San Diego hospital was short-lived
A post on our Facebook Page about a new hospital in San Diego generated a great deal of interest,
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| Dr. Armando Duran |
which encouraged me to do a little more digging about the hospital. Interestingly, much of the information about the San Diego hospital came from the Benavides Facts.
It is unclear when Dr. Armando Duran came to San Diego, but it was most likely no earlier than 1930, as he is in San Antonio in the 1930 Census, living with his wife Emma and two sons, Armando, 1, and Sergio, a newborn. He was born in Mexico in “about” 1897 or 1898 and came to the United States in 1929, arriving at the port of Laredo.
The earliest mention found of Dr. Duran in San Diego was in October 1933 in the Texas State Journal of Medicine, where he is listed as an “Infection of the foot” doctor. During upcoming years he got very involved in the community, serving on the board of the Brooks-Jim Wells-Duval Medical Society, was Grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus; was a member of the Duval County Parole Board; and served as chairman of the President’s Birthday Celebration, which raised funds to stamp out infantile paralysis.
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Several Facebook readers wondered when the hospital opened, where it was located, and when was it closed. Plans for the hospital were in place as early as January 1939. The hospital was located at the City Drug Store building, which was converted into a clinic. Plans called for the Regis Drug Company to purchase the supplies of City Drug. San Diego contractors A. Benavides and Ramon Garcia were given the contract for the building of the hospital.
Other FB readers thought the hospital’s location might have been behind the Appraisal District. They may be right. The 1932 Sanborn Maps of San Diego shows a “Drugs” building at the corner of Center and King. The only other drugstore was the one owned by Bruno Rios, and later by Donato Serna.Although it appeared to be a well-outfitted facility and manned by adequate staff, it did not stay in operation for long. In March 1939, the Benavides Facts reported that new equipment for the hospital had arrived and it would open soon. The facility was scheduled to be able to accommodate ten patients at a time. It had separate obstetrical and operating rooms. Adjacent to the hospital were doctors’ offices and a residence for nurses. Specialty and consulting physicians for eye, nose, throat, skin, bone, and other specialties would visit on a regular basis. Among them were Dr. Luis de Hoyos from Alice and later from San Diego and Dr. Lopez Lira from Benavides.
In June 1939, the Facts reported that the hospital had a busy week. Dalida Garcia and Mrs. De la Fuente were operated for appendicitis and Mrs. Castaneda, Mrs. Jeuatio Salis, and Jesus Garcia, of Falfurrias, had “abdominal operations.” Manuel Martinez and Melodia Garcia were surgical patients and Elvira Garcia of Alice had a tonsillectomy.
Two days after Christmas in 1939, the San Diego Hospital had to deal with a tragedy that occurred in the community of Loma Alta in southern McMullen County off Highway 624. Two boys were playing near the school and darted into the highway and were struck by a car. They were rushed to the hospital where seven-year-old Santiago Garcia died of his injuries. His friend, Guadalupe San Miguel, was treated and released.
Clearly, the hospital was fulfilling its mission of serving the community.
The 1940 census still has the Durans in San Diego and the family had grown to include Armando, 11, Hugo (listed as Sergio in 1930) 10, Rodolfo 9, Evangelina 8, Minerva 7, Ramiro 6, and Rosario 3.
By September 1941, the hospital was apparently closed as the Duran family had relocated to Victoria. Mr. and Mrs. J.M. Salinas and daughters and Mr. and Mrs. Pat Gonzales visited the Durans in that city. The following month, on October 31, 1941, the family suffered a tragedy when their oldest son, Armando Jr., was swept up in a raging flood while returning home from school. Mrs. Duran’s mother, Maria Garcia, was among the many mourners from San Diego that made the trip to Victoria for the funeral services. Others attending from San Diego, included Mrs. J.C. Perez, Mrs. C. Garza, Mrs. T. Guerra, Mr. and Mrs. Felipe Ramirez, Servando Guerra, Pete and Marcel Saenz, Ramon Guerra. Mrs. Lewis Yaeger and Patsy Yaeger. Also attending were Mr. and Mrs. Caballero of Benavides.
The San Diego Hospital was short-lived but in that brief period of service, it was a valuable asset to the community.
Hello, I am emailing from Wales, UK.
The past two Sundays, before our most recent lockdown and the Museums, closing once again!!, I was enjoying being a few hours in one of my favorite activities, looking back at past times in a museum.
I came across a notice in the front page of a newspaper in a glass case – in an exhibition relating to the 1851 census in Swansea.
The newspaper was The Caledonian, No: 2526, Friday, June 25th 1852.
There I read an announcement, starting as follows –
“One Hundred Farmers Wanted”, and followed with – For sale,250,000 acres in the fertile valley of Nueces, Western Texas.
“The proprietor is the owner of 12,00 cattle, 2,000 horses, 10,000 sheep, which enable him to supply settlers with stock on demand…
The announcement continued with all the terms and conditions etc and advising whom to contact etc.
I found it so interesting and it made me wonder whether many Welsh families did decide to venture forth to take advantage of the possibilities it seemed to offer them.
Since then, I have been spending many hours online looking into the history of the region from 1850 onwards. This is how I came across your site.
Myself, I am an annual visitor to the USA at this time of year and have been for very many years – Boston and Cape Cod mostly (though, due to the pandemic – not this year, the first September and October I shall not have boarded a plane in London for Boston!)
That old newspaper announcement made me curious about possible Atlantic-crossers, in search of better lives, leaving Wales and eventually reaching Nueces County Texas.
My best wishes to you,
Keep safe yourself, and with hope on our side, maybe next year may see us free of this frightening virus that threatens all our wellbeing.
Kay Parry
Thank you Kay for your kind note. I am in the middle of writing a nineteenth-century history of Duval County and have been wondering where our settlers came from. Of course, most came from Mexico but others came from all over. I did a quick search for Wales in the 1880 census, the time I am currently researching, but did not find anyone from Wales in Duval County. I expanded the search to surrounding counties and to where the parents were from and found 15 hits in Nueces County. I figured if they responded to the ad, which had been nearly 30 years before the census, maybe that would help. I expanded to Nueces because in 1852 Duval was part of Nueces. Don’t know whether these people came here as a result of the ad but it was fun looking into it. Stay safe.
Hello Mr. Cardenas. Thank you for this blog. Indeed it is of great value. I address a Spanish Land Grant to Jose Francisco Cordova Moreno in 1760 in my book, “Los Marmolejo’s, Origins, Volume 2.” I wonder if Robert C. Trimble was the partner to Mr. Kinney you write of. I am editing and expanding Volume 2 to include a letter to Col. Sam Houston, from R.C. Trimble in which Mr. Trimble asks for permission to obtain land in what would soon become Texas. Adelante con esta informacion! Gracias.
Thank you, Alma. Good to hear from you. R.C. Trimble was the surveyor of Starr County. I don’t know whether he had any connection to Kinney. Provecho.
Thank you for your great work. I am wondering if you used tax records or the Guide to Land Grants or just the 1850 census to compile this list.
Thank you. Just 1850 Census.
Alfredo, Thank you for your work, and thank you for sharing.
You’re welcome.
Alfredo, my great-great-grandfather was Santos Moreno. He owned “La Trinidad”. I am interested in any information you may have on this ranch. Thanks for your time.
Robert J. Garcia
I’ll take a look Robert and let you know if I come across anything.
Mr. Robert J. Garcia, Santos Moreno was also an ancestor to my husband, George Leal. La Trinidad in what is now Jim Wells County, right? You must be distant relations. George is a native of Corpus Christi, TX and has done much research about La Trinidad. Santos Moreno was the original land grant holder. You can find information about him at the Texas General Land Office, in the department that documents historical land grants.
Thank you for sharing this, Barbara.
Alfredo thank you for this insight.
Alfredo, super piece of info and work on your part. It was always said in our history books that when Z Taylor came through here during the Mexican War, this part of the state i.e. the Nueces Strip, was a barren land with nothing to speak of. What this shows in 1850 is that the land around here was occupied by landowners. My folks come from Porcion 67, Mier, on the north side of the Rio Grande, colonized circa 1710, by my Guerra lineage. They came to the Alice, Texas, area sometime after 1850 looking for work, and one settled at Charco Redondo, Brooks County, and my grandmother was from “Las Latas” ranch in Jim Wells. A great piece of work for our history books.
Thank you, Ben.
I didn’t see our ancestor, Pedro Jose Bustamante, Las Comitas land grant made in 1802 in Zapata County.
According to family lore and old census records, two of my Cavazos ancestors had one tract each consisting of hundreds of acres who refused to sell. One was shot dead and the survivor signed over both tracts and their families were allowed to stay on the land. Years later there was a lawsuit which was eventually dropped under threat of death. Unfortunately, the only document I have found is the census.
What an eye-opener Thank you for the research, Very informative info
You’re welcome.
Interesting. Some familiar names.
Quite a few women landowners. Most likely widows. It would have been nice if they had also recorded the name of the town where they were born.
The number of women landowners also surprised me.
I see my ancestor Jose Maria Garcia from La Noria de Santo Domingo (1831 Mexican land grant) which is now in present-day JHC. Also Juan Garza from present-day Zapata County. Thanks for the info.
You’re welcome.