La Nueva Libertad

La Nueva Libertad, the Andres Cueto store, reflects the commercial prosperity of Brownsville at the turn of the century and is an outstanding example of the commercial architecture of the period in the Rio Grande Valley. The owner of the store, Don Andres Cueto, was a prominent businessman of Spanish birth, whose descendants retain ownership of the structure to this day.

Architecturally, the Andres Cueto store is an imposing example of late 19th-century commercial architecture in Brownsville which reflects the strong tradition of masonry architecture and Spanish building practice in the Rio Grande Valley. The scale of the building is monumental, although there is little frivolous ornamentation to be found either inside or outside. The combination of commercial and residential use within a single building may be said to reflect the tradition of the Spanish colonies for such dual occupancy, a fact which was most often noted by American travelers' diaries published in the 19th century. The unusual masonry roof construction system is also of Spanish Colonial derivation, which in turn was taken from vernacular building traditions in Spain itself. Of course, the known installation of the decorative cast-iron verandah on the second story, no longer extant, is clearly a gesture towards the comfort of the Cueto family, who used that floor as their residence. Turn-of-the-century views of Brownsville indicate a number of structures of this type, although few survive today as intact as the Cueto Store.

Don Andres Cueto, the builder of the store, was born in Santander, Asturias, on August 9, 1862. In 1878, at the age of 16, he was sent by his family to Brownsville, where he was employed by the Fernandez family in their grocery business known as "La Libertad," which was originally located in a building diagonally opposite the present structure. Cueto purchased the Fernandez store and was later able to erect his own store and residence, which he named "La Nueva Libertad" out of respect for his benefactor's place of business. Cueto made frequent trips to Mexico to sell store supplies, and it was in the town of San Fernando in the state of Tamaulipas that he met Estela Fernandez, who became his wife in 1885. Cueto dealt with both wholesale and retail grocery and hardware items and carried basic supplies such as lard, beans, coffee, and sugar in addition to cloth, cooking utensils, and wearing apparel. Much of the store's merchandise was shipped from New Orleans, arriving on the coastal port of Baghdad, and whence it was transported to Brownsville by wagon or by boat on the Rio Grande. In 1909 a rail link connected the Alice area with the city, facilitating the delivery of goods inland. Cueto's store catered to both American and Mexican clients, supplying merchandise to Roma and Rio Grande City on the Texas side of the river, and to Ciudad Victoria, Reynosa, and Monterrey in Mexico.

In 1919, Cueto ceased his wholesale operations, trading only with customers in the Brownsville and Matamoros area. In 1926 he retired, closing "La Nueva Libertad." After his wife's death in 1935, the great room which had housed Cueto's store was briefly rented to Jose Parra. Until 1957 the entire structure was locked and vacant. Since that date, parts of the building have been rented to various tenants. The property passed from the estate of Andres and Estela Cueto to their daughter-in-law, Ida Bullard Bennett Cueto, the wife of Andres Cueto, Jr. Upon the death of Mrs. Ida Cueto in 1982, the property passed to her son, Harry Anthony Bennett, the present owner.

Plans have been prepared for the restoration of the Cueto Store, complete with the reconstruction of the cast-iron verandah. The retention of the store building in the family since its construction accounts for its survival, and the proposed rehabilitation of the structure is evidence of the family's continued interest in its contribution to the history of Brownsville.