Alberto & Eva Garcia House
This post is a part of our East Austin Barrio Landmarks Project honoring the historic and cultural significance of East Austin's Mexican American community. For more information on the project—including our complete blog series and self-guided tour—click here.
The Garcia Family, (PICB-16907), (Austin History Center, Austin Public Library)
Dr. Alberto and Eva Garcia were a trailblazing couple that advocated for Mexican American interests in the medical, political, and social spheres of 20th century Austin.
BY KATHERINE ENDERS
Alberto Gonzalo Garcia, the first American-trained Mexican doctor to practice medicine in Austin, was born in Mexico in 1889. He went to live with Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, a medical missionary, in Battle Creek, Michigan in 1900. It was here that Alberto eventually trained to become a physician. He graduated from the American Medical Missionary College in 1910 with a Doctor of Medicine degree, then pursued a second medical degree from Tulane University Medical School in New Orleans in 1914. His future wife, Eva Carrillo, had a similar upbringing.
Born in Mexico in 1883, she was orphaned at a young age and cared for by medical missionary Dr. Levi Salmans. Eva attended the Colegio Juarez in Guanajuato, Mexico, the Chicago Training School, and finally Bethany Hospital in Kansas. She studied nursing and worked at the famous Hull House in Chicago during her education. Eva and Alberto met while working at the Battle Creek Sanitorium and were married in 1911.
Group Portrait of Dr. Garcia (Bottom Row, 4th from Left) and Dr. Salmans (Bottom Row, 3rd From Left) with Nurses at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Guanajuato, Mexico, circa 1910. (PICB-16899), (Austin History Center, Austin Public Library)
The Location of Dr. Garcia’s Private Practice and La Vanguardia (Texas Historical Commission via the Portal to Texas History)
After short stints in Mexico and New Orleans, the young Garcia family arrived in Austin in 1915. They first lived on East 16th Street until moving south to the Queen Anne style residence at 1214 Newning Avenue around 1920. Architect and original owner Samuel Preston Jr. had designed the home in 1886.
The Garcias were the first Mexican American family in the white, segregated neighborhood and there was reportedly resistance about a non-Anglo family moving in. However, the Garcias prevailed, staying in their Newning Avenue home for the rest of their lives. Today the home serves as a contributing structure in the Travis Heights-Fairview Park Historic District that was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2021.
By 1920, Dr. Garcia had opened a private practice downtown in the Morley Brothers building at 209 East 6th Street. In addition to Dr. Garcia’s practice on the upper level, the ground floor housed Morley Drug Company and later Grove Drug Company over the years. The building is still there today with the iconic Grove Drug sign still on display. Dr. Garcia was generous with his treatments, especially towards minority communities, and did not let patients’ inability to pay get in the way of their receiving care. He would occasionally host free clinics at his house, and even let patients stay with him when needed. In the 1950s, Dr. Garcia became involved with free city medical clinics at the Brackenridge Hospital. In addition to providing services there, he advocated for more money being allocated to Brackenridge Hospital so it could expand and serve more community members. Grateful patients wanting to show appreciation for their free or low cost services would line up outside the Garcia family’s home around Christmastime to present the family with a gift of appreciation.
In addition to his practice of medicine, Dr. Garcia had many other intellectual pursuits. He spoke five languages: English, Spanish, German, Greek, and Hebrew. He played chess by mail, and also hosted chess tournaments at his home. One of his previous chess mates, Anita Brewer, praised him for his acceptance of women as equals at a time when many other men would not even play chess with her. He was also known to be very opinionated about civic issues, writing letters to the editors of various publications. His points were so compelling that his letters were often published. Dr. Garcia was also very interested in living a healthful lifestyle which was somewhat unusual at the time. He ate very little meat, practiced yoga, and was even interested in astrology.
The Garcia’s Newning Avenue Home, Photo Courtesy of Melanie Martinez
From the time of their arrival to Austin, Dr. Garcia and Eva were prominent political activists who advocated for the equality of the Mexican American community in Austin. Unfortunately, the racism of the era was blatant.
When screenings of the racist film The Birth of a Nation swept the country after its 1915 release, the popularity of the Ku Klux Klan swelled across the United States. The KKK found a strong support base in Texas, and it was not long until terrible Klan violence was happening regularly in Austin. The Garcias were appalled by the Klan’s influence in the city. In fact, the Garcia home was less than two blocks away from the KKK’s headquarters in Austin at that time, giving them ample opportunity to observe the Klan’s intimidation and scare tactics. Even with this frightening reality so close to them, the Garcias did not back down. Dr. Garcia was known to care for victims who had been tarred and feathered by the KKK. The Garcias were particularly bothered by the fact that the Austin American and the Austin Statesman newspapers were sympathetic to the Klan. The Garcias were inspired to start a newspaper of their own that would focus on Mexican American concerns in Austin along with accurately reporting the race-based violence perpetrated by the KKK in Texas.
Dr. Alberto & Eva Garcia on their 50th Wedding Anniversary in 1961, (PICB-16897) (Austin History Center, Austin Public Library)
To this end, Dr. Garcia, still working as a doctor, enrolled in the journalism program at the University of Texas in 1918. After his graduation, he and Eva created the first Spanish-language newspaper in Austin, the La Vanguardia. They ran the newspaper from 1920 to 1921 out of the same building as Dr. Garcia’s medical practice on East 6th Street. Although La Vanguardia was short-lived, it was an important milestone for Mexican American political activism in Austin.
The Garcias continued to express their political convictions through participation in a variety of community and political groups. Dr. Garcia was a strong advocate for labor rights and racial equality. In addition to his private practice and work at Brackenridge Hospital, he was also an honorary staff member at the Holy Cross Hospital which provided services for the Black community of Austin. He remained a strong supporter of the University of Texas’ Journalism School throughout his life, and also became involved with the Austin Chamber of Commerce.
Eva was a strong advocate in her own right. She tirelessly fought segregation in her neighborhood and city. When her family was not allowed to swim at the Stacy pool located a few blocks from their home, Eva brought her children to swim anyway. This bold action on Eva’s part led to the neighborhood pool’s desegregation. Eva also established a chapter of Ladies LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens) in Austin in 1938. With Ladies LULAC, she fought to desegregate movie theaters and public schools. She was also an active participant in the Womens’ Christian Temperance Union along with the League of Women Voters of Texas. She worked hard to encourage other Mexican Americans to vote and be active participants in Austin’s civic sphere.
Dr. Alberto and Eva Garcia were both highly respected members of the community. They did much to further Mexican American interests in Austin, especially through political activism and speaking out against injustices they witnessed in their city. Today, they are remembered for their bold advocacy against racism in Austin.
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“Alberto Gonzalo and Eva Garcia Papers An Inventory of the Collection.” Texas Archival Resources Online. Austin History Center. Accessed February 27, 2022. https://txarchives.org/aushc/finding_aids/00274.xml.
“Dr. Alberto Garcia Dies Here at 73.” Austin American Statesman, September 23, 1962. https://www.proquest.com/hnpaustinamericanstatesman/docview/1609626064/5BCF7B20F6524F22PQ/1.
“Dr. Alberto G. Garcia Scholarship.” Endowments. University of Texas at Austin, March 30, 2009. https://www.endowments.giving.utexas.edu/dr-alberto-g-garcia-scholarship/.
Garcia, Martha X. “Garcia, Alberto Gonzalo (1889–1962)” Handbook of Texas. Texas State Historical Association, October 1, 1995. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/garcia-alberto-gonzalo.
“LULAC Founder Eva Garcia, 93, Dies in Austin.” Austin American Statesman, September 28, 1979. https://www.proquest.com/hnpaustinamericanstatesman/docview/2027660110/5BCF7B20F6524F22PQ/4.
Martinez, Melanie. Garcia House Interview. Personal, February 11, 2022.
Meyers, Terri, and Kristen Brown. “Travis Heights-Fairview Park Historic District National Register of Historic Places Registration Form,” July 1, 2020.
Orozco, Cynthia E. “Garcia, Eva Carrillo De (1883–1979).” Handbook of Texas. Texas State Historical Association, October 1, 1995. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/garcia-eva-carrillo-de.
Orozco, Cynthia E. “The Women of Lulac.” LULAC. Accessed February 27, 2022. https://lulac.org/about/history/women/.
Rockwell, Brad. The Life and Times of Alberto G. Garcia: Physician—Mexican Revolutionary—Texas Journalist—Yogi. Austin, TX: Alegría Press, 2020.
“Top Skill Freely Given In City Clinic Services.” Austin American Statesman, October 17, 1954. https://www.proquest.com/hnpaustinamericanstatesman/docview/1609759873/5E35F9FB4C974421PQ/52.
PRESERVATION AUSTIN IS INDEBTED TO THE FOWLER FAMILY FOUNDATION FOR SUPPORTING THIS WORK AND FOR MAKING THE EAST AUSTIN BARRIO LANDMARKS PROJECT POSSIBLE.