Taylor-Rivers House

Paula Losoya Taylor's hacienda became the center of the young town's business, cultural, political and social life. She raised some of her relatives' children, hosted the monthly visits of Oblate priests and sponsored couples' weddings at her home. To shield the town from raids she asked Fort Clark for soldiers and gave sixty acres for a fort, and she donated land for schools and helped build Catholic churches in the region. She died on July 17, 1902. Sources disagree even on her second husband's name, given as Charles Rivers or Rivera.

What the plaque says

Taylor-Rivers House James H. Taylor (d. 1876), one of the five founders of Del Rio, and his wife Paula (Losoya) (d.1902), a native of Mexico, moved here from Uvalde about 1870 and built this one-story adobe residence. A prominent landowner and merchant, Taylor also owned a local gristmill. After his death, Paula married Charles Rivers (d. 1879) and later operated the home as a boarding house. She also became benefactress for the city's Mexican community, contributing land for a school and cemetery. The Taylor-Rivers house remained in her family until 1939. (1982)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Whitehead Memorial Museum — steps away
  A village of old Del Rio buildings set along a working irrigation canal, from an 1870 store to a 1925 doctor's office, with Judge Roy Bean buried on the grounds.
• Val Verde Winery — 0.3 mi
  The family winery an Italian immigrant founded on Del Rio's irrigated land in 1883, which outlasted Prohibition by selling table grapes and kept Texas wine alive into the 1970s.
• San Felipe Creek — 1.0 mi
  The spring-fed creek that made Del Rio, rising from the third largest springs in Texas and running past swimming holes and a hike-and-bike trail through town.
• Amistad National Recreation Area — 9.8 mi
  The American side of the reservoir the United States and Mexico finished in 1969 where three rivers meet, with painted shelters still reachable by boat when the water allows.

More markers nearby

• Roy Bean C. S. A. — steps away
• Seminole-Negro Scouts — steps away
• Val Verde Winery — 0.3 mi
• Brown Plaza — 0.4 mi