The original capital building of the Republic of the Rio Grande overlooked San Agustin Plaza in downtown Laredo 183 years ago.

Now, the tiny house with seven flags serves as a museum.

“We get a lot of people that didn't know the Republic existed,” Republic of the Rio Grande Museum Manager Andrea Ordonez said. “They're like, ‘we know about the Republic of Texas, but we never heard about this republic.’"

The Republic included Northern Mexico, and South Texas all the way up to the Nueces River.

It lasted for 283 days, and even had its own flag.

It started with President Antonio López De Santa Anna as a breakaway from Mexico.

“He repealed the constitution of Mexico, changing it from a federalist type of government to a centralist type of government,” Ordonez said. “So the people from this area didn't like that."

They joined other rebellion movements seen in Texas, Yucatán and Zacatecas.

“The people here felt like they had always been left to their own devices, they were very independent,” Ordonez explained. 

Antonio Zapata led the new country through its entire existence. Zapata was eventually sold out to the Mexican government.

“It didn't last very long, but we like to say even now we have that fighting spirit,” Ordonez said. “The spirit of being your own country that, I think, stays with the people from this area."

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