Refugio Benavides

Refugio Benavides had a hand in starting Laredo's coal industry. In 1873 he and the sheep rancher Charles Callaghan began digging a surface outcrop of coal upriver on the Rio Grande, work that grew into the Las Minas towns. In 1874, as mayor, he raised a ranger company to meet what the Handbook of Texas calls a bandit and Kickapoo threat. When he was given authority to cross into Mexico if necessary, the Mexican government lodged a formal protest with Washington, and the question was never settled.

What the plaque says

Refugio Benavides A native of Laredo, Jose Del Refugio Benavides was a descendant of Tomas Sanchez, who founded the city in 1755. As a member of one of Laredo's most celebrated families, he was instrumental in the city's development during the 19th century. He was elected to the office of alderman in 1850 and mayor in 1859. During the Civil War Benavides and his brothers were active in defenses along the Texas-Mexico border. Rising to the rank of Captain, Refugio Benavides commanded a company in the 3rd Texas cavalry. His actions in defending the border against invasions by union troops and Mexican raiders led by Juan Cortina helped retain the valley's important role as a vital cotton-exporting site for the Confederacy. In 1873, following Reconstruction, Refugio Benavides was again elected mayor of Laredo and served three successive terms. Among the accomplishments of his political career were improved public schools, city sewage systems, and the revision of the city charter. Married twice, Benavides was the father of six children. He died in 1899 and was buried in the old Catholic cemetery. He was reinterred here during World War II. (1990)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lake Casa Blanca International State Park — 2.0 mi
  A 1,680-acre reservoir on Chacón Creek at Laredo's eastern edge, a city lake run as a state park since 1991, with bass fishing, camping and a long human history.
• San Agustín Cathedral — 2.3 mi
  Laredo's Gothic Revival parish church, finished in 1872 on a parish older than Texas statehood, and the mother church of the Diocese of Laredo since 2000.
• San Agustín Plaza — 2.4 mi
  The shaded square at the center of Laredo's 1755 town, where Carrizo families, Spanish ranchers and a century of border politics shared the same ground.
• Republic of the Rio Grande Museum — 2.4 mi
  A stone-and-adobe Laredo house, by tradition the capitol of a federalist republic that lasted ten months in 1840, now a museum of life in a mid-nineteenth-century home.

More markers nearby

• Bishop Peter Verdaguer — steps away
• Santos Benavides — steps away
• City Cemetery — steps away
• Raymond and Tirza Martin High School — 1.6 mi