Sprinkled with oxbow lakes that long ago separated from the Rio Grande, San Benito is home to so much history and culture, it takes three museums to tell it — though those three entities will soon be under one roof.
The San Benito History Museum is a good starting point. San Benito’s topography, mild climate and resacas — dry river beds — offered fertile ground for a bright future in agriculture. In the early 20th century, builder and civil engineer Col. Samuel Arthur Robertson built a railroad spider web that connected San Benito’s bounty to the rest of Texas and beyond. The railroad also offered convenient transportation for midwesterners to discover the mild climate of South Texas. A glimpse of the life and times of early San Benito pioneers can be experienced through historic images and artifacts while strolling through the history timeline of this “Resaca City.”
San Benito was also the birthplace of Baldemar Huerta, who, as a child in a family of traveling performers, picked up the skills that would later propel him to fame. Huerta was first known by his stage name El Bebop Kid in 1957, then as Eddie con los Shades with a signa- ture rockabilly sound. That was before he legally changed his name to Freddy Fender, however, in 1958. With songs like his No. 1 smash “Before the Next Teardrop Falls,” the first bilingual No. 1 hit in Billboard history; “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights,” which peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard pop chart but was a No. 1 country hit; and more than 20 country hits that charted between 1975 and 1983, Fender owns a rightful place in music history. A visit to the Freddy Fender Museum allows a tour through the Grammy winner’s life — his struggles and triumphs.
Left Freddy Fender recorded the first bilingual No. 1 song in the history of the Billboard chart. Soon, his museum will be housed with San Benito’s two other historic centers at the Cultural Heritage Museum. Right Paco Betancourt’s son poses with the portrait of his late father, owner of the Rio Grande Museum Company, in the Texas Conjunto Music Hall of Fame & Museum.
The Texas Conjunto Hall of Fame & Museum is located in San Benito’s Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center — entirely appro- priate as San Benito is touted as the Birthplace of Conjunto. Called the “working man’s music,” conjunto is a fusion of European accordion rhythms and Mexican roots ranch music. Its his- tory is showcased in the Texas Conjunto Hall of Fame through the likes of Narciso Martinez (the father of Texas-Mexican conjunto), Pedro Ayala, Ricardo Guzman and others. For a live experience, October’s Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center Conjunto Festival brings San Benito’s rich music history and culture to life, helping to ensure that future generations will be inspired by the genre’s unique flavor and singular sound.
The newest project on the city’s horizon is the San Benito Cultural Heritage Museum, which will house all three of these nonprofits that share a passion to preserve and share San Benito’s rich history. Slated for completion sometime in the late fall or early winter, the new museum will combine the stories of San Benito in one location but with nearly three times the square footage.
