Visitor & Relocation Information

Historic Sites

LOPEÑO is on U.S. Highway 83 in southeastern Zapata County. It replaced old Lopeño and four other small farming and ranching communities-San Pedro, San José, Santa Fé and El Tigre-the residents of which were descendants of the settlers brought north in 1749 by Col. José de Escandón. When Falcon Dam was built in the early 1950’s, the lake covered the old Lopeño site. Lopeño is named for Antonio López, husband of Doña Ysabel María Sánchez, to whom a 6,366-acre land grant, named Señor San José, was given by the King of Spain on July 16, 1767. During the early 1800’s a parcel of this grant passed to the Ramírez family, founders of Falcon. In 1821 Benito Ramírez constructed a combination home, fort, and chapel, known later as Fort Lopeño, which stood until covered by the waters of Falcon
Lake.

RAMIREÑO Ramireño is on U.S. Highway 83 and Ranch Road 3169 five miles southeast of San Ignacio and eight miles northwest of Zapata in Zapata County. Originally it was two miles south of its current site on the banks of the Rio Grande. The property was granted to José Luis Ramírez in 1784 by the King of Spain. It was not assigned in 1767, when most of the Revilla grants were made, because incursions of Comanche Indians made the area uninhabitable. Ramírez and his wife, María Bacilia Martínez, lived with their family in Revilla (Old Guerrero) until 1810, when they built a house of native hand-cut sandstone on their property across the river. A historical marker for old Ramireño was placed on Highway 83 in 1989.

BUSTAMANTE . Bustamante is on State Highway 16 twelve miles northeast of Zapata in central Zapata County. It was named for Pedro José Bustamante, to whom the Las Comitas land grant was made in 1802. The site was settled as the ranch headquarters in the 1870’s. A post office was established there in 1913. In 1945 Bustamante had a population of fifty. Before 1960 several springs near the community furnished sweet water to area residents. In the 1990’s the Comitas and Aguila oilfields were near the community.

FALCON is on U.S. Highway 83 two miles west of the Starr-Zapata county line. It was moved from an original Falcon at the junction of Medio Creek and the Rio Grande in southeast Zapata County during the flood in August 1953, which was caused by the completion of Falcon Dam in December 1952. Settlers had been brought to the area by Col. José de Escandón in the 1750’s. The Spanish crown set the land aside for the colonists of Revilla, known as Guerrero, after Mexican independence. In the mid-1700’s the King of Spain granted 6,123 acres to José Clemente Gutiérrez, who later sold the land to José Clemente Ramírez. In 1780 Ramírez married Margarita de la Garza Falcón, thus uniting two of the area's most distinguished families, and moved to the old site of Falcón. The place was called Ramireño de Abajo.