Border

1916 · ref. 12895 — Des Moines IA: Hebard-Showers Company September 1916. Panoramic photograph 8 x 37.5 inches with numerous captions in the negative. Rolled tightly. A few soft creases minor wear at bottom right corner. Very good. An unusually informative panorama of Brownsville and Matamoros taken from the American side of the Rio Grande during the heat of the Mexican Revolution. The photograph was produced by the form of Hebard-Showers here spelled Hedard-Showers likely scratched backwards in the negative of Des Moines Iowa. The image captures the scene along the Red River from a portion of Fort Brown in the east west to Brownsville's Union Station with the International Bridge visible downriver. Directly across the river from Brownsville is labeled "Santa Cruz Mexico" with Matamoros a bit further south. Other landmarks identified on the Brownsville side include the aforementioned Union Station and the International Bridge as well as Fort Brown a river landing the customs house and various locations for American state guard units. Near the landing is the Brownsville Transfer Company's building. More pertinent to the Mexican Revolution are some of the captions identifying locations on the Mexican side. These include "Casa Mata Fort or place of execution" "Blanco's Battlefield June 3rd 1913" and "Villa's Battlefield March 27 - Apr. 13 1915. 100 Killed." Also identified on the Mexican side are a Mexican bull ring the "Bone yard" and a river landing. Interestingly a small rowboat containing a few people can be seen approaching the Mexican side on the Rio Grande. Naturally Hebard-Showers Company mainly documented Des Moines and its surrounding areas but they shot a handful of Brownsville border views over several years at least between the present example and about 1921. SMU holds an example of the later panorama; comparisons between the present example and SMU's does reveal some changes in the area over the course of those five years and the present example includes many more detailed captions in the negative. Hebard-Showers Company, September unknown