LEAGUE OF UNITED LATIN AMERICAN CITIZENS Council 60

Felix Tijerina

1905-1965

                               By Thomas H. Kreneck, Ph.D.

I.  CONTEXT

            The modern Mexican American community came of age during the twentieth century. While a Mexican American population clearly existed during the nineteenth century, its development into a potent force within Texas and United States society resulted from large numbers of immigration during the first decades of the 1900s, its increasing urbanization during the 1920s, its growing organizational sophistication in the 1930s, its active participation in World War II, and its members’ involvement in business, the professions, politics and other leadership roles during the post war years.  These phenomena brought Mexican Americans into the limelight of pubic recognition and placed their issues on the Texas and United States civic and political agenda.  Noted Houstonian Felix Tijerina was an individual who both reflected the evolution of his community and gave direction to its development.  He was a personification of and a leader in the emergence of the modern Mexican American urban community in his home city of Houston, in Texas, and in the United States. 1

II.  OVERVIEW

            Felix Tijerina was born in the small villa of General Escobedo, Nuevo Leon, Mexico on April 29, 1905, the son of Rafael Tijerina and Dionicia Villarreal.  He was the second child and only son among six children in the family.  Of modest means, his father was a small farmer and his mother worked in the home.  In 1915, when Felix was only ten years of age, his father died.  He, his mother, and four surviving sisters struggled to make ends meet amid many hardships.  As a result of these difficult circumstances and because of the dislocation caused by the Mexican Revolution which had begun in 1910, Felix, his mother, four sisters, and other members of his extended family immigrated to the United States in 1915.  As such they became part of the large Mexican immigrant wave into Texas that would greatly increase the Mexican American population of the Lone Star State and the United States in general. 2

            The Tijerinas first settled in Robstown, Texas.  Although a lad of tender years, Felix was already the man of the house.  He had no opportunity to attend school either in Mexico or in the United States.  Through tutoring by his mother and self-teaching, Felix would learn to read and write only with great difficulty.  He came to this country unattended by any advantages except strength of character, strong family ties, and a willingness to work hard.  His first job in the United States was working in the Texas coastal bend cotton fields as a youngster. 3

            Between 1915 and 1917, Felix and his family migrated up the coastal bend to Sugarland, Texas, working in seasonal agriculture as they moved.  In Sugar Land, Felix worked as a sample boy for the Imperial Sugar Company refinery and as a water boy in the fields for the agricultural operations of Sugar Land Industries.  Soon, however, he found employment in nearby Houston, the region’s largest urban area.  He first worked on Houston’s Produce Row hauling and unloading fruits and vegetables and then found a job as a busboy in a Mexican restaurant on Houston’s Main Street. 4

            In 1922, Felix moved his mother and three surviving sisters into Houston, thus becoming part of the urbanization of the Texas Mexican population. They took up residence in Houston’s Sixth Ward.  As a busboy, he became acculturated to urban Texas society.  He later maintained that he learned “tomato catsup” as his first words of English while a busboy.  From that point onward, Tijerina felt that learning English was essential for success in life for everyone in the United States and he often used the story of learning “tomato catsup” to illustrate this need. At the advice of his employer, he attended six months of night school to improve his English skills and advanced to the level of waiter, where he became very popular with the Anglo American customers for his effervescent personality and diligent manner. 5   

            In 1929, he went from laborer to business owner when he opened a restaurant of his own.  This first restaurant was called the Mexican Inn and was located at 1209 Main Street.  In that restaurant, Tijerina continued to make many friends and acquaintances among Mexican and Anglo Houston society.  In 1933, he married Janie Gonzalez, who was originally from Sandy Fork, Texas.  (They would later adopt and raise two children, Felix Tijerina, Jr. and Janie Bell Tijerina.)  Unfortunately, due to the Great Depression, the Mexican Inn fell on hard times and Tijerina had to close in early 1936.  He then found a temporary job as a beer delivery man. 6 

            During the 1930s, however, Tijerina became a prominent member of Mexican American organizations which helped to give a collective voice to the Houston Hispanic community.  He was, for example, an early and prominent member of El Club Cultural Recreativo Mexico Bello, Houston’s most prestigious Hispanic social group dedicated to presenting larger society with the best view of Mexican American culture. Also, Tijerina was one of the earliest members of the Houston council of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), which would become a pacesetter in Hispanic civic affairs. 7   

            In 1937, Tijerina soon opened a new restaurant called “Felix Mexican Restaurant” at 1220 Westheimer Avenue on Houston’s affluent west side and in close proximity to some of the city’s most fashionable subdivisions, including River Oaks.  It was an immediate success and began to bring Felix into the public limelight. He also opened a successful “Felix Mexican Restaurant” in Beaumont in 1941.  He soon began to participate as the only Hispanic leader in such groups as the Community Chest and won acclaim for many civic activities in the Mexican and Anglo communities. 8 

            In 1942, Tijerina volunteered for service in World War II in the United States Army Air Corps and was stationed at Ellington Field.  As such, he was representative of the large numbers of Mexican Americans who cast their lot with the U.S. war effort against fascism.  He rose to rank of sergeant and received an honorable discharge in 1944. 9  

            Although already well known, it was in the post war years that Tijerina reached the zenith of his public contributions to and acclaim from society.  He became a philanthropist in such organizations as the Houston Rotary Club and a host of other community groups, both Mexican and Anglo.  He was close friends with such prominent individuals in Houston as Mayor Roy Hofheinz, R.E. “Bob” Smith, and many others. 10        

            In business, Tijerina made a giant leap forward when he opened his new “Felix Mexican Restaurant” at 904 Westheimer in 1948.  Immediately successful, it was one of the most attractive and exciting additions to the restaurant scene in Houston and catapulted Tijerina even further into the public eye.  The restaurant became a Houston landmark and a favorite to generations of customers before it closed in 2008.  Tijerina helped to popularize Mexican food among mainstream Houston.  The name “Felix” became synonymous with Mexican cuisine in the Bayou City.  Tijerina would open several more locations during the 1950s and 1960s until he had a chain of seven Felix Mexican Restaurants.  He also was a founding member of and only Hispanic member on the board of directors of a local bank and a savings and loan institution.  From these and other endeavors, he reportedly became the first Mexican American millionaire in Houston history. 11 

            Tijerina’s public recognition increased through his many post war civic endeavors.  For example, he was the first Hispanic ever to serve on the board of trustees of the Houston Housing Authority, eventually becoming its chairman. He was a leader in a host of other mainstream and Mexican American groups and a role model for Mexican Americans in Houston and across Texas.  He strived for Hispanic civil rights, but always within the structure and never in a confrontational manner. He was arguably the most recognized and admired Houstonian of Mexican decent of his time.12  

            Tijerina probably made his most lasting contribution to society, however, in his post war leadership role in LULAC.  He was a member of Houston LULAC Council 60, one of the most illustrious Hispanic organizations in Houston history.  From 1954 to1956, he was elected to two terms as LULAC state director of Texas.  From 1956 to 1960 he was elected to and served an unprecedented four terms as LULAC national president.  In that capacity he made two historic contributions.  First, as LULAC president and through energetic organizing he expanded the organization from having councils in five states of the southwest to having councils in thirteen states across the nation.  Because of his leadership, LULAC expanded into the Upper Midwestern states of Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, and Minnesota and to the Atlantic coast in New Jersey and New York.  Thus, Tijerina was responsible for LULAC becoming a national organization for the first time in its history. 13

            Second, as LULAC national president, Tijerina implemented an educational project called the “Little School of the 400” which was a program that sought to teach 400 basic words in English to Spanish dominant preschoolers.  In this manner, children would enter first grade with a working knowledge of English, be able to stay current with their lessons, not fall behind in their studies, and successfully pass the first grade.  By assaulting the “language barrier” the “Little School of the 400” would prevent Hispanic students from being held back, becoming discouraged and dropping out at the alarming rate that was occurring at that time.  Tijerina stressed English language training because he felt that he himself had been hampered because of his lack of English language skills when he was young and he wanted to prevent other youngsters from suffering under this handicap.  Like many in his generation, Tijerina felt that education was a key to success in life and sought to do what he could to assist young people advance in school. 14     

            At his own expense, Tijerina and his fellow LULAC members started the first Little School program in Ganado, Texas in 1957.   In the summer of 1958, he and LULAC implemented nine such schools in Texas.   The results were extremely positive as the overwhelming majority of those children who participated passed their first grade work and proceeded well with their education.  Tijerina financially underwrote the program himself, spending thousands of his own dollars on the effort.  In 1957, he also became a member of the Hale-Aikin Committee of Twenty-Four, which was a study by the Texas State Legislature to reform Texas education.  As a part of that body, Tijerina won support for his pre-school language training effort and lobbied successfully in the legislature for adoption of the program’s concept as part of the Texas Education Agency.  By 1959, the state legislature adopted and implemented the program as part of the state’s curriculum.  It was called the “Pre-School Instructional Classes for Non-English Speaking Children.”  During this undertaking, Tijerina became close friends with such Texas political figures as Governor Price Daniel.  Tijerina and LULAC then launched a promotional effort among the Texas Mexican community to enroll its children in the state-supported classes which began in the summer of 1960.  This effort was likewise successful so that by 1964, over 100,000 students had attended these summer classes. 15     

            At his own expense, Tijerina actively promoted his pre-school English training efforts across the Southwest.  Many state and national news organizations did stories on the program including Time magazine, the Saturday Evening Post, and NBC national radio. It likewise received much favorable publicity in Mexico and its press.  Articles on it were also printed in the Congressional Record.  The “Little School of the 400” became a forerunner to Project Head Start and influenced passage of the federal school entitlement acts sponsored by President Lyndon B. Johnson and Senator Ralph Yarborough, both of whom knew and respected Tijerina and his educational endeavors.  It likewise influenced such future Texas legislators as Carlos Truan of Nueces County who helped to implement bi-lingual education in Texas.  Thus, Tijerina’s “Little School” had a far reaching impact in the movement to address the educational needs of Mexican American children. 16  

            For his humanitarian efforts, Tijerina received many awards and honors.  In 1962, he was presented a special gold medal by the Mexican Secretary of Public Education Jaime Torres Bodet on behalf of the federal government of Mexico for his efforts to help children of Mexican decent in the United States. 17

            On September 4, 1965, Tijerina died of a heart attack at the relatively young age of sixty.  In 1981, Felix Tijerina Elementary School in Houston’s Second Ward was dedicated in his honor, it being the first school in Houston to be named for a Houstonian of Mexican descent.  The last of his restaurants, his flagship at 904 Westheimer, closed in 2008. 18 

 III. SIGNIFICANCE

            Felix Tijerina both reflected and as a leader gave direction to the emergence of the Mexican American community during the first six decades of the twentieth century.  He was one of the most successful and visible Mexican American entrepreneurs in Houston and Harris County history, especially as a restaurateur.  His flagship restaurant at 904 Westheimer was a culinary and architectural landmark in Houston for sixty years.  Perhaps the most admired Hispanic Houstonian of his time Tijerina was a harbinger of Mexican American involvement in mainstream civic activities. A noted philanthropist, he also ranks as one of the most important Mexican American leaders in twentieth century Texas history.

            Perhaps most important, his tenure as national president made LULAC into a national organization for the first time in its existence.  Under his national presidency, he carried LULAC from five states to thirteen states, spanning from the Southwest to the Upper Midwest, from the West Coast to the East Coast.  As LULAC president he made a lasting impact on education of Mexican American children in the post World War II period through his “Little School of the 400” concept which was adopted by the state of Texas and influenced federal educational policy.  As LULAC national president, especially in his advocacy of Hispanic education, he achieved national recognition. He was a role model for and mentor to many Mexican Americans in Houston and across Texas during his lifetime.  Altogether, he was a leading example of the rags to riches American success story of how a young immigrant lad overcame great odds and how Mexican immigrants have positively contributed to Texas and United States society.

IV.  DOCUMENTATION

1  Thomas H. Kreneck, Mexican American Odyssey: Felix Tijerina, Entrepreneur and Civic Leader, 1905-1965. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2001, pp. 3-14.

2  Ibid., pp. 15-21;  General Escobedo Municipio, Civil Registration, Nacimeientos, 1896-1910, Acta 17 for Feliberto Tijerina Villarreal, 29 de Abril de 1905.

3  Kreneck, Mexican American Odyssey, p. 22.

4 Ibid., pp. 23-33.

5 Ibid., pp. 35, 41-42;  Houston Post, August 8, 1955, p. 11.

6  Silas B. Ragsdale, “Biography: Felix Tijerina,” The Log: Weekly Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Houston, August 19, 1948, p. 4;  Kreneck, Mexican American Odyssey, pp. 52-56, 61, 71-72.

7 Ibid., pp. 62-70.

8  Ibid., pp. 72-74, 77, 86-87.

9  Ibid., pp. 89-90.

10  Houston Post, August 8, 1955, pp. 1, 11;  Louis Alexander, “Cafeman Tijerina Likes to Help Boys,” Houston Chronicle, May 18, 1953, p. 11A:  Kreneck, Mexican American Odyssey, pp. 109-110, 120-132.

11 Ibid., pp. 88, 105-108, 112-115, 274, 301-304.

12  Ibid., pp. 127-137, 266-272, 299-300;  “An Outstanding LULAC:  Felix Tijerina,”  LULAC News, February, 1954.

13  Kreneck, Mexican American Odyssey, pp. 151-165, 192-272.

    14  Marie Dauplaise, “The ‘Forgotten Minds’ Are Remembered,”  Houston Press, March 12, 1958; Louis Alexander, “Texas Helps Its Little Latins,”  Saturday Evening Post, August 5, 1961;  Kreneck, Mexican American Odyssey, pp.

15  Ibid., pp. 200-203, 235-237, 244-248, 252-253, 256-259, 262-263, 309;  Keith Elliot, “Now Juanito Can Read,” Coronet, July, 1961, pp. 132-136.

16  Kreneck, Mexican American Odyssey, pp. 216, 254-256, 286-287, 290, 307-309.

17  Ibid., p. 295.

18 Houston Chronicle, September 5, 1965, p. 1; Houston Post, September 5, 1965, pp. 1, 4; Kreneck, Mexican American Odyssey, pp. 3-4, 314-315.  

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