2025 ENDANGERED LATINX LANDMARKS
Year Built:
Ruidosa, Texas
El Corazon Sagrado de la Iglesia de Jesus
1915
El Corazon Sagrado de la Iglesia de Jesus (The Sacred Heart of the Church of Jesus) in Ruidosa, Texas, is a historic adobe church built by local laborers for Mexican and Mexican-American farming communities along the Rio Grande. Completed in 1915, it is believed to feature the largest remaining adobe arches in Texas. Abandoned around the 1950s, the structure deteriorated rapidly, though it has since been stabilized. The nonprofit Friends of the Ruidosa Church leads ongoing restoration, offering adobe conservation workshops and planning adaptive reuse to preserve its cultural, social, and religious significance. Continued support is critical to protect this central site of Latino heritage in Southern Presidio County.
"What makes this small adobe church so significant is that it’s a foundation for the rich history of a once-thriving Latinx farming community on the Rio Grande, where generations gathered for baptisms, quinceañeras, weddings, funerals, and countless celebrations." — Martha Stafford, Board Member, Friends of the Ruidosa Church
The Abuelas
Project
The Abuelas Project collects, curates, and amplifies stories of important Latinx movements, sites, and people across the country.
This GIS project encourages intergenerational storytelling through Storymaps that focus on Braceros, abandoned Mexican cemeteries, Route 66, and more.
Latinx Preservation Toolkit
The Toolkit is a bilingual booklet that empowers Latinx communities by demystifying historic preservation. The Texas Toolkit highlights four Latinx heritage success stories across the state, defines preservation terms, and provides guidance on how students, community members, and youth can preserve their communities.
Our next Toolkit will feature diverse stories across the borderlands.
Nuestra Herencia
Grant Program
We launched Nuestra Herencia Grant Program in 2024, providing $600,000 annually for Latinx heritage and historic preservation projects. This funding initiative focuses on empowering grassroots, Latinx-centered nonprofits.
It is supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, in partnership with the Social Impact Fund, which has contributed $1.8 million over three years.