The Fort Brown Memorial Golf Course, located off of Riverside Boulevard, is not only home to an 18-hole, 6,072 yard course and driving range, but is also the location of historic Fort Texas, which was built under the command of Gen. Zachary Taylor in the 1840s. Besides being one of South Texas' exceptional golf courses, markers and an old Army cannon indicate remnants of the original star-shaped Fort Brown earthworks left untouched to preserve the significance of the area.
Fort Texas was built on the north bank of the Rio Grande by the U. S. government in 1846. The Americans were asserting a claim to disputed territory and needed a fort for defense against Mexican cannonade or attack from Matamoros. The anticipated attack resulted in the death of the acting fort commander, Major Jacob Brown, for whom the fort was renamed. Although the earthworks fort was soon abandoned, later versions of Fort Brown were involved in the Civil War and military training for both World Wars. A large portion of the UTB/TSC campus occupies land that once constituted the fort reservation.
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