Laredo

Laredo is a city in South Texas, on the north bank of the Rio Grande across from Nuevo Laredo in Mexico. Its bridges carry a large share of the truck and rail trade between the United States and Mexico.

Tomás Sánchez, a Spanish rancher, founded the town in 1755 as Villa de San Agustín de Laredo on the road between Mexico and the missions of Texas. In 1840 Laredo was the capital of the short-lived Republic of the Rio Grande, a state declared by northern Mexican federalists. After the border was fixed on the river in the 1840s, many families moved across to found Nuevo Laredo, and the two cities have grown up facing each other. The railways from San Antonio and Mexico City met at Laredo in the 1880s and made it a trading town.

The World Trade Bridge, opened in the 2000s, carries trucks loaded with car parts, electronics and produce between the two countries. Union Pacific trains cross the river on a rail bridge into Mexico, carrying cars and auto parts between the factories of both countries.

The San Agustín Cathedral, on the main plaza of the old town, stands on the site of the first church of the town. The Republic of the Rio Grande Museum, in an adobe building on the plaza, tells the story of that state. Each February, the Washington's Birthday Celebration, held since the 1890s, fills the city with parades, a colonial ball and a bridge ceremony with Nuevo Laredo. Lake Casa Blanca International State Park, on the east side, has a reservoir for fishing and boating.