Spanish colonizer of South Texas dies in Mexico City

On this day in 1770, José de Escandón, the "father" of the lower Rio Grande valley, died in Mexico City. Escondón was the colonizer and first governor of Nuevo Santander, a colony that extended from Mexico across the Rio Grande to the Nueces River. He founded over twenty towns or villas and a number of missions in the colony, including Camargo, Reynosa, Mier, and Revilla south of the Rio Grande, and Laredo and Nuestra Señora de los Dolores Hacienda north of the Rio Grande.