LAREDO, li ri'd5, Tex., city, port of entry and county-seat of Webb County, on the Rio Grande opposite Nuevo Laredo, and on the Mexican National, the International and Great Northern, and the Rio Grande and Eagle Pass railroads, about 150 miles west of San Antonio. It is situated in an agricultural and stock-raising region and in the Rio Grande coal belt, with valuable iron ore deposits in the vicinity. Laredo was settled by the Spaniards in 1767 and was incorporated in 1848. The Spaniards found here Indians who tilled 'the soil and built houses. The early missionaries established here a mission some years before a permanent settlement was made. The chief manufacturing establishments are extensive concentrating and sampling works, brick-yards, furniture factories, foundry and machine-shop products, sheet-metal works, broom and mat tress factories, car and machine shops, brick works, wagon, pickle and cracker factories, a hide establishment, stock-yards, grain elevators and large coal yards. It is the trade centre for
a large section of the southwestern part of Texas and has a large international trade. Its imports amount to over $2,500,000 annually and its exports to $14,000,000. It is connected with Nuevo Laredo, on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande, by bridges. Some of the prominent buildings are the courthouse, the jail, the Mexi can National Hospital, the Mercy Hospital and the Ursuline Convent. It is the seat of the Laredo Seminary, established in 1882, under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal South Church, and the Ursuline Academy. The park of 65 acres is an attractive feature of the city. Pop. 15,461.