‘She was certainly a trailblazer’: CITC advocates for rec hall name change

Whether it's preserving a historical building or creating art to honor those before us, recognizing the history and those who had a part in it is something that many in San Marcos strive to do. 

The Council for the Indigenous and Tejano Community (CITC) started an initiative to rename the City Recreation Hall to Pauline Espinosa Community Hall. On Wednesday, the CITC held a press conference at the Quinta Caporales (QC) Meat Market to bring awareness to Espinosa’s nomination. 

“She was certainly a trailblazer, she was a Mexican American female who owned a business during a time, late 1930s, that was pretty unheard of to be established, especially community-wide,” said Bobbie Garza-Hernandez, co-founder of the CITC.

Pauline Espinosa and her husband Jose opened their first local business in San Marcos in the late 1930s. The produce shop would later move locations and be named Pauline’s Grocery. Along with running the daily operations of the store, Pauline also played a large role in serving the community and those in need. 

“She did what she had to do to make things right for the city. Those were difficult times, sometimes dangerous,” said Frank Contreras, Parks and Recreation board member. “When she took the leadership, those were very difficult times and it's only proper and just that we honor her for her business at that time, it was not easy and she stood her ground.” 

Espinosa was known to assist others by giving store credit and jobs to individuals to help feed their families. She was also known to be friends with Hays County Sheriff Jack Gary, who trusted Espinosa’s knowledge of this community and respected her assessments on bond requests. 

Previously, Pauline Espinosa was honored in a mural painted on the side of the QC Meat Market along with other prominent Latinx figures in San Marcos. The mural project was led by Mano Amigo, who also showed support for the renaming. 

“Mrs. Espinosa repeatedly offered her property as collateral to the sheriff's office to enable community members to await their court date in the comfort of their own homes instead of in a cage penalized for their poverty,” said Eric Martinez, Policy Director for Mano Amiga. “We’d like to celebrate Mrs. Espinosa for taking action, decades before Mano Amiga and the Bail Project each launched our own respective bail funds alongside one another.” 

The City of San Marcos Parks and Recreation Board will further discuss and vote on the renaming of the City Recreation Hall during its meeting on Thursday, Dec. 16 at 6:30 p.m. 

Citizens and community members looking to show support can attend the meeting in person at Grant Harris, Jr. Building Conference Room at 401 E Hopkins Street. Individuals can also attend virtually at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86257117268 with the webinar 862 5711 7268. 

Those looking to speak during the 30-minute citizen comment period can do so by emailing jcase@sanmarcostx.gov before 12 p.m. on Dec. 16. Written comments can also be submitted to the same email address. Persons wishing to speak in person may sign-up prior to the meeting being called to order at 5:30 p.m.