Charro Days Parade, 1948

Posted on by

The Charro Days fiesta began in 1938 in Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros, Mexico, its sister city across the Rio Grande, as a recognition of Mexican heritage with multiple parades, dances, concerts, a rodeo, and more over several days in February. Still an annual event, Charro Days has grown to include additional festivals and traditions and continues to draw visitors to the celebration each year. The images below were taken as a parade moved through downtown Brownsville in 1948 and are a part of the L. L. Cook Company collection at the State Archives, which is available online in the Texas Digital Archive (TDA).

black and white photo of parade in downtown brownsville. There are spectactors lined in front of shops along the main street. This portion of the parade has one white convertible, one black convertible and an older model black car behind those. In the foregound a security guard is visible.
Charro Days, Brownsville, 1948. L.L. Cook Company collection, 1968/089-373. TSLAC. Click photo for larger version.
black and white photo of parade in dowtown brownsville. Spectators line the sidewalk of the main street. There are two decorated floats in view with pedestrians in costume carrying flags behind the floats.
Charro Days, Brownsville, 1948. L.L. Cook Company collection, 1968/089-362. TSLAC. Click photo for larger version.
black and white photo of parade in downtown brownsville. Spectactors line the sidewalks along the main street. This portion of the parade has women in traditional Mexican costume walking down the street.
Charro Days, Brownsville, 1948. L.L. Cook Company collection, 1968/089-364. TSLAC. Click photo for larger version.
black and white photo of parade in downtown brownsville. This portion of the parade shows five men on horseback and wearing traditional charro costume, including wide-brimmed hats. There is a white four-story building on the right-hand side of the street and spectators lining the sidewalks.
Charro Days, Brownsville, 1948. L.L. Cook Company collection, 1968/089-359. TSLAC. Click photo for larger version.
black and white photo of parade route in downtown brownsville. The view is of a street with low buildings on each side. Pedestrians both in street clothes and costume walk on the street and sidewalk either before or after the parade.
Charro Days, Brownsville, 1948. L.L. Cook Company collection, 1968/089-352. TSLAC. Click photo for larger version.

For questions about TSLAC collections please contact our reference staff at ref@tsl.texas.gov or 512-564-5455.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.