Edward Burleson Raymond

Raymondville was a railroad town sold by the ticket. After the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway reached the valley in 1904, it offered low-cost excursions to land seekers, and round-trip tickets were sold between 1905 and 1910. By 1914 the new town, about 350 people, had a cotton gin, a bank, a newspaper, a hotel, a lumber company and four general stores. The population reached about 1,800 by 1929. After Willacy County was reorganized in 1921, Raymondville became the seat, and the courthouse was built in 1922.

What the plaque says

Edward Burleson Raymond Founder of Raymondville. Born in a log house on Congress Avenue, Austin, son of Republic of Texas lawyer and newspaperman N. C. Raymond and wife Lucinda (Riggs), E. B. Raymond came on horseback to South Texas in 1870. After herding cattle uptrail to Kansas, he was hired about 1874 by Richard King to open El Sauz Ranch, and managed King-Kenedy interests for 37 years. He also developed a ranch of his own, married Juanita Rodrigurez, and was the father of two sons, Fred N. and Edward Charles. When El Sauz Post Office was created in 1893, he was made postmaster. He was a school official and served 1898-1910 as a commissioner of Cameron County. Joining other ranchers in deeding right of way for St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico Railway, he also donated a station site near his Las Majadas Ranch. Railway officials named the station in his honor. In 1904, the year rail service was formally inaugurated on the fourth of July, he organized Raymond Town & Improvement Co.; in 1907, became president of town's first bank; set up telephone exchange; built cotton gin. After his death, Raymondville became seat of government for new county of Willacy, created 1921. (1974)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Museum of South Texas History — 26 mi
  Edinburg's regional museum, begun in 1967 in the 1910 Hidalgo County jail and now telling the Rio Grande's story from fossils and native peoples through steamboats to the 20th century.
• Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge — 32 mi
  A coastal refuge set up in 1946 for wintering redhead ducks, with 417 bird species recorded and, by the Fish and Wildlife Service's account, the largest ocelot population in the United States.

More markers nearby

• Willacy County — 0.4 mi
• Lyford — 4.7 mi
• Lasara — 7.9 mi
• Great Salt Lake — 8.2 mi