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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. The architecture of Roma mirrors its sister city of Ciudad Mier on the Mexican side of the river, as well as Guerrero Viejo upriver. Roma is notable for its buildings of river sandstone, caliche limestone and molded brick, using ''rejoneado'' (patterned large and small stones) and ''sillar'' (stone laid in an ashlar pattern) masonry techniques. Both methods employ an outer finish of rough lime plaster detailed with bands of smooth colored plaster, characteristic of northern Mexico. Roma also features innovative use of molded brick, brought to Roma by German immigrant Enrique (Heinrich) Portscheller, who used techniques of flat brick roofing from Monterrey to Mier, then developed a decorative brick used in Roma, Mier, Rio Grande City and Laredo. Portscheller designed buildings with his products and used wrought iron balconies in a manner reminiscent of both New Orleans and Monterrey. Roma preserves the bulk of his extant work.〔 The historic district includes the 1928 Roma-Ciudad Miguel Alemán International Bridge, as well as the river wharfs and custom house. ==History== Roma was established in 1821 in what had been the Spanish province of Nuevo Santander. The site offered a convenient crossing on the Rio Grande, which became known as ''El Paso de la Mula'' (Pass of the Mules). The area was notable for a salt trade from the Roma area to Monterrey. The Roma area became the Mexican province of Tamaulipas with Mexican independence, but then became part of Texas with the establishment of the Republic of Texas in 1835. Although there was a battle at Mier during the Mexican-American War in 1848, the region remained part of Texas. During the American Civil War the region became wealthy on the cotton trade, which was transshipped via Mexico to Europe. While steamboats were able to access Roma through the mid-nineteenth century, lowering water levels as a result of development upstream ended river shipment by the 1880s. Bypassed by railroads, Roma stagnated and inadvertently preserved itself from development.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Roma Historic District」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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