ISBN 978-0-578-08240-0 $45.95
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McAllen
L E A D I N G
T H E
W A Y
The First 100 Years 1911 - 2011 EILEEN MATTEI A publication of the McAllen Chamber of Commerce
Sparsely settled in 1908-1909, McAllen drew farmers to town to shop and to ship their produce. Windmills pumped water for use at the McAllen Hotel, in the foreground, and for residences.
McAllen LEADING THE WAY
The First 100 Years 1911 - 2011
While the young city's dusty streets could turn to mud with seasonal rain, shoppers kept clean and dry thanks to wooden and, later, concrete sidewalks.
McAllen
L E A D I N G
T H E
W A Y
The First 100 Years 1911 - 2011 EILEEN MATTEI A publication of the McAllen Chamber of Commerce Published and managed by Topp Direct Marketing 1117 N. Stuart Place Road, Suite 103 Harlingen, Texas 78552-4344 John W. Topp, President Alan Hollander / Tequila Group Advertising Art Director / Graphic Designer / Photo Editing & Digital Retouching Geoff Alger / Curator, McAllen Heritage Center Eileen Mattei - Writer Frank Birkhead - Historian Jeffrey Millar / Tequila Group Advertising Lynne Lerberg – Editorial Assistant / Administration Bracken Millar / Tequila Group Advertising
First Edition Printed in the United States of America by Signature Book Printing, www.sbpbooks.com Copyright Š 2011 McAllen Centennial Publications All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to: McAllen Chamber of Commerce 1200 Ash Avenue McAllen, Texas 78501 956.682.2871 ISBN: 978-0-578-08240-0 4
Forward L E A D I N G
T H E
W A Y
Explorers and ranchers had traveled this land for hundreds of years, but the history of McAllen the city begins with the pioneers who decided that a patch of thorny brushland near a railroad track was going to be their home. Leading the Way: McAllen's First 100 Years honors the legacy of those who had the gumption and passion to settle in this spot six miles from the Rio Grande. Those people had a belief in themselves and a belief in what McAllen could become. On one of the nation's last frontiers, they went after the American Dream. Over the past century, people have come to McAllen with faith that the city was the best place to build a home, raise a family, or open a business. Decade after decade, children grew up to become part of our community while newcomers kept arriving to put down their own roots. Working together, people settled in, and with time, blended their cultures and their families, their traditions and languages. The result is our vibrant and forward-looking city. The stories here recall the people and events that shaped the city's future and its prosperity. Here we see the foundation of McAllen's future. Richard Cortez Mayor McAllen, Texas 5
In 1942, young soldiers from Moore Air Field north of Mission came to McAllen to jitterbug with USO hostesses.
Acknowledgements L E A D I N G
T H E
W A Y
Without the priceless assistance of Geoff Alger and Frank Birkhead, this book would not have been possible. John Topp organized and managed the entire publication, an enterprise of daunting dimensions. Alan Hollander artistically merged design and countless photographic images. Lynne Lerberg provided invaluable backup. People like Sylvia Alanis, Spud Brown, and Enrique Guerra Jr. told me family stories that brought McAllen to life and supplied photos. So many helpful individuals have contributed their knowledge and enthusiasm. I thank them for the privilege of working with them and for expanding my appreciation of McAllen. Eileen Mattei Photo Credits We gratefully acknowledge the many individuals and organizations who contributed the photographs in this book. The photographs appear courtesy of: Sylvia S. Alanis, Geoffrey Alger, Arts District Business Center, Spud Brown, Bruce Lee Smith Estate, Bryan Tumlinson Photography, City of McAllen, First Presbyterian Church, Girl Scouts of Greater South Texas, Lucille Graham, Enrique E. Guerra, Cecilia Guillot, Harlingen Arts & Heritage Museum, Alan Hollander, Jones & Jones, John Kreidler, McAllen Chamber of Commerce, McAllen Economic Development Corporation, McAllen Heritage Center, McAllen Public Library, Bob McCreery, Museum of South Texas History, John A. Paris, Rio Grande Valley Ballet, William H. Sanborn, Bill Stocker, The Library of Congress, The Robert Runyon Photograph Collection CN, CT, di_ore_number 3035, 3036, 3038, 3043, 3053, 3055, 3059, 3062 & 3067 The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin, Tom Weekley, Bill Whalen. References Allhands, James L. Railroads to the Rio, 1960. Amberson, Mary M. M. et al. I Would Rather Sleep in Texas, 2003. Falls, History of the Seventh Regiment. Jacobson, Lori. “Soldiers in the Valley 1916-17” 1982 MIM. Johnson, Marjorie. History of the Rio Grande Valley, 2001. Osborn, Frank. “Before and after coming to the Lower Rio Grande Valley.” McAllen High School. McAllen, A Bicentennial Reflection, 1976. McAllen Library files. Monty's Monthly, 1920-1935. Spence, Ruth G. The Nickel Plated Highway to Hell: A political history of Hidalgo County, 1986. Ramsey, Closner Files. Robertson, Brian. Wild Horse Desert, 1985. Sasse, Fred. “Memories of Men of the D Battery…at McAllen Texas-1916.” The Monitor. Vickers, Paul. “City of Palms: Historical Facts (50th Anniversary).” 6
For decades, Archer Park, shown here in the 1960s, has provided a place to relax, sit in the shade, and listen to music in the cool of the evening.
Table of Contents L E A D I N G
T H E
Turning Point I: The Tale of Two Townsites 1908-1911
W A Y
8
Turning Point II: Troops Spark Changes 1916-1918
14
Panoramic Foldout: McAllen 1916
19
Turning Point III: Rolling Out the Welcome Mat 1960
24
Turning Point IV: Shifting into High Gear 1973-1976
28
The Visionaries
32
Open for Business
36
Destination McAllen
46
Shaping the Community
52
Arts and Culture
58
Taking Time Off
64
The Next 100 Years
72
Timeline: McAllen Through the Years
76
Family and Business Profiles
106
Index
152
7
1 TURNING POINT I
•
1908-1911
The Tale of Two Town Sites
The Dewey and Osborn families were among those arriving in the new town of McAllen in 1908. Tent camps like theirs dotted the brushland while people waited for houses to be built.
On May 16, 1907, the McAllen Town Company was founded by William Briggs, John Closner and O. Ems Jones on land Briggs had purchased for three dollars per acre. The new townsite company cleared the brushland and began selling lots in the town called East McAllen, located on 640 acres two miles east of the first McAllen train depot.
The roof on the right advertises Guerra Brothers General Merchandise, opened by brothers Enrique and Modesto before their father joined them in business. Cantina La Esmeralda, Proprietor A. Saenz, was reportedly the first building erected in the new town.
Briggs and Closner had jumped at the opportunity to establish their town. Four months earlier, on January 26, 1907, James B. McAllen and his half-brother John Young had dissolved their McAllen Townsite Company. In its two years of existence, the McAllen Townsite Company had done nothing to develop the property at the McAllen train depot, neither platting the tract nor promoting the land. It's unknown if the family felt they were protecting their commercial properties to the south in the county seat, now known as Hidalgo, by not developing a rival town at McAllen or, maybe they had no interest in town building, preferring to focus on ranching. The McAllen Land Co. founded in 1908 sold town lots to buyers who opened lumberyards and general merchandise stores.
Back at the beginning The story of two towns named McAllen actually starts around 1902 when land and canal companies began developing farm tracts north of the Rio Grande. William Briggs and various partners began purchasing over 12,400 acres of porciones (long, narrow north-south strips of land with Rio Grande frontage dating to the Spanish colonial era), most owned jointly and individually by John McAllen, James B. McAllen and John Young. In the summer of 1904, the Sam Fordyce rail line, a branch of the St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico Railway, pushed straight west from the Harlingen junction. Land owners and developers granted the railroad rights of way and bonus land in acknowledgment of the traffic the train would draw to their property. “When our grading forces came through McAllen’s fat slice of Hidalgo County land, nothing existed,” recalled railroad construction administrator J. L. Allhands. John Closner told him, “John (McAllen) would never do anything to
10
By 1901, the twice daily arrival of trains brought crowds to the depot to find out the news and see who was traveling. Note the semaphore accessed by the roof ladder. This depot burned down in 1914 when stored ammunition exploded. (The 1905 west McAllen depot had vertical planks.)
promote his town. He never gave us an acre towards the bonus until after the railroad was put through.� With the train track laid down, on December 5, 1904, Uriah Lott, John McAllen, James B. McAllen, Lon C. Hill, and John Young formed the McAllen Townsite Company with a $40,000 investment. Railway service began on December 19, 1904. In 1905 Closner cleared a road from the isolated McAllen depot straight south to the county seat. Wagons rumbled down Depot Road connecting the river to the rail. By 1906 Samuel Samano’s general store and a tiny lumberyard huddled near the depot. The station agent, it was said, sat at the depot and shot deer that wandered past his lonely post. But in December 1906, two years after a steam locomotive first went through the point named McAllen, railroad coordinator J. McManus issued an ultimatum to James B. McAllen. He could choose either to develop the McAllen townsite
The Presbyterian Church, on the right, was completed in 1910, a year after the Methodists built their own church. Oil lanterns illuminated evening services. Looking north, the McChesney Brothers store, the train depot, and the ice plant are visible in the background.
11
McAllen School students, posed with a donkey in 1909 or 1910, brought lunches of cold biscuits and chicken.
by clearing the land and laying out streets or else he could deed half of the town’s 400 acres to the St. Louis Union Trust Co. representing the railroad’s ownership and dissolve the townsite company. The townsite company was closed down, although Horace Dennett later opened a grocery and dry goods near the still-operating depot and a few houses were built. In the meantime, Briggs’ canal companies had been clearing land and digging a main channel north. Engineer Rowland E. Horn was hired to plat the town of East McAllen, lining up gridded streets east of the canal. He placed the town’s center around the railroad track at Main Street and the privately-built railroad depot. The town site stretched from 10th to 18th Street and from Railroad Avenue to Houston Avenue. A saloon at 17th and Railroad Avenue was the first business opened followed by the McChesney Brothers General Store. Briggs moved a two-story wooden building from 17th Street to Main and Railroad Avenue, where it became the McAllen Hotel. Mrs. O.P. Archer managed the hotel which had no electricity or running water, although a windmill out back supplied water for the single bathroom and for water basins in the rooms. A tent city sprang up and served as home for the Dewey and Osborn families and many others as they waited for their houses to be built. The main canal of the Rio Bravo Irrigation Company crossed the rail line in the vicinity of present day South Bicentennial Street, in September 1908. “The coming of the Rio Bravo Canal ...injected life and spirit into things” and spurred McAllen’s growth, Dr. Frank Osborn told Allhands. Wagon tracks crossed the
12
dusty streets where, by the end of 1908, East McAllen had a population around 300. The young town had two saloons, five stores including the Guerra brothers’, two lumberyards and a one-room school house with 20 students of all ages. In 1909, the Rio Grande, unrestrained by levees, flooded the new town three times. Years later, Frank Osborn wrote, “you could get in a boat a little this side of the country club and go all the way to Reynosa if you had anything to go for.” Osborn, named postmaster, moved equipment from the untended west McAllen post office into his new drug store building. The first edition of the weekly The Monitor hit the streets on December 11 and reported that a $10,000 public school was to be built and that Dr. R. S. Pershing would open a 20-ton ice plant. “Two years ago not a house was standing where McAllen now stands,” trumpeted the paper. “It was April 1908 when the first house was erected.” Arriving in 1910 to manage the McAllen Town Co., T. Jud Powell recalled, “You couldn’t get very far from the hotel or the general merchandise store without running into dense brush.” Yet that year The Monitor reported that McAllen farmers had shipped 52 cars of cabbages, 62 cars of onions and 15 cars of watermelons. By this point, west McAllen had disappeared. The new Business Men’s Club, the predecessor of the Chamber of Commerce, installed a horse watering trough on Main Street. On February 13, 1911, following a vote by 45 men who had at least six months residency within city limits, McAllen was incorporated. Frank Crow was elected mayor. An early ordinance prohibited four-legged livestock from roaming inside city limits. The town had turned a corner.
A wagonload of merrymakers prepared for a trip to Mission’s Independence Day parade in 1910. O.P. Archer, who came to McAllen to run the first hotel, opened numerous businesses: a feed and seed, ice cream parlor, auto dealership.
13
Troop trains brought 12,000 wool-clad National Guardsmen from New York to McAllen in a rainy July 1916.
2 TURNING POINT II
•
1916-1918
Troops Spark Changes
Trumpeters of the 71st New York Infantry summoned soldiers to meals, formations, and endless gun drills.
Following the 1910 Mexican Revolution, bandit raids erupted across the Rio Grande Valley, alarming McAllen residents. Texas National Guardsmen, arriving in 1914, had little success controlling the escalating number of robberies, kidnappings, and killings attributed to border bandits. The discovery of the treasonous Plan of San Diego with the arrest of Basilio Ramos at the Guerra brothers’ store in McAllen brought the Mexican conflict to the heart of the city. It was in earshot already.
“On quiet days in school, the teacher would let us stand on the roof and listen to the fighting in Mexico,” Lucille Rich Eskildsen recalled about her school days during the bandit era. “It was always a game for us children.” President Woodrow Wilson increased the military presence in the Valley to a total of 111,000 troops in 1916. The McAllen’s Business Men’s Club contributed $2,500 to secure land for a military camp in the town, according to pioneer Dr. Frank Osborn. From July 2 to July 12, 1916, trains ferried over 12,000 New York National Guard soldiers, their tents, cannons and rifles, motorcycles with sidecars, mules and wagons to McAllen from the Harlingen rail junction. As they marched down McAllen’s unpaved streets, the 1st and 2nd New York Cavalry, 1st and 2nd New York Artillery, the 7th, 12th and 69th Infantry Regiments, along with an ambulance company, field hospital, Signal Corps and the 22nd Engineers, greatly outnumbered the town folk. Establishing their camp between Depot Road and 18th Street, the soldiers had to remove acres of
At the intersection of Main and First Avenue (today's Business 83), the McAllen Hotel welcomed guests whose sons and husbands had come to McAllen with New York and New Jersey National Guard units.
16
maneuvers as World War I loomed. In reality, the thousands of troops stationed along the Rio Grande presented a powerful deterrent for lawless elements. Infantry patrols, wearing protective leggings, and cavalrymen flowed across the
The city donated land for the camp, but soldiers spent weeks clearing prickly pear cactus and mesquites to have space for their tents, weapons, and horse picket lines.
brushlands and swerved around mesquite and cactus. The troops faced no battles but plenty of bugs; no dangers but great discomfort.
Built in 1926, the Hidalgo Reynosa suspension bridge was a welcome improvement on the rowboats and ferries that had connected McAllen to Mexico.
The arrival of 12,000 men overwhelmed the city’s utilities: the light plant had only a single cylinder engine, and the water supply was overstretched. Existing retail businesses – saloons, cafés, groceries – could not keep up with the demands of their new customers. The Palace of Sweets, an ice cream parlor, closed its doors every 20 minutes to regulate the flow of soldiers seeking a snack. “Business was so great we had to handle the customers in shifts and keep police at the door,” said owner Mrs. O. P. Archer. The McAllen Café, which Marion Floyd Dilley had purchased in 1915, stayed open 16 hours a day to serve soldiers hungry for something other than army chow. At Molina’s Meat Market, Moises Molina Sr. had a lucrative contract to supply meat to the troops. Businesses in tents sprouted along Main Street like cabbages. New cafés, bars, dime stores and a dollar-a-night hotel welcomed the Yankees and their cash. A soldier’s pay was $30 month, and Hidalgo County offered few places to spend it. Instead of living in tents, officers in the 7th Infantry, nicknamed the
3 The 12,000 soldiers at the huge camp established between 18th and 23rd Streets far outnumbered the city's residents.
TURNING POINT III
•
1960
Rolling Out the Welcome Mat
Other troops raised money for a rectory at Sacred Heart Catholic Church that enabled it to officially become a parish in 1917. The National Guard units began leaving McAllen after only four months and all
prickly pear cactus before they could set up their tents. Clad in wool uniforms,
millionaires’ regiment for its wealthy soldiers like Col. Cornelius Vanderbilt III,
the soldiers struggled in the summer heat made more miserable by frequent,
and those in Squadron A, a famously well-dressed New York cavalry unit,
torrential rains.
rented McAllen houses and spent money freely.
Fred Sasse of “D” Battery, 2nd New York Field Artillery, grumbled like all
The army post had its own recreational options, including two moving-picture
soldiers do. “We had a very busy and back-breaking month clearing the tent area,
theaters and YMCAs, and the soldiers’ baseball and football teams played the
gun park, and then the picket line for our horses.” He complained about the 200
McAllen High School teams. First New York Calvary soldiers joined in a church
untrained King Ranch horses which had to be schooled and “gun drill after gun
raising, laboring to erect the wood frame First Christian Church in one day.
drill, one training hike after another.” Soldiers tired of army food and tents could walk a few blocks east to McAllen's ice cream parlors and cafes. Although not officially in the Valley to chase bandits, the presence of thousands of soldiers deterred wrongdoers.
were gone by March 1917. The short invasion by friendly forces awakened McAllen entrepreneurs to the possibilities of trade on a grand scale. In August
For McAllen, the world does not end at the Rio Grande. The city became a jumping-off place for Mexico-bound caravans in the 1930s and then a departure point for motor coach tours. It thrived as a port of entry for Mexican shoppers and travelers.
1917, R.E. Horn and O.P. Archer formed the Rio Grande Valley Hotel Corp. intent on building a first class hotel to serve as the city’s social and business center. Citizens reportedly invested $15,000 in the venture as well. When the Casa de Palmas Hotel opened in 1918, McAllen had become an agricultural boom town: orchards were selling at $1,000 to $1,200 acre. The hot new crop of broom corn – a 10-foot-tall sorghum variety used for brooms – drew spendthrift broom corn buyers to the Casa de Palmas, where they were warmly received. Monty’s Monthly, a local publication, noted: “They do
incursions. Major General John O’Ryan gave orders that said otherwise: “(It) ammunition they are prohibited from firing...” The army’s objectives, he said,
to any community.”
“...do not include the protection of the border from raids.” Instead the purpose
The stage was set for an era of prosperity and growth.
of the massive military buildup was technical training, drilling and field 23
17
18
OPEN
McAllen residents believed the soldiers had come to protect them from bandit should be impressed upon the recruits that while they are provided with
not hoard their money, but put it in circulation and are a most valuable asset
OPEN
The 1917 groundbreaking for the Casa de Palmas, the grandest hotel south of San Antonio, signaled a new era of prosperity as agriculture boomed.
1.
The site of the future Archer Park had a
8.
diagonal path crossing it in 1916.
McALLEN, TEXAS
•
1916
A Moment in Time
2.
McAllen had a fenced deer park on the
3.
The Hidalgo County road to Reynosa was known as 10th Street following a street renaming in 1936.
4.
This street was called Broadway after 1936.
5.
Main Street has had many names including Palm Boulevard.
6.
This is the site of the first east McAllen Depot, which burned in 1914.
7.
The O.P. Archer Ford and Studebaker dealership was the first car company in McAllen.
9.
15. The McAllen Hotel and Annex, relocated
22. Today's Austin Avenue, this was Second
30. This tire repair shop probably had a huge
38. La Esmeralda Saloon, in a different
grade school students were taught on the
several times, was the first stop for many
Avenue in 1916 and later called Closner
influx of customers with the military in
location on this street, was reportedly
first floor and older students to grade 11
early settlers and traveling salesmen.
Street.
town.
the first building in McAllen after the
were upstairs.
tract where Casa de Palmas was built in 1918.
At the first high school, built in 1911,
The First Presbyterian Church, built in 1910, served briefly as a schoolhouse.
10. This Missouri Pacific Railroad Depot was the third station named McAllen. 11. This canteen for soldiers occupied the site of the future Crow Building. 12. The McChesney Building housed one of McAllen's oldest mercantile stores. 13. Identified on the original plat as First Avenue, this street has been called Railroad Avenue, Highway, and today, Business 83. 14. McAllen's first one-room schoolhouse was built in 1908.
16. The Methodist Church was the first church built in McAllen. 17. The Candy Building housed McAllen's original bank, The First State Bank & Trust Co. 18. The 805 Building was a place to buy car batteries, tires, and furniture. 19. 15th Street was a growing commercial thoroughfare in 1916. 20. The O.C. Maule Lumberyard was the site of the town's first Protestant services. 21. This boarding house was among the first built to serve newcomers to McAllen.
23. Today's Beaumont Avenue, this was first called Third Avenue and then 16th Avenue. 24. Sacred Heart Catholic Church, built of wood in 1911, burned down in 1924. 25. 16th Street was primarily a residential street between two commercial districts. 26. The camp of Squadron “A”, New York National Guard. 27. The camp of the Second Field Artillery, New York. 28. The camp of the First Field Artillery, New York. 29. The camp of the Battalion Signal Corps.
31. The camp of the 69th Infantry, New York. 32. The D. Guerra & Sons building was built in 1912 and is still in use in 2011. 33. 17th Street for a period was officially named Guerra Street. 34. The location of the First, Third, and Fourth Ambulance Companies and the Second Field Hospital.
town was platted. 39. The camp of the 7th Infantry, New York National Guard. 40. The canal is bracketed by 18th and 19th Streets. 41. The camp of the First Calvary, New York. 42. Nordmeyer's Elevator had steam-operated machinery to move grain.
35. The camp of the 12th Infantry, New York.
43. The Headquarters of the Sixth Division.
36. The camp of the 22nd Engineers,
44. The original railroad depot, built in 1905,
New York National Guard. 37. The Guerra house was at one time the largest house in McAllen.
was located in this area on Depot Road. 45. The Post Hospital. 46. The First Field Hospital.
1.
The site of the future Archer Park had a
8.
diagonal path crossing it in 1916.
McALLEN, TEXAS
•
1916
A Moment in Time
2.
McAllen had a fenced deer park on the
3.
The Hidalgo County road to Reynosa was known as 10th Street following a street renaming in 1936.
4.
This street was called Broadway after 1936.
5.
Main Street has had many names including Palm Boulevard.
6.
This is the site of the first east McAllen Depot, which burned in 1914.
7.
The O.P. Archer Ford and Studebaker dealership was the first car company in McAllen.
9.
15. The McAllen Hotel and Annex, relocated
22. Today's Austin Avenue, this was Second
30. This tire repair shop probably had a huge
38. La Esmeralda Saloon, in a different
grade school students were taught on the
several times, was the first stop for many
Avenue in 1916 and later called Closner
influx of customers with the military in
location on this street, was reportedly
first floor and older students to grade 11
early settlers and traveling salesmen.
Street.
town.
the first building in McAllen after the
were upstairs.
tract where Casa de Palmas was built in 1918.
At the first high school, built in 1911,
The First Presbyterian Church, built in 1910, served briefly as a schoolhouse.
10. This Missouri Pacific Railroad Depot was the third station named McAllen. 11. This canteen for soldiers occupied the site of the future Crow Building. 12. The McChesney Building housed one of McAllen's oldest mercantile stores. 13. Identified on the original plat as First Avenue, this street has been called Railroad Avenue, Highway, and today, Business 83. 14. McAllen's first one-room schoolhouse was built in 1908.
16. The Methodist Church was the first church built in McAllen. 17. The Candy Building housed McAllen's original bank, The First State Bank & Trust Co. 18. The 805 Building was a place to buy car batteries, tires, and furniture. 19. 15th Street was a growing commercial thoroughfare in 1916. 20. The O.C. Maule Lumberyard was the site of the town's first Protestant services. 21. This boarding house was among the first built to serve newcomers to McAllen.
23. Today's Beaumont Avenue, this was first called Third Avenue and then 16th Avenue. 24. Sacred Heart Catholic Church, built of wood in 1911, burned down in 1924. 25. 16th Street was primarily a residential street between two commercial districts. 26. The camp of Squadron “A”, New York National Guard. 27. The camp of the Second Field Artillery, New York. 28. The camp of the First Field Artillery, New York. 29. The camp of the Battalion Signal Corps.
31. The camp of the 69th Infantry, New York. 32. The D. Guerra & Sons building was built in 1912 and is still in use in 2011. 33. 17th Street for a period was officially named Guerra Street. 34. The location of the First, Third, and Fourth Ambulance Companies and the Second Field Hospital.
town was platted. 39. The camp of the 7th Infantry, New York National Guard. 40. The canal is bracketed by 18th and 19th Streets. 41. The camp of the First Calvary, New York. 42. Nordmeyer's Elevator had steam-operated machinery to move grain.
35. The camp of the 12th Infantry, New York.
43. The Headquarters of the Sixth Division.
36. The camp of the 22nd Engineers,
44. The original railroad depot, built in 1905,
New York National Guard. 37. The Guerra house was at one time the largest house in McAllen.
was located in this area on Depot Road. 45. The Post Hospital. 46. The First Field Hospital.
1.
The site of the future Archer Park had a
8.
diagonal path crossing it in 1916.
McALLEN, TEXAS
•
1916
A Moment in Time
2.
McAllen had a fenced deer park on the
3.
The Hidalgo County road to Reynosa was known as 10th Street following a street renaming in 1936.
4.
This street was called Broadway after 1936.
5.
Main Street has had many names including Palm Boulevard.
6.
This is the site of the first east McAllen Depot, which burned in 1914.
7.
The O.P. Archer Ford and Studebaker dealership was the first car company in McAllen.
9.
15. The McAllen Hotel and Annex, relocated
22. Today's Austin Avenue, this was Second
30. This tire repair shop probably had a huge
38. La Esmeralda Saloon, in a different
grade school students were taught on the
several times, was the first stop for many
Avenue in 1916 and later called Closner
influx of customers with the military in
location on this street, was reportedly
first floor and older students to grade 11
early settlers and traveling salesmen.
Street.
town.
the first building in McAllen after the
were upstairs.
tract where Casa de Palmas was built in 1918.
At the first high school, built in 1911,
The First Presbyterian Church, built in 1910, served briefly as a schoolhouse.
10. This Missouri Pacific Railroad Depot was the third station named McAllen. 11. This canteen for soldiers occupied the site of the future Crow Building. 12. The McChesney Building housed one of McAllen's oldest mercantile stores. 13. Identified on the original plat as First Avenue, this street has been called Railroad Avenue, Highway, and today, Business 83. 14. McAllen's first one-room schoolhouse was built in 1908.
16. The Methodist Church was the first church built in McAllen. 17. The Candy Building housed McAllen's original bank, The First State Bank & Trust Co. 18. The 805 Building was a place to buy car batteries, tires, and furniture. 19. 15th Street was a growing commercial thoroughfare in 1916. 20. The O.C. Maule Lumberyard was the site of the town's first Protestant services. 21. This boarding house was among the first built to serve newcomers to McAllen.
23. Today's Beaumont Avenue, this was first called Third Avenue and then 16th Avenue. 24. Sacred Heart Catholic Church, built of wood in 1911, burned down in 1924. 25. 16th Street was primarily a residential street between two commercial districts. 26. The camp of Squadron “A”, New York National Guard. 27. The camp of the Second Field Artillery, New York. 28. The camp of the First Field Artillery, New York. 29. The camp of the Battalion Signal Corps.
31. The camp of the 69th Infantry, New York. 32. The D. Guerra & Sons building was built in 1912 and is still in use in 2011. 33. 17th Street for a period was officially named Guerra Street. 34. The location of the First, Third, and Fourth Ambulance Companies and the Second Field Hospital.
town was platted. 39. The camp of the 7th Infantry, New York National Guard. 40. The canal is bracketed by 18th and 19th Streets. 41. The camp of the First Calvary, New York. 42. Nordmeyer's Elevator had steam-operated machinery to move grain.
35. The camp of the 12th Infantry, New York.
43. The Headquarters of the Sixth Division.
36. The camp of the 22nd Engineers,
44. The original railroad depot, built in 1905,
New York National Guard. 37. The Guerra house was at one time the largest house in McAllen.
was located in this area on Depot Road. 45. The Post Hospital. 46. The First Field Hospital.
1.
The site of the future Archer Park had a
8.
diagonal path crossing it in 1916.
McALLEN, TEXAS
•
1916
A Moment in Time
2.
McAllen had a fenced deer park on the
3.
The Hidalgo County road to Reynosa was known as 10th Street following a street renaming in 1936.
4.
This street was called Broadway after 1936.
5.
Main Street has had many names including Palm Boulevard.
6.
This is the site of the first east McAllen Depot, which burned in 1914.
7.
The O.P. Archer Ford and Studebaker dealership was the first car company in McAllen.
9.
15. The McAllen Hotel and Annex, relocated
22. Today's Austin Avenue, this was Second
30. This tire repair shop probably had a huge
38. La Esmeralda Saloon, in a different
grade school students were taught on the
several times, was the first stop for many
Avenue in 1916 and later called Closner
influx of customers with the military in
location on this street, was reportedly
first floor and older students to grade 11
early settlers and traveling salesmen.
Street.
town.
the first building in McAllen after the
were upstairs.
tract where Casa de Palmas was built in 1918.
At the first high school, built in 1911,
The First Presbyterian Church, built in 1910, served briefly as a schoolhouse.
10. This Missouri Pacific Railroad Depot was the third station named McAllen. 11. This canteen for soldiers occupied the site of the future Crow Building. 12. The McChesney Building housed one of McAllen's oldest mercantile stores. 13. Identified on the original plat as First Avenue, this street has been called Railroad Avenue, Highway, and today, Business 83. 14. McAllen's first one-room schoolhouse was built in 1908.
16. The Methodist Church was the first church built in McAllen. 17. The Candy Building housed McAllen's original bank, The First State Bank & Trust Co. 18. The 805 Building was a place to buy car batteries, tires, and furniture. 19. 15th Street was a growing commercial thoroughfare in 1916. 20. The O.C. Maule Lumberyard was the site of the town's first Protestant services. 21. This boarding house was among the first built to serve newcomers to McAllen.
23. Today's Beaumont Avenue, this was first called Third Avenue and then 16th Avenue. 24. Sacred Heart Catholic Church, built of wood in 1911, burned down in 1924. 25. 16th Street was primarily a residential street between two commercial districts. 26. The camp of Squadron “A”, New York National Guard. 27. The camp of the Second Field Artillery, New York. 28. The camp of the First Field Artillery, New York. 29. The camp of the Battalion Signal Corps.
31. The camp of the 69th Infantry, New York. 32. The D. Guerra & Sons building was built in 1912 and is still in use in 2011. 33. 17th Street for a period was officially named Guerra Street. 34. The location of the First, Third, and Fourth Ambulance Companies and the Second Field Hospital.
town was platted. 39. The camp of the 7th Infantry, New York National Guard. 40. The canal is bracketed by 18th and 19th Streets. 41. The camp of the First Calvary, New York. 42. Nordmeyer's Elevator had steam-operated machinery to move grain.
35. The camp of the 12th Infantry, New York.
43. The Headquarters of the Sixth Division.
36. The camp of the 22nd Engineers,
44. The original railroad depot, built in 1905,
New York National Guard. 37. The Guerra house was at one time the largest house in McAllen.
was located in this area on Depot Road. 45. The Post Hospital. 46. The First Field Hospital.
maneuvers as World War I loomed. In reality, the thousands of troops stationed along the Rio Grande presented a powerful deterrent for lawless elements. Infantry patrols, wearing protective leggings, and cavalrymen flowed across the
The city donated land for the camp, but soldiers spent weeks clearing prickly pear cactus and mesquites to have space for their tents, weapons, and horse picket lines.
brushlands and swerved around mesquite and cactus. The troops faced no battles but plenty of bugs; no dangers but great discomfort.
Built in 1926, the Hidalgo Reynosa suspension bridge was a welcome improvement on the rowboats and ferries that had connected McAllen to Mexico.
The arrival of 12,000 men overwhelmed the city’s utilities: the light plant had only a single cylinder engine, and the water supply was overstretched. Existing retail businesses – saloons, cafés, groceries – could not keep up with the demands of their new customers. The Palace of Sweets, an ice cream parlor, closed its doors every 20 minutes to regulate the flow of soldiers seeking a snack. “Business was so great we had to handle the customers in shifts and keep police at the door,” said owner Mrs. O. P. Archer. The McAllen Café, which Marion Floyd Dilley had purchased in 1915, stayed open 16 hours a day to serve soldiers hungry for something other than army chow. At Molina’s Meat Market, Moises Molina Sr. had a lucrative contract to supply meat to the troops. Businesses in tents sprouted along Main Street like cabbages. New cafés, bars, dime stores and a dollar-a-night hotel welcomed the Yankees and their cash. A soldier’s pay was $30 month, and Hidalgo County offered few places to spend it. Instead of living in tents, officers in the 7th Infantry, nicknamed the
3 The 12,000 soldiers at the huge camp established between 18th and 23rd Streets far outnumbered the city's residents.
TURNING POINT III
•
1960
Rolling Out the Welcome Mat
Other troops raised money for a rectory at Sacred Heart Catholic Church that enabled it to officially become a parish in 1917. The National Guard units began leaving McAllen after only four months and all
prickly pear cactus before they could set up their tents. Clad in wool uniforms,
millionaires’ regiment for its wealthy soldiers like Col. Cornelius Vanderbilt III,
the soldiers struggled in the summer heat made more miserable by frequent,
and those in Squadron A, a famously well-dressed New York cavalry unit,
torrential rains.
rented McAllen houses and spent money freely.
Fred Sasse of “D” Battery, 2nd New York Field Artillery, grumbled like all
The army post had its own recreational options, including two moving-picture
soldiers do. “We had a very busy and back-breaking month clearing the tent area,
theaters and YMCAs, and the soldiers’ baseball and football teams played the
gun park, and then the picket line for our horses.” He complained about the 200
McAllen High School teams. First New York Calvary soldiers joined in a church
untrained King Ranch horses which had to be schooled and “gun drill after gun
raising, laboring to erect the wood frame First Christian Church in one day.
drill, one training hike after another.” Soldiers tired of army food and tents could walk a few blocks east to McAllen's ice cream parlors and cafes. Although not officially in the Valley to chase bandits, the presence of thousands of soldiers deterred wrongdoers.
were gone by March 1917. The short invasion by friendly forces awakened McAllen entrepreneurs to the possibilities of trade on a grand scale. In August
For McAllen, the world does not end at the Rio Grande. The city became a jumping-off place for Mexico-bound caravans in the 1930s and then a departure point for motor coach tours. It thrived as a port of entry for Mexican shoppers and travelers.
1917, R.E. Horn and O.P. Archer formed the Rio Grande Valley Hotel Corp. intent on building a first class hotel to serve as the city’s social and business center. Citizens reportedly invested $15,000 in the venture as well. When the Casa de Palmas Hotel opened in 1918, McAllen had become an agricultural boom town: orchards were selling at $1,000 to $1,200 acre. The hot new crop of broom corn – a 10-foot-tall sorghum variety used for brooms – drew spendthrift broom corn buyers to the Casa de Palmas, where they were warmly received. Monty’s Monthly, a local publication, noted: “They do
incursions. Major General John O’Ryan gave orders that said otherwise: “(It) ammunition they are prohibited from firing...” The army’s objectives, he said,
to any community.”
“...do not include the protection of the border from raids.” Instead the purpose
The stage was set for an era of prosperity and growth.
of the massive military buildup was technical training, drilling and field 23
17
18
OPEN
McAllen residents believed the soldiers had come to protect them from bandit should be impressed upon the recruits that while they are provided with
not hoard their money, but put it in circulation and are a most valuable asset
OPEN
The 1917 groundbreaking for the Casa de Palmas, the grandest hotel south of San Antonio, signaled a new era of prosperity as agriculture boomed.
maneuvers as World War I loomed. In reality, the thousands of troops stationed along the Rio Grande presented a powerful deterrent for lawless elements. Infantry patrols, wearing protective leggings, and cavalrymen flowed across the
The city donated land for the camp, but soldiers spent weeks clearing prickly pear cactus and mesquites to have space for their tents, weapons, and horse picket lines.
brushlands and swerved around mesquite and cactus. The troops faced no battles but plenty of bugs; no dangers but great discomfort.
Built in 1926, the Hidalgo Reynosa suspension bridge was a welcome improvement on the rowboats and ferries that had connected McAllen to Mexico.
The arrival of 12,000 men overwhelmed the city’s utilities: the light plant had only a single cylinder engine, and the water supply was overstretched. Existing retail businesses – saloons, cafés, groceries – could not keep up with the demands of their new customers. The Palace of Sweets, an ice cream parlor, closed its doors every 20 minutes to regulate the flow of soldiers seeking a snack. “Business was so great we had to handle the customers in shifts and keep police at the door,” said owner Mrs. O. P. Archer. The McAllen Café, which Marion Floyd Dilley had purchased in 1915, stayed open 16 hours a day to serve soldiers hungry for something other than army chow. At Molina’s Meat Market, Moises Molina Sr. had a lucrative contract to supply meat to the troops. Businesses in tents sprouted along Main Street like cabbages. New cafés, bars, dime stores and a dollar-a-night hotel welcomed the Yankees and their cash. A soldier’s pay was $30 month, and Hidalgo County offered few places to spend it. Instead of living in tents, officers in the 7th Infantry, nicknamed the
3 The 12,000 soldiers at the huge camp established between 18th and 23rd Streets far outnumbered the city's residents.
TURNING POINT III
•
1960
Rolling Out the Welcome Mat
Other troops raised money for a rectory at Sacred Heart Catholic Church that enabled it to officially become a parish in 1917. The National Guard units began leaving McAllen after only four months and all
prickly pear cactus before they could set up their tents. Clad in wool uniforms,
millionaires’ regiment for its wealthy soldiers like Col. Cornelius Vanderbilt III,
the soldiers struggled in the summer heat made more miserable by frequent,
and those in Squadron A, a famously well-dressed New York cavalry unit,
torrential rains.
rented McAllen houses and spent money freely.
Fred Sasse of “D” Battery, 2nd New York Field Artillery, grumbled like all
The army post had its own recreational options, including two moving-picture
soldiers do. “We had a very busy and back-breaking month clearing the tent area,
theaters and YMCAs, and the soldiers’ baseball and football teams played the
gun park, and then the picket line for our horses.” He complained about the 200
McAllen High School teams. First New York Calvary soldiers joined in a church
untrained King Ranch horses which had to be schooled and “gun drill after gun
raising, laboring to erect the wood frame First Christian Church in one day.
drill, one training hike after another.” Soldiers tired of army food and tents could walk a few blocks east to McAllen's ice cream parlors and cafes. Although not officially in the Valley to chase bandits, the presence of thousands of soldiers deterred wrongdoers.
were gone by March 1917. The short invasion by friendly forces awakened McAllen entrepreneurs to the possibilities of trade on a grand scale. In August
For McAllen, the world does not end at the Rio Grande. The city became a jumping-off place for Mexico-bound caravans in the 1930s and then a departure point for motor coach tours. It thrived as a port of entry for Mexican shoppers and travelers.
1917, R.E. Horn and O.P. Archer formed the Rio Grande Valley Hotel Corp. intent on building a first class hotel to serve as the city’s social and business center. Citizens reportedly invested $15,000 in the venture as well. When the Casa de Palmas Hotel opened in 1918, McAllen had become an agricultural boom town: orchards were selling at $1,000 to $1,200 acre. The hot new crop of broom corn – a 10-foot-tall sorghum variety used for brooms – drew spendthrift broom corn buyers to the Casa de Palmas, where they were warmly received. Monty’s Monthly, a local publication, noted: “They do
incursions. Major General John O’Ryan gave orders that said otherwise: “(It) ammunition they are prohibited from firing...” The army’s objectives, he said,
to any community.”
“...do not include the protection of the border from raids.” Instead the purpose
The stage was set for an era of prosperity and growth.
of the massive military buildup was technical training, drilling and field 23
17
18
OPEN
McAllen residents believed the soldiers had come to protect them from bandit should be impressed upon the recruits that while they are provided with
not hoard their money, but put it in circulation and are a most valuable asset
OPEN
The 1917 groundbreaking for the Casa de Palmas, the grandest hotel south of San Antonio, signaled a new era of prosperity as agriculture boomed.
maneuvers as World War I loomed. In reality, the thousands of troops stationed along the Rio Grande presented a powerful deterrent for lawless elements. Infantry patrols, wearing protective leggings, and cavalrymen flowed across the
The city donated land for the camp, but soldiers spent weeks clearing prickly pear cactus and mesquites to have space for their tents, weapons, and horse picket lines.
brushlands and swerved around mesquite and cactus. The troops faced no battles but plenty of bugs; no dangers but great discomfort.
Built in 1926, the Hidalgo Reynosa suspension bridge was a welcome improvement on the rowboats and ferries that had connected McAllen to Mexico.
The arrival of 12,000 men overwhelmed the city’s utilities: the light plant had only a single cylinder engine, and the water supply was overstretched. Existing retail businesses – saloons, cafés, groceries – could not keep up with the demands of their new customers. The Palace of Sweets, an ice cream parlor, closed its doors every 20 minutes to regulate the flow of soldiers seeking a snack. “Business was so great we had to handle the customers in shifts and keep police at the door,” said owner Mrs. O. P. Archer. The McAllen Café, which Marion Floyd Dilley had purchased in 1915, stayed open 16 hours a day to serve soldiers hungry for something other than army chow. At Molina’s Meat Market, Moises Molina Sr. had a lucrative contract to supply meat to the troops. Businesses in tents sprouted along Main Street like cabbages. New cafés, bars, dime stores and a dollar-a-night hotel welcomed the Yankees and their cash. A soldier’s pay was $30 month, and Hidalgo County offered few places to spend it. Instead of living in tents, officers in the 7th Infantry, nicknamed the
3 The 12,000 soldiers at the huge camp established between 18th and 23rd Streets far outnumbered the city's residents.
TURNING POINT III
•
1960
Rolling Out the Welcome Mat
Other troops raised money for a rectory at Sacred Heart Catholic Church that enabled it to officially become a parish in 1917. The National Guard units began leaving McAllen after only four months and all
prickly pear cactus before they could set up their tents. Clad in wool uniforms,
millionaires’ regiment for its wealthy soldiers like Col. Cornelius Vanderbilt III,
the soldiers struggled in the summer heat made more miserable by frequent,
and those in Squadron A, a famously well-dressed New York cavalry unit,
torrential rains.
rented McAllen houses and spent money freely.
Fred Sasse of “D” Battery, 2nd New York Field Artillery, grumbled like all
The army post had its own recreational options, including two moving-picture
soldiers do. “We had a very busy and back-breaking month clearing the tent area,
theaters and YMCAs, and the soldiers’ baseball and football teams played the
gun park, and then the picket line for our horses.” He complained about the 200
McAllen High School teams. First New York Calvary soldiers joined in a church
untrained King Ranch horses which had to be schooled and “gun drill after gun
raising, laboring to erect the wood frame First Christian Church in one day.
drill, one training hike after another.” Soldiers tired of army food and tents could walk a few blocks east to McAllen's ice cream parlors and cafes. Although not officially in the Valley to chase bandits, the presence of thousands of soldiers deterred wrongdoers.
were gone by March 1917. The short invasion by friendly forces awakened McAllen entrepreneurs to the possibilities of trade on a grand scale. In August
For McAllen, the world does not end at the Rio Grande. The city became a jumping-off place for Mexico-bound caravans in the 1930s and then a departure point for motor coach tours. It thrived as a port of entry for Mexican shoppers and travelers.
1917, R.E. Horn and O.P. Archer formed the Rio Grande Valley Hotel Corp. intent on building a first class hotel to serve as the city’s social and business center. Citizens reportedly invested $15,000 in the venture as well. When the Casa de Palmas Hotel opened in 1918, McAllen had become an agricultural boom town: orchards were selling at $1,000 to $1,200 acre. The hot new crop of broom corn – a 10-foot-tall sorghum variety used for brooms – drew spendthrift broom corn buyers to the Casa de Palmas, where they were warmly received. Monty’s Monthly, a local publication, noted: “They do
incursions. Major General John O’Ryan gave orders that said otherwise: “(It) ammunition they are prohibited from firing...” The army’s objectives, he said,
to any community.”
“...do not include the protection of the border from raids.” Instead the purpose
The stage was set for an era of prosperity and growth.
of the massive military buildup was technical training, drilling and field 23
17
18
OPEN
McAllen residents believed the soldiers had come to protect them from bandit should be impressed upon the recruits that while they are provided with
not hoard their money, but put it in circulation and are a most valuable asset
OPEN
The 1917 groundbreaking for the Casa de Palmas, the grandest hotel south of San Antonio, signaled a new era of prosperity as agriculture boomed.
A second suspension bridge replaced the original span bridge which had collapsed in 1939.
Two milestones in 1960 illustrated and demonstrated McAllen’s position as an international and cultural destination: the new ownership of the McAllenHidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge and the opening of the McAllen Civic Center. The Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge, built by Joe Pate and associates in 1926, connected two cultures and two economies. The wood-planked suspension bridge, badly damaged in the 1933 hurricane, collapsed in 1939 when a suspension cable snapped. A pontoon bridge carried international traffic until a replacement suspension bridge was completed in 1940. By 1954 the HidalgoReynosa bridge ranked as the second busiest port of entry on the border. In 1960, negotiations led by V.F. Neuhaus paved the way for the City of McAllen to buy the north half of the international bridge from investor-operator Joe Pate for $1.6 million. The deal proved to be a bargain, both for the steady stream of McAllen's purchase of the Hidalgo Reynosa Bridge in 1960 resulted in a regular stream of revenue for the city and a happy flow of travelers to and from Mexico.
The Grande Courts on Ash Street, with kitchenettes available, was typical of the tourist lodgings of the early 1960s.
visitors to and from Mexico who arrived in McAllen and for the steady income stream. The city soon took over operations of the McAllen-Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge, although Hidalgo by contract continued to receive 36 percent of the net income from southbound traffic. The timely purchase bolstered private investments in the city. The new Royal Palms, Flamingo, and Frontier hotels and the Holiday Inn boasted of their swimming pools and locations near shopping centers. McAllen-based Dan Sanborn had created the unique Sanborn’s Mexico Travelog and was on the way to becoming the border’s largest seller of insurance for Mexico-bound tourists. The city opened a four-lane concrete bridge in 1967, and by 1969 net income was $344,000 on approximately 10 million crossings. A parallel four-lane bridge was completed in 1988. The
modern
bridges
spurred
McAllen’s
retail,
agricultural
processing, and tourism sectors. By 2010, the McAllen-Reynosa International Bridge netted $10 million dollars annually, bringing $640,000 to the City of McAllen general fund. The city bridge division employed 40 and about 100 federal officers were stationed at the bridge. Most importantly, the bridges funneled visitors to McAllen businesses. McAllen’s second “million dollar gamble” in 1960 was the construction of a new Civic Center on Tenth Street. In the 1950s civic activist Lucile Hendricks began campaigning for a civic center to be used for cultural events such as plays and concerts. She served on a city committee that researched other cities’ centers and recommended an architect. Credited with drawing 10 conventions to McAllen in its first eight months, the Civic Center provided an auditorium which seated 1,800 and a convention hall The new Civic Center, opened in 1960 before the Expressway was built, had translation equipment second only to the United Nations in New York.
26
Caravans of trailers rallied in the Civic Center parking lot became a common sight.
that held 1,280. Gallons of Border Buttermilk (frozen pink margaritas) were served on the spacious patio. In 1963, National Cash Register chose McAllen’s Civic Center as its international training site. Soon the city had installed equipment and headphones for simultaneous translation in six languages, the only U.S. venue outside the UN with that capability. Cultural activities flourished. Artist Helen Stahl launched Patrons of the Arts; the Valley International Players took to the stage; touring companies of Broadway shows appeared. Performances were hosted by the Opera Society, the Community Concert subscription series, and McAllen Performing Arts. The LULAC New Year’s Eve Gala, the Masonic annual dinner and
the
Noche
de
The shuffleboard courts in Archer Park drew crowds of Winter Texans.
McAllen brought muchanticipated festivities. Beginning in 1964, Airstream trailer caravans rallied at the Civic Center with up to 400 gathering to travel in Mexico. By 1965, conventions were the town’s fastest growing industry, making McAllen the seventh busiest convention town in Texas, although it was 25th in population. Over 1,000 tourists belonged to the McAllen Tourist Club. Six years after opening, the center underwent an expansion “for the money crop which ranks right up with citrus and conventions for McAllen – tourists.” The new City of Palms Tourist Club enticed Winter Texans with games, potluck suppers, dances, and Spanish classes. McAllen was the first city in the Valley to schedule a full calendar of activities for its members. McAllen offered 700 parking spaces plus water outlets. Twelve years after its opening, the Civic Center was responsible for bringing $1.5 million to McAllen annually and was being used 25 days a month for concerts, pageants, shows and private parties. About 70 conventions per year booked the center, which helped sell many of McAllen’s 1,000 hotel rooms. “It’s hard to measure the value of the center,” said City Manager Bill Schupp. “Without it, it is doubtful McAllen would have gained the stature it now enjoys as a cultural, business, tourist and convention center.” Luminaries from jazz great Dave Brubeck to opera diva Beverly Sills have graced the Civic Center stage. 27
The thousands of trucks transporting goods between Mexico and the U.S. helped McAllen become the largest inland Foreign Trade Zone by 1982.
4 TURNING POINT IV
•
1973-1976
Shifting Into High Gear In the space of three years, McAllen underwent a startling make-over. Between 1973 and 1976, with the opening of La Plaza Mall and ForeignTrade Zone No. 12, McAllen gained a revamped economy, a future tightly linked to Mexico, and a new emphasis on manufacturing.
Manufacturers and distributors drawn to McAllen and Reynosa by the Economic Development Corp. brought thousands of jobs and new residents to the area.
After McAllen inaugurated the nation’s first inland foreign-trade zone (FTZ) in 1973, the city catapulted to a front and center spot as a port of entry. By 1982, McAllen ranked as the nation’s largest general purpose FTZ based on dollar value. By 1998, it averaged $4 million in goods daily, hitting a total annual value of $1.1 billion, thanks to the consumer electronics of FTZ tenants such as Zenith Electronics and General Electric crossing from Mexico to McAllen. Job opportunities soared on both sides of the border. The complicated process that created the McAllen Foreign-Trade Zone began in 1965 at a McAllen Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors meeting that sought ways to diversify the economy and stimulate job growth. With the support of community leaders, John R. Freeland, Peter G. Payte and Morgan Talbot incorporated the McAllen Trade Zone and arranged the sale of 100 bonds at $1,000 each to local citizens willing to put their own money on the line to spur the city’s growth in a new direction. After years spent acquiring grants, letters of intent and documentation as the first non–seaport FTZ, the 40-acre Vast shipping centers handle electronics, appliances, textiles and automotive components moving between Mexico and McAllen.
To finance the Foreign-Trade Zone and its goal of bringing more jobs and more businesses to McAllen, residents bought $1,000 bonds with no guarantee of repayment.
duty-free zone began operating in 1973. Mexico, meanwhile, had launched the maquiladora or twin plant program. That prompted manufacturers to consider a joint Reynosa-McAllen maquiladora, when few people could even pronounce the word. The McAllen FTZ attracted more new jobs than any previous federal Economic Development Administration grant, as numerous manufacturers took advantage of lower freight and production costs. The logos of top American and international corporations appeared on FTZ warehouses and logistical services buildings where armed U.S. Customs officers inspected in-bond merchandise. In 1984, the FTZ doubled to 80 acres and later added 8.5 acres at the airport. In 1994, the McAllen FTZ operated at 95% capacity with 35 30
For 17 years Mike Allen led the McAllen Economic Development Corp.'s crusade to bring manufacturing companies to the region.
businesses employing about 800 people. In 1996, the FTZ extended its boundaries to include 695 acres that became Sharyland Business Park. A major produce terminal opened nearby. South Texas College established a technology campus in the zone. Overall, the FTZ was instrumental in drawing over 200 maquiladora operations such as Whirlpool, Delphi and Seagate to the border. The McAllen Economic Development Corporation began operations in 1988 providing information and assistance to industrial clients interested in locating in McAllen or Reynosa. A descendant of the merger of the McAllen Trade Zone, Inc. and McAllen’s Industrial Board, the MEDC recruited an average of 29 manufacturing companies a year during its first decade. Shopping made simple In 1974, a young McAllen city planner was stunned but receptive when a representative of mall developer Melvin Simon & Co. approached him about locating a mall in McAllen, noting the city was a last frontier for retailers. The selected site, south of Expressway 83, included orange groves owned by Lucile Hendricks
and
80
Left: Jones & Jones, known for their elegant style, opened their La Plaza Mall store in 1976.
acres owned by A. L. Morgan at Wichita and 10th, which once
Below: The bigger the magnet, the greater the attraction proved to be a truism as La Plaza Mall drew Mexican and American shoppers in such numbers that it became the highest grossing mall in the nation.
held the Porvenir Ranch bar. Anchored by Dillard’s, Jones & Jo n e s, a n d J. C. Pe n n e y, L a P l a z a Mall opened in 1976 with 55 stores. An overnight success, La Plaza drew well-to-do shoppers from Monterrey, Tampico and beyond and became known as the mall with an airport attached. The popularity of La Plaza south of the border prompted a slangy Spanish verb: mcallear – to go shopping in McAllen. Out of space and urgently needing an expansion, La Plaza in 1982 bought a segment of South Main Street, closed it, and added more stores. Renovations and expansions brought the Simon Property Group mall up to 140 specialty stores and six anchors in a profitable mix
of
trendy
and
traditional clothing stores, jewelers, shoe emporiums, c a f é s a n d b o u t i q u e s, complete with valet parking. Sales soared to over $450 per square foot per month, making La Plaza at one point the most lucrative retail property per square foot in the nation. Mexican shoppers account for 35% of La Plaza traffic, boosting the sales tax which makes up about 20 percent of the city’s revenue. 31
5 LEADING THE WAY
The Visionaries In the early 1920s, residents listened to music at the wooden bandstand in the municipal park that would be named after O. P. Archer in 1933.
Because it was blessed with strong visionary leaders, McAllen evolved into the Valley's most dynamic city over the course of 100 years. Remarkable individuals committed their time, expertise and money to guide the city to a vibrant, prosperous, and gratifying future.
The Entrepreneur: Oliver P. Archer (1869-1930) Oliver Percy Archer and his wife Clara became the managers of the McAllen Hotel in 1908. He organized the hundreds of home seekers flooding into the new town while simultaneously running a feed store and later an ice house. With E. U. Bartliff, he got palm trees planted, prompting the “City of Palms� nickname. Archer worked to have McAllen incorporated in 1911 and was one of the original city commissioners and the first president of the Business Men's Club. Elected McAllen's second mayor and marshal, he served from 1913 to 1923, the years of the military boom times and the broom corn bonanza. Archer co-founded the Rio Grande Valley Hotel Corporation, opening the Casa de Palmas hotel in 1918. Ever the entrepreneur, he opened Archer Auto, the town's first car dealer and an ice cream parlor, too. The municipal park, acquired by the city in 1917, was named Archer Park in 1933 The Community Leaders: The Guerra Brothers (1886-1935, 1888-1927, 1893-1939) In 1908, brothers Enrique, Modesto and Jose Guerra took their earnings from selling mules and opened Guerra Brothers General Merchandise in the new town of McAllen. While
Enrique E. Guerra
Modesto P. Guerra
Jose Guerra
Modesto sold groceries, Enrique managed land clearing contracts and sold mesquite. When the brothers' parents and siblings joined them in McAllen, the family business got a new name, D. Guerra & Sons, and a brick building in 1912. The family bought more lots and established other businesses on 17th Street, which became known as Guerra Street. The brothers bought thousands of acres of ranchland in Hidalgo and Starr County. They became respected community leaders. In 1927, Modesto became the first Mexican-American elected to the City Commission and was followed by Enrique. Their younger brother Ramon, a charter member of the Texas Good Neighbor Commission and first bilingual graduate of McAllen High, also was elected to the City Commission. The Hired Hand: Bill Schupp (1904 - 1985) As City Manager from 1946 to1974, Bill Schupp served eight McAllen mayors who attributed much of McAllen's progress in those years to Schupp's astute management. Under his guidance, McAllen's airport went from grass runways to an international terminal. The City built a library, public safety building, a museum, a golf course and
clubhouse and City Hall without issuing bonds. “The best bargain in the city budget is the salary paid to Bill Schupp for services rendered,” said former Mayor C. W. Davis. Lauded for running the city like a business, Schupp at the same time insisted on keeping the city and its parks clean and green to encourage visitors to come back. He brought average citizens into municipal government. The Voice: Leonelo Gonzalez (1908-1985) Leonelo Gonzalez spoke up when he saw injustice and then worked to right the wrong, which earned him the title la voz del pueblo. He came to McAllen in 1925 and around 1940 established his newspaper El Eco, where he was reporter, editor and publisher. The free publication gave Spanish-speaking residents access to news about McAllen. In the 1940s, Gonzalez, with Lucile Hendricks and others, helped eliminate the half-day classes for younger, Hispanic grade school students in south McAllen. Soon, all Spanish-speaking students were attending full-day classes. In 1947, he was instrumental in starting a six-week crash course in English for Spanish-speaking children prior to their entry in first grade. His voice helped assure that Thigpen School was opened to accommodate Mexican-American students and that PTAs were established at Hispanic-dominant schools. After Gonzalez joined the McAllen Municipal Hospital board, he and his wife Cecilia worked with doctors to decrease the community's high infant mortality rate by helping establish a free well-baby clinic. The First Lady: Lucile Hendricks (1909-2007) Lucile McKee came to the Valley in 1926, married Harold Hendricks the next year, and during the Depression ran their three-bedroom home as a boarding house. At Hendricks Construction, she initially handled the office and figured bids, but later managed construction projects including Pharr's first high school and the McAllen bus station. A Girl Scout leader and chair of the Mothers' March on Polio, Hendricks was elected to the school board, the first female elected official in Hidalgo County. She became president of the school board “to ensure that all children received a quality education regardless of their economic status or English proficiency.” Hallmark braids looped on her head, Hendricks was the first woman member of the Associated General Contractors of Texas and the McAllen's Housing Authority, where she served for 18 years. She advocated for a McAllen civic center as a venue for cultural events and served on the committee that laid the groundwork for its construction in 1960. Immersed in organizations which expanded the scope of performances at the Civic Center, she co-founded the RGV International Music Festival and championed cultural and historical appreciation. 34
The Maverick: Othal Brand (1919-2009) Othal Brand, out of school in Georgia by age 13 and selling fruit from a street cart, went on to become the world's largest grower and shipper of onions. He served in the Marines during World War II before moving to McAllen with his wife Kay in 1952 and establishing Griffin & Brand, a multi-million dollar produce company. Brand had a visionary's sense of the future. He served on the McAllen school board in the 1960s and then on the city commission. In 1977, the conservative populist became mayor and over the next 20 years guided McAllen to its ranking as the third fastest growing metropolitan area in the nation with his aggressive attention to numbers. Brand filled educational gaps with South Texas College and a school for children with special needs. He established the McAllen Economic Development Corp. and hired Mike Allen to run it. He led the city to acquire more land, build infrastructure, and start the Boys and Girls Club. He reached out to the poor by planning a low-income housing community and working to create jobs for all McAllen residents. Brand was called far-sighted and brash, a strong leader and a polarizer. He replied to critics that an “effective city leader sees the big picture,� and others benefit from his vision. The Healing Hand: Dr. Ramiro Casso (1922- ) With a degree in engineering and World War II service behind him, Laredo native Ramiro Casso graduated from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and in 1957 opened his McAllen Family Practice office. Dr. Casso treated thousands of patients and operated a charity clinic for farm workers. In 1996, he founded El Milagro Clinic for McAllen's uninsured and indigent. The first physician member of the McAllen Hospital board, he was appointed to the Texas Board of Health and the Texas Human Rights Commission. Having done manual labor as a child, Dr. Casso empathized with farm workers. Dr. Casso advocated for farm workers' rights, marching with Cesar Chavez and posting bail for striking Starr County farm workers. As a LULAC member, he worked with civil rights advocates on the case that integrated Hispanic children in Texas schools. Dr. Casso delivered thousands of babies during his career. In retirement, South Texas College's Nursing and Allied Health Division became another one of his babies. In 2001, it was named the Dr. Ramiro R. Casso Nursing and Allied Health Center. 35
Bubblegum King Andy Paris made a million dollars and the cover of Life magazine after introducing the U.S. to his penny gum shipped from McAllen.
6 LEADING THE WAY
Open for Business Farmers began moving to McAllen once the railroad gave them a way to get their crops of cabbage, cantaloupes and citrus to market.
If it’s good for business, it’s good for McAllen. That principle, backed by vision and determination, has fueled McAllen’s growth and made McAllen the Rio Grande Valley’s leading metropolitan area.
In 1914, McAllen had electricity, but not paved streets or a water system.
During 1905 and 1906 at the original, isolated McAllen train depot, a handful of businesses, including Samuel Samano’s general store and Horace Dennett’s dry good shop, struggled to survive. When William Briggs and John Closner established the McAllen Town Company tract to the east in 1907, they cleared a townsite and envisioned retail trade as the engine of growth. Newly arrived farmers would come into McAllen for seed, feed and household supplies. The St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexican Railway that rolled through town twice a day would carry abundant harvests to market. By 1908, the McAllen land sales office operated on today’s 17th Street, near La Esmeralda Cantina (possibly the town’s first business) and opposite the Guerra Brothers’ wood frame general merchandise store. Lumberyards, the McAllen Hotel, the McChesney Brothers general store, Macedonia Vela’s building and other wooden shops dotted the wide unpaved streets where horses stood hitched to railings. The English-speaking and Spanish-speaking businesses clustered around Main and 17th streets, near the railroad station. The earliest
Cars filled downtown streets when farm families came to McAllen for Saturday shopping and visiting with friends.
38
Kreidler hearses doubled as ambulances until the 1960s.
residents pooled their money for a town water well. The Monitor began publishing in 1909, the year that farmer Arend Renkin shipped the first carload of cantaloupes by rail from McAllen. When the city incorporated in 1911, McAllen businesses included Kriedler’s Undertaking, First State Bank & Trust, the Molina meat market, a pharmacy, an electric company, and several feed and seed stores. The Business Men’s Club installed a watering trough for the horses that farmers had ridden to town for supplies. Under the slogan ‘We Pull Together,’ the club hired L. U. Bartliff’s Saturday night picture show for six months. “This free show created a lot of friendship and helped enlarge our trade territory,” wrote early settler Dr. Frank Osborn. He witnessed McAllen residents banding together for the Above: The Minter Company paid a farmer $2.25 per crate of produce in 1920. Left: The Studebaker emerging from O.P. Archer's showroom is ready to roll east down the street known through the years as Railroad Avenue, Highway Avenue and Business 83.
39
The Missouri Pacific depot was built after the original burned down following an ammunition explosion in 1914.
common good: “Ernest Horn’s bank furnished the farmers with money to buy cows; and popular subscription built a creamery...that helped the farmers over a hump.” The Business Men’s Club, the predecessor of the Chamber of Commerce, worked on filling mud holes on roads and getting bridges built across canals so shoppers could get to McAllen. The city began to take shape, adding an ice house, an automobile agency, a jeweler and an ice cream parlor. Mexican bandit raids, beginning in 1912, resulted in a bonanza for McAllen in 1916 when 12,000 American soldiers set up camp on the city’s west side. Far outnumbering the residents, the troops collected monthly pay but had few
Lumberyards, essential for building a town, were among McAllen's first businesses. Myatt Brothers Economy Lumber opened as the city grew.
40
The Chamber of Commerce has nurtured the groups that formed the Foreign-Trade Zone, Leadership McAllen, and tourist clubs.
places to spend it. New stores and cafés – some in tents – catered to the demands of thousands of paying customers. The soldiers’ six month deployment boosted calls for an upscale hotel. Once again citizens united, this time contributing $15,000 to the construction of Casa de Palmas Hotel, a project led by banker Ernest Horn and entrepreneur O. P. Archer. By 1920, the railroad was shuttling in thousands of landseekers as well as buyers for the boom crop of broom corn, a tall grain. Boarding houses proliferated as the nation and McAllen entered an era of prosperity. Monty’s Monthly of McAllen touted the Valley as “a piece of high-class merchandise to be sold to people of means who are looking for warm climate, small or large citrus farms, and the many other things the Valley has to offer as investments.” Land developer A.J. McColl estimated he had hosted 250,000 landseekers at the McColl Clubhouse by 1931 and sold $50 million of land. Banks thrived as harvests of citrus, cabbage, carrots and cotton went to market. The Neuhaus family established McAllen State Bank; the Lloyd Bentsen family started First National Bank; and A. F. Vannoy opened Valley Federal Savings and Loan.
The impressive State Bank & Trust Co., squeezed next to the McAllen Hotel, opened in 1925 and closed during the Great Depression.
41
The hurricane of 1933 flooded the city and brought commerce to a halt. At Moody’s White Kitchen, Madelyn Brattin Parks’ parents could provide only a brief respite for unfortunate residents: “They sold every crust of bread and every pot of coffee they had until they were completely out of food.” The city bounced back from the disaster. Morris Nelson completed construction of the South Main Street post office, one of the dozens of buildings he added to McAllen’s skyline. The national economy boomed after World War II. Bubble Gum King Andy Paris launched the Paris Gum Company Colorful labels identified growers and packing sheds.
on Business 83 and shipped a million pieces a day. Brownie’s Service Stations spread, and teens gathered under the canopy at the Robin Drive In. Yet McAllen was still a small town of 20,000 in 1950. When the Stocker family wanted to move Palace Cleaners from a flood zone on Ithaca up to Tenth and Tamarack, banks refused to lend them money. The new location was outside city limits, and McAllen would never grow that far north, the Stockers were told. But the airport runway was paved now, and Trans-Texas Airways offered flights north. Amy Jones, who had first opened her women’s clothing store in the Guerra Building, saw the family business store grow into Jones & Jones with a three-story building complete with elevator on Main. Frequently
Packing sheds employed hundreds during harvest months.
42
Builder Morris Nelson, who constructed Cascade Pool, the Palace Theatre, post office and Levin and Nassar buildings, funded the fire department's purchase of a ladder truck after a fire trapped him on a downtown roof.
equated with Neiman Marcus, Jones & Jones featured the popular Patio Tea Room with its ever-changing Marquand mural. Vegetable and fruit packers continued to supply the nation with Magic Valley products. The long-established La Estrella Bakery attracted yet another generation of children who pedaled their bikes to Galveston Street to buy cookies fresh from the brick o v e n . J C . P e n n e y himself arrived for the opening of his newest store. Men tipped their hats to the ladies dressed up and shopping downtown. Herb’s Supermarket gave S&H Green Stamps to customers. In 1959, the Holiday Inn joined Royal Palms, Flamingo and Frontier motels catering to tourists. Dan Sanborn developed his Mexico travelogs and began arranging tours. McAllen’s far-sighted purchase of the Hidalgo-Reynosa bridge started a revenue stream that combined with oil and gas royalties, helped keep taxes low, a further enticement for new businesses and new residents. Hurricane Beulah in 43
Classic mid-century modern architecture defined the Bill Moyer Nash showroom on (Business) Highway 83.
1967 was a wet, destructive blessing in disguise. Flood insurance payments funded a make-over of damaged businesses and residences. That building surge signaled the gradual displacement of agriculture from the center of McAllen’s economy. Neiman Marcus’ 1967 Christmas catalog offered a unique gift from McAllen: Angel-Kist Novelty Groves’ lifetime citrus tree lease, which included the tree’s total production with options to pick your own or have them shipped. The McAllen Foreign-Trade Zone, established in 1973, attracted twin plants (binational manufacturers) which jumped McAllen into the top rank of U.S. ports of entry based on dollar volume. Thousands of jobs stemmed from the FTZ and the subsequent McAllen Economic Development Corporation. Opening in 1976, La Plaza Mall acted like a magnet drawing affluent shoppers
Under different names, the Chase Tower has dominated the McAllen skyline for over 40 years.
44
Palms Crossing, next to the McAllen Convention Center, represents the newest phase in McAllen's retail growth.
from Mexico and south Texas. Within four years, McAllen surpassed Laredo as the Texas border retail destination. McAllen eventually claimed the highest grossing mall per square foot in the nation as retail became a dominant sector. The revitalized Cine El Rey adds to the bright lights and entertainment downtown in the 21st century.
Shoppers, tourists, and business travelers increased t h e va r i e t y o f h o t e l s, restaurants and services. The 21st century brought McAllen another generation of entrepreneurs, an increase in ecotourism, a revitalized 17th Street entertainment district, dynamic retailers and strong healthcare and financial
sectors.
Founding
McAllen, Briggs and Closner did not envision the details of McAllen commerce 100 years in the future, but they knew a vibrant business community would be at the heart of the successful City of Palms. 45
7 LEADING THE WAY
Destination McAllen The McAllen Hotel, dating from 1908, was built by William Briggs, who with John Closner founded the McAllen Town Co. in 1907 to develop and sell city lots.
From its earliest days, McAllen has rolled out the welcome mat for visitors. Soon after William Briggs and John Closner established the McAllen Town Company in 1907, Briggs built a two-story hotel at Highway Avenue and 17th Street in the newly platted town.
Early winter visitors flocked to McAllen tourist camps for a vacation filled with fresh-picked citrus, sunny days and trips to Mexico.
The next year, the wooden McAllen Hotel was relocated to the intersection of Main Street and gained an annex. Despite an initial lack of electricity and running water (a windmill pumped water from a well to the single bathroom in each building), the hotel remained the center of life in the town for 10 years. Conveniently near the train depot, it welcomed visitors of all sorts: eager landseekers, traveling salesmen, and buyers for crops of broom corn and produce. Hotel guests came to the warm climate for their health or to visit their soldier sons and husbands posted to McAllen during the Border Bandit troubles in 1916. The opening of the elegant Casa de Palmas Hotel in 1918 gave McAllen the loveliest building south of San Antonio. The spacious hotel elevated the city’s image and attracted celebrities over many eras. As landseekers continued to flood into the Valley, developer A.J. McColl built the McColl Clubhouse to wine, dine, and give visitors favorable impressions of McAllen. In the 1920s and 1930s, thousands decided to settle here, convinced after one visit. The City sponsored a Texas Press Association trip that brought newsmen from Dallas by Pullman car to experience and write about McAllen’s White Way with its shaded lamp posts and the park-like boulevard of 15th Street.
The Fairway Motor Hotel ushered in a new era of travel and bathing beauties.
Casa de Palmas Hotel has played host to dignitaries and celebrities, wedding parties and black tie galas throughout its long history.
A 1922 Monty’s Monthly
magazine
proclaimed McAllen as “destined to be a winter tourist resort,” given the increasing number of travelers. The same issue
advertised
“Valley’s
the
handsomest
Filling Station” and Hotel Antlers in the uptown district with moderate rates and free garages. M r s. A . A . C o r n e l l opened a tourist camp of screened cabins in 1924. “The pay camp idea is the popular one at this time,” a newspaper reported. A previous, free tourist camp in McAllen had disappeared as the city expanded. Southern Pacific offered Dallas – McAllen round trips in air-conditioned coaches for under $20. The Chamber of Commerce began its visitor recruitment program in 1937. Following World War II, new motels changed the landscape. At 10th and Pecan, the deluxe Frontier Hotel sported the newly popular California-style patio and pool. Billing itself as “the place where all tourists meet,” the Bide-A-Wee Tourist Courts at 306 Ash offered kitchenettes in suites “only 7 miles from gay Reynosa.” The Tropical Hotel C o u r t b o a s t e d o f i t s shuffleboard courts and oversize, plaid-spread-decorated rooms. Journalist Dan Sanborn opened a store that sold ora nge
juic e, cur i o s, a
mimeographed
newsletter
and then Mexican insura n c e. B y 1 9 5 4 , D a n Sanborn’s M e x i c a n Trav e l o g s h a d revolutionized the border travel industry and placed McAllen front and center as a travel destination and a jumping-off spot for Mexico trips. With step-by-step directions for navigating Mexico’s unmarked roads, the distinctive yellow, red, and black travelogs were free to Sanborn Insurance customers. In his hallmark Panama hat, Sanborn relentlessly promoted tourism to the Valley and to Mexico, leading goodwill motorcades to Monterey and San Miguel de Allende. In 1952 Trans-Texas Airways began the first daily commercial flights from Miller McAllen Airport. 48
Dan Sanborn started off selling Mexican curios, but his incredibly detailed mile-by-mile travelogs for Mexico made his travel insurance business into the largest one on the entire border.
When the McAllen Civic Center opened on Tenth Street in 1960, the city braced for an influx of
McAllen sought the title of “Winter Resort Capital of Texas” by promoting a tropical, citrus-filled ambience.
conventions and tourists. The Civic Center installed simultaneous translation equipment in 1963 and began hosting international
conventions. During
National Cash Register c o n f e r e n c e s,
people
donned headphones to listen to translations in four languages. Only U.N. headquarters, it was said, had similar translating capabilities. McAllen purchased the Hidalgo-Reynosa Bridge in 1960. Within a few years, caravans of silver Airstream trailers were rallying in the McAllen Civic Center parking lot before 300 to 400 at a time headed south of the border. By 1965, conventions were the city’s fastest growing industry, with 70 conventions arriving annually. Convention-goers returned to McAllen on family vacations. Soon visitors could choose from 1,000 rooms in 36 hotels. The Tourist Center Annex was built six years after the Civic Center opened, recognizing “the money crop which ranks right up there with citrus and conventions for McAllen – tourists.” The new City of Palms Tourist Club for Silver Airstream trailer rallies at the Civic Center (1972) introduced thousands to McAllen.
49
McAllen earned the title of “Square Dance Capital” when it hosted a beginners' class for 1,200 Winter Texans.
Winter Texans offered Spanish classes, potluck suppers and dances. McAllen became Texas’ seventh-ranked convention site, although it was only 25th in population. “Without the Civic Center, it is doubtful McAllen would have gained the stature it now enjoys,” said then-City Manager Bill Schupp. The McAllen-Hidalgo bridge crossed 4.4 million people, making it the third busiest border gateway. As predicted 46 years earlier, McAllen earned the title of “Leading Winter Resort of Texas” when approximately 12,000 Winter Texans arrived for the 1968 season. The airport’s new
McAllen successfully courted business and leisure travelers from Mexico.
passenger terminal opened in 1972 and was five times larger than its predecessor. The Casa de Palmas Tourist Club, the result of the 1973 m e r g e r o f c i t y ’s two visitors clubs, enrolled
1,600
members enjoyed
who a
full
calendar of activities. Millions of Mexican tourists had been streaming into McAllen for years before La Plaza Mall opened in 1976. Local merchants gladly accepted pesos at the exchange rate of 100 pesos for $8. By 1978 Mexican tourists spent $15 million annually. Peso devaluations in 1982 and 1987 crippled McAllen’s economy and demonstrated the importance of tourists from the south. McAllen continued to publicize its amenities and its proximity to Reynosa’s 50
The impressive McAllen Convention Center brought a new flood of conventions and visitors to the City of Palms.
bullrings and markets. By 1979, the city topped the list for Texas tourism growth, up 52%. A Convention and Visitors’ Bureau campaign promoted the low cost of wintering in McAllen to Midwesterners, while more conventioneers came to town. In 1987, Winter Texans spent $14 million locally. Tourist Club members paid $25 dues for four months of activities. S h e p h e r d e d b y Ja n e K i t t l e m a n , eco-tourism arrived in the 1990s and fostered an appreciation for the Valley’s unique birds and plants and the importance of preserving wildlife habitat. The “mother of birding in the Rio Grande Valley” worked to develop the World Birding Center at Quinta Mazatlan, which lured birders to McAllen from around the world. Through the years, the Winter Stage series, Texas Tropics Nature Festival, and the Square Dance Jamboree successfully attracted new and returning visitors to the city. Border Buttermilk receptions made the welcomes memorable. Mexican tourists helped keep La Plaza Mall among the highest-selling shopping centers. One hundred years into its history, McAllen continued to spread the welcome mat for convention visitors at the city’s Convention Center on Ware Road. 51
8 LEADING THE WAY
Shaping the Community The characters and the futures of McAllen residents have been shaped in part by the schools and churches they attend and by the associations they join. Memories of these vital elements of the community linger long in those who have benefited from their guidance.
In 1914 all grades, first through eleventh, attended classes in one building. Below: Young Spanish-speaking students attended a “Mexican School.”
McAllen’s first school, a white, one-room building, welcomed 20 students. In 1911, the town built a two-story school for first to eleventh grades and employed three teachers: Stella Pershing, Adela Wells, and Isabel Muniz. “We took lunches of cold biscuits…and maybe a chicken leg,” recalled C. A. Fink, an early student. In 1916, the high school had a single graduate who was both valedictorian and class president. Until 1921, students had to pay a monthly tuition of $1.50 to $3.00 per month. In 1917, the older students moved to the newly built McAllen High School nearby on Austin Avenue. Hispanic children attended Theodore Roosevelt
For decades high school students put on minstrel shows until the entertainment became politically incorrect.
School in south McAllen. The new cafeteria charged a nickel for banana sandwiches and apples. At that time, teachers were prohibited from attending public entertainment or dances on school nights, and teachers had to get permission from the school board to travel out of McAllen. Considered a progressive school district,
The McAllen High School Class of 1925 gathered for their 50th Class Reunion in 1975.
McAllen opened the Faculty Club, a dormitory
for
McAllen’s
single female teachers in 1923 and used it until 1950. The school district also banned married women teachers from 1926 to 1934. The building boom of the 1920s brought the n e w g ra d e s c h o o l s Woodrow Wilson and Sam Houston. A new high school at Austin and Twelfth Streets replaced the 1917 one which became Lincoln grade
school.
A
post-World War
II
population boom led to new schools: Thigpen, Crockett, Navarro, Austin, Travis, Zavala, Alvarez, Jackson. The regional Negro high school, Booker T. Washington, closed in 1957. The air-conditioned McAllen High opened in 1963. McAllen Memorial High School enrolled its first students in 1975, while Nikki Rowe High School opened in 1992. The International Baccalaureate Programme launched in 1999. 54
Until 1950, McAllen's unmarried female teachers were expected to live in the Faculty Club.
Academic and technical courses at McAllen’s 34 public school campuses, with over 25,000 students, and at numerous private schools continue to build a strong foundation for individual and community success. Lack of funding halted the launch of Carroll College in 1924 in today’s College
Heights
South Texas College's Technology campus is conveniently located next to advanced manufacturing plants near the Foreign Trade Zone.
neighborhood. What started as a branch of Texas State Technical Institute in 1984 became an independent community college in 1993. South Texas College grew to five campuses and 22,000 students by 2010. Churches A lumberyard was the site in 1908 for the first interdenominational religious services in McAllen. The Presbyterian evangelist who led the early services helped organize the First Presbyterian Church, which began using the school building on Sundays until 1910. The First United Methodists organized in 1909, followed by the First Christian Church and the Baptists. While Oblate priests had ridden horseback circuits of Hidalgo County settlements for decades as the Cavalry of Christ, in 1911 Sacred Heart Catholic Church was built and then the Catholic school. The churches multiplied and their congregations grew with the city. In the The First Presbyterians' “little white church” was a reference point in early McAllen.
55
A boy's First Communion was a solemn occasion.
1920s, Archer Auto Company was lauded for contributing a percentage of their weekly sales to the Baptist Church building fund. Baptisms and weddings drew the larger community together in celebrations while funerals offered comfort for a loss. Sunday worship, Bible study groups, children and youth programs, and charitable activities continue to foster active faith. Associations Shared interests and a desire to socialize and improve the community led to the formation of service, professional, civic and cultural groups. For at least 50 years, most clubs were men-only or women-only associations. The Business Men’s Club, the earliest known organization that later became the Chamber of Commerce, worked to entice shoppers to McAllen by building a horse watering trough on Main Street and later sponsoring free outdoor movies on Saturday nights. Formed in 1915, the first women’s club, Hoit-Hammond, evolved into a home demonstration club with programs on cooking and sewing. The McAllen Masons were chartered in 1915. The McAllen Music Club formed in 1917 and began supporting a music teacher for city schools. The Business Men’s Club shared a two-room building with City Hall from 1917 to 1924.
The Municipal Hospital, the city's second, opened in 1928 with 85 beds.
In 1919, the Rotary Club held its first meeting at Casa de Palmas Hotel and went on to support scholarships and many local charities. The Study Club in 1921 began meeting to stimulate discussions on important topics. In 1923, the Lions Club was founded. By 1934, the McAllen-Mission Garden Club was selling hibiscus at nine cents per plant and working to beautify the city. Also in 1934, the Literary Club opened. Over 20 women’s groups banded together in 1938 to form the City Federation of Women’s Clubs. They raised funds to build a meeting place at Pecan and Second Streets by charging 34 cents a head for bean 56
suppers. The
Mission-McAllen
Beef
Explorer Scout Bill Stocker is flanked by his proud parents in 1963.
Young Tom Weekley's steer won a prize from the MissionMcAllen Beef Syndicate.
Syndicate, formed by the Bentsen brothers, began raising money to purchase young farmers’ animals at the Mercedes livestock show. Beginning in 1953, the Women’s Auxiliary of the McAllen Hospital contributed thousands of volunteer hours, organizing book and hospitality carts, staffing the information desk, holding teas for mothers-to-be, and funding the purchase of medical equipment. Over the years, community-minded
The Lions Club is known for collecting eyeglasses and donating them to the underprivileged overseas.
organizations
proliferated and focused on interests as varied as the International Orchid Society, the Valley Land Fund and Maquila Wives. Activities and needs of children were addressed through Boys and Girls Clubs, Boy Scouts, and Girls Scouts. Leadership McAllen introduced emerging leaders to the many facets of the city, public and private agencies alike. The combined efforts of McAllen’s associations have shaped the community and continue to improve the quality of life and prosperity.
Girls Scouts learn from hands-on science experiments.
57
Music teacher Profesor Bercerra posed in 1915 with his students who included Faustina Castillo Santiago.
9 LEADING THE WAY
Arts and Culture
Nuevo Santander Gallery's exhibits of Western, Mexican and contemporary artists sparked an art awareness that led to the popular First Friday Art Walk.
Even before the city’s incorporation, travelers and pioneers would gather around the McAllen Hotel piano to sing and entertain themselves. By 1914, children were taking music lessons from instructors like Profesor Bercerra and giving recitals. Prosperity triggered by the troops posted in McAllen in 1916 paved the way for women’s groups to expand music, arts and cultural performances. A shared appreciation of the arts links the McAllen of the early 1900s and its traveling Chatauqua lecture and cultural programs to today’s Arts & Entertainment series and Art Walk.
The Nutcracker ballet presented by the Deborah Case Dance Academy is a perennial favorite.
Music in the air Organized in 1917, the McAllen Music Club, the first in the Valley, hired and for two years paid the salary for a music teacher in McAllen schools. By 1919 Archer Park was the site of Wednesday evening community singsongs where period
favorites
like
“How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning” filled the air. Silent films playing at the Queen Theatre were accompanied by an organist playing music that underscored the drama of early films like Daddy Longlegs and the antics of comedians. The municipal band, comprised of volunteer musicians directed by city employee Dusty Rhodes, began performing at the Archer Park bandstand in 1927 for an audience seated on blankets and listening to popular songs. When the bandstand burned, the city put up $2,673 to replace it in 1933. The American Legion Band performed at Archer Park from 1948 to 1950. In 1974, the town band re-assembled with former McAllen High School musicians playing monthly concerts. Today, the McAllen Symphonic Band shares its love of music during winter concerts and its traditional soul-stirring Fourth of July performance. The Community Concert Association, formed in 1954, hosted shows by Jose Greco, Fred Waring,Van Cliburn and other well-known musicians. Seeking a performance venue more sophisticated than the high school auditorium, cultural by
activists
Lucile
led
Hendricks
rallied the community. The opening of the million dollar Civic Center on Tenth
Street
in
1960
spurred another blossoming of the arts. The Opera Society held an annual weeklong
opera
festival
complete with famous singers and elegant dress galas. The South Texas Lyric Opera performances carry on that t ra d i t i o n , r e t u r n i n g L a Bohéme and other operas to t h e C i v i c C e n t e r s t a g e. The McAllen Chamber’s Arts & Entertainment series presents touring Broadway shows and performers at the Civic Center as well as free outdoor concerts at Archer Park and the Convention Center’s reflecting pool. 60
Graphic artists combine creativity and colors to bring excitement to bare walls.
IMAS attracts visitors with permanent exhibits that range from stained glass and works by contemporary artists to a human sundial and hands-on displays that spark children's imaginations.
Valley Symphony Orchestra, which originated at Pan American College in 1952, brought free concerts to schools and the public, introducing many to classical music. In 1984, under the direction of long-time conductor Carl Seale, the symphony welcomed the 30-year-old Rio Grande Valley Chorale as a partner. Today the 75 professional musicians of the Valley Symphony Orchestra present concerts and chamber music, often with the Chorale. The Junior League and the City of McAllen collaborated on the birth of the McAllen International Museum in 1969 in Las Palmas Park. The new MIM building was dedicated on July 4, 1976 as part of McAllen’s Bicentennial. A major millennium expansion opened the Children’s Discovery Pavilion and learning labs, while the older building hosted fine arts exhibits. In 2003, the new name International Museum of Art & Science confirmed a fresh focus. Educational programs like the Amazing Skies exhibits stimulated children and adults while the muted light of the stained glass window exhibit (which Music fills the night at performances around the city.
61
The Valley Symphonic Orchestra has introduced several generations to the amazing power of expertly-performed music.
includes two Tiffany pieces) bathed visitors in tranquility. Traveling art shows and works from the permanent collection continue to entice crowds to IMAS. The McAllen Study Club opened the city’s first library in 1932 with a 60-book nook in the Chamber of Commerce. Book contributors gained library membership. In 1936, the club moved its 2,575 books to the basement of the Archer Park bandstand. The new McAllen Memorial Library at Fir and Main replaced the outgrown basement site in 1950. Fine arts Through the years, art galleries came and went. In 1963, artist Helen Stahl launched Patrons of the Arts, which presented monthly art shows and exposed Art exhibits at private galleries and at IMAS introduce visitors to works in new media and old.
residents to regional talent. In 2003, the Nuevo Santander Gallery, fueled by Becky and Ché Guerra’s passion for Western art and artifacts, and Art House, Mayra Brown’s innovative studio, became the anchors for Art Walk, a communal First Friday event hosted by studio owners and artists. By 2010, over 4,000 people were thronging the area between Main and Tenth to visit the 27 venues of visual and performing arts on the monthly walk and to meet local painters, sculptors and artisans. To encourage the arts community, McAllen Arts Council began fostering citywide arts programming with Chamber of Commerce Promoting
62
support
in
c r e a t i v i t y,
2005. cultural
appreciation and arts education, the Council worked to enhance the cultural environment through projects such as fine art shows, the McA2 Creative Incubator with its studio, performance and exhibition space, and the Strings to Success program, which starts first- and second-grade students on the violin. In
1953,
the
Pan
American Civic Players began 13 years of theatric presentations at Casa de Palmas. The Valley
The Art Village on Main was constructed by Alonzo and Yolanda Cantu to enhance art businesses and provide a gathering place.
International
Players began in 1968 by presenting Barefoot in the Park and Picnic. Melba
Huber,
who
started her dancing school in 1958, founded the McAllen Dance Theater which has showcased ballet, jazz and tap performances by generations of students. McAllen’s active support of the arts continues to enrich the lives of residents and visitors.
McAllen’s New Year’s Eve Bash and Ball Drop includes live musical performances.
63
McAllen High fielded its first football team of 12 players in 1914.
10 LEADING THE WAY
Taking Time Off
The Early Days Despite the rigors of establishing a town in hot, thorny brushland, McAllen pioneers found time to enjoy life in their new home, once they moved out of temporary tents and hotels. “To eat dinner with your neighbor meant taking your own chair,� recalled Dr. Bodenhamer. At the McAllen Hotel, travelers and residents gathered around the piano to sing and entertain themselves, according to Judge T. J. Powell.
Modern Woodmen of America, a fraternal benefit society, boasted a camp band in 1928.
McHi's 1919 girls' basketball team played games dressed in middy blouses and bloomers.
A daily high point was seeing who got off the westbound 9:30 a.m. train and then who boarded the eastbound 6 p.m. train to Brownsville. Early McAllen Tennis players Letha and Ade Lee Chisum wore required all-white dresses as well as stockings.
residents took advantage of abundant wildlife by catching fish from canals and Hackney Lake and by hunting quail in the backyard. “When I came to McAllen, one of our chief forms of entertainment was to shoot rattlesnakes,� Callie De Lisle said. Another resident remembered shooting a bear in 1910 in the mesquite patch on West Houston Avenue. A modest amusement park with croquet, horseshoes and cards occupied the corner of South Main and Chicago. Everyone loved a parade, especially the American Legion Fourth of July parades which began in 1910. A bathing beauty revue and 39 buglers enlivened
The Cascade Swimming Pool hosted the Priscilla Club in the 1930s.
66
Dance performances followed interpretive dance classes.
Independence Day festivities in 1923. Throughout the year, the town band entertained listeners in the park, and touring Chautauqua entertainers drew people to lectures and performances. Theaters hired organists to accompany the silent movies they screened. Queen Theater showed The Hunchback of Notre Dame starring Lon Chaney and charged 25 cents for adults, a dime for
Fed by an artesian well, the Cascade Pool had diving boards in its early years.
children. In front of Cook’s Feed & Seed, an “argue bench” gave idlers a forum for discussing what the world was coming to. The Roaring Twenties Landseekers pouring into McAllen in the 1920s mingled with their future neighbors at dances and events held at the Casa de Palmas Hotel and at the McColl Clubhouse, also known as the nightclub Club Royale. Miss Lola Alley, a lyric soprano with the Chicago Grand Opera Company, gave a recital at the high school auditorium while visiting her parents in McAllen. The Tepaguaje Club’s nine-hole golf course gained a clubhouse in 1923, the predecessor of McAllen Country Club. Women emerged from Valley Beauty Parlor, next door to Band Box Millinery, sporting the height of 1924 fashion – permanent oil waves with flat marcel curls or ringlets. Children swam in canals or, after 1925, at the Cascade Swimming Pool. Kids biked down a caliche road
For an ice cold root beer in the middle of summer, crowds headed to the Chic Inn.
67
Music classes – piano, violin and other instruments – naturally led to accordion bands like this one in 1938.
to the tree-shaded, spring-fed park which featured multiple diving boards, slides, and night illumination. Dressed for Sadie Hawkins Day 1950, five girls played on the canal crossing near Bicentennial, despite their parents' warnings.
Farmers and businessmen riding the 1920s boom were also riding in new four-door touring cars that cost $495. Graduates of the local pilot training school joined the Valley Aero Club. In the midst of the Depression Hiram Garner opened Valley Distillery, producing wines from citrus juices. Moody’s White Kitchen was a favorite place for a meal or snack. During World War II, Moore Air Field trainees
Dances at clubs, hotels, and the high school were coming-of-age rituals through the generations.
68
Everyone went to the movies, especially when the theater promised air conditioning, Technicolor and Walt Disney's latest.
and staff attended parties at Whalen Park while Hollywood stars like Ginger Rogers stopped in McAllen to sell war bonds and enthrall the crowds. The Big Band sound and Texas Swing had dancers moving at clubs and hotels in McAllen and slipping over to Reynosa to catch a show at Joe’s Place or The Patio. The Post-war era In the late 1940s, the Robin Drive-In, complete with canopies and carhops, and Dixie Drive Inn were among the places where teenagers showed off a girlfriend and a car. Hangouts such as Mr. Q’s with hamburgers for 15 cents drew youths, while adults could be found at Eddie’s Covered Wagon, Sammy’s Chuck Wagon or The Patio at Jones & Jones. Winter visitors gathered at the McAllen Tourist Club and the City of Palms Club for shuffleboard, cards and potluck suppers. Children bicycled to Estrella
Cine El Rey opened in 1947 to show Mexican movies.
Panaderia for after-school treats. They caught Saturday morning film serials of cowboys and Tarzan or in the evenings sat in the car with
their
families
watching
movies at Palms Drive-In or the Valley Drive-In. In the 1950s and 1960s many children became avid collectors of horny toads. They sold the lizards for ten cents to Dan Sanborn who resold them to tourists for 65 cents. Over time, citrus groves where generations of children had careened
At Whalen Park, a popular chef cooked up a storm for big events.
their bicycles began giving way to more and more subdivisions. During McAllen’s second 50 years, the names of places where residents enjoyed time off changed. From the 1950s to the 1980s, Faulkner’s Drug Store offered the best burgers in town served at a 69
Girls celebrated their fifteenth birthdays with quinceañeras, a religious and social event.
lunch counter complete with a fully equipped soda fountain. In the 1970s, teens cruised Sonic Drive-In, went to the Twin Canals west of Ware Road to park and party, and hung out at Valley Bowl and McAllen Bowling Center. Older boys swam in the canal area known as the Falls on North Tenth Street, and occasionally drove a car along the canal bank
McHi cheerleaders posed on motor scooters in the 1960s.
pulling a ‘skier’ on a tire tube. The ShortLine Station on McColl was the place for country and western music and dancing. Families picknicked in city parks. Little girls and willowy teenagers alike twirled and tapped through classes at Melba’s School of Dance. Boys enrolled in classes for newly-popular karate and judo. By the year 2000, Hollywood 17 had become the movie destination, and the hangouts were Starbucks, Moonbeans Coffee House, and Sushi Kumori. The Second Street hike and bike trail and Bill Schupp Park became places to meet and exercise with friends. The 17th Street Entertainment District and Art Walk offered new diversions, as did the new Spray Park. Yet some traditions last for generations in spots like Rex Bakery which c o n t i n u e s t o d raw customers for fresh empanadas and conchas eaten at swivel stools at the counter. Families still spread a blanket i n t h e p a r k t o watch fireworks on Independence Day.
70
The Christmas Posada to Archer Park draws a flock of angels and carolers to accompany the Holy Family every December.
The Rex Café has been the go-to place for pan dulce, coffee and visits with friends since 1947.
The Sporting Life McAllen High School fielded its first football team in 1914 and ever since sports have energized Friday nights with football, basketball and baseball. Sports such as volleyball, golf, swimming, track and
Underneath the Bentsen Tower, the community dances the night away at McAllen’s New Year’s Eve Bash and Ball Drop celebration.
tennis developed athletes and boosters. McAllen high schools captured Valley and regional championships in swimming, volleyball and football. Games between McAllen schools packed upward of 13,000 into Memorial Stadium. For alumni, sporting events promised the opportunity to run into old friends and catch up. Professional and semi-pro teams came to town, too. The Oklahoma Indians held baseball spring training in McAllen in 1939. The Dusters, a minor league baseball team, called the city home in 1977. The NBA Development League team RGV Vipers and the Killer Bees Ice Hockey team now play at the State Farm Arena. Athletic skills develop in skate parks as well as on basketball courts and ball fields.
Through the years, McAllen
residents
have always found wa y s t o e n t e r t a i n themselves and share a good time with friends and family. At a picnic or pachanga, birthday
party
or
charity gala, hunting or fishing, at a concert or
out
birding,
McAllen abounds in ways to enjoy one’s time off. 71
Healthcare is a growing part of McAllen's economy.
11 LEADING THE WAY
The Next 100 Years One hundred years ago, McAllen’s early settlers needed equal parts of courage, perseverance, and a spirit of adventure to establish a home or a business near the railroad tracks that ran through thorny brushland. In settling on America’s last frontier in the Magic Valley, those brave souls found a true home with energetic, like-minded people, friends who spoke English and Spanish.
The city park splash pad at 29th and Zinnia Streets gave kids a new spray ground.
Even before its incorporation, McAllen pictured itself as more than just a lonesome train stop. Catering to customers with that early horse-watering trough and later building a grand hotel, the City of Palms demonstrated characteristic gumption and a shared vision of a bright future. McAllen actively pursued new residents through early land excursions parties and later maquila partnerships. Progress was measured in new houses and schools, bountiful crops and busy packing sheds, additional shops and restaurants. After 1961, during McAllen’s second 50 years, the agricultural-centered economy diversified and grew stronger retail, tourism and manufacturing sectors. La Plaza Mall won the title of the highest grossing retail space. McAllen gained the rank of the nation’s fastest growing Metropolitan Statistical Area. The area led the country in the lowest cost of living. During its first century, McAllen weathered floods and freezes, border violence and peso devaluations. The City of Palms emerged from those challenges dynamic and determined. People recognized McAllen as an excellent place to
Las Palmas Historic District recognizes a neighborhood of palm-lined streets and landmark homes.
Red-crowned Parrots, Green Jays and other exotic birds draws thousands of birders and ecotourists to McAllen and create appreciation of a unique habitat.
live and work and raise a family surrounded by friends in a vibrant bicultural, semi-tropical setting. Yet while looking to the future, McAllen residents take time to celebrate their city’s history. The Old Timers Club is a living repository of tales and memories. McAllen Heritage Center has become a treasured attic of documents, photographs and mementos of the past. The McAllen Historic
The nightlife on 17th Street fills the air with excitement and music.
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Preservation
Council
was
formed to identify and protect landmarks and historic districts and to guide the city in balanc-
Quinta Mazatlan, once the home of eccentric publisher Jason Matthews, is McAllen's World Birding Center.
ing preservation of historic buildings with growth. The stage is set now for the next 100 years. South Texas College has blossomed into a four-year institution. Ties to Mexico have been strengthened by the Anzalduas International Bridge. The McAllen Convention Center is attracting an increasing number of events and visitors. The creative arts are celebrated at monthly Art Walks and at IMAS. On 17th Street, the lively entertainment district aims to rival Austin’s Sixth Street. Quinta Mazatlan World Birding Center and native plantings draw ecotourists from around the world to see rare wildlife and habitats. The strong business community
includes
both farmers markets and manufacturers.
The Second Street hike and bike trail lets residents have fun keeping fit and enjoying the outdoors.
Progress and success are measured not only by dollars and data, but by how much people’s lives are enriched and the opportunities they have. It is measured by enduring traditions like Fourth of July parades and Christmas posadas, and by new college classes and job openings, and by the adults and children biking and hiking along the canal on Second Street and the young people working out in Bill Schupp Park. On all counts, McAllen continues to exceed expectations. The city’s future can be summed up in one word: Bright! From its vibrant arts district and the revitalized downtown to established neighborhoods and industrial parks, McAllen is leading the way for the Valley and for the future.
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McAllen LEADING THE WAY
Timeline
A jacal was the first home for some of the region's early settlers.
Before 1900 In 1767, King Carlos IV of Spain grants the lands known as Porciónes 62, 63, and 64 on the north bank of the Rio Grande opposite Reynosa in the Spanish province of Nuevo Santander to persons who never claim the property. Manuel Gomez gains title to those lands in 1790. His wife Gregoria Ballí claims ownership of Porción 65. The couple’s heirs, her sons the Dominguez brothers, acquire Porción 61. In the late 1850s, Salome Ballí, a Dominguez granddaughter, begins systematically acquiring what had been her family lands with her first and second husbands, merchants John Young and John McAllen. Rowboats ferried people and goods across the Rio Grande to and from Reynosa until the first bridge was built at Hidalgo in 1926.
In the late 1800s, sparsely populated Hidalgo County has its county seat on the Rio Grande in Edinburgh, today called Hidalgo, and relies on river boats to take cow hides, the major trade good, to market. Mexican copper and silver circulate freely and are accepted for county tax payments, for customs duties, and at the post office. In 1895 Gertrudis Cavazos is buried on the former porción which had become ranch land belonging to the McAllen family. She rests in what is the oldest marked grave in McAllen’s La Piedad Cemetery, a burial ground donated to the city by John McAllen before his death in 1913. 77
This plat map was filed in 1907 by the McAllen Town Co., which had been established by land developers William Briggs and John Closner.
1900 - 1909 1902 John Closner negotiates the purchases of 8,000 acres in Porci贸nes 63, 64, 65 and 66 at three dollars per acre for developer William Briggs.
1904 In December the railroad tracks of the Sam Fordyce branch line arrive in McAllen, the nearest point to the county seat located six miles south on the Rio Grande, as it heads westward past Mission. This rail extension of the St. Louis, Brownsville & Matamoros Railway originates at the Harlingen junction. Land owners and developers typically granted railroad owners bonus land and rights of way in consideration for the traffic that trains would draw to their station. On December 5, Uriah Lott, John McAllen, James B. McAllen, Lon C. Hill, and John Young form the McAllen Townsite Company with a $40,000 investment. Train service begins on the railway on December 19, 1904.
1905 In February the McAllen Depot, distinctive with its vertical planks, opens in the middle of thick brushland. John Closner clears a road from the depot to the county seat on the Rio Grande. Years later that road becomes 23rd Street. 78
The first McAllen train depot, identifiable by its vertical planks, opens in February 1905 in the midst of brushland.
1906 The first telephone line runs to the depot, the start of Hidalgo Telephone Co. The townsite has Horace Dennett’s grocery and dry goods store, Samuel Samano’s general store, and a tiny lumberyard, according to James Allhands, a railway historian.
1907 James McAllen and John Young, pressured by the railway to either plat, improve and promote their townsite or give it up, opt to give it up. They officially dissolve the McAllen Townsite Co. in January. In May, John Closner and William Briggs establish the McAllen Town Company on Porciónes 63 and 64, about two to three miles east of the McAllen’s abandoned site. Land clearing and canal digging crews surround the spot initially known as East McAllen, whose first business is reportedly a saloon at South 17th Street and Highway Avenue.
1908 Briggs hires Rowland Horn to plat the 65-acre townsite centered at 14th or Main Street and the privately built train station. Early settlers deal with primitive conditions, pitching tents along the wagon track while waiting for their houses to be built. “I lived in a tent when we came to McAllen, but nobody tried to highrow us, because if they didn’t live in tents they lived in little two- or threeroom houses,” C. M. Rich recalls. Mrs. Gladys Weaver Closner writes, “We lived in a two-room house about a mile north of what is now Sixth Street. Water was The F.B. Love Store rented the back of the building to Kreidler Undertaking.
79
The McAllen Land Company sold city lots from its office next to the McChesney Brothers store.
hauled to our house in barrels on a sled. We were too poor to have a cow.” In a one-room white building, a single teacher educates 20 students of all ages. Spanishspeaking students attend a separate school on the “other” side of the tracks. The Rio Bravo Canal Company crosses the train tracks near present-day 18th Street. Briggs moves his wooden frame McAllen Hotel east three blocks to Highway Avenue and Main St. and hires Oliver Percy Archer and wife Clara of Brownsville to manage it. Interdenominational services are held at a lumber yard for 13 people. Brothers Enrique and Modesto open the Guerra Brothers wholesale grocery business on the street which will soon be named for their family. Tents at the corner of Main Street and Austin Avenue shelter the Dewey and Osborn families. By year’s end, the town has five stores, two lumberyards, two saloons, and a population of 300.
1909 Arend Renken ships McAllen’s first train car of cantaloupes. Henry Blaine Glendenning and his father arrive in a boxcar (called a side-door Pullman) with livestock and personal belongings. He opens the first jewelry store and then an optical office. In December, the first weekly Monitor is published by Garland Buck and editor M. J. Cox. Flooding, the Rio Grande reaches six miles to McAllen in pre-levee days.
In front of the McAllen Hotel, a boy sprays water on the dirt street.
80
This 4-4-0 steam locomotive stopped in McAllen.
1910 - 1919 1910 H.H. Rankin builds a telephone exchange for 20 subscribers, who tell the operator to connect them to a city resident. Dr. Frank Osborn opens McAllen’s first pharmacy and becomes the second postmaster. The American Legion puts on the first Fourth of July celebration. Briggs donates five acres for Roselawn Cemetery. “I shot a bear in a mesquite patch where Mayor Phillip Boeye’s house now stands
Photographer Robert Runyon captured these three McAllen children in 1912.
(603 Houston)," C.A. Fink reports.
1911 Meeting the criteria of having lived in the town boundaries for more than six months, 45 men vote to incorporate McAllen. Frank Crow is elected the first mayor and becomes the de facto city marshal. The Ice and Light Company of McAllen is designated as the electricity provider. The McChesney Brothers’ store between Highway and Austin is the largest building on the dirt streets of the McAllen second and third graders posed with their teacher Mrs. Friday.
81
Farmers brought carts of cabbages to the train depot for shipment to northern markets.
sparsely populated city. L.U. Bartliff plants palms along the wooden sidewalks of Main Street (soon nicknamed Palm Boulevard) and works a team of mules to water them. “In the early days, L. U. Bartliff did more to beautify McAllen than all other citizens put together,” Russell Rice says. Ramon Guerra, whose older brothers established Guerra Brothers, is the first bilingual graduate of McAllen High School. The First State Bank & Trust Company opens for a 16-year run. The McAllen Business Men’s Club, predecessor of the Chamber of Commerce, organizes and makes its first project a Main Street horse-watering trough. Cars and horse carts shared McAllen streets.
1912 O.P. Archer opens a car dealership. The City bans hogs within city limits and prohibits four-legged livestock from roaming the streets. Around this time, a popular subscription raises funds to build a creamery to help dairy farmers. Mexican Revolution refugees trickle into the area as lawlessness spreads.
1913 Four girls make up the graduating class: Hazel Archer, Frances Buck, Gladys Hall, and Winnie Harding. The Fire Department, motto: “Always on Hand,” is organized.
1914 The Missouri Pacific Railroad depot blows up in April when 30-30 rifle bullets in storage catch on fire. McAllen High fields its first football team with 12 players. Bartliff’s open-air picture theater screens films once weekly. The 82
Hidalgo Canal Company has a pumping plant and canal system that is irrigating 6,000 acres in the McAllen area. The U.S. Army commander in South Texas declares the “territory between the Rio Grande and Military Highway a military zone” because of Mexican bandit incursions. No rangers or sheriffs are allowed on the army-patrolled strip from Boca Chica to west of Roma.
1915 A Hidalgo County Deputy Sheriff arrests Basilio Ramos at the D. Guerra & Sons store. The man carries documents that become notorious as the Plan of San Diego, a Mexican-German plot to reclaim Texas from the U.S.A.
In 1916, soldiers from the East Coast drilled in McAllen in preparation for the nation's entry in World War I. Far from home at Thanksgiving, soldiers from New York enjoyed turkey, oysters and cigars.
The Mexican revolution spills across the border: Dr. Mercedes Fernandez is kidnapped and taken into Mexico to care for wounded revolutionaries and then returned to McAllen. School children hear gunshots from battles in Reynosa. Dr. Harrison’s Hackberry Street house is also an office and clinic with patients’ beds. Garbage pickup by horses and wagons begins. George Ehlinger ships the first rail car of McAllen grapefruit from his orchard at Sixth and Ash. Rudimentary roads forced military vehicles to travel with spare tires.
1916 From July 2 to 12, about 12,000 Federal troops arrive by train in McAllen as part of a major expedition “to protect citizens and conduct combat training exercises.” After clearing the land of cactus and mesquite, the soldiers belonging to New York and New Jersey National Guard units set up camp in the 83
The railroad depot, rebuilt in 1914, was McAllen's primary connection with northern markets, shipping out crops and bringing in salesmen and land buyers.
area around Depot Road, now 23rd Street. Soldiers patrol McAllen streets on horseback and crowd in the few stores when off-duty. Moises Molina's meat market supplies tons of meat for the soldiers' meals. Wealthy New Yorkers, like Col. Cornelius Vanderbilt, impress city residents and enjoy a Camp McAllenThanksgiving dinner of oyster soup, roast turkey with oyster stuffing and New England plum pudding. Troops begin leaving McAllen in November.
1917 The last soldiers depart by March, after volunteers from the First New York Calvary help raise the new First Christian Church. McAllen High School is constructed. Street paving begins in the business area. The Volunteer Fire Department has 24 firemen and hand-drawn hose reels. Dan Ceballos opens Ceballos Funeral Home, the area's first that is Hispanicowned. O.P. Archer transfers park land to city. The flu epidemic takes a heavy toll of lives, especially among Latin Americans. Until the city installed its first water system in 1918, windmills to pump water were common sights at McAllen residences.
1918 The Casas de Palmas – elegant with Spanish-style red tile roof, twin towers, and patios – opens as the creation of O.P. Archer, Rowland Horn and citizens who purchased $15,000 in stock of the Rio Grande Hotel Corporation. The new sewer system begins to replace privies and septic tanks. In one week D. Guerra & Sons sells more than 500,000 bricks, heralding a building boom.
1919 Theodore Roosevelt school opens in south McAllen for Hispanic children. Mary Pickford stars in the silent movie Daddy Long Legs at the Queen Theater. The school district builds the Faculty Club to house unmarried female teachers. 84
1920 - 1929 1920 Population 5,331 Dr. Doss opens his sanitarium, a private surgical hospital with X-ray machine, at 1018 Hackberry and advertises in Monty’s Monthly, a publication promoting the Valley’s opportunities.
1921 An ad for McAllen Creamery touts its good ice cream and its “Prompt service given mail orders.” Broom corn is the money crop, and buyers fill hotels, spending lavishly. Hoit-Hammond Home Demonstration Club learns about Telephone operators plugged wires in the switchboard to connect parties wishing to talk to each other in this photo dating around 1920.
home and yard beautification. The McAllen Study Club starts. Children over seven attend school for free. Thousands of palms and trees are planted to beautify the city. McAllen sponsors a Texas Press Association trip bringing newsmen from Dallas in Pullman cars.
1922 A. J. McColl holds a Home Settlers’ Day picnic and invites those who bought property through his land sales business. Mr. Mac had promised people “a land of milk and honey” and no buyer at the picnic was dissatisfied with their
McAllen started booming with the rest of the country in the 1920s.
85
The Doss Sanitarium on Hackberry was a doctor's office and private hospital.
move to McAllen. The Archer Auto Co. reports demand for Studebakers is up. The first tourist camp site opens.
1923 The Fourth of July begins Two- and three-mule teams worked the productive soil of farms surrounding McAllen.
with 39 buglers playing “Reveille” around the city and continues with a parade, basket lunches and speeches at Archer Park, and a baseball game at American Legion Park. The
Columbia
Theater
reopens with cooling devices and a $10,000 organ, played by Mrs. Nell Watson because “Good music is the chief essential in any theatrical program.” Palm City Motors begins selling Maxwell and Callers in the Daniels Building. Jacob Edelstein opens his furniture company and travels on Sundays to collect from far-flung customers. Phyn Perkins, Valley Midwinter Fair princess, 1923.
1924
Julia Montgomery rages
about rouged faces and lips, reporting she almost wept on seeing that makeup on a teenage girl cranking a car. The daily McAllen Press begins publication and lasts until 1942. Blanche Sybilrud arrives in McAllen and in a few years is singing duets on XEAW radio station as a Texas Bluebonnet. Plans are revealed to build Carroll College. The City contributes $120,000 and 40 acres intent on having the region’s first college. Funding stalls but the layout of College Heights lives on. Telephone operators begin connecting long distance calls.
86
1925 The 25-bed McAllen Municipal Hospital opens. S. Cantu & Sons General Merchandise, Dr. Carlos Balli, and music teacher Hilario Bercerra advertise in El Diogenes, McAllen's first Spanish-language newspaper. Admission to the Cascade Swimming Pool is 10 cents. An
The impresive State Bank & Trust Co. opened in 1925 and closed in the Great Depression.
eight-mile stretch of road from McAllen to Hidalgo that costs $1 million is called the Nickel-plated Highway to Hell: it ends at a toll road leading to a saloon and dance hall owned by a county official.
1926
Southern Pacific Railroad starts
service to McAllen. The International Bridge opens to Reynosa on July 10 as McAllen Mayor F.B. Freeland greets Reynosa’s mayor in the middle of the bridge. The confusion of First, Second Veterinarian Dr. Chestine with Harry Cheever and a colt at a North Tenth Street corral.
and Third Avenues running east and west, and First, Second and Third Streets running north and south is ended with the renaming of streets. Names are changed again in 1936. First Avenue or Highway Avenue becomes 18th Avenue and later Business Highway 83. The original Fourth Street becomes 14th Street
This colorized postcard from 1922-23, looking south on Main, has had the electrical lines deleted and mountains inserted.
and later Main. The Palace Theatre, built for Louis Gerlts at South Main and Beaumont, houses a pipe organ played by Winifred White Collavo. Teacher Amy Jones opens Jones Book Store, selling office supplies and later upscale gifts, parlaying family fashion flair into Jones & Jones. 87
Developing the growing city's infrastructure, McAllen installed its first sewer lines.
The second Municipal Hospital was built in 1928, only three years after the first.
1927
Modesto Guerra and then Enrique Guerra join the McAllen City
Commission. The new McAllen High School is the largest in the Valley. Jose Fuentes opens La Estrella Panaderia, which becomes famous for its pan de polvo. Teacher Dorothea Brown begins her career, inspiring students and guiding debate teams
until
her
retirement in 1970. The new telegraph station opens as the nation's most modern sending station.
1928
Vannie E.
Cook buys the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Congressional hearings held at McAllen Baptist Church probe election-stealing by the Hidalgo County political machine which prevented the duly-elected Gordon Griffin from taking office. The Good Government League had formed in McAllen in response to fraud and corruption in county contracts. The city debuts a 85-bed municipal hospital and converts the original hospital to a nurses’ residence. Kriedler’s ambulance (hearse) rates are $1 per mile. Police alarm boxes are installed to let officers call into the station to find out where they should go. Dr. F. E. Osborn installs the first concrete pipe irrigation system on a 10-acre tract. 88
This touring car and its owner, possibly K.W. Jones, were photographed in 1923.
The Fire Department's mascot in 1937 was 7-year-old Spud Brown.
1930 - 1939 1930 Population 9,074 Sam Miller donates 109 acres to McAllen for an airport, with the stipulation it bears his name for 50 years. For 18 years, only private planes use it. On April 29, a storm covers McAllen in hail and sleet.
1931 This postcard shows the spring-fed Cascade Pool, a favorite place to beat the summer heat.
T h e To w n B a n d ’s
volunteer
musicians
play
Thursday evening concerts at Archer Park. The Palace offers bargain matinee prices as the Great Depression spreads to the Valley.
1932 The McAllen Study Club opens a book nook at the Chamber of Commerce with 60 volumes. Soup kitchens and labor camps aid unemployed residents and migrants.
1933 The Depression closes First National Bank and First State Bank. Workers on city sewer projects received one-third of their wages in cash and the balance in chits. Businessmen who accept chits for merchandise then use them to pay
An April 1930 storm brought hail that covered McAllen streets and quickly melted.
taxes. Sam Miller forms what evolves into the First National Bank of McAllen. The 1933 Hurricane damages the international bridge. Officer Frederico Saenz is the first McAllen policeman killed in the line of duty. 89
1934 Paul T. Vickers is manager of the
reorganized
Chamber
of
Commerce located at Ash and Broadway, which aims to stimulate economic growth and tourism. Jason and Marcia Matthews, eccentric publishers of American Mercury, begin
construction
of
Quinta
Mazatlan using 12-inch adobe brick. The McAllen Garden Club selects hibiscus as the City flower. The Sinclair station, owned by Hammerley and Tomlin, had attendants who pumped gas and checked the oil and tires.
1935 The Upper Valley Art League begins classes and exhibits that lead in 1969 to the founding of McAllen International Museum. To cool off during the summer, the Volunteer Fire Department hosts water fight between kids and firemen.
1936 The McAllen Library moves to the Archer Park bandstand basement and is open Monday and Friday afternoons and Saturday. Mrs. T. J. Powell breaks a bottle of grapefruit juice to open the new WPA post office. Southern Pacific offers airconditioned Dallas-McAllen round-trips for under $20. Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, mainstay of the black community, opens. Hiram Garner opens Valley Distillery and produces wines from citrus juices.
90
These ice boxes in front of Grande Court helped increase food safety and cool down drinks.
The Rotary Club, whose members were community leaders, met at the Casa de Palmas.
High school student Keith Rumbel decides to raise money to pay off the American Legion Post’s mortgage with the first rocket mail to and from Mexico. After binational negotiations, six-foot-long rockets are launched across a wide, flooded Rio Grande on July 2. One rocket hits a Reynosa bar and another crashes in a cornfield. A Reynosato-McAllen shot smashes into a car. Nevertheless the stunt raises nearly $2,000 through rocket mail stamps. Damaged by the 1933 hurricane, the international bridge collapsed in 1939.
Whalen's opened a modern, Hollywood-style furniture store on the far reaches of Highway Avenue.
1937 McAllen taps a gas dome estimated at a trillion cubic feet and benefits from the natural gas supply for houses and the boost in city revenue.
1938 The Farm Security Administration operates camps for migrant agricultural workers in central McAllen. Farmers go there to find workers.
1939
The Oklahoma City Indians
baseball team holds spring training in McAllen at American Legion Park. Admission is 40 cents to the 3 p.m. games which pit the Indians against the St. Louis Browns, Phillies, and Toledo Mudhens. A suspension cable at the international bridge breaks and sends vehicles and pedestrians into the Rio Grande, causing one death. 91
Moody's White Kitchen at 1401 Austin had a steady clientele enjoying counter service.
1940 - 1949 1940 Population 11,877 Leonel Gonzalez publishes El Eco to inform the Spanish-speaking community. His children deliver the free newspaper. Construction is completed on the replacement Reynosa bridge.
1941 Herman Rocha opens the first Hispanic-owned taxi service and is followed by Agapito Hernandez and Hernandez Taxi in 1945.
1942 Ginger Rogers appears at the Palace Theatre and later at the Casa de Palmas to sell war bonds. The July Fourth parade honors Spanish-American War
Actress Ginger Rogers came to McAllen to encourage her fans to buy War Bonds.
92
Army Air Corps guys met McAllen gals at Whalen Park parties.
veterans: A.A. Hughes, Jet Grigsby, E.H. Smith and L.D. Harris. Lauro, Reuben and Noe Guerra, although not serving together during World War II, are dubbed the Guerra Air Corps Squadron.
World War II limited the gas used by private cars.
1943 Bill Whalen hosts parties for servicemen stationed at Moore Air Field. Gossips ask: Does the lemon pie factory secretly research atomic burn treatment for the government?
1944 Gwen Crawford of McAllen appears in the Loretta Young movie Ladies Courageous about women pilots who ferry bombers from the war factories.
1945 The City takes over the water supply system from private companies. McAllen State Bank opens at Broadway and Highway 83 and grows over 30 years to become the city’s largest bank in terms of deposits. McAllen joins with Mission and Edinburg to operate Tri-Cities Municipal Airport at the former Moore Air Field. At the USO in McAllen, Moore Field airmen made their own music.
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1946
Andy Paris, using his
access to Mexican latex, begins making Paris Bubble Gum in McAllen in Texas’ first air-conditioned plant. Selling the sweets at a penny a pop, Paris was a millionaire within a year and on the cover of Life magazine as the Bubble Gum King. Chief of Po l i c e C l i n t M u s s e y s t a r t s GIs overseas sent V-mail home to family and friends.
keeping records of arrests, crimes and accidents. The first convention and civic center is built.
1947 Rogelio and Estella Guerrero open Rex Café. KRIO obtains a radio station license to operate from sunrise to sunset. Cine El Rey – flamboyant with its red and gold canopy and art deco/southwestern interior – begins screening Spanish language movies and hosting appearances by movie stars such as Luis Aguillar. The Old Timers Club is formed by Paul Vickers to “resolve disagreements among historians about the early days of McAllen.”
1948 The airport’s grass runway is paved over. The American Legion’s band begins weekly concerts at Archer Park.
1949 The deluxe Frontier Hotel, built in the new California style, opens at 10th and Quince. Ester Ruenos Izaguirre establishes Teatro Mexico on 17th Street and later is the owner of Valley Drive-In. Temple Emmanuel is established. Baskets of oranges are stacked at Missouri Pacific depot for shipment.
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When World War II ended, couples began cruising the Valley and beyond.
1950 - 1959
A Dr Pepper Bottling Co. crew posed at the South Broadway plant in 1951.
1950 Population 20,067 McAllen Memorial Library opens at Main and Fir. J. C. Penney himself comes to open the new McAllen store.
1951 Dan Sanborn opens his tourist store which grows into Sanborn’s International Travel Service, the largest insurance agency for Mexican travel. Casa de Palmas guests include Anthony Quinn and Marlon Brando with the rest of the cast of Viva Zapata being filmed in Roma. The Frontier Hotel opened as middle class Americans began to see the USA in their Chevrolets.
1952 Trans-Texas Airways begins daily flights from McAllen-Miller Airport. 1953 The Cascade Pool is officially desegregated. The Pan American Civic Players begin 13 years of theatrical presentations at Casa de Palmas.
1954
The Southern Pacific depot
becomes the City Jail and Police Department.
1955 Blanca Gonzalez, Mary Sotello, and Sylvia Santiago are among the thou-
President Dwight Eisenhower rode through McAllen in a motorcade while in the Valley to dedicate Falcon Dam.
sands of McAllen school children who line up for the new Salk polio vaccination. 95
The lone runway at Miller Airport , with Cascade Pool to the right and La Piedad Cemetery to the north, sat far from the crowds.
1956 Booker T. Washington High School, built in 1941 for Negro students, closes. After 400,000 miles and 38 years, rural mail carrier Arthur Willey retires.
1957 Russian spy Rudolf Abel is held in McAllen for six weeks and questioned by the FBI at the alien detention center near 25th and Quince. He stands trial in New York and is later exchanged for U-2 pilot Gary Powers.
1958 McAllen has over 90 manufacturing, processing, canning and industrial plants and cotton gins. City packing sheds ship 15 percent of American cabbage and 20 percent of its citrus. Cowboy outfits made little Roy Rogers and Gene Autreys out of young Baby Boomers, 1956.
1959 Fiesta Drive-In on South 23rd Street draws families by the carful to Friday
night
movies.
McAllen is listed among the top retirement cities and noted for the nation's largest
shuffleboard
courts. The McAllen Tourist Club has over 1,000 members. Ads for Royal Palm Motel and Flamingo Frontier Hotel spotlight swimming pools and proximity to shopping centers. 96
1960 - 1969 1960 Population 32,728 The million dollar Civic Center opens on Tenth Street. Banker V. F. “Doc” Neuhaus negotiates on the City’s behalf with Pate Associates, resulting in McAllen’s purchase of the international suspension bridge at Hidalgo for $1.6 million.
1961 The celebration of McAllen’s 50th anniversary in March includes a golf tournament, winter visitors’ barbeque, a Reynosa luncheon and bullfight, a parade, and a grand ball at the Civic Center. Paul Vickers compiles historical facts in the “City of Palms” booklet. Forty gas wells are operating in the McAllen-Pharr field, a huge boost to the economy. A new airport terminal opens. The Alien Immigration Center site in McAllen later became the home of McAllen International Museum in 1969.
1962 Chemo Longoria is named McAllen’s first Hispanic “Man of the Year.” Valley Botanical Garden, a preserve of palms and native plants providing habitat for horned lizards and indigo snakes, opens. Norman Heard arranged to train mentally handicapped people here.
1963 Yancy's Market on Pecan Street had bacon at 59 cents a pound and chuck roast for 45 cents.
1964 Wally Byam Airstream caravans rally at the Civic Center parking lot prior to Mexico trips.
1965 Conventions become McAllen’s fastest growing industry because of the Civic Center and 36 hotels.
1966 Mexican pesos are accepted by McAllen merchants at the exchange rate of 100 pesos to $8 during a 22-year span of currency stability.
1967 A new concrete McAllen-Hidalgo-Reynosa bridge opens. Hurricane Beulah brings disastrous flooding and national news coverage. Water rises so high inside the McAllen-Miller Airport terminal that Sam Miller’s portrait is lifted from the wall. 97
A political event in Whalen Park in the 1960s drew dignitaries Lloyd Bentsen, Kika de la Garza, John Connally, and J.C. Looney.
The Neiman Marcus catalog offers a citrus tree lease through McAllen’s AngelKist Novelty Groves run by Jim Griffin. Leasers can have fruit picked or visit the grove and their tree to pick their own.
1968 McAllen claims the “Leading Texas Winter Resort” title and welcomes 12,000 winter visitors who spend $6 million. Griffin and Brand develops a 125acre industrial complex and locates its processing-shipping facility there. The library completes a major expansion.
1969 McAllen reaps over $250,000 in sales tax, the highest in the state proportionate to population and thirteenth overall for Texas, although its population is under 40,000. The money flows from tourists, shoppers, and traffic passing through to Mexico. McAllen Bridge crossings exceed 10 million and make it the third busiest border gateway. The McAllen Museum, chartered by the McAllen Junior League, opens in the refurbished, former alien detention center. Hurricane Beulah in 1967 flooded many McAllen streets including Bales Road.
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1970 - 1979 1970 Population 37,636 W.D. Whalen hosts the 25th anniversary party of McAllen Old Timers Club. Motor coach tours depart from the new Sanborn's office on South Tenth.
1971 The new Palm View Golf Course, where a round of golf costs $3, is inundated twice by flood waters. The city ends garbage incineration.
1972 To ensure orderly growth, city officials agree to begin annexing land. City Manager William L. Schupp is named “Man of the Year.” Foreign-Trade Zone openings were celebrated by the U. S. Secretary of Commerce, Mayor Othal Brand, U. S. Rep. Kika de la Garza and city and chamber officials.
1973 McAllen’s Foreign-Trade Zone, the nation’s first inland facility, begins operating as an industrial complex on 40 acres following years of development from a Chamber of Commerce initiative that had strong bank support. The new McAllen-Miller International Airport terminal is five times bigger than the previous facility. Lightning destroys the newly remodeled Casa de Palmas set to open under the name La Posada Motor Hotel. Restored to its original style, it safely re-opens in 1974 to host Neiman Marcus fashion shows.
1974 A City ordinance requires new developments to landscape ten percent of property not covered by buildings. After being rebuffed during a civic club meeting, airline founder Herb Kelleher drops McAllen from the list of cities that Southwest Airlines will serve.
1975 Thanks to $1 million net income from the City-owned bridge, McAllen has the lowest tax rate in the Valley.
1976 La Plaza Mall opens and grows into the most lucrative per-square-foot mall in the U.S. McAllen City Clerk Tiva Sanchez is named Texas City Clerk of the Year. McAllen Housing Services is founded and evolves into Affordable Homes of South Texas. Beginning teachers are paid $8,400. 99
McAllen Old Timers met to recall their lives during the city's early days.
1977
The Dusters,
McAllen’s first professional sports team, begin an 80-game season of Class A baseball in the Lone Star League.
1978 Following family tradition, Alonzo Cantu opens Cantu Construction Co. and becomes instrumental in McAllen growth. Striking farmers at the international bridge are met by tear gas bombs.
1979 The Goodyear blimp America arrives to televise the Palm Bowl. The City promotes its access to Reynosa’s professional bullrings and Indian Market as well as its own Botanical Gardens, two-week Spring Festival and museum. McAllen leads Texas cities in tourism growth. The City sells McAllen General Hospital to private investors.
1980 - 1989 1980 Population 67,042 The City receives $114,445 from FEMA to repair damages to public property caused by Hurricane Allen. Attorney David Ewers joins his father and grandfather in the law firm established by his grandfather.
1981 The Vannie E. Cook Jr. Cancer Center, which started as an M.D. Anderson affiliate in 1977, becomes an independent facility. Border Buttermilk is served at the McAllen International Toll Bridge Employees Service Award Maquiladoras employed thousands and helped make McAllen a major inland port of entry with $4 million in goods crossing daily.
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dinner. Josef Garza, Danny Boultinghouse and Charles Wilson organize the first Leadership McAllen program. Glen Roney co-founds Texas State Bank.
1982 La Plaza Mall adds 50 new stores keeping the south of the border ambiance. Mexican peso devaluation hurts the entire economy. Bridge revenues plummet as international shoppers retrench. City property tax evaluations reach $1.1 billion. The first seniors graduate from McAllen Memorial High School. Rio Grande Regional Hospital opens. McAllen has the nation’s largest general purpose Foreign Trade Zone in terms of dollar value, averaging $4 million in traffic daily or $1.1 billion annually. Freezes in 1983 and 1989 decimated the Valley citrus crops and ornamental plants.
1983 McAllen receives the Presidential Award for Export Service, recognizing how much the city’s exports help reduce the U.S. trade deficit. The City prepares to adopt a computer system to manage finances. Temperatures dip to 19 degrees during the devastating Christmas freeze which kills thousands of palms and citrus trees.
1984 Texas State Technical Institute opens a McAllen branch. The Candlelight Posada in Archer Park draws 20,000 people to watch the costumed procession from Old Town.
1985 McAllen Medical Center opens. The City Parks Department advertises beginners’ swimming lessons with Gus and Goldie at Cascade Swimming Pool.
1986 La Estrella Panaderia, built of adobe in 1927 and famous for pan de polvo, is taken over by the next generation. Delia Fuentes runs it with brothers Alfredo and Jose using a brick oven that was originally wood-fired.
1987 Attorney Ruben Cardenas, whose law firm occupies the former Southern Pacific Passenger Depot on Bicentennial, celebrates the unveiling of a historical marker on the restored 1927 station. Donut shop owner Phyllis Griggs is the first woman elected to the City Commission and serves for the next 14 years.
1988 The McAllen FTZ and the Industrial Board evolve into the McAllen Economic Development Corp.
1989 Col. Nikki Rowe, McAllen High Class of 1956 and
Col. Nikki Rowe (1938 -1989) escaped from a POW camp in Vietnam.
West Point 1960, is killed by communist rebels in the Philippines.
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In 1994, First City Bank dominated the skyline as McAllen moved into an era of prosperity.
1990 - 1999 1990 Population 84,201 Germans Astrid Prups and Friedhelm Newmeyer arrive to teach in McAllen schools under Germany’s School Teacher Exchange Program.
1991
Edwardo Alaniz leads the La Piedad Cemetery Board to begin
restoration of the historic graveyard. The nation's most profitable Radio Shack and the most successful Luby's are located in McAllen. The All-America City Award went to McAllen in 1996.
1992
Mike Perez
becomes McAllen City M a n a g e r. Vo t e r s approve a referendum to build a new convention center at northeast Wa r e
Road
and
Expressway 83. The “McAllen Memorial
High to
the
Classes of 1913 to 1963” is erected next to Chase Tower which occupies the old school's site. Astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American into space, arrives for the opening 102
of a Kmart store, of which he is part owner. High school math teacher Leo Ramirez appears on CBS Morning News after being named one of 10 American Heroes in Education.
1993 The first students enroll at South Texas Community College. Built by the City of McAllen, the school evolved from a TSTI branch. The Expressway 83/Highway 281 junction overpass opens. The maquila industry in Reynosa has a $381 million impact on McAllen as the city diversifies its economy from agriculture, tourism and Mexican retail trade to include manufacturing.
1994 Soza’s Rodeo Arena is the scene of McAllen’s first Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association event which includes calf roping, bull riding, steer wrestling and features professional and home-grown talent.
1995 The new City Hall opens and the former City Hall becomes the tax office and teen court. Another peso devaluation has less impact because maquila traffic has made McAllen less dependent on Mexican consumers. Panasonic becomes one of McAllen's industrial partners, bringing jobs to McAllen and Reynosa.
1996 McAllen ranks as the third-fastest growing metroplex in the nation. It attracts about 29 new companies annually during the 1990s. The MSA is first nationally in job growth with a 23 percent increase over five years, according to Forbes. A Wall Street Journal article notes McAllen has the lowest non-mortgage household debt of any U.S metropolitan area. The Foreign Trade Zone swells by 695 acres owned by Hunt Oil.
1997 Leo Montalvo, long-time city commissioner, is elected McAllen's first Hispanic mayor. McAllen surpasses Laredo as Texas’ most popular shopping destination. Thanks to Mexican shoppers who account for 60 percent of sales at La Plaza and downtown, sales tax revenue for December is $4.3 million.
1998
Mayor Leo Montalvo and city commissioner John Schrock are
authorized by the city commission to purchase historic Quinta Mazatlan for up to $1 million, but bidding exceeds that amount and the two take a risk that the commission would approve the additional $300,000. The City finalizes the deal for $1.3 million from Frank Schultz.
1999 Futuro McAllen is organized to address quality of life issues. The temperature hits a record 110 F. 103
The McAllen Convention Center opened in 2007 and brought more visitors to McAllen.
2000 - 2011 2000 Population 106,414 The Green Jay is named the official City Bird. The recycling center opens on Bentsen Road.
2001 The Dr. Ramiro R. Casso Nursing and Allied Health Center opens at South Texas College with 697 students.
2002 Ted Uhlaender, the 1957 McHi graduate who played for the Minnesota Twins and Cincinnati and appeared in four World Series games, is on hand when McAllen dedicates Uhlaender Field in his honor. The Chamber of Commerce moves to its new building.
2003 Oscar Cardenas is named McAllen's “Man of the Year.” McAllen ranks third on the “Least Expensive Places to Live” list.
2004 An amazing Christmas Day snowfall brightens the holidays. 2005 The Alfredo Gonzales Texas State Veterans Home opens with 160 beds. The McAllen Chamber of Commerce Creative Incubator is established on South 16th Street. MEDC celebrates the 47 companies brought to the McAllen-Reynosa area along with 11,400 jobs. Since 1998, MEDC has recruited 223 companies to McAllen and 289 to Reynosa. 104
2006 Astronaut Michael Fossum,
who
attended
McAllen schools, circles
The ninth hole at McAllen Country Club presents a beautiful challenge to golfers.
the earth aboard the space station. Rick DiJulio leads effort to form the McAllen Heritage Center in order to preserve and exhibit h i s t o r i c m e m o ra b i l i a , photos,
and
document
collections. Mike Allen steps down after 18 years as McAllen EDC president and is named Border Texan of the Year.
2007 The Texas Veterans’ Memorial is dedicated.
2008 T h e M c A l l e n Chamber of Commerce initiates its $50,000 Innovation Grant Program.
2009
The Anzalduas International Bridge opens. A New Yorker article
spotlights the high cost of healthcare in McAllen.
2010 Population 132,000 The Rio Grande stays at flood stage for eight weeks but McAllen escapes damage. Citizens organize to save the McAllen Botanical Garden and the 1960s-era Civic Center.
2011 McAllen celebrates the 100th anniversary of its incorporation. Attorney Ruben Cardenas is the longest serving volunteer in the McAllen Chamber Greeters. He continues to serve after 51 years.
Performances, picnics and playgrounds – McAllen City Parks offer activities for the whole family.
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This land party (people who came to the Valley to look at farm land) posed for McAllen photographer Eskildson on January 10, 1921.
McAllen LEADING THE WAY
Profiles
LEADING THE WAY
A
AEP Texas
EP Texas is connected to and serves more than one million electric consumers in the deregulated Texas marketplace. It is headquartered in Corpus Christi, with regulatory and governmental affairs offices in Austin. Major cities served include Corpus Christi, Abilene, McAllen, Harlingen, San Angelo, Vernon, Victoria and Laredo.
As an energy delivery (wires) company, AEP Texas delivers electricity safely and reliably to homes, businesses and industry across its nearly 100,000 square mile service territory in south and west Texas. AEP Texas also maintains and repairs its lines, reads electric meters, and handles connections and disconnections as directed by the Retail Electric Providers (REPs) selling electricity in the area. More than 1,500 AEP Texas employees are connected to their local Texas communities and actively involved in many civic organizations helping to make their communities better places to live, work and play. In addition, AEP Texas contributes more than $1 million annually to teach electrical safety, improve education, enhance the environment, and support community and economic vitality in the areas served.
AEP Texas is part of the American Electric Power system, one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity to more than five million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation's largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation's largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more than 765 kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines, which is more than all other U.S. transmission systems combined. AEP's transmission system directly or indirectly serves about 10 percent of the electricity demand in the Eastern Interconnection, the interconnected transmission system that covers 38 eastern and central U.S. states and eastern Canada, and approximately 11 percent of the electricity demand in ERCOT, the transmission system that covers much of Texas. AEP's utility units operate as AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana and east Texas). AEP's headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio. For more information, see the corporate web site, AEP.com.
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LEADING THE WAY
T
Atlas & Hall, LLP
he largest law firm south of San Antonio, Atlas & Hall, LLP has helped shape McAllen's future for over 50 years. The original firm, founded by Morris Atlas and Howard Stafford in 1953, merged with other McAllen firms to become Atlas & Hall in the 1960s. The full service law firm covers the spectrum of litigation and transaction law, representing individuals, small and large businesses, estates, governmental entities, banks, media outlets and other organizations. The attorneys of Atlas & Hall continue to combine their first class legal skills, in-depth knowledge of the region, and their focused attention to the benefit of their clients. Many of the firm's lawyers joined the firm directly out of law school and have remained because they share a philosophy of the practice of law and a respect for one another.
During two pivotal events that have determined the direction of the city, Atlas & Hall represented the City of McAllen. In 1960, the firm helped negotiate the purchase of the Hidalgo Reynosa International Bridge, a transaction which has provided a steady revenue stream to McAllen. Later the firm led the fight to successfully thwart an attempt to close McAllen-Miller Airport in order to establish a regional airport in Harlingen. Members of the firm are active in the Rio Grande Valley community and in the legal profession statewide. Atlas & Hall attorneys serve on the boards of major charitable, non-profit and educational organizations providing both pro bono legal support, as well as leadership to the Museum of South Texas History, IMAS, STARS, the Vannie E. Cook Cancer and Hematology Clinic, South Texas College and many others. For decades, the firm's attorneys have served on city advisory boards and committees.
Atlas & Hall expects to grow as McAllen grows and to remain involved in fostering the city's prosperity and its future. 109
LEADING THE WAY
E
The Lloyd Bentsen Family
ven at ninety-five, Lloyd Millard Bentsen did not believe in retirement. His farms and ranches covered more than 60,000 acres and, along with his citrus, banking, oil, and far-flung real estate interests, occupied the time not spent with his family or hunting and fishing. Throughout his lifetime, his pioneer spirit, astute insights, and generosity created a legacy that continues to enhance his community, his family, and the Rio Grande Valley. Born to Danish immigrants Peter and Tena Bentsen on a homestead in White, South Dakota, on November 24, 1893, Lloyd Bentsen helped maintain the family's stock farm. He received only a few years of formal education, but was a voracious reader. As a youth, he tamed wild mustangs in the Dakotas, followed the grain harvest, and nearly lost his life in a motorcycle accident in 1915. During World War I, Lloyd enlisted in the U. S. Army Signal Corps, Aviation Section. He received his wings and an officer's commission in the 198th Aero Squadron, the F lying Wildcats.
Lloyd and Edna Ruth Bentsen After the war and a stint barnstorming, Lloyd joined his parents in Mission, Texas. The beautiful Red Cross volunteer, Edna Ruth “Dolly” Colbath, captured the young man's heart, and the couple married in 1920. Family always ranked foremost in their lives: their four children – Lloyd, Jr., Donald, Kenneth and Betty – as well as their fourteen grandchildren – Lloyd III, Lan, Tina, Becky, Don Jr., Kathy, Karen, Molly, Betty, Ken Jr., Will, Ellen, Dan Jr. and Susan.
Adhering to a personal creed of “Back your judgment” and believing in the future of the Rio Grande Valley, Lloyd expanded his land-clearing business into buying that land. He went into debt convinced that land purchases would pay in the long run. He soon became a leader in the development of Valley cities and businesses. His enterprises ranged from banking, ranching and farming to real estate and oil. For 50 years, Mr. Lloyd, as he was affectionately called, was an owner and Chairman of the Board of several South Texas banks. He co-founded Lincoln Liberty Life Insurance Company and the Mission-McAllen Beef Syndicate. In 1946, envisioning a unified, developed Rio Grande Valley, Lloyd 110
Bentsen co-founded the Valley Chamber of Commerce and was the first president of what became the Rio Grande Valley Partnership.
Lloyd Bentsen's business interests were balanced by years of public service and philanthropy. Just before World War II, he organized and led the Valley's Texas Defense Guard Battalion which inspired the formation of Defense Guard units across Texas. After serving thirteen years as the Texas State Guard Reserve Corps commander, he was inducted into the Guard's Hall of Honor. The National Guard Association of Texas, recognizing him as “one of Texas' most distinguished citizen soldiers,” bestowed the Minuteman Award. He received the U.S. Marine Corps League's Citation of Merit for loyalty to community and country, the Texas A&M University's Award of “Outstanding Texan,” and the Silver Beaver Award from the Boy Scouts of America. The Texas Business Hall of Fame honored him for his vision, dedication and courage while the Heritage Hall of Fame of the State Fair named him a Texas Legend.
The Lloyd Bentsen family was co-donor of the land for Bentsen State Park. Long a supporter of First Baptist Church of McAllen, he was a major contributor to Rio Grande Children's Home whose activity center was named for his wife.
When questioned about success, Lloyd always gave the credit to his beloved wife, Dolly. Born September 6, 1898, in Somerset, Texas, she was reared by her grandparents. A cherished wife, mother and grandmother, Dolly is remembered as a beautiful woman, gracious and kind with a delicious sense of humor. Her homemade ice cream, rich with cream and eggs, was known far and wide. Quick to praise, soft-spoken Dolly was a treasure to her family and friends. “One wonderful thing about Dad and Mother: they always said they were from the Valley, not a separate city. They had such pride in the whole area,” said daughter Betty Bentsen Winn. The Bentsen children flourished: Lloyd Jr. as a U.S. Senator from Texas and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury; Donald as owner and CEO of several successful companies; Kenneth as a prize-winning Houston architect; and Betty, as CEO of the Lloyd Bentsen Partnerships and Foundation. Edna Ruth Bentsen died in June 1977 after 57 years of marriage. Lloyd Bentsen died in January 1989, leaving his family, friends, and the Rio Grande Valley a better place to live because of his example, foresight, and commitment. As Lieutenant Governor Bill Hobby said, “He was one of the last great patricians of Texas.”
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LEADING THE WAY
I
Boggus Ford
n 1921, 20-year-old Lewis Boggus, Sr., became the youngest owner of a Ford dealership in the United States. This accomplishment in Mission came as no surprise to those who had observed the young Texan's drive and talents.
Lewis established a string of dealerships from Corpus Christi, Brownsville, San Benito, Harlingen and Raymondville, and added the McAllen dealership in 1936. In 1950, Lewis' son, Frank, began working at Boggus Ford McAllen after he graduated from Texas A&M. After service in the Air Force, Frank became the general manager of the Harlingen dealership, settling there with his wife Pe g g y a n d t h e i r children Barbara Sue and twin sons Bob and Jack.
Frank eventually ran the McAllen dealership until Bob, a University of Texas graduate, stepped in. Jack managed the Harlingen dealership until his death in 1992. Bob began taking over the family business from Frank in 2001. He is now president of the McAllen and Harlingen dealerships, which rank among the Valley's top sellers.
In 2010, Boggus Ford McAllen acquired the Lincoln Mercury franchise and recently completed a major facility upgrade. In Harlingen, Boggus Ford relocated to a new, spacious facility on Expressway 83 and acquired the Lincoln Mercury franchise in 2007. At the time of this writing, Ford Motor Company has discontinued production of Mercury, leaving Boggus the only Lincoln dealer in the Rio Grande Valley. In 1990, Frank was presented TIME Magazine's Quality Dealer award, the most prestigious honor in the industry. In recognition of exceptional performance and distinguished community service, the rare award was presented to Bob in 2007.
Frank and Bob showed dedication to their community through professional and personal involvement. Frank helped establish Texas State Technical College, the Boys and Girls Club, the Boggus Education Pavilion at Valley Baptist Medical Center and, with his daughter Barbara, the Ronald McDonald House of Harlingen. His guidance has shaped numerous financial, charitable and civic boards. Bob has served as president of the Texas Automobile Dealers Association, the Valley Dealers Association, the Valley Partnership, McAllen Crime Stoppers, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and served on the boards of multiple organizations. He and his wife Karen have three children, Ashley, Austin and Katie and two grandchildren, Londyn and Emery. 112
LEADING THE WAY
I
The Boot Jack
n the midst of the 1976 peso devaluation, George and Joy Masso established The Boot Jack, a western wear store catering t o t h e e n t i r e f a m i l y. Experienced in retail clothing, the Massos recognized an enduring yet underserved Tejano market for western clothing and accessories suitable for ranch life as well as festive occasions. George 1976: The first Boot Jack location at 409 S. Main Street Masso designed the popular in McAllen occupied a 4,000 sq.ft. building. Pecos Bill line of boots, sold exclusively at the store, while Joy managed the Boot Jack’s advertising campaigns.
For years, Boot Jack customers have come from across South Texas and Mexico to find every major brand of western boots along with appealing men’s, women’s and children’s clothing and jewelry. Regional country western and Tejano bands turn to The Boot Jack when they want the latest in good-looking western wear.
Active in the Valley community and supportive of its current and future customers, The Boot Jack is a long time sponsor of 4-H and the Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show and Rodeo: Educating Youth - Promoting Agriculture. Through Champs for Champions, the Massos participate in awarding scholarships to deserving students. The Boot Jack has become the Valley’s largest family-owned and family-operated western wear company, employing hundreds over the years at its three stores in McAllen and two stores in Brownsville. Recognized for its achievements in marketing and advertising, the Boot Jack gives customers retail service second to none.
The Masso children – Kevin, Selina, Mike and Mark – began stocking shelves and helping out at age 10 and as teenagers worked as cashiers and learned more. After high school, none of them expressed interest in joining the family business, but they changed their minds as young adults. Kevin Masso brought the stores into the computer age in 1989. Selina and Ben Pena, Mike and Robyn Masso, Mark and Karen Masso joined with their cousin Luis Masso to operate different store locations.
1989: Store #1 moved across the street to 504 S. Main Street to a 20,000 sq. ft. building.
The Masso family is proud to be a part of McAllen and the Rio Grande Valley community and history. 113
LEADING THE WAY
B
Othal Brand
y the time Othal Brand could make change, he was peddling fruit and vegetables on street corners in Atlanta. Fifty years later Othal Brand was Mayor of McAllen and chairman of the board of Griffin & Brand, a family-owned produce company that became the world's largest grower, packer, and shipper of onions. Known as the Onion King and a tireless advocate for the poor and for McAllen, Othal was considered by some to be the most influential figure in South Texas politics of his era.
Born in 1919 in Grayson, Georgia, Othal stood in a soup line as a child and quit school in tenth grade to sell vegetables full time to help his family. In 1934 he and his brother started a produce business with Othal as the buyer and Billy as the salesman. At the start of World War II, Othal enlisted in the Marine Corps and served in the bloody arena of Guadalcanal and the Solomon Islands. Friends said Othal never got over being a Marine master sergeant and a boxer.
Othal married Marine corporal Kathryn Wiggins in 1945, a union that lasted 64 years. Back in the produce business, Othal took his young and growing family to Florida, Colorado and Texas while he oversaw purchases of cantaloupes, onions and tomatoes. Othal and Kay moved to McAllen in 1954, and raised their four children: Lynn, Karyn, Cynthia, and Othal, Jr.
The Brand brothers and the Griffin brothers formed Griffin and Brand which grew fruits and vegetables on farms spread across nine states and into Central America. The company processed and shipped fresh vegetables and fruits worldwide, chartering ships, running mammoth storage warehouses and freezing plants. Othal, planning crops and negotiating trade agreements, became a leading state and national figure in the industry. Featured on the cover of Vegetable Grower, he was inducted into the Texas Heritage Hall of Honor for his numerous contributions to agriculture, including aiding in the development of the 1015 onion. He served several presidents on the Advisory Committee for Perishable Agricultural Commodities and the National Commission of Agricultural Workers. Texas A&M University presented him with the prestigious Knapp-Porter Award. 114
Tall, with black-rimmed glasses, dressed in a white, short-sleeved shirt and dark pants, Othal was exceptional in his diligence and dedication. He never seemed to tire, working hard all day long and attending meetings at night. He exercised by playing handball. He read voraciously and studied the Bible. A Calvary Baptist Deacon and a Sunday school teacher for 30 years, Othal embodied the scripture To whom much is given, much is required. Traveling armed in Mexico and with a Bible, he got the nickname pastor con pistola.
Othal Brand served on the McAllen School Board for six years where he helped initiate migrant worker education programs and the academy for special needs and problem students. He set the school district on a path to greater achievement and served on the Texas Committee for Public Education. After four years as a McAllen City Commissioner, Othal decided in 1977 to run for mayor.
Othal, a conservative visionary, understood the changes that McAllen needed to transform itself from an agricultural town to a booming, business-oriented city. He willingly shouldered the challenges of city leadership for five terms in order to accomplish his goals of community improvement. His results-oriented approach ruffled feathers but created momentum for progress. He formed the McAllen Economic Development Corp. and hired Mike Allen to lead it. He launched an affordable housing program for low-income families, fought for the independent community college which became South Texas College, built a new MillerMcAllen Airport terminal, and pushed the city to acquire land for the future, including the site of the McAllen Convention Center. He appointed hundreds of capable citizens to City advisory boards. Othal Brand's political voice was loud and clear. In contrast, he was characteristically quiet about his and Kay's philanthropy. He helped found the Rio Grande Valley Children's Home and the Boys & Girls Club of McAllen, donating the land for the center later named for him. He served on countless educational, charitable and religious boards and received numerous honors. He was awarded three honorary doctorates: from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Hardin-Simmons University and Howard Payne University. When Othal's daughter wanted to give her parents 20 scenic acres in the Hill Country, Othal immediately responded: “I've spent my entire adult life in McAllen, building businesses, churches, charities and a mighty fine city. I will live there until I die.�
Othal Brand was buried in December 2009, in the shadow of McAllen City Hall, with a City of McAllen lapel pin over his heart. He had lived life to the fullest. 115
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Brownie’s Oil Company
n 1919, at the age of fourteen, P.S. Brown left his home on the farm in Runge, Texas, for San Antonio where his natural sales ability made him a top seller of grape juice drink. In 1923 he hitched a ride to the Rio Grande Valley and found a job at a San Benito cotton gin. Nicknamed Brownie, he was soon running a Shell Oil Co. service station on Highway 83 in Mercedes. Moving to McAllen, he met and married Laura Parks in 1928. For a wedding present his mother-in-law Minnie Parks gave the couple four lots at the corner of Depot Road (23rd Street) and Highway 83. Shell Oil Co. built the first Brownie's Service Station on that property. P.S. and Laura had two children: Spurgeon William (Spud) born in 1930 and Geraldean Ann in 1932. Land companies bringing parties of land seekers to the Valley had their cars serviced at Brownie's because he agreed to talk positively about the region. Brownie's Oil Company sold wholesale petroleum products from a pick-up with a 500-gallon tank. World War II cut short Brownie's planned venture into tractor sales, but it led to his establishing Brownie's Feed and Seed Co. selling Purina feed, seed and hardware to farmers.
Always wearing a hat, Brownie often took friends, customers and salesmen to the Green Top Café for P. S. Brown coffee and conversation. He was a member of the McAllen Volunteer Fire Department, Kiwanis, and St. Paul Lutheran Church. He served on the Hidalgo County Water District #1 board for 25 years and was a director of Texas Butane Dealers Association. He was always called “P.S.” or “Brownie,” rather than his given name.
Spud graduated from McHi in 1948 and helped build the region's first self-service station, a concept Brownie had noticed taking hold in California. From 1948 to 1950, Brownie's expanded rapidly adding ten more stations in Edinburg, Mission, Pharr, McAllen, Rio Grande City and Harlingen. The neon sign read “Brownie's Serve Yourself, Save 4 Cents per Gallon.” Female attendants in white coveralls cleaned windshields and made change. After his father’s death in 1972, “Spud” Brown continued the operation of Brownie's Service Stations and Brownie's Oil Company. Hollis and Geraldean (Brown) Fritts operated Brownie's Feed and Seed Company. 116
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The Clark Family
n 1933, the Clark family sold 147 cars during their first year in business on Highway 83. Charles Clark began working for his father in the Body Shop, and in 1952, he became the dealer for Clark Chevrolet. The Clark family – Charles, his wife Dorothy, and their son Kirk – extended to include the entire dealership, where Dorothy knew every employee by name. She treated the waiting room like an extension of the family living room brimming with warm welcomes, cups of coffee and time to visit.
Charles and Dorothy Clark were fervent collectors of contemporary art. Their son grew up immersed in the world of art and completed his first oil painting at age 10. Kirk studied sculpture and drawing at the University of New Mexico and then returned to McAllen, becoming Used Car Manager in 1969. In 1976 Kirk took over the Kirk Clark family business as its Dealer with Charles staying on as General Manager until his passing in 1990. For the next seven years, Dorothy Clark appeared in Clark Chevrolet dealership television commercials with Kirk, creating instant rapport with the “Right, Mom?” “Right, Son!” dialogue.
Today Clark dealerships support more than 200 employees, but the sense of family remains strong with birthdays celebrated, meals shared and enthusiastic encouragement for one another. Business success has followed three consistent principles: always doing the right thing, giving every customer plenty of reasons to come back, and treating everyone like family. In 1999 Clark Chevrolet delivered 2,000 new vehicles with the help of 130 associates. In 2008, Kirk Clark earned the prestigious Dealer of the Year Award from General Motors.
A passion for excellence in business mirrors Kirk Clark's dynamic career in art. His paintings, totemic sculptures, monoprints, and jewelry have been exhibited in galleries across the United States, Mexico and Rome and captivated avid collectors. Kirk has continued his family's commitment to the wider community through active participation and leadership in the Chamber of Commerce, Valley Land Fund and, of course, the arts – IMAS, Art Walk, and the Charles and Dorothy Clark Gallery at UTPA.
Charles and Dorothy Clark
Kirk is married to Jeri and the father of Charlie, Anne, Alex, and Daniel and the grandfather of Ryan and Emily.
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Vannie E. Cook Jr.
n 1927 two-year-old Vannie E. Cook Jr. and his family arrived in McAllen from Louisiana after his father bought the Coca-Cola Bottling Company in the City of Palms. Vannie was raised in McAllen, graduated from McAllen High in 1942 at the age of 16, and briefly attended Shreiner Institute in Kerrville. Vannie Jr. soon joined the U.S. Navy and served during World War II. He graduated from the University of Texas in 1947 and went to work with his father learning the ropes. Vannie's daily trips to the bank to deposit a sack of nickels, back when Cokes cost a nickel, introduced him to Carolyn Vance whom he married in 1952.
When Vannie Sr. died in 1954, Vannie Jr. took over the bottling company and Mayfair Minerals which was started by his father a few years earlier. Vannie's good business sense included an innate ability to choose the right thing at the right time. Vannie was a founder of Texas State Bank and actively involved in civic activities and a variety of businesses, acquiring numerous properties in the Valley which have become commercial and residential developments. Eager to help people, he was involved in numerous civic activities, but was nonetheless private in his philanthropy. Early in the 1970s, he and friends Doc Neuhaus and Lloyd Bentsen committed their resources to developing a cancer treatment center where Valley patients could receive radiation therapy. Active on the planning committee from 1974 to 1977, Vannie helped raise $1.5 million from private and public sources. That paved the way for the 1977 opening of what became the Rio Grande Radiation Treatment and Cancer Research Foundation. Vannie continued to serve on the Foundation's board, and, as the center was overwhelmed by patients, began planning for a larger building. The new facility opened in 1989, one year after Vannie's death, and was named the Vannie E. Cook Jr. Cancer Center for the leader who had done so much to establish the center. It is now the Vannie E. Cook Jr. Children's Cancer and Hematology Clinic operated by the Texas Children's Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine.
Vannie was a generous, unpretentious, much-admired man who loved to hunt. He acquired ranches around the country and particularly enjoyed the family's Hill Country ranch where he, Carolyn and his mother often took their children- Kathy, Vannie III, Tommy and Carol - and many family friends. Vannie's widow Carolyn married Dr. Ken Landrum who is the chairman of the Vannie E. Cook Jr. Cancer Foundation. 118
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The Fernández Family
962, Guantanamo, Cuba....Lázaro Fernández was working at La Elegante, his Uncle Jose’s fabric store, until Jose Fernández exchanged life under Castro’s dictatorship for liberty in the U.S. Settling in McAllen with his wife Isabel and son Noe, Jose opened the Rio Bravo Store on a shoestring, selling only cloth remnants for 5 and 10 cents a yard. In 1963, Lázaro Fernández, his wife Maelia, and children Maria Luisa, 4, and Lázaro Jr., 2, also arrived in “The City of Palms.” Lázaro began working with his uncle and together they built the business that has grown into three quality textile stores serving niche markets.
The original store, more than tripled in size, is now Rio Bravo Decorative Fabrics. Changing Pictured left to right: Lazaro H. Fernández, Maelia with the times, the store moved Fernández, Noe Fernández, Isabel Fernández, Jose Fernández, away from home sewing and Lazaro H. Fernández Jr., Maria Luisa Fernández,. decorating fabrics in order to focus on upholstery and drapery fabrics. Silk and embroidered drapery fabrics, designer upholstery and drapery trims, and the region’s largest selection of indoor and outdoor upholstery materials are among the 10,000 items in stock. Dos Rios Corporation specializes in fabrics from all over the world: magnificent Italian silk prints and brocades, exquisite French and Chantilly laces, and elegant Swiss embroidered fabrics and cottons. The collection of imported trimmings includes Austrian Swarovski crystals and Czech sea beads. Clients searching for distinctive fabrics for weddings, quinceaneras and other special moments have turned to Dos Rios since 1972. N ove l D e s i g n C e n t re s e l l s exclusively to interior decorators and designers from Mexico, South America and the Caribbean as well as the U.S. Since 1982 Lázaro Fernández Jr. has followed Rio Bravo Store, downtown McAllen, 1965 his passion for fabrics to mills where he selects the latest fabric textures, colors, and designs. Clients rely on his talents for putting together patterns and colors to create breathtaking drapery and upholstery selections.
Cousins Noe, Lázaro Sr. and Lázaro Fernández Jr. grew up in fabric stores. Today with pride they carry on the family business that started in Cuba far from the Rio Grande Valley. 119
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First Presbyterian Church of McAllen
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n 2008, members of First Presbyterian Church of McAllen celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of their church. During this year-long celebration, church members celebrated the centennial with many festivities and a special worship service.
As the first Protestant church in the McAllen area, FPC-McAllen was established three years before the City of McAllen was incorporated. Early services were held in C.O. Maule's lumberyard with lanterns providing light for not only the Presbyterians, but the Baptists, Methodists and other believers who came together to worship. Within a year the Presbyterians began to raise monies to build their own church. The women organized the Ladies Mission Society and held chicken dinner fundraisers. Construction on “The Little White Church� at the corner of South 12th Street and Austin Avenue soon followed and was completed and dedicated in the spring of 1910. This original location is still home to FPC-McAllen today.
First Presbyterian Church, 1910
As the City of McAllen grew so did church membership and the leadership of FPCMcAllen embarked on a three-part building commitment. The fellowship hall was completed in 1949, classrooms in 1956 and the beautiful sanctuary in 1960. The sanctuary is of modern design and features impressive soaring stained glass windows and an 18 foot cross that seems to float on air over the communion table. The massive pipe organ was custom designed and hand-built in England.
The three-part building commitment started in 1949
Faith, fellowship and family flourished under the guidance of strong spiritual and community leaders. Former McAllen mayors Angus McLeod, Frank Freeland, Dr. Robert Osborn and Jack Whetsel have been active members of the church.
The congregation of FPC-McAllen has always reached out to help the broader community. They were directly involved in establishing three missions that remain vital today: Su Casa de Esperanza in Pharr, Puentes de Cristo in Hidalgo and Tamaulipas, Mexico, and Comunidades Unidas Pro Salud in Mexico (CUPS).
In the 1960s, Lynn Flowers started a kindergarten program for five-year-olds at FPCMcAllen and today her vision carries on at FPC-McAllen as the city's premier Pre-K School. The church's famous Lynn Flowers Hand Bell Choir was named in her memory. 120
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Leonelo H. Gonzalez - La Voz del Pueblo
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merican heroes consist of ordinary people who devote their lives to doing extraordinary things for others. Leonelo Gonzalez, with the help of his wife, Cecilia, was that kind of person.
Gonzalez came to McAllen as a teenager and worked as a linotypist with various newspapers. He worked as a manager at The Monitor before he established his own newspaper in 1940. Gonzalez started El Eco newspaper in an effort to inform the community with a publication written in Spanish. As a member of McAllen General Hospital Board, Leonelo, with Cecilia's support, began a “WellBaby� Clinic. The clinic introduced pre-natal health care, nutrition and child care. The establishment of the clinic was important to Gonzalez because it improved the health of children in McAllen.
Gonzalez, one of the first Hispanic members of the McAllen Independent School Board, helped initiate a six week summer pre-school program for Hispanic children to learn English before entering first grade. He was instrumental in ending half-day classes for children in the late 1940's and helped establish PTA programs at elementary schools where mostly Hispanic students were in attendance. Leonelo was dedicated to expanding the access of education to the children in the community with a focus on reaching out to the Hispanic families of McAllen. In recognition of this effort, McAllen dedicated the Leonelo H.Gonzalez Elementary School in March 1992 and later opened a city park named for him. Leonelo and Cecilia Gonzalez leave a legacy in their four children who also strive to serve their community. Leonelo Hector (deceased) continued in his father's printing profession. Iris Yolanda (married to Ray Pearce) is an established Cancer Counselor and the Director of the School of Spirituality at the Episcopalian Diocese of Dallas and Fort Worth. Cecilia Carmen (married to retired State Representative Roberto Gutierrez) is a recognized Early Childhood Educator. Romeo Victor (married to Delia Pro) is a professional Electrical Engineer.
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-E-B has a long history of serving the Rio Grande Valley. Since 1929, the company has been a presence in the region, growing alongside Valley communities as it worked to provide residents with the low prices, the freshest products and the services Texans have come to expect from their H-E-B.
H-E-B
Today, H-E-B is one of the nation's largest independently owned food retailers, operating 329 stores in Texas and Mexico, with annual sales of over $16 billion and employing more than 76,000 Partners (employees).
But what makes H-E-B truly stand out is its commitment to its customers beyond the four walls of its stores. Each day the company works to make its communities a better place to live. This commitment is demonstrated through H-E-B's public service involvement and charitable giving in the 150 communities in which it operates. This service to the community began in 1905 and is known as the H-E-B Spirit of Giving. H-E-B's commitment to education, hunger prevention, disaster relief, diversity, volunteerism and the environment, coupled with its corporate giving philosophy, is recognized as an important part of the way the company does business. H-E-B donates five percent of its pretax earnings annually to charitable organizations that are committed to making a positive difference in Texas communities. The company has also instituted signature community programs including the H-E-B Excellence in Education Awards, the H-E-B Feast of Sharing Dinners and the H-E-B Food Bank Assistance Program.
The company also has a strong legacy of assisting communities in crisis. In the wake of Hurricane Dolly, H-E-B deployed 89 trucks loaded with groceries and supplies; provided food, ice, water and baby supplies to numerous area shelters and residents; set up the H-E-B Disaster Response Unit equipped with a Pharmacy and Business Center; and served meals from the H-E-B Eddie Garcia Mobile Kitchen. Additionally, H-E-B believes its Partners have a responsibility to the community through volunteerism. To date, H-E-B Partners have contributed more than 100,000 hours of community service to help friends and neighbors. The story of H-E-B is very much a story about Texas. It's a celebration of the people, history and regions that make our state great. 122
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IBC
BC was founded in 1966 to meet the needs of small businesses in Laredo, Texas. Today, it serves as the flagship bank of International Bancshares Corporation. Since its opening, IBC has grown from less than $1 million in assets to more than $11.3 billion, making it one of Texas' largest holding companies and earning it the title of the largest Hispanic-owned financial institution in the nation. David Guerra, president and CEO of IBCMcAllen, has played a critical role in IBC's unprecedented growth in this area during the last 20 years. His leadership has enabled IBC to provide customers access to 31 Hidalgo County branches in McAllen, Hidalgo, Pharr, Edinburg, Mission and Weslaco.
IBC has gained a reputation as a consumer-friendly bank because of its menu of free products, its seven-day service and extended hours and its topnotch banking professionals. IBC follows a business strategy of offering sound, practical business advice to customers while making it a priority to do more for them. This “We Do More” goal is evident in its focus on reaching out to the underserved population. IBC operates much like a “super community bank,” structured like a smaller institution with local boards for decisionmaking with competitive lending capacity. An advocate of corporate social responsibility, service and charitable outreach, IBC-McAllen actively participates in the communities where it does business. An Employee Advisory Board (EAB) coordinates community-related outreach. In 2009, IBC-McAllen's more than 450 employees and leadership contributed more than 7,000 hours of community service.
Many community outreach efforts focus on education for area youth, including the implementation of a microcommunity, or learning laboratory at Sam Houston Elementary in McAllen. The goal is to give students a solid understanding of financial concepts. At the local level, IBC-McAllen won the Texas Bankers Foundation 2003 Cornerstone Award for ongoing involvement with the microcommunity program, Houstonville. Another example of IBC's commitment to philanthropy and volunteerism in McAllen is a community-wide donation drive for our troops. In 2006 through a partnership with radio station KURV-AM and Operation Interdependence® (OI), IBC collected nearly two tons of supplies to benefit approximately 10,000 servicemen and women. Over the last four years, this program has been adopted by all IBC communities in Texas and Oklahoma and has resulted in the collection of about 13 tons of goods for more than 40,000 service men and women. 123
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Kreidler Funeral Home
eeking a warmer climate in 1909, Chicago area undertakers Harry and Harriet Kreidler moved to the Rio Grande Valley and began farming. When a ranch hand’s body was brought to them, they realized the region’s need for their services. Kreidler Undertaking Company opened July 1912 in a back room of the Western Union Office on South Main. Harry Kreidler built cloth-lined, cloth-covered wooden caskets which were taken on a horse-drawn hearse to Roselawn and La Piedad cemeteries. Harriet, who had been the first licensed female embalmer in Illinois, reportedly became the first licensed female embalmer in Texas.
In a few years, the funeral home moved to a stately building at the corner of B ro a d w ay a n d Au s t i n . Harry W. Kreidler Harry continued making a few coffins with brass handles even after commercially-made coffins became available. Maynard L. Kreidler, their son, ran two McAllen businesses and occasionally assisted his parents. In 1928, he completed a 10-day mortuary course and formed a partnership with Harry and Harriet.
To mark Kreidler Funeral Home’s 25th anniversary in McAllen, the family came up with the catch phrase “Thotfulness.” The people who commented that the word was misspelled proved that the ad was being read. Kreidler branches were opened in Mission and Edinburg but later were sold. Harry Maynard, the third generation of Kreidlers in McAllen, put up the cemetery tent to shade the bereaved and helped with similar chores before attending Landig Mortuary School. He joined his father in the family business in 1949 and became president of Kreidler Funeral Home following his father’s death in 1957.
Kreidler Funeral Home at Broadway and Austin
Kreidler Funeral Home moved to its current at 314 North 10th Street in 1961. The fourth generation John Kreidler joined the company in 1972 after graduating from Commonwealth College of Science. H. Maynard Kreidler retired in 1989. John’s son William graduated from Commonwealth and joined the family firm in 2002. The Kreidler Memorial Chapel opened across from Valley Memorial Gardens. Through five generations, the Kreidler family has cared for the people of McAllen, treating them fairly and honestly with dignity and compassion. 124
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La Piedad Cemetery
esquite and live oak trees shade La Piedad Cemetery, creating a quiet, graceful oasis for remembrance and contemplation in the middle of McAllen. Tended with love by family members and a dedicated staff, La Piedad Cemetery mirrors the history of McAllen’s Hispanic families and the blending of cultures. La Piedad Cemetery in 1950.
The cemetery given the name La Piedad, the Spanish word for Mercy, started as a small burying ground on the McAllen Ranch and predates the city of McAllen. The oldest marked grave is that of Gertrudis Cavazos who was buried here in 1895 with her husband Blas Maria Cavazos laid to rest beside her in 1901. A La Piedad caretaker told the story that John McAllen gave the cemetery land to the City of McAllen before his own death in 1913. The Asociacion del Cementerio La Piedad was founded in 1913, incorporated in 1930, and received over 10 acres from Emmet and Margaret Arnold in 1965. By 1991, La Piedad was sadly neglected. The association’s new president Edwardo Alaniz Sr. and board members Tiva Sanchez, Anival Ramirez, Estela Aguello, Jesus Martinez, Jose Cazares, Jose Ozuna, Concepcion Gonzales, and Jose Alonzo championed efforts to preserve and revive the old graveyard. An era of surveying, paving roads, and erecting fences followed with the help of the City of McAllen.
La Piedad Cemetery has long been honored to be the last resting place of more than 250 veterans, more than any Valley cemetery. This rebuilt gravestone of Gertrudis Cavazos Annual Memorial Day services led by represents the oldest gravesite in McAllen. Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion posts commemorate the lives and patriotic service of World War I, World War II, Korean War and Vietnam veterans. Foreign army soldiers include Maximiliano Ramat, a veterinarian who served with General Pancho Villa, and Mexican cavalry Lt. Clemente Orozco Mata. Today La Piedad Cemetery, under the care of the Asociacion del Cementerio, covers 13 acres with approximately 7,000 grave sites. In 2008, La Piedad Cemetery was awarded a Texas Historical Marker in recognition of the part it represents of McAllen’s early history.
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Lacks
acks was founded in 1935 when Sam Lack, a Russian immigrant, started his first store in McAllen, Texas. Though he had seen many parts of the country, Lack chose south Texas for its beautiful countryside and tropical climate. His successful career as a merchant began in a modest building at the corner of Main and Beaumont in downtown McAllen. America's love affair with automobiles during the 1930s convinced Lack to create a specialty business selling auto parts. Under his watchful eye and with tireless support from his family, his business flourished. Only three years after opening, Lack built his second store in Edinburg, which was quickly followed by stores in Mission and Weslaco. The war years of the 1940s were hard, and auto parts were rationed along with food and gasoline. Determined to succeed, Lack began offering household appliances - the first new product category since the stores began. As he added products and opened stores across the Valley, Lack's business transformed from a small auto parts chain into a full-scale furniture and appliances operation.
In 1949, Lack’s son-in-law Myles Aaronson began helping him run the family business. Aaronson later purchased the Weslaco store from Lack and began his own expansion program, called Lack's Associated Valley Stores, Inc., but continued to trade under the Lack family name. Aaronson purchased the Edinburg and Mission stores from Sam Lack and his son Stanley in 1990, and the company changed its name to Lacks Valley Stores, Ltd. in 1995. Two years later, Lee Aaronson, son of Sylvia and Myles Aaronson, became the stores' chief executive officer. The stores remain a family-owned business under the guidance of the Aaronson family, including Lee Aaronson, Carolyn Aaronson, Vicki Hutson and Julie Keim. Today, Lacks Valley Stores, Ltd. has twelve outlets in south Texas from Laredo to Port Isabel with the company's newest store in Alice opening in May 2011. Lacks Galleria in McAllen is one of the largest furniture stores in Texas at 140,000 square feet. Lacks is one of the top 100 retail furniture operations in the U.S. according to Furniture Retailer, the furniture industry's leading periodical. It employs over 700 associates. The company celebrates its 76th birthday in 2011. 126
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MPC Studios
PC Studios didn’t start out specializing in website development when it opened in 1998 with only one client. MPC was providing McAllen-based Wornick Company with video production and graphic design services, but that focus quickly changed when the fledgling company began creating websites. That move triggered requests for custom websites from other area companies and quickly placed MPC in the forefront of web design in the Rio Grande Valley where it has remained ever since.
In 2010, MPC Studios had more than 160 clients in five states. A creative staff of 20+ works out of a 6,000 square foot multimedia production center in Harlingen and McAllen offices inside the Art Village on Main. The company has evolved into providing three primary services: Web Development; Corporate Branding and Marketing Services; and Custom Application Development. An impressive list of The original staff members of MPC Studios (L-R) Kate Hurry (Senior Art Director), Sean Clarke clients for these services includes (Senior Programmer), David Watkins (Founder, CEO), Knapp Medical Center, Texas National David McDonald (General Manager). Bank, Magic Valley Electric Coop, Kolder/Numo, the University of Texas at Austin-Chemistry Department as well as the McAllen Chamber of Commerce and McAllen Convention and Visitors Bureau.
MPC’s turnkey web design services include all necessary components for establishing a distinctive online presence: original concept and design, photography, video, written content, cus tom prog raming, o rg an i ze d production, comprehensive hosting, search engine optimization and other traffic-building strategies, along with ongoing development and support MPC Studios, Inc. maintains offices in McAllen after launch. The MPC team has (pictured) and in Harlingen. logged more than 300,000 hours creating more than 500 websites, a number of which have garnered awards. MPC Studios also helps clients strengthen their brand and overall image by using a combination of traditional market communications, online/interactive marketing and social media/networking. The third area of expertise is custom application development. MPC produces clientspecific solutions not available in existing off-the shelf software.
The award plaques dotting the MPC Studios walls suggest that objective has been achieved for years. 127
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McAllen Chamber of Commerce
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round the time that the City of McAllen was incorporated, the McAllen Business Men's Club was established as well. This predecessor of the McAllen Chamber of Commerce installed a horse watering trough on Main Street as its first project, setting a tradition of innovative projects that draw customers to city businesses. The club hung up a banner emblazoned with “We Pull Together” and in 1914 provided free Saturday night silent movies to bring area farmers and settlers to town. The Chamber of Commerce housed McAllen's first library, a Study Club endeavor. In1934, Paul Vickers became the Chamber Secretary and managed the organization for 25 years. He stimulated economic growth and was called the father of winter tourism. He established the Old Timers Club in 1947 to assemble the facts of McAllen's early days directly from its pioneers. His s e c r e t a r y Ru t h C l a r k g a i n e d f a m e fo r h e r scrapbook, a collection of newspaper clippings and typewritten original accounts of the history of McAllen and the Rio Grande Valley. For McAllen's 50th anniversary, Vickers compiled the “City of Palms” booklet.
The McAllen Chamber of Commerce has long fostered economic and cultural development. An initiative in the 1960s to diversify the economy led by Chamber Board members John Freeland, Morgan Talbot and Peter Payte resulted in the creation of the McAllen Foreign-Trade Zone #12 in 1973. Hundreds of business people contributed $1,000 each to make the FTZ a reality and boost international trade.
Today, with over 2,000 members, the Chamber of Commerce is a vibrant organization that aggressively works to foster entrepreneurs and small businesses. McAllen, the retail center of South Texas, is one of the nation's fastest growing Metropolitan Statistical Areas. It ranks among the least expensive places to live and the best places to launch a business. Retail and international trade, tourism and manufacturing are thriving. The Chamber remains focused on creativity, innovation, small business development and entrepreneurship. Its Convention and Visitors Bureau successfully promotes McAllen as a destination for shoppers, birders and Winter Texans. It fosters the creative arts through the Creative Incubator, the Music After Hours Outdoor Concert Series, the McAllen Public Art Committee and the McAllen Arts Council. The Chamber also conducts numerous business and community events throughout the year.. 128
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City of McAllen
n December 1904, when the railroad reached Hidalgo County brushland six miles north of the Rio Grande, the extended John McAllen family and other investors established a townsite.They never developed the property and in January1907, dissolved the business.Three months later and a few miles east, William Briggs and John Closner started the McAllen Town Company with plans for a Magic Valley shipping center. Soon trains carried crops of citrus, onions, and melons to market while stores supplied farmers with seeds, lumber and furniture. In 1911, residents voted to incorporate the city of McAllen and elected Frank Crow as mayor.
The Mexican revolution sparked banditry in the Valley. In July, 1916, McAllen – with a population under 5,000 – welcomed 12,000 national guard troops. Officially the soldiers were on training exercises, but the military presence deterred bandits. The troops overwhelmed McAllen's few stores and gave businessmen a taste of prosperity and a hunger for more when the troops left after six months. City leaders built an elegant hotel to draw more visitors. McAllen land companies brought Midwest farmers in by train, tempting them with warm winters and long growing seasons. In ten years, the population doubled. The Great Depression strangled trade, forcing the city to pay its employees in chits redeemable at local stores. By the 1950s agriculture and the population were booming. Strong leaders kept taking giant steps forward, investing in the Civic Center and the international bridge to Reynosa. Tourism and international retail diversified the City's economic base, a process continued with the pioneering inland Foreign Trade Zone and then the McAllen Economic Development Corporation. Thousands of manufacturing and logistics jobs and new residents came to the region along with renewed prosperity. McAllen gained fame as La Plaza Mall became the most profitable shopping center in the nation. In 2010, McAllen ranked as the Metropolitan Statistical Area with the fastest growth rate as well as the lowest cost of living. McAllen's quality of life is enhanced by successful schools, a vibrant art community, natural assets including exotic birds, a landmark Convention Center and above all, a dynamic, diversified economy.
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McAllen Country Club
cAllen Country Club, the premier private club facility in the Rio Grande Valley, caters to members and their guests with a championship golf course, fine dining, swimming pool, seven lighted tennis courts and fitness facilities. The exclusive, member-owned club emphasizes comfort and an uncompromising dedication to quality and service.
The McAllen Country Club of today is worlds away from the Tepeguaje Club, a nine-hole golf course which opened on south McAllen farmland around the late 1920s. In October 1945, seven McAllen men purchased 83 acres that included the abandoned golf course and a modest wood frame clubhouse for $41,000. In February 1946, the McAllen Country Club was incorporated by Earl Baldridge, A. A. Bonneau, Gene Darby, Mitchell Darby, Robert T. Elmore, Max Lutx, V. F. Neuhaus, and Tom Stinson with 61 original stockholders. The original clubhouse was replaced in1956. During Hurricane Beulah in 1967, private planes from McAllen-Miller Airport seeking safety on high ground filled the club’s parking lot. The next year, members bought the adjoining 40 acres which allowed the club to expand to an 18-hole golf course. Today the spacious Clubhouse built in 1996 contains a Grand Ballroom, which seats 300, six banquet rooms and five dining rooms which all boast a reputation for exceptional cuisine.
Tree-lined fairways enhance the Jay Riviera-designed (front nine) golf course that challenges and appeals to golfers of all levels with manicured greens and lush fairways. A PGA Golf Professional oversees private lessons and tournaments for adults and junior golfers.
The Olympic-sized pool with certified lifeguards and lanes for lap swimming offers fun for the entire family with Dive-In Movie Nights, a shaded baby pool and a snack bar/teen room adjacent to the pool. The Club organizes children’s summer adventure, fitness, tennis, golf and swimming camps. As the region’s top-ranked tennis facility, McAllen Country Club includes seven lighted courts built to USTA specification. It hosts the annual Men’s Futures Tennis Tournament and the RGV Cancer Classic Golf Tournament. A state-of-the-art Fitness Center provides the latest cardio and strength training equipment and on-site personal trainers. With its ambiance and amenities, McAllen Country Club is the preferred venue for business and social events. 130
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McAllen EDC
ompetitive and compassionate, Mike Allen first arrived in McAllen as an Oblate priest in the 1960s and served at Sacred Heart Church. As he focused on helping poor people without a voice, he realized that a job provides dignity and is the basis for a decent life. Supporting business growth to lift up the community, he chaired a small economic development corporation.
Mike Allen left McAllen and the priesthood in the 1970s but returned to the city in 1987. Mayor Othal Brand hired him to lead the new McAllen Economic Development Corp. He accepted the challenge to diversify the economy beyond agriculture, Winter Texans, and retail trade with Mexico , as well as to improve relations with Mexico Mike Allen, Founder of McAllen Economic Development and to put the Foreign Trade Zone in Corporation and Dr. Ramiro Casso, former South Texas the black. With his vice president Keith College Vice President for Institutional Advancement. Patridge, Mike put together a radical plan that enabled McAllen to chart a course of continuous growth that brought 16,000 new jobs and 220 major companies to the McAllen MSA in less than 20 years. Despite numerous obstacles, Mike and the MEDC worked to attract foreign investment to Reynosa through the maquiladora program. As U.S. companies opened maquilas in Reynosa, Mike Allen predicted that manufacturer supply and support businesses would open on the Texas side and plant management would move to McAllen. The innovative plan paid off, creating a critical mass of maquilas and regional economic investment which turned the McAllen Hidalgo International Bridge into the largest inland port of MEDC presenting an appreciation to the consulate for his entry. From the early plants run by support during his term. Left to right: Keith Patridge, current President and CEO of McAllen Economic Development Whirlpool, West Bend Appliances, Corporation; Mike Allen and David Stone, Former U.S. Eaton Corp, Black & Decker, Nokia Consulate General in Matamoros; Janie Ramos, Vice and Delco Electronics to 21st century President for US Business Recruitment at MEDC; MEDC Board Past-Chairman Rick Guerra and Mrs. David Stone. investments by Panasonic and Steel Case Furniture, MEDC's efforts brought 290 companies and 70,000 jobs to Reynosa. Today the MEDC can take credit for approximately $1billion in products that annually pass through the Foreign Trade Zone.
Always an advocate of developing McAllen and surrounding communities, Mike Allen created the Texas Border Infrastructure Coalition and led countless organizations, even after his retirement from MEDC in 2006. A champion of education and how it improved the lives of individuals and the community, Mike Allen was a trustee of South Texas College until his death in 2010. 131
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McAllen Family
he McAllen family derived from a blend of settlers first arriving along the Rio Grande sometime after 1748 during the Spanish colonization of Nuevo Santander. Salomé Ballí de la Garza, born in Matamoros in 1828, descended from a long-established family of merchants. In 1853, she married John Young, a Scotsman attracted to the area by trade during the Mexican War. They had one son, John J. Young. Salomé married his associate, John McAllen, a Scotch-Irish immigrant, two years after Young's death in 1859. Born in 1826, McAllen sailed to America in 1845 to escape Ireland's potato famine, and arrived in South Texas to travel to California's gold fields. However, caught up in border violence during a Mexican tariff uprising, he was captured in Matamoros and held until his escape. In Brownsville, he found work with Young and they partnered in various enterprises. John and Salomé had a son, James Ballí McAllen, in 1862.
James and his half-brother, John J. Young, assisted in the family mercantile trade, farming, ranching, and investments. After the Civil War, John McAllen involved John McAllen, 1880 himself in politics at the county and state level. Through the Ballí family, Salomé had acquired lands in Hidalgo County along the river and the family's original land grant of Santa Anita, some forty miles north. She and John McAllen eventually moved to the Santa Anita where they expanded their cattle business, sending livestock with their sons on the trails to Kansas. As railroad expansion became more viable, businesses sought to extend the St. Louis, Brownsville, and Mexico Railway west along the Rio Grande. In 1904, John McAllen, James B. McAllen, and John J. Young formed the McAllen Townsite Company in partnership with the railroad. McAllen Station, built in 1905, was primarily used to ship produce. After the death of James B. McAllen in 1916, the management of the land fell to his widow Margaret and eventually to their sons, Eldred and Argyle McAllen. Argyle carried on the cattle operation through the struggles of the Great Depression. Today, the McAllen family continues to ranch, foster wildlife habitat, and participate in the community of the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
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Salomé Ballí McAllen,1864
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McAllen Heritage Center
he great success of McAllen's Centennial festivities in 2004 prompted event organizers to take steps to establish a McAllen historical museum and to develop a citywide folklife festival showcasing the region’s culture.
The McAllen Heritage Center, Inc. (MHC) was formed in 2006 with a mission to provide the community a place to enjoy and learn about McAllen's colorful past. After a diligent effort to find the right location and secure funds to support it, McAllen Heritage Center opened in the historic La Placita building in June 2008. MHC continues to expand its exhibits and assist in the preservation of historic sites, documents, films records, works of art, and writings of historical, traditional or cultural value. Projects such as the Traveling Trunks exhibit help local teachers explain McAllen's rich history. MHC has also developed satellite exhibits for the McAllen Memorial Library and McAllen Miller International Airport. Story-telling sessions, an oral history video project, children's activities, hosting community meetings and presentations of lectures and films are part of MHC's diverse programming.
The MHC has received tremendous support from the community. Initial benefactors include The City of McAllen, the Historical Foundation of Hidalgo County, McAllen Oldtimers Club, IBC Bank, Marilyn and Rick DeJulio, Robert and Dr. Nedra Kinerk, the Junior League of McAllen, Frost Bank, Futuro McAllen, and numerous friends and supporters. The key to the success of McAllen Heritage Center has been the dedication of the MHC founding Board of Directors led by Board President Elva M. Cerda and board members, Spurgeon “Spud” Brown, Dr. Nedra S. Kinerk, Gracie Silva, Marilyn DeJulio, Danny Boultinghouse, and Carmen V. DeLeon. The McAllen Heritage Center is dedicated to the memory of two founding board members who passed away before their dreams of a McAllen history museum were realized. The efforts of Helen Snider and Rick DeJulio – both dedicated historical advocates - are deeply appreciated and will long be remembered. 133
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McAllen ISD
rom the day our first school opened in 1908 through today, McAllen ISD has had a tradition of setting the bar. A white one-room schoolhouse stood with its shutters open, the sounds of an iron bell beckoned from a white steeple, and a single woman–a teacher–welcomed twenty children of all ages. The young McAllen community’s first school soon became overcrowded, reaching 743 students just two years later.
Classes were transferred into a nearby church to accommodate more children. In 1911, a second school was established for the children of Mexican workers. In 1913, four teenage girls became the first graduates of what was known as “Common School District Number Eleven.” In 1915, the 34th Texas Legislature passed an act establishing the McAllen Independent School District.
Today, the district continues to set the standard, with a globally-recognized advanced academics program that draws the attention of universities across the country. Students are accomplished, well rounded, and ready to take on the world. Here is excellence that produces results:
• • • •
• Globally-recognized advanced academics Model Program touts 99.5% success rate. • Internationally/nationally recognized student scholars–International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement, National Merit Semifinalists, Gates Millennium, and more– at high school and middle school levels • State and national champions. • State and Regional Teachers of the Year– 17 in 19 years. Landmark instructional programs where students earn Associates Degrees in Engineering or Biology before their high school diplomas. Academic standards that produce state titles. Innovative fine arts program so cutting edge – with professionally certified music instruction like strings and drum corps beginning at the elementary level – that universities like UT at Austin send interns here for training to earn a fine arts university teaching degree. Alumni include scholars and professionals in all walks of life, novelists, national sports figures, TV news anchors, acclaimed artists, actors and directors, civic leaders, a college dean, a federal judge and an astronaut!
McAllen ISD was named a 2010 College Ready Gold Performance Acknowledgement School District and one of the Top 25 Districts with Highest Number of Students applying to Texas Colleges. 134
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McAllen Public Utility
ntil 1918, McAllen residents had to rely on salty well water a n d c a n a l w a t e r. A s the population approached 5,000, the City of McAllen built its first water purification plant.The capacity at Treatment Plant No. 1 was increased several times as the city grew. Severe drought in the 1950s forced McAllen McAllen Public Utility’s Water Treatment Plant No. 2. Public Utility to drill deep wells to maintain a continuous water supply. Treatment Plant No. 2 opened in 1959 along with Boeye Reservoir as the population neared 30,000.
Fifty years later, with almost 100,000 more residents in the city, the McAllen Public Utility services over 42,000 water accounts and 37,000 sewer accounts. The Southwest and Northwest water treatment plants have the capacity to process 58.5 million gallons from the Rio Grande each day. McAllen Public Utility is in a planned strategic growth mode, installing vital infrastructure to ensure that residents have an uninterrupted supply of potable water that meets the highest standards. A new 70-acre southeast reservoir is replacing Boeye Reservoir, freeing 50 acres on the site near La Plaza Mall for commercial development. A new Groundwater Well is supplementing the Southwest Water Treatment plant. Two new large elevated water towers will be providing additional water pressure and storage to meet growing demand.
Water Treatment Plant No. 1. Historic building is being restored in Fireman’s Park.
The Wastewater System has 51 lift stations that help transport sewage to two wastewater treatment plants. A new lab building will allow more analytical services and a more thorough industrial wastewater pretreatment program. The expansion of the North Wastewater Treatment Plant, upon completion in 2012, will nearly double treatment capacity and provide sufficient sanitary sewer services for the next 20 years.
The five members of the McAllen Public Utility Board of Trustees maintain the MPU and advise the General Manager, who oversees the utility which includes Water Systems, Wastewater Systems, Customer Relations, Utility Administration and Billing, and Meter Readers. The utility maintains water lines, fire hydrants, valves and water meters. McAllen Public Utility, committed to customer service, efficient energy use, water conservation and a safe, reliable water supply, holds a Superior Rating from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
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McCreery Aviation Co.
rained during World War II as an Army Air Corps flight instructor, J.F. “Mac” McCreery was assigned to Harlingen Air Gunnery School as an aerial gunnery instructor. On weekends, the Iowa native taught civilians how to fly.
In 1946, Mac and his wife Ardath opened a flying school in Mercedes. Two years later, they moved McCreery Aviation Company to the municipal airport in McAllen, at a time when crop-dusters were the most common aircraft. As the general aviation industry grew, McCreery Aviation Co. J. F. “Mac” McCreery expanded beyond flight training and began selling and servicing private aircraft. Early on, Mr. Mac served as the Airport Manager for 20 years. Ardath, who shared the family love of flying, got her pilot’s license in 1952 while helping run and grow their aviation company and raising two children. Their son Bob, who grew up working at the airport, got his pilot’s license at 17 and joined the family business full-time in 1979.
McCreery Aviation Co. listened to customers’ requests and continued to add new services for the flying public. From aircraft maintenance, they expanded into aircraft rental, aircraft storage, aircraft parts sales, air charter and ambulance, and avionics (repair of aircraft electronics), while continuing to fuel private and commercial aircraft flying into McAllen Miller International Airport. As a full-service Fixed Base Operator – the largest FBO in the region – McCreery Aviation Co. is often the first point of contact for aircraft arriving in the Rio Grande Valley from elsewhere in the U.S or from Mexico. Private pilots rely on McCreery Aviation Co. aircraft services while enjoying the modern transient terminal designed for their traveling needs. Bob McCreery 136
Backed by dedicated employees committed to safety and customer service, McCreery Aviation Co. will continue to fly at the top of its class.
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The Ogden Family
n 1968, the year Bert and Dorothy Ogden celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary, they purchased the Ralph Balou GMC Buick Pontiac dealership in Edinburg. Bert had been selling new cars for years and, as a sideline, bought used cars up north, restored them to running condition and sold them in the Valley. Bert, Dorothy and their daughters Janet and Kathy had spent many Sunday afternoons driving the Valley looking at cars. Dorothy ran the office of Bert Ogden Motors. Bert, affectionately nicknamed parajito by his employees, was known to roll up his sleeves and lend a hand on car repairs or whatever needed to be done. Bert, who had arrived in the Valley as a teenager in 1942 and loved the Hispanic culture, took the time to learn Spanish. His favorite phrase was ยกDรกle gas! meaning Let's Go.
Bert and Dorothy Ogden
In 1978, Janet Ogden married Bob Vackar, an Edinburg native, Texas A&M graduate and U.S. Army officer veteran of Vietnam. After the birth of their daughter Kristin in 1982, Bob and Janet returned to the Valley where Bob joined the Ogden team once Bert had agreed that Bob could expand the business by acquiring more stores.
Bert insisted that Janet star with him in the company's television commercial, believing she added humor and the family connection so important to the Valley market. Janet became the public face of Bert Ogden Motors. In 1988 Bert and Bob purchased the Chevrolet store in Mission followed by the BMW Nissan dealership in McAllen. Tragically Bert and Dorothy died in an automobile accident in Janet and Bob Vackar 1992. Bob continued building the Ogden legacy, steadily adding other stores to the Bert Ogden lineup. Under his guidance, the business grew to include 14 franchise lines (Chevrolet, GMC, Hyundai, Cadillac, Subaru, Infiniti, Mazda, KIA, Chrysler, Dodge, Buick, and BMW) in 11 stores with 600 employees in four cities: McAllen, Edinburg, Mission, and Harlingen. Bob and Janet Vackar continue to meet new challenges and new people with equal enthusiasm. For more than 20 years, Bert Ogden employees have donated their time to the Easter Seals Foundation annual telethon. The dealership group participates in many scholarship efforts and supports numerous other projects that benefit the community. Dรกle gas indeed.
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Nuevo Santander Gallery
rowing up with his father, Enrique, a recognized historian and noted antiquity collector, Che Guerra naturally developed an interest in regional history, art and antiques early in his life. As a boy, Che began collecting historical artifacts. As a young man, his pastime led him to buy whole groups of antiques in order to acquire a few select pieces for his own growing private collection. At the age of 29, he married his wife, Becky. Soon after that, they decided to turn his hobby into a business. They would set up a professional gallery to display and sell fine art an d qual it y hist or ical artifacts. With Che's special interest in colonial history, they decided to house the gallery in a space that reflected the time period when Spanish explorer Jose In 2003, Becky Guerra developed the concept of Art Walk. de Escandon colonized the province of Nuevo Santander in 1748. Escandon established towns along the Rio Grande in North Mexico and South Texas. The Guerras set about building a replica of a Spanish Mission that would have been the center of a community settlement in the 1700's. Using local materials, caliche stone and mesquite, they set out to meticulously recreate a historical styled structure. This was a long, tedious process: for example, the stone carver spent three years carving the caliche caprock into the delicate moulding needed for ornamentation. Authentic 150-year-old carriage doors and colorful tiles were imported from Mexico to add to the structure's ambiance. Upon its completion in 1998 the gallery was named Nuevo Santander Gallery in recognition of the region's history. Nuevo Santander Gallery exhibits Western art, Latin American art and Contemporary Nuevo Santander’s Main Gallery. Traditional art. The Gallery specializes in museum quality artifacts of South Texas and Mexico including textiles and western accoutrements. The work of nationally and internationally known artists creates excitement for gallery visitors. Under the direction of Che and Becky Guerra, Nuevo Santander has provided strong leadership for the regional art community. In 2003, Becky developed the concept of Art Walk, a first Friday celebration of the arts which has grown to attract thousands each month. As the acknowledged anchor of McAllen's growing Arts' District, Nuevo Santander has drawn more artists, studios and galleries to McAllen.
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The Patio on Guerra
n 1908, three brothers, Enrique, Modesto, and Jose Guerra, were eager to start a business in the brand-new town of McAllen. They traveled from Starr County north to San Antonio to sell a pack of mules. With the proceeds from the sale, they built their first business, a mercantile store, on 17th Street in downtown McAllen. Enrique worked land-clearing contracts and would sell the indigenous mesquite wood as fuel for area irrigation pumps. Modesto would sell flour, beans and coffee to the Mexican laborers Enrique would hire. The brothers offered their father, Diodoro, a partnership that resulted in the D. Guerra & Sons store and a new brick building built in 1912. The Guerra family continued to work hard and soon made their mark in the development of McAllen by establishing several businesses along 17th Street. As time passed, the businesses changed; some buildings fell victim to age and began deteriorating. One hundred years later, in 2008, Judge Arturo Guerra Jr. decided to renovate the original historical building and invited his cousin, Che Guerra, to help create a restaurant in the midst of the City's new “Downtown Entertainment District.” Che, a restaurateur at heart, had managed the restoration of La Borde House Hotel in Rio Grande City and had also operated Che's restaurant there. Che bought the property adjoining the 1912 building from his father, Enrique Jr., and built a patio that matched the historic construction style of the original brick building.
Together, Arturo and Che, Diodoro Guerra's great-grandsons, opened “The Patio on Guerra” in October of 2008, introducing fine dining set in a vintage atmosphere in historic downtown McAllen. In 2010, the two cousins purchased land immediately adjacent to The Patio from other Guerra family members and completed an ambitious expansion project for the restaurant which opened in April 2011. Throughout this entire endeavor, both Arturo and Che painstakingly paid careful attention to detail in order to reflect a period in history of charm and elegance. They have retained a section in the original building that proudly displays historic family images, paying tribute to their ancestors. 139
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Raul A. Peña, M.D.
oals properly set are goals halfway reached. At the age of six, Raul Peña knew his goal: he dreamed of becoming a doctor and helping his community. The boy who also admired the Dallas Cowboys and their coach Tom Landry, a Mission native, wanted to combine his love for medicine and America's team. Today Dr. Peña is the Medical Director of his award-winning private practice, The Pena Eye Institute, located in the City of McAllen, a city in constant growth and a center of commerce serving South Texas and Northern Mexico. Dr. Peña is The Valley's Official IntraLasik Surgeon for the Dallas Cowboys and specializes in premier blade-free Lasik and cataract surgery. Raul Peña graduated from McAllen High School in 1978 and started the long journey through college, medical school, and Ophthalmology residency. After graduating from the University of Monterrey, he married his high school sweetheart, Suzanne, his biggest supporter in the fulfillment of his dream. His studies moved them all over the country, always knowing that one day he would return to his beloved Rio Grande Valley to give the gift of sight. Dr. Peña conducted research at the Retina Institute of Maryland, trained at Scott & White Memorial Hospital, and served as the Chief Resident of Ophthalmology at the University of Cincinnati. After completing residency and four kids later, the Peña family headed back to South Texas.
Through hard work, perseverance and the support of the wonderful people in his life, Dr. Peña has achieved his goals and is living his dream. His experience and dedication have led the way in refractive and vision corrective surgery. He has performed thousands of refractive, cataract and anterior segment procedures for a diverse patient base. Dr. Raul Peña is the most trusted eye surgeon in South Texas as far as the Dallas Cowboys and many others are concerned. “It is amazing. I can see better than 20/20 now,” said Dixon Edwards. The three-time Super Bowl
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Dallas Cowboys linebacker came to Dr. Peña for the IntraLasik procedure. “I have to thank Dr. Peña and his top- of-the-line technology for this miracle.” You don't have to be a star athlete to get first class treatment from Dr. Peña. Valley resident Lind a Kostenko turned to Peña Eye Institute for her successful cataract surgery and was thrilled with the results. “After surgery with Dr. Peña, for the first time in my entire life, I can see better than 20/20. The world is bright and full of color.”
Dr. Peña is a proud member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, and a member of St. Paul's Church in Mission, TX. His breakthrough ophthalmologic procedures have been featured on numerous television shows and media outlets. He was voted one of America's Top Ophthalmologists by the Consumers Research Council of America. He is a great supporter of higher education and continuously participates in community events. He serves as a board member for the Mission Chamber of Commerce. “I love this community. I love what I do. I will continue serving my patients with the best customer service possible and latest technology available today,” Dr. Peña said. Dr. Peña, known as Raulito among friends, and his wife Suzanne have four children. Suzie is a graduate of Southern Methodist University with a degree in broadcast journalism; Stephen and Alexandra are attending the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas; and Samantha is a student at Sharyland I.S.D. They call the City of Mission their home. As a family they enjoy spending time together outdoors, volunteering at ACTS Retreats, at golf, football, and soccer games and, of course, going to the Dallas Cowboys games!
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The RGV Builders Association, Inc.
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he Rio Grande Valley Builders Association, Inc. (RGVBA) , chartered in 1968 as the Hidalgo County Builders Association, is a non-profit trade organization formed for charitable and educational purposes. The RGVBA continues to operate for the benefit of home builders and those engaged in allied industries in the Valley and is an affiliate member of the National Association of Home Builders, Washington D.C. and the Texas Association of Builders, Austin, Texas.
To better identify our base location, the name was changed to McAllen/Hidalgo County Builders Association, Inc. in 1991. That was followed by the change to Rio Grande Valley Builders Association, Inc. in 1998 which allowed building professionals from throughout the Valley to access the membership services provided by the RGVBA. The RGVBA hosts many special events. The event of greatest benefit to the community at large is the annual “Parade of Homes” which introduces new home trends in various market prices and neighborhoods. The latest initiative is “Green Built-Rio Grande Valley,” a voluntary program offered to building industry professionals committed to embracing environmentally friendly building practices in the construction process.
Jim Moffitt of McAllen served as our first President in 1968. Among our past presidents are Jack Cawood, Arturo Guerra, Mr. J.M. Moffitt (right) receiving Jerry Gray, Jim Southwell, Richard Moore, Harold (Hal) L. RGVBA Charter, 1968. Lusby, Joe Averill Jr., Jerry Leadbetter, Alonzo Cantu, Paul E. Johnson, Jim Pavlica, William Lavender, Bobby Guin, Gary Burch, David P. Garcia, G.A. Smith, Dale McNallen, Fred Munguia, Rey Benavidez and Rodrigo Elizondo Jr. Executive Officers include Rita Smith, followed by Karen Simpson. Marcy M. Alamia is the current Executive V.P. Membership is open to any person or business related to the building industry of good character and business reputation that agree RGVBA Directors left to right: Abraham Quiroga, Magic Valley Electric to abide to the Co-op, Fred Munguia, Affordable Homes of South Texas Inc., Rudy Elizondo, Association By-Laws, RGVBA President, Marcy Alamia, RGVBA Executive V.P., Sandra Brown, subscribe to associaSorrento Fine Homes, Elva Cerda, Frost Bank, Jerry Garcia, ProBuild, Mike Duffey, Zarsky Lumber Co. tion purposes, and approved by the Board of Directors. Monthly membership meetings and special workshops are held to allow members the opportunity to learn about industry changes, legislative issues and networking opportunities.
The RGVBA has played an important part in McAllen's past and looks forward to a bright future in this vibrant community. 142
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Sacred Heart Church
acred Heart Church is celebrating its Centennial Jubilee in 2011. Its history is entwined with the City of McAllen. It was a small village with few residents from 1904 to 1908. The Oblates of Mary Immaculate would travel by horseback from La Lomita near Mission to offer Mass and the sacraments to Catholics, usually in someone's home or in a school. The first Mass celebrated by the Oblates in McAllen was in 1908 at the Fink Ranch 2 1⁄2 miles southeast of McAllen.
In 1911 funds were raised to construct a wood frame chapel located at the corner of Chicago and 15th Street in downtown McAllen. By 1917, Sacred Heart Church became a parish when the rectory was completed, and Fr. Sacred Heart Church, 1920. Photo courtesy of Francis Dupassieux, OMI, became the first Oblates of Mary Immaculate Archives pastor. In its 100 year history as the principal church, Sacred Heart established 15 parishes and earned the name of “Mother Church.” The boundaries ran from the Rio Grande River to Brooks County and from Sharyland to Alamo.
Sacred Heart provided a Catholic school education to many children from 1913 to 1967. It continues its education mission today through a religious education program for children and adults.
The Pancho Villa raids in 1916 brought as many as 12,000 soldiers from New York to the area who attended church services. Residents of New York City supported the renovation of the first church and the construction of the new church in 1924 when an electrical short started a fire and the church burned to the ground. The church that stands today was dedicated in 1926. Over the years the church has undergone major renovations. In 1997, the stained glass windows were installed, making it one of the most beautiful as well as historic churches in the Rio Grande Valley.
Today, more than 1,200 people experience the presence of God through services conducted at the church each week. During the Centennial, to further enhance its historical contribution to the spiritual and civic founders of the city, the church is undertaking several projects to leave its legacy to those who follow in the footsteps of the original settlers of McAllen. 143
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Showers Family
n 1941, Wayne Allen Showers arrived in the Rio Grande Valley with his parents Chester William Showers and Lena Tolbert Showers and brother James Andrew. Wayne’s father, a citrus grower and farmer, instilled in him a love of agriculture. He earned a Texas A&M University degree in Horticulture in 1953 and a Master’s in Entomology. After military service, he married Reba McDermott, and they returned to the Valley in 1958 where their daughters Gay and Brenda were born.
Wayne devoted himself to promoting Valley agriculture and the importance of an education. As president of Griffin and Brand, he publicized the 1015 onion and the growing, packing and shipping industries. His knowledge, enthusiasm, and charisma took him to the leadership of national, state, and local produce and citrus associations. He advocated for agriculture education and research and championed the School of Rural Public Health and the Vegetable Fruit Improvement Center. The first President Bush named him to the Commission on Food and Food Distribution to Russia. He was named Distinguished Texan in Agriculture in 2003.
Through scholarships, aid programs and reference letters, Wayne helped countless Valley students get into college. He had a talent for seeing the potential in others and helping them achieve their dreams. A firm believer in possibilities, he took many students under his wing. Devoted to young people and always actively involved with the community, Wayne helped establish the McAllen Boys & Girls Club and served on the board of Rio Grande Children’s Home for many years. His six years of service on the Texas A&M Board of Regents allowed him to apply his commitment to education statewide.
Wayne’s numerous professional and civic contributions brought him honors. He was most pleased to be named Texas A&M University’s Outstanding Alumnus by the Texas A&M Association of Former Students in 1994. He served on many boards including Valley National Bank and the Texas Rangers and was named the 1996 Border Texan and the 1993 Citrus King. Wayne Showers, a devoted Christian, died in 2004 leaving a legacy of dignity, grace and caring. A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold. Proverbs 22:1 144
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South Texas College
n just a few short years South Texas College has become a significant factor in McAllen's current growth and future prosperity. Originally known as South Texas Community College, the institution opened its doors in fall 1993 with only one location on Pecan Boulevard. The campus had originated as the McAllen branch of Texas State Technical College on a site donated by the City of McAllen in 1984. The college grew by leaps and bounds, demonstrating the region's need for a comprehensive community college. In September 2001, voters approved a $98.7 million bond issue, which allowed an aggressive construction and expansion program to begin. In 2005, STCC became South Texas College - STC. The McAllen-based college was one of three community colleges in Texas selected to pilot a four-year bachelor's program in applied technology. STC became accredited as a four-year baccalaureate degree-granting institution and currently offers two bachelor degrees in the field of applied technology.
South Texas College has grown to five campuses-the Pecan, Technology, and Nursing and Allied Health campuses in McAllen, the Mid-Valley Campus in Weslaco, and the Starr County Campus in Rio Grande City. New teaching centers opened in spring 2010 at the Jimmy Carter Center in La Joya and Main Place in McAllen. Today, STC enrolls 30,000 college credit students and offers more than 100 degree and certificate prog ram options including associate degrees in a variety of art, science, technology, a l l i e d health and advanced manufacturing fields of study.
The college's workforce and continuing education programs provide employers with customized training, helping the city become a leader in economic development and rapid response manufacturing.
STC is ranked as one of the top colleges in the nation, having earned accolades from Washington Monthly, the MetLife Foundation, San Antonio Express News, Community College Week, and Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education. 145
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Taco Palenque
rancisco Ochoa, Sr. opened the successful restaurant chain Pollo Loco in Sinaloa, Mexico, in 1975. With his brothers, he operated 80 restaurants in Mexico before bringing Pollo Loco to Los Angeles in 1980. In 1987 he launched the Taco Palenque fast food chain with a Mexican menu in Laredo, and then in 2005 he and his family introduced Palenque Grill and savory charbroiled chicken to South Texas.
At age 14, Francisco (Pancho) Ochoa had dropped out of school to help his father run his businesses in Sinaloa. He soon agreed with his father that going into business is the most exciting life's work a person can choos e. Pan ch o 's experiences gave him the insights and the passion to eventually develop three successful restaurant dining concepts. Yet throughout the tremendous expansion of Ochoa family businesses, family has always come first. The family recognizes that harmony is a key ingredient both in the commercial kitchens and at home. Early photos show a smiling Pancho presiding over gigantic charcoal grills cooking dozens of chickens. Pancho, his wife FlĂŠrida, and their six children - Francisco Jr., Carlos, Omar, Lizeth, Flery and JosĂŠ - prize flavor and quality. They all enjoy cooking and tasting and trying out new recipes, right down to the 16 grandchildren ready to learn the family business. The extended Ochoa family still operates 45 Pollo Loco locations from headquarters in Monterrey after selling the U.S. locations to Denny's in 1983. Taco Palenque's freshly-made tortillas stuffed with fajitas and choice of salsas have helped the fast food chain grow to 16 sites. Palenque Grill's perfectly charbroiled chicken and other succulent dishes combined with excellent service and upscale ambiance contribute to the restaurants' popularity. Family stories about Pancho's father, Enrique Ochoa, and about Pancho himself told by his sons reveal inspiring role models for succeeding generations. The themes are about seeking quality and value; about perseverance and taking care of family; and about tasting food and enjoying work and your life to the fullest.
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UT Pan American
hen Edinburg College was founded in 1927, it began as a small two-year community college with one building and 200 students. Over the past eight decades, the college has undergone six name changes - all reflecting growth, achievement and success. In 1989, after an historic merger with The University of Texas System, Pan American College became The U n i ve r s i t y o f Te x a s Pan American. Today, the University is a growing and thriving anchor to the Rio Grande Valley's educational, economic, and cultural structure.
UT Pan American sits on approximately 300 acres in the heart of the city of Edinburg. The student body may be large at almost 19,000 undergraduate and graduate students, but personal attention from faculty and staff gives students a small, warm campus feeling. The University's seven academic colleges - Arts and Humanities, Business Administration, Education, Science and Mathematics, Engineering and Computer Science, Social and Behavioral Sciences and Health Sciences and Human Services - boast 56 bachelor's, 57 master's, three doctoral and two cooperative doctoral programs.
Known for delivering the highest standards of te aching and lear ning, U T Pan American, the state's tenth largest public university, has shaped the lives of more than 70,000 graduates and continues to graduate over 3,000 students each year.
The University has many academic bragging points, including the only Physician Assistant Studies Program in Texas outside a medical school, a Ph.D. in Business Administration with an emphasis in International Business that is one of only six such programs in the United States, and an MBA program the Princeton Review rates in their “Best 301 Business Schools� in the country. In the arts, the UTPA Mariachis have been recognized on some of the biggest stages in the United States, including performing with the Houston Opera and at the White House for President Barack Obama. Over the years, UT Pan American has earned recognition by some of the country's major publications, including Forbes Magazine, which has included the University among the top 100 public colleges and universities in the United States and in 2009 and 2010, it was among the top five best public universities in Texas.
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Van Burkleo Family
immy Van Burkleo, born in 1924, grew up in a Mercedes family of tenant farmers. After helping build runways in San Antonio during World War II, he worked at a Raymondville Dodge dealer in t h e par t s de par t m e nt. He worked his way up to service manager and sales manager at various mid-Valley dealerships. In 1960 Jimmy was appointed general manager of Glasco Motors, a Nash Rambler store located across from Archer Park. He added Lincoln Mercury to the lineup. After Mr. Glasco died, Jimmy convinced a bank to loan him money to purchase the dealership in 1963. Under his leadership, the business grew, and in 1971 he changed the name to Van Burkleo Motors and moved to a larger facility at Tenth and Fern.
Jimmy married Dorinda Ward, a McAllen High School Home Economics teacher and department head, in 1952. Their children – Bill, Terry, DeeAnn, and Pat – grew up working at the family business: washing cars, driving customers home, chasing after parts, and helping in the office. Jimmy believed that his kids needed to be working and learning good habits and work skills. The automobile dealer community was small back then. Jimmy was widely known for his honesty and for running a service-oriented store. Well-respected in the auto community, both locally and statewide, Jimmy served on industry boards including on the national level. He was presented with Dealers Awards by both Ford and Chrysler (Jeep). Ford bestowed its highest dealership honor, the Chairman's Award, on Jimmy Van Burkleo in 1994 and 1995. He was named the Time Magazine Person of the Year for the State of Texas in 1996. Bill, who began working with his father in 1974, bought Van Burkleo Motors from Jimmy in 2000. At Bill's death, the dealership remained in the hands of Bill's wife Christine. Terry married Patti Pitchford, and they bought the iconic El Pato Mexican Food restaurants in 1997. After law school, DeeAnn married Marshall Payne from Dallas, and they still reside there. Pat married Andrea Miller of Baton Rouge and is the longtime Executive Director of the Baton Rogue Boys and Girls Club. Dorinda Ward lives in McAllen. 148
LEADING THE WAY
I
Wells Fargo Advisors
n 1980, seeing an opportunity to expand in an underserved area, John and Audrey Martin opened the A. G. Edwards office in McAllen. Among the first Certified Financial Planners in McAllen, the Martins saw the A. G. Edwards office grow rapidly thanks to the brokerage's philosophy of putting customers first and providing solid financial advice. Despite high demand for their services, the brokerage never turned any relationship away, no matter how small the transaction, according to Audrey Martin, the first female manager for A.G. Edwards in Texas.
Greg Douglas became manager in 1992 and maintained the brokerage's commitment to clients' success. He retired in 2007, the year the brokerage became part of Wells Fargo Advisors, and passed the reins to Jerome Raders. He saw the office through one of the toughest markets in history and continues as manager today. “The office has come a long way with the help of great clients, a great staff, the fact that we work for our clients and that their needs come first,� Jerome Raders said.
Wells Fargo Advisors is a subsidiary of Wells Fargo & Company, one of the nation's largest, strongest and most respected financial institutions. Wells Fargo & Company has been in business since 1852 and is known for its responsible stewardship of its clients' assets. Its brokerage business is represented by nearly 21,800 financial advisors nationwide, and it holds $900 billion in client assets as the second largest full-service brokerage. Wells Fargo Advisors was born out of the Wells Fargo & Company's 2009 acquisition of Wachovia Corporation which also included Wachovia Securities' 2007 acquisition of A. G. Edwards. Unlike other brokerage houses which are entrenched in Wall Street, Wells Fargo Advisors' headquarters are located in St. Louis, Missouri. This location helps Wells Fargo Advisors maintain a national footprint and sustain the regional culture, where a person's word and handshake still matter. As one of the nation's premier financial services firms, Wells Fargo Advisors enables clients to experience the finest investment planning due to the company's commitment to remain on the forefront of service, technology and education.
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Wilkinson Ray Iron & Metal
W
ilkinson Ray Iron & Metal Inc. continues a family tradition often known as the original recyclers of South Texas. The third and fourth generations now carry on W. C. Wilkinson's business principles. Wilkinson Ray Iron & Metal Inc.'s main office is located in McAllen, Texas, with branches throughout the upper Rio Grande Valley. In addition, convenient locations are offered in the areas of McAllen, Mission, Pharr and Donna.
Wilkinson Ray Iron & Metal Inc.'s mission is to provide current and future customers with numerous years of experience and professional customer service. Since the early 40's, the Wilkinson family business has continued to buy and sell ferrous and non ferrous scrap metals. Wilkinson Ray Iron & Metal assists customers to dispose of unwanted metals including radiators, batteries, automobile bodies, iron, scrap metal, loose tin, lamina, brass, copper, aluminum and aluminum cans.
In 1987, Ray, his wife Rosie and sons Bradley and Stuart moved to McAllen to open the McAllen site and then fostered McAllen's recycling efforts. Wilkinson Ray Iron & Metal Inc. is dedicated to offering reasonable prices and certified weights to assure customers of good quality service with integrity. Quality retailing, scrap processing, recycling industrial scrap metals, and quality collection services are offered at Wilkinson Ray Iron & Metal Inc. After their arrival in McAllen, Ray and Rosie became actively involved in the McAllen Chamber of Commerce in various committees including the Greeters, Ambassadors, Candlelight Posada and International Relations. The Wilkinsons' community involvement has included the Valley Environmental Awareness Campaign, Keep McAllen Beautiful, City of McAllen Community Development Block Grant Council, United Way, Easter Seals and Texas Parent Teacher Association, just to name a few. Currently, Ray is a board member of International Bank of Commerce and Rosie is actively serving Bible Study Fellowship International and a sustainer with Junior League of McAllen. Both are members of Calvary Baptist Church. Wilkinson Ray Iron & Metal Inc.'s processing scrap metals and recycling efforts ensures a healthy and economical environment for the future. This family-owned business encourages everyone to keep their community clean and reduce the burden on landfills by recycling today. 150
LEADING THE WAY
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Bill Wilson & Neal P. King
ill Wilson, raised in Oklahoma during the Depression, reportedly walked five miles, uphill both ways, to school in the snow. After graduating from the University of Oklahoma and serving in the Navy during World War II and Korea, he came to McAllen. An exploration geologist by trade, he co-developed the five-star Fairway Motor Hotel. Bill Wilson gained a reputation for fairness and absolute integrity. Deeply involved in his community and church, he led the Citizens League, Rio Grande Samaritan Council, and Rotary, and became the Moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly. He gave care to caregivers, touching many lives. Bill said part of God's plan was “to send me good people to be in business with so I would have time to devote to other activities.” His unselfish, Christcentered goodness was admired by everyone he touched.
Bill Wilson's spirit of service to the community was continued by his son-in-law. Neal P. King graduated from Mission High School in 1968, and then from Trinity University as a history major. He married Wileen Wilson, Bill's daughter, in 1972. Two years later Neal Bill Wilson joined Whitsitt Ralston and Stiff Insurance Agency and became a principal in 1975. When the group was purchased in 1985, Neal was named managing vice president for the Valley. In 1995, he helped form Shepard Walton King Insurance Group, becoming the heart and soul of the McAllen office. Neal's commitment to the community began in 1972 with McAllen Jaycees and continued throughout his life. He co-founded Crime Stoppers, chaired the McAllen Airport Board, led the Valley Land Fund and the drive to purchase Quinta Mazatlan. Working to make McAllen a better place, he was active in the McAllen Chamber, Texas Jaycees and a founding member of McAllen North Rotary.
Neal P. King
With a heart as big as Texas and memory to match, Neal believed that “any story worth the telling is worth improving.” He, Wileen and their sons David and Bill shared numerous travel adventures. Neal shared his love of the Starr County ranch with family and countless friends, teaching them an appreciation for the beauty of the land. Haylee, his beloved granddaughter, was his special helper filling bird feeders. 151
Leading the Way Index Abel, Rudolf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96 All America City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102 Allen, Mike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30, 35, 105 Allhands, James . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10, 12, 79 Archer, O.P. .12, 13, 18, 19, 23, 32, 33, 39, 41, 56, 80, 82, 84, 86 Archer Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19, 33, 60, 89 BallĂ (Young McAllen), Salome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77 Bartliff, E.U. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33, 39, 82 Bentsen, Lloyd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41, 57, 98 Bercerra, Professor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58, 59 Beulah, Hurricane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43, 97, 98 Brand, Othal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35, 99 Briggs, William . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8-10, 12, 33, 45, 46, 78-81 Business Men's Club . . . . . . . . . . . . .13, 16, 33, 39, 40, 56, 82 Cantina la Esmeralda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10, 19, 38 Carroll College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55, 86 Casa de Palmas . . . . .19, 33, 41, 47, 48, 56, 63, 67, 84, 95, 99 Cascade Pool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66, 67, 87, 95, 96, 101 Casso, Ramiro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35, 104 Cavazos, Gertrudis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77 Cine El Rey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45, 69, 94 Civic Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25, 26, 34, 49, 50, 60, 97, 105 Closner, John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8-11, 38, 45, 46, 78, 79 Convention Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45, 51, 60, 75, 104 Cook, Vannie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88, 100 Crow, Frank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13, 81 De la Garza, Kika . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98, 99 Doss, Dr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85, 86 East McAllen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8, 12, 13, 19 Eisenhower, Dwight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95 Faculty Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54, 55, 84 First Presbyterian Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11, 19, 33, 55 Free (Foreign) Trade Zone . . . . . . . . . .28-30, 44, 99, 101, 103 Freeze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101 Frontier Hotel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26, 43, 48, 94, 95 Gonzalez, Leonelo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34, 92 Good Government League . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88 Grande Court . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26, 90, 126 Griffin & Brand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35, 98 Griggs, Phyllis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101 Guerra Family . . .10, 13, 15, 19, 22, 33, 38, 62, 80, 82, 84, 88 Hendricks, Lucile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26, 31, 34, 60 IMAS (MIM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61, 62, 75, 90, 97, 98 International bridges . . . .24-26,43, 49, 50, 87, 91, 97-99, 101 Kreidler Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39. 79, 88 La Plaza Mall . . . . . . . . . . .28, 31, 44, 50, 51, 73, 99, 101, 103 La Piedad Cemetery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77, 96, 102 Love, F.B. store . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79 McAllen Chamber of Commerce 29, 40, 41, 48, 56, 62, 104, 105 McAllen depots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11, 20, 38, 78, 79, 84 McAllen Economic Development Corp. 29-31, 35, 44, 101, 104 152
McAllen Heritage Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74, 105 McAllen high schools .53, 54, 64, 66, 70, 71,82, 84, 88, 101, 102 McAllen Hotel . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12, 16, 19, 38, 41, 46, 47, 80 McAllen, James B. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10, 11, 77-79 McAllen, John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10, 11, 77-79 McAllen Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62, 90, 95, 98 McAllen Town Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9, 13, 38, 46, 78-80 McAllen Townsite Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10, 11, 78, 79 McChesney Bros. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11, 12, 19, 38, 80, 81 McColl, A. J. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41, 47,67, 85 Methodist church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11, 19, 55 Miller, Sam/Airport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89, 96, 97 Missouri Pacific . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19, 40 Molina, Moises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18, 39, 84 Moody's . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42, 68, 92 Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13, 39, 80 Montalvo, Leo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103 Moore Air Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68, 93 Municipal Hospital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56, 57, 87, 88 Music Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60 National Guard troops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14-18 40, 83, 84 Nelson, M. R. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42, 43 Neuhaus, Doc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25, 41, 97 Nuevo Santander Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59, 62 Old Timers Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74, 94, 99, 100 Osborn, Frank . . . . . . . . . . . . .9, 12, 13, 16, 19, 39, 80, 81, 88 Palace Theatre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87, 89 Paris, Andy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36, 42, 94 Porciones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77-79 Quinta Mazatlan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51, 75, 90, 103 Rocket mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91 Rogers, Ginger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69, 92 Roney, Glen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101 Rotary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56, 90, 91 Rowe, Nikki . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101 Sacred Heart Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19, 23, 55 Sanborn, Dan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26, 43, 48, 69, 95 Schrock, John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103 Schupp, Bill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27, 35, 50, 99 Southern Pacific . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48, 87, 90, 95 South Texas (Community) College . . . . . . .31, 35, 55, 75, 103 St. Louis, Brownsville & Matamoros RR . . . . . . . . . . . . .10, 78 Temple Emanuel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94 Texas Veterans Memorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105 Tourist Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27, 96 Trans-Texas Airways . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42, 95 Valley (McAllen) Botanical Garden . . . . . . . . . . .97, 100, 105 Vanderbilt, Cornelius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18, 52, 84 Vickers, Paul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90, 94, 97 Whalen, Bill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91,93, 99 Young, John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10, 11, 77-79
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