Queen City of the Rio Grande (Del Rio nickname)

“Queen City of the Rio Grande” was the nickname of Brownsville in the 1890s and 1900s. Del Rio has called itself the “Queen City of the Rio Grande” since the 1920s and this nickname has stuck to Del Rio (and not to Brownsville).
 
A pamphlet titled Del Rio, Texas: Queen City of the Rio Grande. was published in the 1920s; the book Del Rio, Queen City of the Rio Grande by Douglas Braudaway was published in 2002.
 
 
Wikipedia: Del Rio, Texas
Del Rio is a border city in and the county seat of Val Verde County, Texas, United States. Del Rio is connected with Ciudad Acuña via the Lake Amistad Dam International Crossing and Del Río-Ciudad Acuña International Bridge. Del Rio is also home to Laughlin Air Force Base, the busiest pilot training base in the United States Air Force.
 
Micropolitan area
Del Rio is the principal city of the Del Rio Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Val Verde County; the micropolitan area had an estimated population of over 50,000 in 2007. Located across from Del Rio, in the Mexican state of Coahuila, is the city of Ciudad Acuña with a city population of 209,000.
 
Del Rio is known as the American address of legendary Mexican radio stations XERA and XERF just over the U.S.-Mexico border in Ciudad Acuña; their 500,000 watt signals could be heard at night as far away as Canada. Legendary deejay Wolfman Jack operated XERF in the 1960s, using a Del Rio address to sell various products advertised on the station.
 
History
The Spanish established a small settlement south of the Rio Grande in present day Mexico and some Spaniards settled on what became the United States side of the Rio Grande as early as the 18th century. However, true development of the U.S. side of the Rio Grande did not begin until after the American Civil War.
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Del Rio, Texas : queen city of the Rio Grande.
Publisher: [S.l. : s.n., 192-?]
Edition/Format:  Book : English
     
29 May 1949, Dallas (TX) Morning News, “Vacation Center: Sights Across Rio Grande Beckon Del Rio Visitors” by Charles Burton, sec. 3, pg. 15:
DEL RIO, Texas, May 28.—This historic ranch country town calls itself the Queen City of the Rio Grande.
 
And just as unblushingly it admits to being “the vacation center of the old Southwest.”
 
Google Books
The Roguish World of Doctor Brinkley
By Gerald Carson
New York, NY: Rinehart
1960
Pg. 195:
Perhaps, Brinkley’s literature hinted, you’ll find an opportunity to invest your money in Del Rio and decide to stay in the “Queen City of the Rio Grande.”
   
OCLC WorldCat record
Del Rio, queen city of the Rio Grande
Author: Douglas Braudaway
Publisher: Charleston, SC : Arcadia, ©2002.
Series: Making of America series. 
Edition/Format:  Book : English
 
Google Books
USA by Rail
By John Pitt
Guilford, CT : Globe Pequot Press
2008
Pg. 132:
DEL RIO (185/160) The Queen City of the Rio Grande, otherwise known as ‘the wool and mohair capital of the world’, Del Rio is famous for sheep, goats and the Val Verde winery (oldest in Texas).