The Hicks / Lawrence House was built at a time of great change in the Brownsville and the Rio Grande delta. The arrival of the railway in 1904 opened the area up to land development and accelerated a shift to agriculture from traditional land use that was based on ranching. Farming was no longer limited to the banks of the Rio Grande. Steam powered irrigation pumping systems dispersed supplies of water throughout the delta. The railway carried agricultural produce north and brought waves of new settlers south.

Immigration from northern parts of the United States was not the only source of population growth and demographic change. With the failure of the Madero revolution of 1910, Mexico slid into a decade long social upheaval… the first of the 20^th century’s great social revolutions. This turmoil spilled over the river and brought militarization of the border and waves of refugees from the south.

The growth of south Texas was reflected in the geographical growth of the City of Brownsville. In 1908, Brownsville Land and Improvement Corporation began to develop West Brownsville. It was located several miles beyond Palm Blvd.

east of the extension of Elizabeth Street north of town to the old military Highway from Fort Ringgold. It became the first subdivision outside the original town site.

Architecturally, the railway also advanced great changes. It accelerated the end of the border brick traditions that had evolved in northern Mexico and the delta. Before the railway, the major influences on indigenous local cottage and brick traditions were from close trading partners via sailing and steamship from New Orleans and Galveston. The railway brought cheap building materials from the north, and settlers brought the idea of the ideal modern home tied more closely to the early 20^th century American mainstream.

The Hicks/ Lawrence House is thought to have been one of the first houses built in West Brownsville… the first subdivision outside of the original town site of Brownsville.

The property on which the Hicks / Lawrence House was built was purchased by Goldye and Edgar L. Hicks from the Brownsville Land and Investment Company on September 8, 1908. It included lake front boulevard lots 1, 2 and 3 as well as additional land to the south and across the street on the Resaca (a lake formed from the ancient river channel of the Rio Grande). Interestingly, the lots were purchase before the West Brownsville subdivision was formally platted and filed for record.³ The house was built on a corner tract facing Lake Ebano Blvd., now renamed Lakeside Blvd. The side street was Mesquite, now West 13^th.⁴

The new home was started soon after the land was purchased in 1908. It served as the Hicks' country home and was used to pasture horses rotated in and out of their livery stables at 1001 East Adams.⁵ The property included a servant’s house and a large stable to store feed for the horses and house horse drawn carriages. All of the non-attached support buildings were severly damaged or destroyed in the September Hurricane of 1933.

Local tradition says that the cavalry regularly stopped across the street at the Lake Ebano Resaca to water its horses and clean up after trips down the Old Military Road before proceeding down Elizabeth Street to Fort Brown.⁶ It was the last natural water source before entering town.

The Hicks property was purchased by Dr. O. V. (Oscar Victor) Lawrence (1876 -1960) and his wife Nancy (1890 – 1980) in 1922. Dr. Lawrence was a civic leader in education and medicine in South Texas. The 1930 Encyclopedia of Texas stated: "Dr. Lawrence has attained great prestige in the lower Rio Grande Valley."⁷

The Lawrence family arrived in Brownsville upon fleeing the turmoil of the Mexican Revolution. Dr. Lawrence had set up medical practice in Monterrey, Mexico prior to the start of the Madero revolt in 1910. In the region Dr. Lawrence was a pioneer of X-ray technology. He had imported a very early X-Ray machine… one of the first examples of newly emerging medical technology in northern Mexico.

During the first 4 years of revolution in Mexico, opposing federal and rebel forces fighting for control of the city finally made it impossible to continue to raise a young family in Monterrey. In May 1914, the Lawrence family fled to the border on one of the last available trains. All they could carry was their infant daughter Alice and the clothes on their backs. The people of Brownsville welcomed them. Although they intended to return to Mexico, they eventually decided to make their permanent home in Brownsville.

In a lull in revolutionary action, Dr. Lawrence returned to Mexico to salvage family and occupational possessions and to try to get the room-sized X-ray machine to Brownsville. He finally managed to get arrange passage on the Ferrocariles del Norte de Nuevo Leon Railway. By following this circuitous route, X-ray technology was to arrive in Brownsville. Dr. Lawrence was to develop a large practice that extended from Saltillo, Mexico to San Antonio, Texas. He continued to operate the venerable X-ray machine until he retired in 1957.

Dr. Lawrence was a leader in public life in Brownsville for decades. He was elected to the Brownsville School Board in 1921 and became president of the Board in 1928. During his leadership the district tripled in student population. In the trying days of the depression, Dr. Lawrence personally vouched for and cosigned hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans that allowed teachers to be paid and the schools to stay open. All but $500 of those loans was eventually repaid.⁰ He did so even though he was barely able to forestall depression foreclosure of his own property. As noted in an article in the Brownsville Herald, March 5, 1940: "without this… the school district probably could not have continued to function."¹

During his tenure on the Board, he helped found Brownsville Junior College. This institution later became Texas Southmost College and then Texas Southmost College / The University of Texas at Brownsville.

Local historian Bruce Aiken, in a special presentation at the University of Texas in 2002 marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of Brownsville Jr. College, affirmed:

"He (Lawrence) began as President of the Board in 1928. It led right into the depression. Nobody else wanted to be the head of the Board at the time. During the most trying days of the depression, enrollment dropped... The loss of tuition- driven revenue forced the Board of Trustees to pay teachers and substitutes in "scrip". In what was an extraordinary show of support; Dr. Lawrence guaranteed the scrip. During those years when it was hard to come up with the money, he personally sponsored a number of scholarships for students… very much a reflection of what kind of a man he was." ²

Dr. Lawrence served as Chairman of the Red Cross and was honored by the Secretary of War and President Roosevelt for his volunteer work during the Second World War.³ He worked with the Sisters of Mercy to build the first community hospital, Mercy Hospital, now known as Valley Baptist–Brownsville. He was well known for his charity and volunteer community work in health issues.

The exterior of the Hicks / Lawrence House remains largely unchanged since its construction except for a 1920 rear addition that enclosed a wrap-around back porch and, also in 1920, the enlargement of two kitchen windows. A large cistern covered by a six sided "well house" provided the only water when the house was built. Facing Lakeside Blvd., the only remaining saddle mounting steps left in Brownsville reflect the original builder's livery stable business in the waning days of the horse and buggy age.

A composition roof replaced the original wood shingle roof after Hurricane Beulah in 1967. The interior retains the 12 ft. high ceilings, original siding, windows, woodwork, lincrusta wainscoting, and light fixtures. Back to back fireplaces provided the only interior heating. An attempt was made to install coal fired steam heat in the 1940s. The attempt failed. Central heat and air-conditioning were installed in the 1990s with little impact on the interior design elements.

The House is still owned by Dr. Lawrence’s descendants.

The Hicks/ Lawrence House Built in 1909-1910, retains its original character. It is thought to be the first house constructed in West Brownsville subdivision. Its construction marked a move out of the original town site into Brownsville’s first subdivision. It has been identified as a primary local heritage site. According to the Brownsville heritage plan, it was built in the Queen Ann style with classical revival elements.⁴

It was built as a country home to serve the fading horse and buggy stable business of the Hicks family. It became the home of Dr. O. V. Lawrence, a community leader whose efforts had lasting impact on medical practice and education in Brownsville and South Texas.

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