Every living thing goes through a growing phase. Children, animals, plants—they all start from little seedlings and mature into their full potential.
The same can be said about McAllen, Texas, a city that when I first visited in 2009 was just a twinkle in the Lone Star State’s eye. Since that time, the city has come into its own as a rising star in Texas.
Located in southern Texas, a little more than a one-hour flight from Dallas, along the 100-mile expanse of the northern bank of the Rio Grande River separating the United States from Mexico, McAllen is one of a handful of cities—South Padre Island, Brownsville, Harlingen, Alamo, Port Isabel, Phar, Edinburg, Mercedes, Mission and Weslaco (pronounced wes-la-coe)—dotted along this east-west stretch.
The Aztec people were the original inhabitants of the region, the first mapping of the area following in 1519, some historians believe, by order of Francisco de Garay, the then governor of Jamaica. Although others contend that he landed some 150 miles farther away, claiming that area as his territory.
Over the next four centuries, Spanish settlers established several distinct towns here, and it wasn’t long before these towns were integrated into one bustling region called the Rio Grande Valley, today known as the lower Rio Grande Valley, or “the Valley,” for short.
Soon other Europeans followed suit, among them settler James McAllen from Edinburgh, Scotland, who became a major landowner and investor here, eventually formally founding the city in 1909.
One of the biggest draws to the Rio Grande Valley at that time was the rich, fertile soil that fostered thriving agricultural production. Among the cornucopia of crops were a wide variety of vegetables, cotton and sugarcane. However, because of the succulent lemons, oranges, grapefruit and other citrus crops, McAllen and the surrounding area became known as the “Citrus Basket” of the U.S.
To get a firm grasp of the cultural heritage of the Rio Grande Valley region, be sure to visit the Museum of South Texas History.
Located in the nearby suburb of Edinburg, the museum is a great testament to the many people who helped transform the south Texas/northeastern Mexico borderland from an open, citrus-rich agricultural area, into a vibrant economic engine and driving force in the U.S. economy.
Founded in 1967 and opened in 1970, the museum architecture includes elements such as the arches that came from the original Hidalgo County Courthouse.
The gigantic woolly mammoth here (used in the movie “X-Men”) is a cast reproduction from bones found in the area, and the section about the Mexican-American war provides a unique historical “insiders look” by illustrating each country’s perspective, in its respective language, based on writings found from those times.
Moreover, all of the museum’s exhibits are presented with bilingual signage, representative of the binational culture and visitors.
The state of the art displays and exhibits encompass full-scale steamboat and windmill replicas; three riverboat history-related theaters; unique artifacts such as prehistoric fossils, ancient tools, and a great deal more, chronicling the region’s deep cultural heritage, pride, hospitality and high priority placed on family and entrepreneurial development since its earlier founding.
McAllen Today
Today McAllen sits as the heart of the Valley as the largest city, with an estimated 140,000 inhabitants. Another 5,000 people live in the larger Hidalgo County, and a total of 1.5 million live in the entire Rio Grande Valley, a sort of misnomer because the topography is even and flat.
Hispanic residents make up 87 percent of the population, most with ties to Mexico—its closest international neighbor—in addition large numbers of people from India, England, Canada, Ireland, Sweden, the West Indies, Lebanon, China, Scandinavia, Japan, Korea and Thailand
McAllen itself is narrow and long: three miles from east to west and 12 miles from north to south. And like most cities in the Valley, it was laid out this way because in the land-grant days, every community wanted riverfront property, and this layout gave them all equal billing.
Despite some of the violence that has been occurring in several areas of Mexico and the inaccurate news reporting that often paints McAllen and the surrounding cities as dirty, unsophisticated “border towns” punctuated with dirt roads and donkey carts, McAllen is a far cry from that and was recently recognized as one of the safest cities, with some of the lowest violent crime rates, in the country.
As such, each year McAllen plays host to more than one million visitors, the majority of whom come here primarily from Mexico, to take advantage of the area’s wealth of manufacturing entities that churn out merchandise for some of the country’s best specialty boutiques and brand name retailers found in dozens of shopping malls and plazas.
In fact, McAllen is the number one U.S. destination for shopping for affluent Mexican nationals (30 percent of all purchases here), and coming here is referred to throughout Mexico as “Vamos a McAllenar/McCaliando” (“We’re going McAllening”).
There are also huge numbers of “Winter Texans,” retirees, most of whom arrive via RVs from northern U.S. cities and Canada to enjoy the comfortable winter weather, low cost of living and close proximity to Mexico (primarily on foot just over the border into Progresso) for more great shopping deals and oodles of low-cost medicines and procedures, including dental and ophthalmic, among others. The Winter Texans are a huge driving force, bringing approximately $500 million a year into the local economy.
Visitors also come to enjoy the wealth of dining and outdoor recreational opportunities here, which we will explore as we delve further into this warm and welcoming tourist destination situated along the beautiful Rio Grande Valley.
Lysa Allman Baldwin is a freelance writer and the publisher and editor of Amazing Escapades featuring “adventures for the mind, bod and belly” (www.amazingescapades.com).