Cortez Hotel

Located at a major intersection of downtown Weslaco the Spanish Colonial Revival Cortez Hotel is a prominent landmark, its image often used as a symbol of the city. Built in 1928 when the town of Weslaco was less than ten years old, the Cortez Hotel became the social and commercial center of the town. It played host to businessmen traveling through and snowbirds staying for the winter, but it also served an important role in the local community as a landmark and meeting place. Architecturally, the Cortez set the tone for the rest of the central business district, which was redesigned in the Spanish Colonial Revival style in 1936 to boost tourism. For its role in the community, the Cortez Hotel is nominated to the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A in the area of commerce at the local level.

Weslaco

The town of Weslaco, Hidalgo County, lies in the Rio Grande Valley. The area was part of the Llano Grande Spanish land grant awarded to Juan Jose Ynojosa de Balli in 1790. He claimed to have pastured cattle there since 1776, and his descendants operated the area as ranch land for 125 years.'

The character of the Rio Grande Valley changed dramatically when the St. Louis, Brownsville, and Mexico Railroad arrived in 1904. A group of St. Louis entrepreneurs formed the American Rio Grande Land and Irrigation Company to capitalize on the potential for integrating the coming railroad with agricultural development. By creating the largest private surface water irrigation system in the world at that time, they turned land, that had only been suitable for cattle grazing, into prime farmland while the new railroad provided access to markets. The economic base of the area changed from cattle ranching to farming, and corn, cotton, and citrus became primary crops.

Tracts of land were divided it into 40-acre farms, all with access to water. Farmers recruited from the Midwest bought up ranches along the Hidalgo Branch of the railroad, which extended west from Harlingen to Samfordyce in western Hidalgo County. In 1903 land had sold for twenty-five cents an acre, prices jumped to fifty dollars an acre after the building of the railroad, and by 1910 prices were as high as $300 an acre.

In 1913 the American Rio Grande Land and Irrigation Company established the town of Mercedes and platted the West Tract, which includes present-day Weslaco. The Irrigation Company sold 30,000 acres of the West Tract for ninety dollars an acre to the W. E. Stewart Land Company On December 14, 1917.

Edwin Cooper Couch and his brother-in-law, Robert Reeves, purchased the original 320-acre Weslaco townsite from W. E. Stewart Land Company (hence the acronym WESLACO). A surveying crew staked out business and residential lots and reserved land for churches, parks, schools, and a city hall. An all-day auction was held on December 10, 1919. Lots were tagged with prices ranging from $50 to about $400 a lot. By the end of the day, most lots had been sold and the new town was launched.

The Cortez Hotel

In 1925 Weslaco citizens petitioned the city to build a much-needed hotel. Weslaco, the fastest growing town in the Valley -with a population of 6,000- had only three small hotels. These first efforts were unsuccessful, but a second attempt in February 1928 for a "larger and more extensive" hotel succeeded. The site selected for the hotel had been deeded to the City of Weslaco for a park by Ed Couch in 1922. Located across from the railroad station on the state highway at its intersection with Texas Avenue, it was, and still is, one of the busiest areas in town.

On February 7, 1928, the city accepted a bid of $750 for the site of the former park by Argentum Corporation of San Antonio. The Weslaco Chamber of Commerce formed the Weslaco Hotel Company to secure the hotel and held a contest to name the new hotel. The winner was Mrs. Allie Couch Reeves, wife of Ed Crouch.

Paul G. Silber of Argentum Development of San Antonio was chosen as the architect for the Cortez Hotel. Born in Germany on May 18, 1881, Silber studied architecture and sculpture at the Royal Art Institute in Berlin and attended the State Art Institute in Hamburg. He came to the United States as a sculptor with the German exhibit for the 1903-04 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. Silber practiced architecture in San Antonio from 1920 until he died in 1957. During the Depression, he taught night school, and in World War II, he worked as an architect for the USO.

Before the 1930s, Silber's architectural practice consisted primarily of churches and hotels. He founded the Argentum Development Corporation to promote hotels by partnership with the chambers of commerce in small Texas towns. Silber was president of the corporation, which reflects his name (argentum is Latin for silver). In addition to the Cortez Hotel, Argentum designed and built hotels in Hillsboro, Temple, Cotulla, Kerrville, San Antonio, La Feria, Presidio, Harlingen, Lampasas, Georgetown, San Juan, Eagle Pass, and Ballinger. The hotels in Kerrville and San Antonio have been torn down and according to a letter written by Silber's son in 1997, the Cortez Hotel may be one of the few of Paul Silber's hotels left standing."

Work on the Cortez began on February 15, 1928. The contractor for the project was Walsh & Burney of San Antonio. Walsh & Burney had already completed several school buildings in the Valley, including Brownsville Junior College and the Donna Public School.

The four-story hotel was the tallest building in town and offered sixty-five steam-heated guest rooms. The Cortez held a grand opening party on New Year's Eve 1928. Valleyites and visitors from across the state attended the gala event in the ballroom decorated with hanging Spanish moss. The Cortez Hotel Orchestra furnished music for dancing and prominent Weslaco citizens made addresses.

The Cortez immediately became the social and commercial center of the town. Cotton and produce buyers would arrive by train, travel up and down the Valley, and stay at the Cortez. The hotel was important in the lives of locals as well. In its heyday, the Cortez Hotel was the only building in town with an auditorium and kitchen facility large enough to accommodate 200-300 people at a time. Events such as private parties, weddings, proms, graduation parties, and school award ceremonies took place at the Cortez. Dance classes for Weslaco sixth-graders were held in the ballroom and football teams came before their Friday night games to "get pumped up." Clubs that met at the Hotel for luncheons or special functions included: The Camarillo Dance Club, Delta Literary, Key Club, Rotary Club, Kiwanis Club, Boys High School Kiwanis Club, the 20-30 Club, and Lions Clubs. The hotel was also the site of Weslaco's "Hi Neighbor" program, an exchange with businessmen from Weslaco's sister city of Rio Bravo in Tamaulipas.

The Spanish-influenced architecture of the Cortez set the theme for Texas Avenue, Weslaco's main business street. In 1939 Weslaco created a downtown plan to promote tourism requiring all buildings in the central business district be remodeled in a Spanish Colonial style. Neon lights outlined the new facades and the town became known as "the City with the Neon Skyline."14 The Cortez, already in the proper style, simply installed a neon sign.
Originally operated by Beacon Hotel Company, the Cortez Hotel has changed hands several times. Goodman Enterprises acquired the property in 1941 and began promoting it in the north for winter residents. "During the winter, you couldn't walk upstairs for all the guests," said Rene Garza, who operated a barbershop at the hotel for over 35 years. "They blocked off so many rooms for the local trade and the rest for visitors from up north. People would come down on the train and stay the winter."

Edward Joseph Kielbowski of San Benito purchased the Cortez in 1966. Around that time the railroad discontinued passenger service and the hotel began to decline. As business slowed, the management cut out the telephones in the rooms and then the bellboys. Once a community showplace, the hotel fell into disrepair.

In 1997, Weslaco developers Larry and Patti Dittburner purchased the Hotel. Between 1997 and 1998 the hotel was rehabilitated into a mixed-use building. Renamed the Villa de Cortez, it became the centerpiece of a Weslaco downtown restoration project, conducted through the Main Street Program. Realizing that the existing seventy-five bedrooms could not compete in today's market, the Dittburner transformed the deteriorated nine-by-twelve foot rooms into deluxe office suites on the third and fourth floors. The second floor now includes a large, open banquet space incorporating the original ballroom as a dance floor.

The Villa de Cortez reopened to the public with a New Year's Eve banquet and dance on December 31, 1998, exactly seventy years after its inaugural celebration. Mayor Gene Braught emphasized the importance of the building to the city: "Although this hotel has never used our name, the Cortez has been synonymous with Weslaco throughout the Valley and no doubt beyond." The restored Villa de Cortez is often used in magazines, newspapers, tourist brochures, and television programs as a symbol of Weslaco and its revitalized downtown
area.

This Cortez Hotel was the focus of Weslaco's social, political, and commercial life for over a quarter of a century and was a rendezvous for agricultural buyers who brought Valley products to market. As the tallest structure, it is an anchor and focal point of downtown. For its importance to the history of Weslaco, The Cortez Hotel is nominated to the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A in the area of commerce.