NEW PHOTO REPLACES OLD ONE, FEATURES 1926 TILLER

By Juan Montoya

We have noticed that the City of Brownsville's Historical Association has replaced the old, faded photo that adorns the wall of the building next to the public parking lot directly across from the Central fire Station recently.

It is a great shot of the original firefighting company standing astride of their equipment. If you look at the fire engine at the very end of the lineup you will see the 1926 American-La France fire engine with a tiller that was just reacquired by the city earlier this year.

We owe it all to a truck dealer from Chambersburg, Pa. who saw the truck rusting away in a local junkyard and took it upon himself to restore it.

The engine's reconstruction must have cost a  pretty penny, much more than the $50,000 his family sold it to the city. Truck dealer John W. Brown's son  Ronald Earl, told firefighters that his father had always wanted the truck to go back to Brownsville.

Earl said his father, who died in 2006, had the truck restored to its original paint and colors that include the original city logo. Photos of the condition of the truck when it was purchased indicate that the restoration job was well done and that after getting the motor to work, it allowed the Browns to drive it in local parades.

Brownsville Firefighters Association Local #970 President Jorge Lerma said the family had reached out to city officials and the fire department because the late John Brown had included the restored truck in his will and left it to his son and daughter.

Lerma said that his son had told him that the father had told them that Brownsville should have the chance to buy it first so that it could go back to its place of origin.

We are indebted to the late John Brown and his family for restoring the vintage 1926 fire engine with its unique tiller back to Brownsville. So many times people from elsewhere show us the unique items of local history that we ourselves haven't learned to appreciate.

Just as the Browns restored the fire engine and basically donated it back to us, that was also the case in the gift that Cheryl Hollis Shepherd, of Knoxville, Tenn., the great-grand-daughter of Joseph F. Cummings, superintendent of Public Schools at Brownsville from 1888 to 1898; Inspector of Customs from 1899 to 1900, and proprietor and editor of the Brownsville News to 1902 - thought she'd gift the city 12 original photographs by R.H. Wallis, a Cummings contemporary.

(This R.H Wallis Photo was taken in 1879 and features the law office building of Jerry Galvan of E. Levee St. which Bronsvil Estacion says may have been on corner
of 12th St. Left to right are 1) Jerry Galvan 2) Ed Dougherty 3) John Brown, 4) "Smithwick", 5) Brownsville, Texas mayor Thomas Carson, 6) Pepe Webb (maybe be nicknamed or related to Joseph Webb who owned E 13th Galeria 409 and 7) Victor Natus who was probably related to Frank Natus who was the only fatality during the 1906 Brownsville Raid. Thomas Carson was mayor from 1879-1904.)

Toward that end, she called the Brownsville Historical Association as asked if they were interested in accepting the photographs that had been in her family for generations.

The only conditions she set was that they "be properly displayed to the public for the use and enjoyment of the citizens of Brownsville to view these truly historical items."

Wallis, a pioneer photographer in south Texas who followed Louis de Planque, took many photos of Brownsville during the 1860s and 1870s.

Very few of his photos are known to exist. He also photographed other buildings downtown including Market Square and Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico right across the border.

Then-curator Jessica Villescaz and BHA Director Priscilla Rodriguez agreed with Shepherd's conditions and the photos were sent to the BHA. They also said they would acknowledge receipt of the historical photos and would be displayed "at all times" to the public and "preserved for future generations."

That was prior to June 2008, before she sent the photos.

In August, November and December, Shepherd called Villescaz and found out that none of the conditions she set for her gift had been met and she told her she "did not understand how museums work."

We understand that Shepherd is upset that the conditions she set for the photos to return to Brownsville have not been followed and that sometime next year she will come and get them back. It's a shame

that people who have generously donated items of crucial importance to this city's heritage are treated so shabbily by the BHA staff and its director.

Other cities would give their eyeteeth to acquire authentic pieces of their heritage and history. But what can you expect from a BHA board where one of its directors (Harry McNair), instead of living to the organization's mission to "preserve" history changes it instead as in the case of changing the name of E. Fronton Street to the McNair Family Drive?

Go figure.