The Galveston County Daily News

TEXAS CITY — You can take the girl out of the barrio, but the barrio never leaves her. Or, for that matter, it never leaves the hearts and minds of those who grew up in the east Texas City community.

It really bugged Cecilia Lara Bricker that she and her old childhood friends seemed to be getting together only for funerals.

On Saturday, old friends from the barrio will reunite in a park instead of a funeral home.

The informal group called the Barrio Society will have its second reunion for those who used to call the barrio home.

“It was like one big family,” Mary Lou Ayala said. “We always were looking out for one another. It was like we’re all brothers and sisters.”

The barrio was an area that for years was literally across the street from Texas City’s expanding petrochemical and port industries.

It was a close-knit community, said Molly Reyes. So close it was like a city within a city.

“We had our own grocery store and church,” said Danny Ayala. “We even had a place to go for our own dances and Mexican movies.”

The grocery store was Rizzos, and it carried items not found in other grocery stores in the area.

“It was just like a store you’d find in Mexico, with all the good stuff,” said Hector Lepp.

A community hall known as the Salon was the cultural center of the barrio. Weekend dances were there. It was also a makeshift movie house for flicks filmed in Mexico.

“Back then, being Mexicans, we all just hung out together,” said Richard Canales, whose home served as the first planning meeting site for the reunion two years ago. “We had life pretty good.”

The community had its own Catholic Church, Our Lady of the Snows.

“St. Mary’s would not offer a Spanish mass,” said Eva Torres Mendez.

Most who lived in the community found jobs working on the docks for the Texas City Terminal Railway Company — now the Port of Texas City — and the oil refineries and chemical plants. Many also found work in a sugar plant near the port.

The abundance of work, which continued through World War II, saw a huge migration to the community. That included a large number of Mexicans.

Most who lived in the barrio by the 1940s were second-generation Texas Citians.

The proximity to the industrial plants had its benefits. But on April 16, 1947, that proximity was disastrous.

“The whole community was leveled — houses just rolled over,” Danny Ayala said, referring to the Texas City Disaster.

“I think every family in the barrio had someone who died because of the explosion,” said his wife, Mercy.

Many tried to rebuild the community following the disaster but, by then, rooftops were popping up to the west of town. A lot of people decided to move.

“It was never the same after that explosion,” said Mary Lou Ayala.

But the memories linger.

“I live in League City now, but I have always gone back to my roots,” said Canales. “(The barrio) is a part of all of us. We still appreciate those roots.”

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What: Texas City’s Old Barrio reunion.

When: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday.

Where: Rainbow Park at Dike Road and Bay Street.

Information: Open to former residents of the Old Barrio community of Texas City and their families. Bring you own food, drinks and lawn chairs.