FEBRUARY 2022, SOCORRO, TEXAS – The Texas Historical Commission awarded the City of Socorro $30,000 in grant funding to support the ongoing Rio Vista Farm rehabilitation capital project. The Texas Historical Commission Certified Local Government (CLG) Grants Program provides funding to participating city governments to develop and sustain an effective local preservation program critical to preserving local historic resources. As a certified local government, the City of Socorro applied for and received grant funding to continue the rehabilitation construction efforts at the Rio Vista Farm historic site.
The Rio Vista Farm complex in Socorro, Texas is an important historical and architectural asset, not only for the Socorro community, but more broadly for the greater El Paso Region and Bracero community across the United States. Rio Vista Farm was recently nominated by the National Park Service, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the City of Socorro to receive a National Historic Landmark designation, the highest historic designation in the United States, reserved for buildings, sites, structures, objects or districts that represent an outstanding aspect of American history and culture and embodies national significance.
Funding from the Texas Historical Commission will be used to complete a rehabilitation and phasing plan for fourteen (14) of the twenty (20) contributing buildings at the Rio Vista Farm complex. Because the fourteen structures outlined in the scope of work for this project are in various states of usability and repair, the completion of this rehabilitation and phasing plan for these fourteen structures will allow the City of Socorro to identify priorities and develop a funding plan to preserve this important historical asset, continue with construction activities, activate the site for future use by Socorro residents and visitors and share the history of the Bracero Program with future generations.
The $30,000 grant award will be matched at 1:1 by the City of Socorro for a total project cost of $60,000, further demonstrating the commitment of elected leaders to support historic preservation and to highlight the history of our national treasures.