soil itself, doesn't it? But the truth is tidier than legend. The W.

E. Stewart Land Co. had held title to that very site from 1917 to 1919, and when those four founders were looking for something to call their new city, they reached right into the initials of that land company and pulled out W-E-S-L-A-C-O. Weslaco.

The city carries those letters to this day. Things moved fast once the wheels got turning. By 1920 there was a post office.

By 1921 the city was incorporated. Now here's the wry little wrinkle in this story. Most of the other valley cities in the area had already been up and running for nearly ten years by the time Weslaco came along.

Late to the valley, you might say. But the city didn't lean on any single industry to make its way. It built itself on a wide variety of businesses, spreading its roots wide rather than deep into just one trade.

And some of those roots are still holding. Descendants of the early settlers are living in Weslaco right now. The land grant, the initials, the four founders, and the families that followed.

All of it still present, one way or another.

What the marker says

Located on part of a Spanish land grant known as Llano Grande, Weslaco was founded in 1919 by a partnership composed of R. C., Dan, and Ed Couch and Robert L. Reeves. The city's name is take from the initials of the W. E. Stewart Land Co., which held title to the site from 1917 to 1919. Weslaco had a post office by 1920 and was incorporated in 1921. Founded nearly ten years after most other valley cities in the area, Weslaco depends on a wide variety of businesses for its economic base. Descendants of some of the early settlers still live here. (1985)