DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Hilltop Gardens, up in Hidalgo County. Now, if you were driving north of La Villa back in 1939 and you spotted a little farmhouse sitting up on a small knoll, you might've wondered what on earth those folks were growin' out there on a hundred acres of Rio Grande Valley land. The answer was aloe vera — and the people responsible were Lee and Sherman Ewald, who founded Hilltop Gardens and put it among the first commercial aloe vera farms in the entire United States.
They named the place for what they saw from that knoll. Rolling topography, a hilltop perch, and a vision that reached a good deal further than the horizon. Because Lee Ewald — and pay attention to that name, because Lee is the one who drives this story — recognized the medical properties of aloe vera and pioneered its commercial production right there in the Valley.
That word 'pioneered' is doing a lot of work, and it earns every bit of it. Hilltop Gardens was incorporated in 1959, and it became part of the Global Health industry. But Lee wasn't finished.
With the help of her two daughters, she developed cosmetics using aloe vera gel, and she sold them under the name Phyllis Ann Lee Sales, incorporated in 1962. Hilltop Gardens is believed to be the first business to use aloe vera gel as an ingredient in cosmetics. The first.
On a hundred-acre farm north of La Villa. The Ewald family held on to the place until 1976, when they sold Hilltop Gardens to a man named R.C. Benson, who moved all the way from Houston to grow aloe vera.
By 1981, Benson had over 200,000 aloe plants growing on that property. Two hundred thousand plants on the same land where the Ewalds had started with their farmhouse on a knoll. Then in 1988, a company called Aloecorp — part of something called Econet — purchased Hilltop Gardens.
Econet was a corporation of thirteen companies, and it stood among the world's largest and most technologically advanced producers of aloe vera. That little farm north of La Villa had grown into something global. The operation eventually went organic, and Hilltop Gardens began developing procedures for organic farming to serve both Econet and the wider farming community.
In 2012, the farm opened its gates to the general public. And here's where the story takes one more remarkable turn. Hilltop Gardens contracted a grower in South Africa — where aloe vera originates — to supply over 200 species of aloe, all of which are now growing on the farm.
That makes Hilltop Gardens home to the largest collection of aloe species in the United States. Started on a hundred acres with a farmhouse on a hill. Now holding more kinds of aloe than anywhere else in this country.
Lee and Sherman Ewald picked quite a knoll to build on.
What the marker says
Founded in 1939 by Lee and Sherman Ewald, Hilltop Gardens, among the first commercial aloe vera farms in the U.S., started on 100 acres north of La Villa. The Ewalds built their farmhouse atop a small knoll and named the property Hilltop Gardens for its rolling topography. Lee Ewald recognized the medical properties of aloe vera and pioneered its commercial production in the Rio Grande Valley. Hilltop Gardens was incorporated in 1959 and became part of the Global Health industry. lee developed cosmetics using aloe vera gel with the help of her two daughters. She sold this under the name phyllis ann lee sales, incorporated in 1962. Hilltop Gardens is believed to be the first business using aloe vera gel as an ingredient in cosmetics. The Ewald family sold Hilltop Gardens in 1976 to R.C. Benson who moved from Houston to grow aloe vera. By 1981, Benson was growing over 200,000 aloe plants on the property. In 1988, an Econet Company called Aloecorp purchased Hilltop Gardens. It became a part of a corporation of 13 companies named Econet, one of the world’s largest and most technologically advanced producers of aloe vera. The farm operation has become organic and serves the Econet and the wider farming community by developing procedures for organic farming. In 2012, Hilltop Gardens opened to the general public. Hilltop Gardens also contracted a grower in South Africa, where aloe vera originates from, to supply over 200 species of aloe which are now growing on the farm. Hilltop Gardens represents the largest collection of species of aloe in the United States.