City of Harlingen

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, in my own words. Now settle in, because this one's a story about a man with a plan and a patch of South Texas soil that was about to become something. We're talking about Harlingen, Cameron County, and the marker takes us all the way back to 1904, when this city was first platted.

Six years later, in 1910, it was incorporated. That's a pretty quick rise for a town in the Rio Grande Valley, and it didn't happen by accident. The man behind it was Lon C.

Hill, Sr., born in 1862, died in 1935, and the marker calls him what he clearly was: a founder and a promoter of railroad and early business enterprises. He named this place after a town in Holland, and whether that tells you something about his ambitions or just his tastes, the marker doesn't say. But the name stuck, and the city grew.

Now here's where Harlingen starts pulling rank on its neighbors. Right here, in this stretch of the Rio Grande Valley, were organized the first irrigation district and the first navigation district in the entire valley. Not just early.

First. The kind of firsts that shape a region. From those roots, Harlingen grew into a center for finance, wholesale business, commerce, and medical services.

And the medical side of this story is no small thing. The marker lists the Harlingen State Tuberculosis Hospital, the Rio Grande State Center for Mental Health and Mental Retardation, and Valley Baptist Hospital, all here in this one city. That's a weight of human need being met, and it's worth saying plainly.

On a lighter note, Harlingen also became home to the Marine Military Academy, the Confederate Air Force Museum, and the Lower Valley Historical Museum. One city, one founder with a vision, and a whole lot of Texas history that grew up around his railroad and his borrowed Dutch name.

What the marker says

Platted 1904; incorporated 1910. Named for town in Holland, by founder Lon C. Hill, Sr. (1862-1935), promoter of railroad and early business enterprises. Here were organized the first irrigation district and first navigation district in Rio Grande Valley. Center for finance, wholesale business, commerce and medical services. Site of Harlingen State Tuberculosis Hospital, Rio Grande State Center for Mental Health and Mental Retardation, Valley Baptist Hospital. Home of Marine Military Academy, "Confederate Air Force" Museum and the Lower Valley Historical Museum. (1969)