The many historical buildings that dot downtown Brownsville are coming back to life as investments in the city’s heritage. It makes business sense. Youthful investors are transforming old buildings in the city’s core, giving them makeovers, and turning them into restaurants, art studios and cafes. In one case, it’s stylish new lofts. Botica Lofts is gleaming new and on the corner of 11th Street and Adams in downtown Brownsville. It’s…
Brownsville’s public market and town hall went up as the city got its start in 1850. Butchers and other vendors moved in a year later. The city’s central square would go through various rebuilds. It would survive hurricanes as well as other calamities through the ages with a city that grew up around it. The last half of the 20th century saw what came to be known as Market Square…
For many years, downtown Brownsville looked like a ghost town, particularly during evening hours. The only exception was an H-E-B supermarket on East Elizabeth Street. Here, shoppers from south of the border stopped by to buy goods before going across the Rio Grande into Matamoros. After a group of concerned citizens began looking into how to revive the city’s oldest business district several years ago, the area started coming alive. New…