RGV Partnership at 80: A look back at its greatest chronicler, Marjorie Johnson

3 hours ago 14

WESLACO, Texas – The Rio Grande Valley Partnership will celebrate its 80th Anniversary with an event at its Weslaco offices next Wednesday, September 25.

In a flyer for the event, the Valley’s regional chamber of commerce says it will honor its past while uniting for the future.

To RSVP for the event, contact administrative assistant Bertha Ramirez at bertha@rgvpartnership.com or (956) 968-3141.

Marjorie Johnson

A person who wrote extensively about the Partnership for many years was the late Marjorie Johnson, a native Tennessean who came to Texas in 1957 and stayed. In 1967 she began thirty-seven years as publications editor, photographer, and administrative assistant with the Rio Grande Valley Chamber of Commerce, as the Partnership was then called.

Johnson received her BA in English and history from Pan American University, now the University of Texas Pan American followed by graduate studies in English. She joined the staff of the Rio Grande Valley Partnership/Chamber of Commerce in 1967 where she edited its monthly Tip-O-Texan magazine. In that capacity, she traveled across the Valley, interviewing, photographing, and then writing many articles about area history, agriculture, business and people. When the Tip-O-Texan was disconnected in 1975 she remained on staff as a statistician, writer, photographer and editor of its various publications and reports.

In 1991 she compiled the widely acclaimed Valley Proud History Cookbook, which told the history of the Rio Grande Valley through stories from the people who had lived it. Semi-retired since 1998, she continued on the Partnership staff as writer and consultant.

A member of the Valley Byliners, she participated in their triology of books about area history, from 1976 to 1980. She was secretary of the Hidalgo County Historical Commission, a director of the Hidalgo County Historical Society, and on the board of the Weslaco Bicultural Museum. She was an active volunteer at the Weslaco Museum, and First United Methodist Church, serving as its board secretary for many years.

Johnson retired from the Partnership in 2004. She died in 2017.

History of the Rio Grande Valley Partnership

In her 2001 book, Historic Rio Grande Valley – An Illustrated History, which was published by the Rio Grande Valley Partnership, Johnson devoted a page to the Rio Grande Valley Partnership’s history. Here’s what she wrote:

World War Two was nearing its end when what has become the Rio Grande Valley Partnership was organized in 1944. Civic leaders from the still young Valley cities and towns met to study the need for regional planning once the war was over. The area’s agricultural economy flourished during the war as fruits, vegetables and cotton helped supply the huge war machine. Military bases in Harlingen and Mission helped train manpower and also provided a boost for the economy. Leaders realized that the changes would come once peace finally came.

They formed the Lower Rio Grande Valley Planning Board to provide a clearing house and planning organization to promote economic diversification, better highways, improved marketing of farm products, increased tourism and more non-farm jobs for the growing population. They chose Weslaco as their headquarters due to its central location and helpful business community, which provided initial office space. Soon it became the Lower Rio Grande Valley Chamber of Commerce, then the Rio Grande Valley Chamber of Commerce, or simply Valley Chamber.

In 1974 the regional chamber moved into its present headquarters at FM 1015 and Expressway 83 between Weslaco and Mercedes. A major expansion was completed in 1993 to make it the beautiful and efficient structure as it is today.

By the time it celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1944 many organizations had been formed under its umbrella, some quickly becoming independent entities. The Valley Sportsman’s Club started here, as did Texas Citrus Mutual, the Rio Grande Valley Sugar Growers, the Valley Proud Environmental Council and the Rio Grande Valley Empowerment Zone.

Other organizations stayed under its umbrella and are administered by what became the Rio Grande Valley Partnership in 1995. These include the Regional Mobility Task Force, now working to bring interstate highways to the Valley as part of the I-69 Corridor; Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse; the Lower Rio Grande Valley Water Committee and the Valley Agricultural Research and Development Corporation.

The Partnership also continues its regional chamber functions to promote the economic and strategic importance of the Rio Grande Valley as a region and to provide quality research and technical support to business, industry and government. It maintains a wide range of Valley wide statistics, and publishes many business and tourism publications. Legislative liaison and advocacy for Valley interests make up an important part of the Partnership’s agenda.

Since all of the Rio Grande Valley borders the Mexican State of Tamaulipas, the Partnership created an office for the Valley in Ciudad Victoria, the state’s capital in 1993. This office assists area businesses in conducting business across the border, maintains close ties with Tamaulipas state officials, seeks to improve flow at the international bridges, works with Customs, and was instrumental in the retention of the US Consulate in Matamoros.

Since it began in 1944, the Rio Grande Valley Partnership has represented the Valley business community with its mission to improve the business climate and regional quality of life. Its basic support comes from its business members.

Many of these members are represented in the “Sharing the Heritage” section of this book, which brings information on organizations, businesses and individuals that have helped to build the Rio Grande Valley of today. The Partnership feels privileged to sponsor the publication of Historic Rio Grande Valley, which brings the history of the region to life in words and pictures, from its early Spanish occupation to its entry into the New Millennium. Its hope is that you will treasure the book and keep it as a memento for your children and their children to show them what the Rio Grande Valley was like up to the year 2000.