Brownsville, Cameron County
Arrival of the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway in 1904 brought economic growth to the lower Rio Grande Valley. In Brownsville, lots between the rail line and Fronton Street (later McNair Family Drive) became sites for commercial and industrial uses. In 1912, the firm of Ullmann, Stern & Krausse, “importers of coffee and fancy groceries,” built a warehouse with loading bays at this site close to the railroad spur. In 1924, San Antonio-based Alamo Iron Works bought the property for their warehouse and showroom in Brownsville. The Iron Works added a two-story free standing brick storage building in 1925 and connected it to the earlier warehouse by an addition completed in 1940. McNair Clothing Manufacturing Company, a principal manufacturer and supplier of military uniforms to the U.S. Government during the Korean and Vietnam Wars, purchased the property in 1961 for their main offices. The building is architecturally significant among the historic warehouses and industrial buildings found in several adjoining blocks. It has characteristics of historic commercial buildings near the Texas-Mexico border such as handmade bricks, a flat roof and parapet walls. Among the distinctive elements of the 1912 section are decorative friezes with corbeled brick, brick dentils and pendant-like brick ornamentation typical of the arts and crafts movement. The later additions are more functional, with no ornamentation and large window openings with concrete sills. The building remains an excellent and intact example of both early 20th century border vernacular design and construction of utilitarian buildings. (Recorded Texas Historic Landmark 2021)