Donna, Hidalgo County
In 1904, T.J. Hooks and A.F. Hester, Sr. founded towns on the StLB&M Rail Line. Railroad president Uriah Lott chose the names of Hooks' daughters for two towns, Donna and Beatrice (East Donna). In 1910, Garland Buck built a two-story brick building at this site for the Donna Developer. It changed hands several times, known also as the Donna Dispatch, the Donna News and the Donna News-Advocate until its run ended in the 1960s. In 1969, the Donna Chamber of Commerce bought the building and later shared it with the Donna Hooks Fletcher Museum, created in 1974. A fire damaged the structure in 1988, but its restoration and use as part of the museum helps preserve the history of the paper and the community it served. (2005)