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The
settlement of Mission is directly
tied to once was the La Lomita
community, some 5 miles south. The French Oblates of Mary Immaculate
developed a chapel on this portion of land which had dated back to
a Spanish land grant. Up until 1904, the railroad had only advanced
5 miles from La Lomita to a railhead town
known as "Mamie." The railroad was enticed (by a new depot
and 20 acres of land) to extend the remaining distance to what became
Mission.
In 1907 when the railroad arrived Mission
developed from an influx of new arrivals and the moving of the operations
of the Oblate fathers. John J. Conway and J. W. Holt purchased the
La Lomita Ranch from the religious order and with other accquired
properties, they parceled the land into small tracts for resale.
The naming of the post office in 1908 accounts for the name change.
Since another Lomita, Texas had been granted a post office under that
name, the name Mission was submitted to and accepted by postal authorities.
1908 was a busy year for the town with a school and pharmacy joining
the depot and post office. The next year a hotel was built and a newspaper
was established. Mission incorporated
in 1910.
A developer named John H. Shary improved the extant (but crude) irrigation
system and sold small tracts of land for farms around 1910. The long
growing seaon allowed vegetable farmers to grow three crops a year.
Shary's name lives on with the community named Sharyland (adjoining
McAllen).
Oil was discovered in the 1930s, providing a boost to the economy,
but it was nothing like the oil discoveries further north near Freer.
In 1941 Shary and other businessmen bought land northwest of Mission
which they then sold at cost to the government for use as an air field.
Named Moore Field, it maintained a population of about 3,000 during
the years of WWII.
Former airmen and their families returned to settle in Mission
after the war. At the close of the WWII
it became Tri-Cities Airport and then during the Korean conflict it
was activated as Moore Air Force Base in 1953. It closed again in
1960.
Populations:
1915: 2,000, 1940: 6,000, 1950: 10,700, 1960: 14,000, 1970: 13,000,
1980: 22,500, 1990: 28,600 and 2000: 45,000
A 1978 a book written by local author Cleo Dawson was made
into a movie titled She Came to the Valley. It was filmed on
location in Mission
and La Lomita. |
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