Bessie
Posted by: 
PeterNoG
N 26° 11.801 W 098° 14.824
14R E 575227 N 2897683
This Texas Historical Marker is in front of St Joseph the Worker Church at 900 South 23rd Street in McAllen, Texas. ?
Waymark Code: WMK9DD
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 03/04/2014
Views: 2
Marker Title: Bessie
Address: 900 S. 23rd
City: McAllen
County: Hidalgo
Subject Codes: boats, ships, ferries, barges, and other marine vessels; churches; Roman Catholic denomination
Year Marker Erected: 1975
Designations: na
Marker Location: St. Joseph the Worker Church
Marker Size: 18" x 28"
Marker Number: 384
Marker Text:
The steamboat "Bessie", last of the Mifflin Kenedy - Richard King Rio Grande shipping fleet of the mid-1800s, carried this 400-pound bell instead of a whistle. After its final trip on the river in 1902, the bell "Bessie" was used until 1909 on John Closner's plantation east of Hidalgo. A dispute over its ownership delayed the purchase of "Bessie" by Sacred Heart Catholic Church in McAllen, and saved it when a fire destroyed (1924) the church. In 1926 it was placed in the rebuilt church. Cracked in 1937, and recast from original metal, the bell was later moved here to St. Joseph the Worker Church.
(1975)
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