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Showing posts from October, 2016

La Voz de Amor is now available at an online bookstore near you

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Servando Cárdenas La Voz de Amor , released in September 2016, is a book of Spanish poetry written by Servando Cárdenas. The poet looks at love from a romantic, familial, patriotic, cultural, and spiritual perspective and provides great insights into Tejano culture. The book is also a labor of love for co-editor Alfredo E. Cárdenas, son of the poet. His co-editor, Javier Villarreal, Ph.D. is a recently retired professor of Spanish at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.

Current courthouse built in 1916

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POSTED BY: CARDENAS.AE@GMAIL.COM OCTOBER 23, 2016 TOPICS: Duval County Courthouse On August 25, 1883, the courthouse and jail narrowly escaped being burned to the ground. A fire of unknown origin broke out in the kitchen near the jail, razed the cook house, but through the “great effort of the citizens” failed to damage the courthouse or jail. Thirty-one years later, on August 11, 1914, the Courthouse did not escape this fate. A fire erupted at about 4 a.m. and the frame building, by then valued at $40,000, went up in flames. The first alarm came from the jailer at the nearby county jail who released a volley of shots to wake up the community. County Judge Frank Clarkson was sleeping in his office located at the jailhouse and was at the scene almost immediately and quickly assured residents that all records were safe in a steel fireproof vault. The judge spoke prematurely as the records needed for the audit were indeed lost in the fire. A year after the courthouse was heavily damaged

Manuel Ancira building housed first courthouse

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TOPICS: Courthouse Duval County Texas E.D. Sidbury Hugo Heldenfels James O. Luby Manuel Ancira N. G. Collins POSTED BY:  CARDENAS.AE@GMAIL.COM   OCTOBER 12, 2016 An election to organize Duval County, Texas was held on November 7, 1876. The newly elected Commissioners Court met at the store of James O. Luby in San Diego where they presented their election certificates to Nueces County Judge Joseph Fitzsimmons. This is the Manuel Ancira store circa 1876. It is not clear whether this was the courthouse since Ancira owned several lots adjacent to each other. The courthouse was in lot two, this building appears to be in lot one. One of the Court’s first order of business was the securing of a courthouse. In December 1876, the court agreed to offer Manuel Ancira $400 annually for the use of two houses located on Lot 2, Block 11 in San Diego to be paid $100 quarterly. The court also authorized Luby, who had been elected as county judge, to secure an “iron cage” for use as a jail. They also au