Wichita Street History

I decided to keep traveling south in my search for historical markers, and ended up on Wichita Street. The west end of Wichita is a pretty busy section of town. On the North side of the street, you have La Plaza Mall - a shopper's dream come true. A bit further west, you have the Windgate Inn Hotel. On the south side of the street, you have McAllen/Miller International Airport. And finally, at the extreme end of Wichita, is La Piedad Cemetery.

The first marker I was interested in is actually located inside the terminal at the Airport and honors Texas' first licensed pilot, Floyd H. "Slats" Rodgers (March 7, 1889 - July 5, 1956). "Slats" was a pretty colorful character. Born in Georgia, raised in Texas, he turned a childhood love of kites into a career in aviation. He built and flew (without lessons) his first airplane, "Old Soggy No.1" in 1912 - a mere 9 years after the Wright brothers. In 1916 he became a flight instructor for the Army. After WWI he worked as a barnstormer and circus stunt pilot. During prohibition, he was known to fly bootleg liquor from Mexico to Texas. "Slats" even ended up spending time behind bars for gambling and moon shining. The Civil Aeronautics Commission (CAA) on a number of occasions fined him for aerobatic hi-jinks and at one point refused to issue him a license until he paid off all of the fines. In the 1930's he settled in McAllen and had a crop-dusting business. Floyd H. "Slats" Rodgers died of natural causes and is interred in Laurel Hills Cemetery in Mission.

The second and third markers are located at the cemetery. La Piedad, which means "Pity" in Spanish, has actually been a burial ground even before McAllen was a city. The land originally belonged to merchant/rancher John McAllen and was probably set aside as a burial ground on the extensive McAllen Ranch. The oldest marked grave in the cemetery is that of Gertrudis Cavazos (1856-1895). In 1965, Emmett & Margaret Arnold deeded 10.69 acres to La Piedad Cemetery and an additional 2.5 acres were added in 1972. There are over 7,000 grave sites within the cemetery. Over 250 of the graves are those of veterans who served in WWI, WWII, Korea and Viet Nam. In Addition, there are graves of soldiers from foreign armies.
The Asociacion del Cementario La Piedad was founded in 1913 and incorporated in 1930. The Asociacion maintains the cemetery and in 2005 was recognized with a Texas Historical Marker and Medallion which flank the building's entrance. A second Historical Marker is slated for installation sometime this year.

If you're ever in the vicinity of Wichita St., take a few minutes to check out these markers and then go have some fun at La Plaza Mall!