That rhythm is the culture. McAllen sits at the heart of Tejano South Texas — a bilingual, overwhelmingly Mexican-American valley where conjunto accordions and Tejano music grew up in the dance halls, where la frontera is not a line but a way of life, and where family trees have branches on both banks of the river. The Valley's own name for itself — el Valle — says it plainly: one valley, two countries, one community.
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.
