McAllen is the City of Palms — the commercial heart of the Rio Grande Valley, at the southern tip of Texas where the state turns tropical. Palm-lined streets run toward the Rio Grande, Reynosa sits just across the river, and two countries share one valley of food, music, and family names. A 1904 railroad townsite on a Spanish land-grant ranch has grown into a bi-national metro of well over a million people — and one of the best birding destinations in North America. Tejano heart, border soul, citrus-and-palm sunshine: that is McAllen.
The modern city arrived on rails. Irrigation companies began watering the Delta lands around 1900, the St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico Railway pushed through the ranch in 1904, and on December 5 of that year the McAllen Townsite Company platted a town named for the old rancher. A rival townsite — East McAllen — rose two miles away in 1907, won the post office, and became the McAllen that incorporated in 1911. In 1916, during the border troubles of the Mexican Revolution era, some 20,000 National Guard troops camped here, and the soldier payrolls put the young town permanently on the map.
Why People Visit McAllen
McAllen offers something rare — a subtropical Texas city where world-class birding, citrus country, and a living bi-national culture all sit within easy reach. Visitors come for the palms and the birds, stay for the food and the warmth, and leave understanding why this corner of Texas calls itself the City of Palms.
