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  • Tipica Orquesta Mexicana and Baytown Mexican School Band The Tipica Orquesta Mexicana and Baytown Mexican School Band, directed by Dr. Antonio Bañuelos, posing on the steps of the Market Street U.S. Post Office building, circa 1937. Photo courtesy of Sterling Municipal Library. Used with permission.

  • Tipica Orchestra The Tipica Orchestra from Baytown, directed by Dr. Antonio Bañuelos, was popular as it toured Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. With 30 members, it was the only all-girl Mexican orchestra in the United States. Photo courtesy of Sterling Municipal Library. Used with permission.

  • Tipica Orchestra Dr. Bañuelos founded the Tipica Orchestra when he came to Baytown in the 1930s. Photo courtesy of Sterling Municipal Library. Used with permission.

Dr. Antonio Bañuelos Biography

Dr. Antonio Banuelos was born in Spain, but his family fled to Mexico due to political danger. He learned to play instruments at a conservatory in Germany, and he traveled through the United States performing. The orchestra he started in the 1920s, which included 180 children from a slum area in Juarez, played for President Obregon of Mexico in 1924 and earned fame and trophies wherever they performed.

 

After coming to Houston, Dr. Banuelos became a member of the Houston Symphony Orchestra. In 1935, Humble Oil and Refining Company hired Dr. Banuelos to teach music to the children of Humble employees, and the company and the parents paid his salary. He directed La Tipica or Tipica Orchestra Mexicana, an all-girls orchestra, and the Baytown Mexican School Band, an all-boys band. Together these programs became the music program at De Zavala Elementary School in the middle of the Depression. The school district took over his salary, so children of non-refinery workers were able to enroll in the music program.

 

The Tipica Orchestra Mexicana included 30 female members who played throughout Texas. Parents scraped together money to buy their children’s instruments, but Dr. Banuelos often supplied instruments he paid for himself. Toward the end of World War II, they played for servicemen in veterans hospitals.

These young ladies played for refinery employees as they changed shifts, and the workers would stop to buy war bonds. Since the orchestra members often missed school to play out of town, Dr. Banuelos required them to maintain an A average.
The Tipica Orchestra Mexicana played all over Texas and in New Mexico, Arizona and California. 
Dr. Bañuelos founded the Tipica Orchestra when he came to Baytown in the 1930s.
Photo courtesy of Sterling Municipal Library. Used with permission.

 

The Baytown Mexican School Band specialized in Latin music, but also played popular music. Some of the band members enlisted in the armed forces for World War II and played in military bands. When Dr. Banuelos’ former students came home, they created a band named Blue Jackets, which performed throughout the Houston area. Although he moved from Baytown in 1947, he left his students with skills and talents, along with the assurance that they were people of worth.

 

“Dr. Banuelos’ dedication to his students and to his excellence in teaching resulted in excellence in learning and filled the students, the family and the community with pride through their success,” said Luciano (Lucky) Salinas, a long-time educator who supported the nomination of Dr. Banuelos.' 
The announcement to name the school after Dr. Bañuelos was made at the regular GCCISD Board of Trustees meeting on December 16, 2013.

- Original article here.