Pharr is on the Missouri Pacific line and old U.S. Highway 83
(U.S. Spur 347), five miles west of McAllen in south central Hidalgo County.
Its site is within a Spanish land grant made in 1767 to Juan José Hinojosa.
The Hinojosa family and heirs sold off portions of their land to various groups
in the late nineteenth century and occupied the area as late as 1882. In 1909
John Connally Kelley, Sr., and Henry N. Pharr, a Louisiana sugarcane grower,
became co-owners of 16,000 acres, with two miles of frontage on the river. Pharr
founded the Louisiana and Rio Grande Canal Company and constructed an irrigation
system to establish a sugar plantation. Kelley formed the Pharr Townsite Company,
which platted the town that he named Pharr in honor of his partner. By 1911
the community was a stop on the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway, and
4,000 acres had been sold for settlement. A hotel, a bank, and various businesses
were also in operation. Pharr's plantation venture failed with the collapse
of the Rio Grande valley sugarcane industry. Kelley then took over the irrigation
system and continued to supply water to area vegetable and cotton farms. In
1915 the town's population was estimated at 600, and by that year schools had
opened, with Mexican students attending classes at the six-grade East Juárez
school. When the site for the school was moved, it became known as Pharr Grammar
School for Mexican Children. Separate facilities for junior and senior high
school students were not provided because Mexican children were not expected
to get beyond grammar school.
Pharr incorporated in 1916, and W. E. Cage established the Rio Grande Clarion
newspaper and the National Theatre there. In 1919 Pharr, San Juan, and Alamo
established the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District. By 1920 Pharr
had an estimated population of 1,560. In 1925 Mexican students requested that
they be allowed to attend high school with the other children. By 1931 Pharr
had a population of 3,225 and 105 businesses; by 1940 its population was 4,784.
Pharr adopted a home-rule charter and a commission government in 1949. In 1956
a move to merge the town with neighboring McAllen was put to a public vote and
defeated. The population of Pharr increased from 8,690 in 1950 to 14,106 in
1960. Businesses reported there in the 1960s included manufacturers of irrigation
equipment, clay products, mattresses, food harvesting and processing equipment,
and concrete products. In 1970 Pharr had 212 businesses and an estimated population
of 15,829.
Current Population: 40, 936
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