June 27, 2019 612 PM
FORT DAVIS – The Jeff Davis County Historical Commission will dedicate a wayside marker describing the history of the neighborhood of Chihuahuita in Fort Davis on Thursday, July 4, at 10am. The ceremony will take place at the marker site on SH 118 at the gate for the footpath leading to Pioneer Cemetery.
The principal speakers will be Jeff Davis County Historical Commission chair Mary Williams and Commission member Ramon Olivas, who spearheaded the research efforts for the marker. The marker is illustrated with historic photographs of early buildings and settlers of Chihuahuita contributed by present-day residents, who will be honored at the ceremony.
Chihuahuita had its origins in a number of small lots purchased by recent immigrants from the state of Chihuahua in the 1890s on land originally granted to George Bentley and John B. Shields.
In the 20th Century it became the heart of Fort Davis’s Hispanic community. Today there are about 180 homes there. Sites featured on the marker include Bentley Hall, built about 1877; the first grocery store in Chihuahuita, opened about 1950 by Jose and Eloida Mendoza; the callejon, the path that led from Chihuahuta to downtown Fort Davis; and the sites of the 1904 Mexican school and the birthplace of World War II hero Manuel Gonzales.
