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Photograph of Roma Historic District
Photograph by Eugene George, Jr., Photographer, Public domain. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Roma Historic District

A National Historic Landmark. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

From the record

“The Roma Historic District in Roma, Texas preserves an intact example of a border town in the lower Rio Grande valley. The town was an important port and transshipment point on the Rio Grande from 1829 to the 1880s.”

Wikipedia article Roma Historic District, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 9 National Register listings published here for Starr County · listed in 1972 · category: District · a National Historic Landmark.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

Fires near this property

605 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 605 fires within 5 miles of Roma Historic District between 1999 and 2020, burning about 3,056 acres in total. None started naturally. 30 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined455
Debris and open burning111
Arson/incendiarism30
Equipment and vehicle use4
Smoking3
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Railroad operations and maintenance1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2018Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceBAZAN AVE.
7 September 2018Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Service6 N SAN JULIAN RD.
7 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceDOCKER RD.
7 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceCINDY'S AVE.
6 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undetermined20 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceVICTOR LN.
6 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceDOLPHIN ST.
5 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undetermined50 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceBAZAN RD.
5 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresLower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife RefugeGARCENO

Every fire recorded in Starr County

Mines and quarries near this property

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Roma Historic District: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Guerra PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducerGravel, Sand

Every working recorded in Starr County

Storms near this property

19 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Roma, the town this property stands in, in 19 storm reports between 1993 and 2026: 8 flash flood, 6 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind, 2 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 2008FloodRoma$150,000After the rains had long ended, remaining flood waters around and near teh city of Roma continued to remain an issue for many. At least eight residents were rescued from the Las Flores subdivision, and a number of residents in the Robinson subdivision self evacuated as water continued to rise or remain high. Another resident was evacuated off of Ranchito Street from high water in a residence, and a rescue call was received for four children who may have been affected by the flood waters; thankfully, all were found unharmed.||Aircraft video confirmed that high standing water continued well into the 25th in many neighborhoods, particularly those which received the heaviest rains between the 22nd and 24th and were either low lying or had poorly draining streets. Other affected streets were caked with mud. While most of the flooded roads and residences had 2 feet or less of water in them on the 25th, some pockets of 3 feet of water may have remained.||At least 67 residents sought shelter during the night, with several remaining for the next few days as the flood waters gradually receded.
August 2008Flash FloodRoma$50,000Only a few hours after rains had tapered off Starr County, another complex of thunderstorms crept into the already flooded areas of southwestern portions of the area, and an additional 4 inches or more fell in or near areas impacted by the original floods during the evening of the 22nd, causing perhaps up to eight or nine neighborhoods to have a number of road closures, as well as homes having water pushed into them by passing vehicles. After the rains subsided, the event evolved into an area wide flood which continued well into the night, requiring additional water rescues.
March 2026Flash FloodRoma$25,000Torrential rains estimated up to 2.5 in 30 to 45 minutes in Roma filled|up culverts near Arroyo Roma, and an estimated additional 1 to 2 following the|supercell overflowed drainage, resulting in a flash flood in the hilly parts of the city. Flooding began around 1 AM CST, and persisted until just after 4 AM CDT (3 AM CST), peaking at 320 AM CDT (220 AM CST). ||The combination of intense rainfall/rainfall rate, hilly terrain and poor|drainage, and rapid runoff due to prior extreme drought led to the flash flood|in Roma. Fast flowing water in streets was between 2 and 3 feet high at|the peak. ||The floodwaters pulled up pavement from several neighborhood streets in|the city. Up to 30 homes reported water levels inside, ranging from 6 to 1|foot, during peak flooding. A 2- to 3-foot deep hole was scoured out by the floodwaters next to a home near the intersection of Rau-Con St. and Bravo Ave., and several vehicles parked in driveways near the fast-flowing water had grass and mud left behind, up to 2 feet high on the sides of the vehicles.
March 2026Thunderstorm WindRoma$15,000An NWS Storm Survey conducted on March 8th found a track of wind damage from Roma High School to the east side of the city neighborhood grid. Average wind speed for all damage points was estimated at 65 mph, though the surveyed swath suggested 60 to 70 mph in the area. Damage included the following:|* Temporary fencing and benches blown down, field goal posts bent, and a sign adjacent to the baseball field bent of out the ground at Roma High School.|*Large wooden pole holding an election billboard ripped out of the ground across from the school.|*Several medium to large branches of healthy mesquite trees blown down in City of Roma neighborhoods.|*Electrical pole leaning at a 30 degree angle in the City of Roma.
August 2008Flash FloodRoma$10,000Numerous thunderstorms developing in Starr and Zapata County during the late afternoon of the 22nd merged into a relatively small, but intense, complex across extreme western and southwestern Starr County, extending from across the west side of Roma northward toward, but just south, of Falcon Dam. Thankfully for residents living in the east side of Roma, extending into Escobares and Garceo, these torrential rains - estimated to be at least 7 inches or more in a few spots - never stretched east toward previously swollen arroyos from the east side of Roma toward Escobares and Garceno. ||While these torrential rains caused widespread street flooding in the western and northwestern portions of Roma (along the northward bend in Highway 83), as reported by law enforcement, no structures were threatened. Lighter rains followed overnight into early Saturday in Starr County, with little additional impact.||The heaviest rains, perhaps nearing 9 inches, fell just across the Rio Grande in Ciudad Aleman, Mexico. No information on impacts to this location was received by the NWS office in Brownsville.
May 2008Thunderstorm WindRoma$5,000Law enforcement in Starr County reported power lines down and power outages occurred in Roma due to high winds from strong to severe thunderstorms in and near the area.
September 2006Flash FloodRoma$5,000City officials in Roma reported flash flooding in the Roma Creek with produced damage to the home of one resident in the area.
September 2008Flash FloodRoma$1,000Emergency Management officials from Starr County reported that six inches of water was covering and flowing across Highway 83 near La Rosita. It is likely that other minor flooding occurred near Roma, where an estimated 6 inches more rain fell on top of prodigious rainfall of more than 15 inches during the last third of August.
June 2019FloodRoma-The Roma Police Department reported several roads with minor flooding. Time of overall flooding is estimated based on report received at 1930 CDT.
May 2017Flash FloodRoma-Roma Police Department reported six inches of flowing water at the intersection of Harrison and Raucon near the Arroyo Roma in the city of Roma.
April 2004Flash FloodRoma-Local officials in Roma reported flash flooding of roads and low lying areas.
April 2004Tornado (F0)Roma-Local law enforcement reported a tornado just west of Roma. The tornado moved very slowly south with time and produced no damage before dissipating.
April 2004HailRoma-Very large hail was reported by the general public.
September 2003Flash FloodRoma-The general public reported street and yard flooding. Rising water levels were also reported in the Los Morenos creek.
May 2002HailRoma-0.75 inch hail observed by Fire and Rescue
November 2000HailRoma-Penny size hail was reported in Falcon Lake State Park by the public.
May 1993HailRoma-Golf ball-size hail was reported south of Roma.
May 2005HailRoma-no account filed
June 1998HailRoma-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Starr County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

1 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Roma-San Pedro International Bridge0.2 miles1984

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 72001371 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Starr CountyAll 9 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.