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A deep dive into the Spanish and Mexican influences that helped shape Texas history is coming to the city, accompanied with details of longstanding Tejano families still in the area.
The Elgin Depot Museum’s grand opening of “Latino Influences in Texas and Bastrop County” is scheduled for March 23 at 10 a.m., following its stay as one of Bastrop Museum’s most attended exhibits, according to Visitor Center representatives.
“I feel that people tend to think of Texas from winning their independence on, when for 300 years prior there were people here,” said former Elgin mayor and exhibit curator Ron Ramirez. “In today’s Texas, the Mexican influence is everywhere, with the language, the food, the cowboy way of life.”
Ramirez wants visitors to recognize that there were people here before the Battle of the Alamo, and that Latino culture set the stage for what Texas would become.
The exhibit highlights Spain’s exploration in the area, bringing the cows, horses and pigs that remain vital to Texas’ identity today.
Focus points like the 1852 resolution that banned all Mexican Americans from the area also demonstrate some of the difficulties the culture faced. A Latino population of several hundred dwindled to only 27 over the course of 20 days.
Ramirez, a volunteer and board member at the Bastrop Museum and Visitor Center, felt that the space wasn’t hitting enough Latino notes and began his research by reaching out to Tejano families in the area.
Several Elgin and Bastrop families with deep roots helped provide history and heirlooms for the exhibit, bringing some family members to tears at Bastrop’s grand opening, according to Ramirez. Familial heritage is traced back through to the coal mines, when Mexican Americans were allowed to return to the county for work.
“The information was always there, it was all worth it,” added Ramirez.
Additionally, the exhibit showcases landmark Latino positions of power, noting the first Hispanic state representatives, councilmembers and school board members of the area.
Following its stay at the Depot Museum, “Latino Influences in Texas and Bastrop County” will be featured in Bastrop’s Latino Culture Music Festival, April 19, and placed in the Rockne Museum.
Ramirez and the Depot Museum invite anyone interested in learning more about localized Hispanic influence to attend the grand opening, 10 a.m. March 23.
