Lon C. Hill
Founder of Harlingen and Valley Developer, 1908 ¹

CONSTRUCTION OF THE FIRST IRRIGATION CANAL in 
the Rio Grande Valley.  Called Harlingen, No. 1, it was dug with 
mules, fresnos and had labor.  The canal still retains the No. 1 
designation but is now know as Cameron County No. 1. ²

 ...Six-Shooter Junction had now developed into a Main Street town.  Two general stores, Drug Store, Hardware Store, Barber Shop. Blacksmith Shop, four saloons, and of course, the house, barn and corrals that constituted Ranger headquarters. 
     Harlingen is no longer Six-Shooter Junction.  It is a city with modern office buildings and air-conditioned hotels.  The brush and cactus of the Valley has been displaced by glistening highways; prosperous towns and miles upon miles of blossoming citrus groves and gardens.  Old Lon Hill's dream came through in a big way and I am proud that I was privileged to be present during the growing pain days, of the 'Magic Valley.³

HARLINGEN IN 1910
   The date of April 15, 1910, marked the official founding of Harlingen, Texas, when the oath of office was administered to the Ike B. McFarland, mayor, and Commissioner John D. Hill and Homer N. Morrow. 

The first meeting of the "Commission of Harlingen" was held that day.  M.M. Osborn was appointed city clerk, assessor-collector, and treasurer of the commission.
     A case in the Brownsville court brought Hill by stage to that city in 1900.  As he rode about the country on horseback he observed that in a few isolated places Mexicans were growing abundant crops and various kinds of produce on small plots of land in resacas.  He also observed that the bed of the Rio Grande was higher than the lands which sloped down from it on the Texas side which made gravity irrigation feasible.  His first experiment in irrigation, made on a rented farm near the Nueces River,  was successful and this fired his imagination for the development of the Lower Rio Grande Valley.⁴

EARLY DAY LAND CLEARING  in Harlingen.   The work was 
all by hand and cost about $15 per acre to clear the brush. 
 The four men show here could clear in a day about as much as a
  bull dozer can now clear in fifteen minutes.⁶

BACK IN THOSE DAYS when Jackson street was called 
Main street.  What seems to be a traffic light in the 
center of the picture is actually a  street light.  Traffic was 
limited and there was little need for traffic lights.⁸

LAND COMPANY CHARTERED
   The Lon C. Hill Improvement Company was chartered August 10, 1903, and the following year the company became the Lon C. Hill Town Improvement Company with a capitalization of $200,000.  Incorporators were Hill, Jim Dougherty and Dr. S. H. Bell.  From time to time Hill added to his holdings and on September 10, 1907, he chartered the Harlingen Land and Water Company capitalized for $300,000 with Hill, John D. Hill (no relation), Miss Paul Hill, Dr S. H. Bell, and P.E. Blalock as incorporators In January, 1907 Hill began work on his irrigation system and by November 5, 1908, was able to make a certified statement that approximately 26 miles of canals were in a state of operation and approximately 75,000 acres were in irrigation or ready to be irrigated.  He helped frame the state law that put into being the first irrigation district, Cameron County Irrigation District No. 1.  Election returns filed on August 10, 1914, gives the date for its establishments.⁷

In January, 1905, the Hill family moved from Brownsville into the first home built in Harlingen, but without the lovely wife and mother and little George.  Both had succumbed to typhoid fever the preceding November.  The home is now a museum site.  By September, a small frame house had been built near the Hill home for Harlingen's first school which opened with fourteen pupils, seven of whom were the Hill children.  Three were children of Mr. Hill's sister, Mrs. J. C. McBee and Mr. McBee, Frank, John and Elizabeth; two of the Jones' children, Lynn and Etta, also Henry Bell and Katherine Weller, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. H. Weller, who were recent arrivals.
     W. A. Francis, first teacher, 1905-07, later was head of the English Department of A & I College.  Miss Johnnie Phipps was the second teacher and Miss Lillian Weems (Mr. Baldridge), the third, taught in 1908-09. 

The little school building was also used for Sunday School and for an occasional church service when a circuit rider or a missionary minister of any denomination was available.⁹

   Mr. and Mrs. Santos Lozano¹⁰

Shown back of the present members of the Hill family is the first 
home built in Harlingen.   Built in 1905, it is now a museum site, 
the former plantation headquarters of Lon Hill.  Moving from 
Brownsville in 1905, Lon Hill planned this as a temporary 
residence until he could build a larger home.¹³

HARLINGEN'S first Football Team in 1913.  Rear right is 
Professor W. E. Sturgeon who was then Superintendent of the 
Schools.  The names of the members of the team were not available although some of the present day residents of Harlingen may be 
able to identify themselves.¹⁴

The first brick building was erected by Lon C. Hill, at the 
north-west corner of Van Buren and First Streets.  A. E. Anglin s
ays that it took a long time to complete the building, as Hill would 
have the bricks made by hand in his kiln on the arroyo, hauled by 
team and put in place and then would have to stop construction 
while the Mexican labor could make more bricks by hand.¹⁵

AERIAL VIEW of the Valley Baptist Hospital, Sams Children 
Center, and the Reber Memorial Radiation clinic.  Not shown 
is the more recently constructed Nurses Home.¹⁶

To keep up with the progress and expansion, new facilities had to be built.  Baptists and friends from every part of the country gave their time, money, and efforts to raise the 2 ¼-million dollars necessary for a new building.  Local generosity went so far that Harlingen and San Benito property owners donated the 18 ½ acre tract where the new Hospital stands.   The Hospital serves not only Harlingen but all South Texas and Northern Mexico.   It serves the area better than ever before, bringing together medical services that no one dreamed possible 35 years ago.  A salute goes out to the Valley Baptist Hospital and its ability to keep abreast of social progress and medical developments.¹⁷

HARLINGEN'S first brick school building, located on East 
Jackson street.  It was occupied in 1912 for the first time and 
later became known as Central Ward and Sam Houston school.  
The building was remodeled several years ago and is now an
  office building.¹⁹

HARLINGEN SCHOOLS

    The Harlingen Independent School District Board of Trustees held its organization meeting October 5, 1909 in the office of the Morrow Brothers Lumber Company.  Membership of the first board consisted of John E. Snavely, who was elected chairman, and C. F. Perry, H. N. Morrow, J. A. Cards, R. S. Chambers, W. E. Hollingsworth, and W. H. Kilgore.  Board members who served the District prior to 1920, who still reside in Harlingen, are E. W. Anglin and R. B. Hamilton.
     The first school site purchased by the new district was the Alamo School site.  Lon C. Hill gave half the site and the District purchased the other half, according to Warren W. Ballard, Business Manager of the schools.

On April 15, 1911, contract was let to A. Goldammer for erection of the old Sam Houston School in the 500 Block of East Jackson Street at a cost of $22,800.  On the same date, contract was let to R. H. Tadlock for $5,966 to build the two-story section of the Alamo School.  The second story was removed in 1949.
     In 1922 the Board authorized the construction of a Senior High School building on what is now the playground of the Travis school.  Cost of the building was $45,452.50.  This building was destroyed in the 1933 hurricane.   The Travis main building was constructed in 1926 and was used as a Junior High school until 1949 when Gay Junior High was built.  The first portions of Austin, Bowie, and Dishman schools were built in 1928, and the Washington school in 1934.
     When the new $350,000 High School was dedicated September 4, 1930, it was call "the show place of the Valley."  Paul E. Phipps was superintendent, and Mrs. J. I. Coursey, O. N. Joyner, Ira E. Eells, S. D. Grant, A. E. McClendon and Dr. John Crockett composed the Board of Trustees.
     When the new $1,500,000 High School was occupied in January 1958, it was described as having the maximum facilities for the teaching of practical and theoretical science; its conduit systems to provide for closed circuit television and a language department having cubicles for recording instruments.²⁰

HARLINGEN FIRE DEPARTMENT

     The Harlingen Volunteer Fire Department was organized early in 1912, a few months after the installation of hydrants and a water system. 
     In 1922 the department was reorganized with sixteen members, and Bert Gamble was the first fire chief.  The first pumper was delivered in 1922.   E. C. Bennett, City Utilities Manager, was the driver and operator in charge of equipment.  O. N. Joyner was assistant fire chief and fire marshal.
     The year 1926 was a significant one; the paid fire department was established, a second pumper was purchased, and the new City Hall and fire station was completed.  The department was host to the State Firemen and Fire Marshal's Convention, as it was again in 1939 when Jake Childress was chief.
  E. C. Bennett who followed Gamble as chief in 1927, served until 1934.  J. J. Dawson succeeded Childress in April 1943, and served four years.  Henry D. Smith, 1947-49, was followed by R. C. Berna, Chief, 1950-51, who was followed by W. T. Hamilton, present chief.
     In 1929, a sub-station was opened at 210 South "F" Street; in 1930 a Ladies Auxiliary was organized and re-organized in 1939 and again in 1948.  Other sub-stations were the W. C. Anderson, opened in March 1956, the J. L. Head Station at 1657 South Sam Houston, in October 1956, and the A. B. Chapa Station at 1201 West Van Buren in 1957.
     The new $90,000 Central Fire Station was opened in October 1950 and later was named the E. C. Bennett Station.²¹

The Pride of Harlingen H.A.F.B.