Harlingen, Texas

Everything Harlingen is known for

4 songs mention this city 0 artists from here

Music in Harlingen

Songs About Harlingen

Harlingen Belle
John Baumann
78%
"TITLE"
Merry Christmas from the Family
Robert Earl Keen
55%
"Fran and Rita drove from Harlingen"
heard it all before
bob wayne
25%
leavin' texas
jerry jeff walker
10%

Artists From Harlingen

No artists from Harlingen in the database yet.

Rivers & Roads in Song near Harlingen

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Harlingen.

Rio Grande / Río Bravo 157 songs Rio Grande / Río Bravo 242 songs

Musical Heritage

Freddy Fender (Baldemar Huerta) RoadyGoat

San Benito put his face on the water tower for a reason. Baldemar Huerta was born there in 1937, and the world came to know him as Freddy Fender. He blended Tejano, rhythm and blues, and honky-tonk into something all his own, and he took two songs to number one — "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" and "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights." In 1990 he won a Grammy with the Tejano supergroup the Texas Tornados. He never forgot the resacas of his hometown. Lung cancer took him in 2006, down in Corpus Christi, and they buried him back home under a big stone that tells his whole story. The city named his street after him. More than four thousand fans have signed a petition to get him into the Country Music Hall of Fame — and this month, San Benito wrote his name into the conjunto one.

RoadyGoat → · 5.7 mi away

Narciso Martinez RoadyGoat

Narciso Martinez was born across the river in Reynosa in 1911 and raised in La Paloma, a scrap of a community on the edge of San Benito. His family followed the crops around Texas, and somewhere in there he taught himself the accordion on a little two-row Hohner. They called him El Huracán del Valle — the Hurricane of the Valley. He took rancheras and polkas and braided them together, teamed up with a bajo sexto man named Santiago Almeida out of Skidmore, and by the mid-thirties the two of them were working Brownsville and Raymondville. They cut records for RCA's Bluebird label down in San Antonio — "La Chicharronera," "La Parrita," "Los Coyotes." The folks at the cultural arts center named for him will tell you he built the template for conjunto. Every accordion in the Valley's been chasing that hurricane since.

RoadyGoat → · 5.7 mi away

Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center RoadyGoat

Down in San Benito, the accordion is close to a native tongue, and one name sits at the root of it: Narciso Martinez. He grew up right here, and he's the reason the Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center carries his name — a place built to preserve the heritage of the Mexican American community across South Texas. Rogelio T. Nunez runs it. Here's the thing: the center started here in San Benito, and right now it doesn't even have a building to call its own — no walls, just the mission. And still, every year, it throws a conjunto festival over in nearby Los Fresnos, one folks will tell you is the longest running in the whole Rio Grande Valley. Turns out you don't need an address to keep a sound alive.

RoadyGoat → · 5.7 mi away

Texas Conjunto Music Hall of Fame and Museum RoadyGoat

San Benito bills itself the Conjunto Capital of the World, and it's got the museum to back it up. Reynaldo Avila Senior first launched the Texas Conjunto Music Hall of Fame around the turn of the millennium, and after he passed in 2019 and the pandemic shut the doors, his family reopened it in 2023 — inside the old Azteca Building, a cream-colored place built in the shape of a ship. Inside: accordions, stage outfits, a room all for Freddy Fender, and two old vinyl presses from Ideal Records that once stamped out fifteen hundred records a day. They've inducted more than ninety men and women. And this month they added the biggest name of all — Freddy Fender himself, the San Benito boy whose face is painted on the town water tower.

RoadyGoat → · 5.7 mi away

Conjunto Halcon at Los Fresnos High School RoadyGoat

Back in 2013, a band director named Juan Longoria Junior started a conjunto program at Los Fresnos High School with thirteen kids. Today it's pushing a hundred — varsity, junior varsity, and a beginner class feeding the pipeline. Longoria knows the instrument cold; he took first at the Texas Folklife Festival's Big Squeeze competition back in 2007, and his students have hauled home title after title at the Texas Best Conjunto Competition. Take the Larrasquitu twins, Mariana and Myrian — they joined in 2022, one on accordion, one on bajo sexto, and now they're carrying it forward, planning to play in their college conjunto bands. That's the whole point of a program like this. You don't just win trophies. You hand the music down.

RoadyGoat → · 14.5 mi away

History of Harlingen

Harligen, TX RoadyGoat

Harligen's always been a crossroads, a place where the Valley's agricultural heart meets the Gulf winds. But the last few years have seen that connection tested, especially with the ongoing debate around the proposed Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) export terminals up the ship channel in Brownsville. You can't drive more than a few miles without seeing a bumper sticker for or against it. It’s more than just jobs versus the environment; it's a deep-seated identity crisis. This is a community built on the land, on the shrimp that used to fill the bay, on the birds that still migrate through the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge. To some, LNG represents progress, a chance to diversify the economy beyond agriculture and tourism. To others, it's an existential threat to the natural beauty and the way of life that defines the Valley. The question of whether Harligen's future lies in harnessing its natural resources or preserving its natural heritage hangs heavy in the air, influencing everything from local elections to conversations over coffee at the Donut Palace.

Harligen, TX RoadyGoat

Harlingen sits smack-dab in the Rio Grande Valley, a place sculpted by the river that gives it life. This isn't a land of dramatic peaks or deep canyons, but of subtle slopes and fertile soil, alluvium carried down from the mountains over millennia. The very ground underfoot is river-borne sediment, rich in minerals, making it a farmer's dream. The landscape is defined by its flatness, stretching out towards the Gulf, broken only by irrigation canals and the occasional resaca, an oxbow lake left behind by the Rio Grande’s meandering path. That rich soil and flat terrain have shaped the people here as much as the river itself. Agriculture is in the blood, passed down through generations. The land demands hard work, but it rewards diligence with bountiful harvests of cotton, citrus, and vegetables. The proximity to the Gulf also means a humid climate, a constant reminder of the ocean's presence. It’s a place where the horizon feels close, where the land and sky meet in a hazy embrace, and where the rhythm of life is dictated by the seasons of planting and harvest.

Las Palmas II, TX RoadyGoat

Las Palmas II came into existence as a separate entity in the 2010 U.S. census. Before that, it was part of the Las Palmas-Juarez CDP. The split marked the beginning of Las Palmas II's identity as a distinct community within Cameron County, adding a new layer to the region's demographic tapestry.

RoadyGoat →

Bobby Joe Morrow

1935

Born in nearby Rangerville to Bob Floyd (1907-1983) and Mattie Lucille (1908-1996) Morrow, Bobby Joe Morrow (1935-2020) grew up in a simple clapboard house on a 600-acre cotton farm. Morrow began running by chasing jackrabbits. He attended San Benito High School where he played football and, in 1951, started competing in track and field. Morrow won state championships in the 100-yard dash (twice) and the 220-yard dash. After high school, he attended Abilene Christian College where he won around 80 sprint championships, including the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) championship in the 100-meter dash when he was a freshman. His coach, Oliver Jackson, said in an interview, "Bobby had fluidity of motion like nothing I've ever seen. He could run a 220 with a root beer float on his head and never spill a drop."
 During college, he competed in the 1956 Olympic games in Melbourne, Australia. At the age of just 20, he won three gold medals for the 100-meter, 200-meter, and 4x100 meter relay, becoming the first man since fellow American and his personal hero, Jesse Owens (1913-1980), to win all three events. Only two men since Morrow have matched the feat. His Olympic performance also tied the world record for the 200-meter dash with a time of 20.6 seconds. Morrow received international acclaim for the achievement. He went on to set 14 world records and appear on the covers of famous magazines including Life and Sports Illustrated. Morrow is a member of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, the U.S. Track and Field Hall of Fame and the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. After not participating in the 1960 Olympics, he returned to the family farm and maintained a quiet life in Texas until his death. (2022)

Historical Marker → · 4.7 mi away

Hill, Leonidas Carrington, Sr. [Lon]

1903

Leonidas (Lon) Carrington Hill, Sr., South Texas developer, the son of Maj. William H. and Minerva Frances (Vernon) Hill, was born on Gilleland Creek in Travis County, Texas, on July 31, 1862. He attended Rock Church School, Parson's Seminary Episcopal School near Manor, and Add-Ran Male and Female College. Hill married Eustacia Dabney on December 13, 1882. After managing a general store in Manor, he studied law and moved to Austin to attend the law school at the University of Texas. He also attended the University of Virginia, where he received his license to practice law in that state on September 1, 1890; he was licensed for practice in Texas on March 13, 1891. In April of that year Hill and his family moved to Beeville, where he practiced law for twelve years. On June 20, 1896, the Bee County Democrats endorsed Hill for district attorney. He was serving in that position as late as 1899, by which time he was considered one of the Democratic party leaders of the county. Hill was first introduced to the lower Rio Grande valley while traveling from Alice to Brownsville. He became interested in developing the area and started purchasing land in Cameron County. He started a rice plantation in the Brownsville area, ran the Miller Hotel, and platted Six Shooter Junction. He continued to practice law in Bee County through 1902, while his rice plantation remained under the management of Elmo Coleman. Between August 1901 and November 1902 Hill acquired 300,000 acres in the Hidalgo-Cameron County area. The city of Harlingen, which he founded, was located on land that had been Cameron County school lands, Texas school lands, and part of the King Ranch . He paid $2.50 an acre for the King Ranch property he purchased from Mrs. Henrietta King . On June 6, 1903, Hill called a mass meeting in Brownsville to propose the construction of a railroad; he subsequently headed the soliciting committee to raise the bonus for the road. On June 10, 1903, Mrs. Hill and their eleven children joined him in Cameron County, first at Point Isabel and then at Brownsville. At that time Hill was operating a hardware and implement store in Brownsville. A year later, when the Gulf Coast lines reached the clearing that was to be Harlingen, he was one of the three men who guaranteed the bonus for an extension of the Sam Fordyce branch to the Starr county line. On August 10, 1903, he chartered the Lon C. Hill Improvement Company, which became the Lon C. Hill Town and Improvement Company in 1904. Eustacia and her youngest child died in 1904 of typhoid fever. In 1904 Hill chartered the Capisallo Town and Improvement Company, which laid out the town of Lonsboro. It was later sold to the American Rio Grande Land and Irrigation Company and renamed Mercedes. That same year Hill was one of the incorporators of McAllen. He and others chartered the Harlingen Land and Water Company for $300,000 in 1907. By November 15, 1907, he certified that the company was operating twenty-six miles of canals and that 75,000 acres was under irrigation or being prepared for it. The Hill Sugar Mill was in operation in Harlingen by November 1911. Hill participated in passing the original state law governing irrigation districts, and on August 10, 1914, Cameron County Irrigation District No. 1 was established. Hill was often called "the Chief" because of his height and his heavy, shoulder-length hair. During the early 1900s he met Rex Beach, who chose to use Hill as the model for the main character in his novel Heart of the Sunset (1915). In 1915 Hill received orders from the Texas Rangers to be a border scout so that he might fight off Mexican bandits. About that time he befriended William Jennings Bryan and sold him some land in South Texas. The Hill Sugar Mill was burned down by bandits on July 17, 1917. During World War I Hill served as a "dollar a year man" in Washington, D.C. He continued his land and water development until his death at Harlingen on May 5, 1935. Lon C. Hill Park was ded

Tsha Handbook →

Tichenor, McHenry

1930

McHenry Tichenor, media mogul and Spanish-language radio pioneer, was born on December 21, 1897, in Morganfield, Union County, Kentucky. He was the fourth of five sons of Joseph M. and Effie M. (Coon) Tichenor. His father, a telegraph operator and later a farmer, had served during the Civil War as a private in the Twelfth Kentucky Cavalry. Educated in public schools in Hopkinsville, Christian County, Kentucky, McHenry followed his older brother, Warren Clay, to Oklahoma City, where both were employed in the newspaper business at the Oklahoman and the Oklahoma City Times . In 1917 the brothers served in the Oklahoma National Guard. The unit was called to active duty in 1918, and the 186 men and 212 horses went to war in 1918 as Company F 111th Ammunition Train, Thirty-sixth Division, where Warren Clay rose to the rank of captain. By 1927 McHenry had moved to Shawnee, Oklahoma, where he was advertising manager for the daily newspaper. In 1928 he married Texan Genevieve Beryl Smith. In 1930 McHenry Tichenor came to the rapidly-developing lower Rio Grande valley of Texas. In 1932 he was able to buy the struggling Valley Morning Star newspaper with its offices in downtown Harlingen, Texas. The purchase from the March-Fentress Group was said to cost $50,000, of which $10,000 was cash. Five years later Tichenor sold the paper to Hubert Hudson for $125,000. Tichenor served as administrator for the relatively new Valley Baptist Hospital and guided it out of serious fiscal difficulties. In 1942 and 1943 he served on its board of trustees. This is likely where exposure to less fortunate patients led to his quiet lifelong medical philanthropy. In the mid-1940s Tichenor and his wife purchased the estate of land promoter, Al F. Parker, in La Feria, Texas. The structure and its beautifully landscaped surroundings occupy a city block and are currently maintained as the McHenry Tichenor Museum Project, a fitting legacy for the character and leadership of Tichenor. In 1940 Tichenor made a decision that would shape the rest of his life.He organized the Harbenito Broadcasting Company. The name was a combination of Harlingen and the adjacent city of San Benito. The radio station opened with a paltry 250-watt signal and a staff of eleven. It secured the call sign KGBS, and popular belief holds that Tichenor used the initials of his wife, Geneviere Beryl Smith, for the call sign. In January 1944 it became an affiliate of the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) and later a minor affiliate of ABC. GBS, however, was also the initials George B. Storer, founder of Storer Communications. In a shrewd move Tichenor, in 1950, sold the call sign KGBS, allowing it to become the call sign of a Storer station in California. His South Texas station then became KGBT by 1952. By 1954 Tichenor's broadcasting entity had expanded with the acquisition of radio station KSOX in Harlingen. On 1530 kHz, this first 50,000-watt station on the Texas side of the Rio Grande valley was originally built by former Harris County judge and Houston mayor, Roy Hofheinz . After the purchase, KGBT gave up its 1240 kHz dial spot for 1530, moved into studios and offices at 1519 West Harrison, and in time, adopted full-time Spanish-language programming—one of the earliest stations in Texas to do so. This innovation was revolutionary for its time. In 1957 a new television studio for KGBT-TV was added by Alfred R. Beck, chief engineer of the station. By 1960 the principals of the station were McHenry Tichenor, president; J.C. Looney of Edinburg,vice-president; and Troy McDaniel, secretary-treasurer and general manager of the station. Tichenor was very active in other areas of economic development in the Rio Grande valley. In the early 1950s he served on the first Cameron County-appointed South Padre Island Park board. This board laid the groundwork for the erection of the first causeway ever to connect the island to the mainland. It was named the Queen Isabella Causeway, and its completion dr

Tsha Handbook →

Howard E. and Mary Butt House

1929

Howard E. and Mary Butt House In 1929 entrepreneur Howard E. Butt moved the headquarters of his developing grocery business to Harlingen. The following year, Howard and his wife, Mary, bought this house from its builders, John and Ruth Townsend, a few months after its completion. During the 1930s, Howard's business (H.E.B. Grocery) grew to more than 28 stores in the Rio Grande Valley and South Texas. Known also for their philanthropy and civic work in Harlingen, Howard and Mary Butt lived here until 1940 but owned the house until 1943. Distinguished by its Palladian windows and spiral entry columns, the architectural style of the house is best described as Italian Renaissance. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2000

Historical Marker →

Lon C. Hill Home

1904

City's first home, built 1904, by the founder, Lon C. Hill, promoter of railroads and irrigation to the lower Rio Grande Valley. Climate-adapted Victorian house. Here valley pioneers met and planned important developments. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1980

Historical Marker →

Harlingen, TX

1940

Harlingen's strategic location at the intersection of U.S. highways 77 and 83 in northwestern Cameron County fostered its development as a distribution, shipping, and industrial center. In 1904 Lon C. Hill envisioned the Arroyo Colorado as a commercial waterway. He named the town he founded on the north bank after a city in Holland. The town's post office was established that year. The first school opened with fifteen pupils in 1905 near the Hill home, the first residence built in Harlingen. Harlingen was incorporated on April 15, 1910, when the population totaled 1,126. In 1920 the census listed 1,748. The local economy at first was almost entirely agricultural. Major crops were vegetables and cotton. World War II military installations in Harlingen caused a jump in population from 23,000 in 1950 to 41,000 by 1960. Harlingen Army Air Field preceded Harlingen Air Force Base , which closed in 1962. The city's population fell to 33,603 by 1972, then climbed to 40,824 by 1980. Local enterprise, focused on the purchase and utilization of the abandoned base and related housing, laid the groundwork for continuing progress through a diversified economy. The estimated population in July 1985 was 49,000, of which about 80 percent was Hispanic. In the late 1980s income from tourism ranked second only to citrus fruit production, with grain and cotton next in order. The addition of wholesale and retail trade, light and medium manufacturing, and an array of service industries has broadened the economic base. Large-scale construction for multifaceted retirement communities is a new phase of industrial development. The city of Harlingen operates a busy industrial airpark where bombers used to land. At Valley International Airport the Confederate Air Force occupied hangar and apron space until 1991. The first hospital in Harlingen was opened in 1923 and consisted of little more than two barracks as wings. The Valley Baptist Hospital was built nearby a few years later, and eventually the older hospital closed. The Valley Baptist Hospital has grown into the Valley Baptist Medical Center. The city's outstanding network of health care specialists and facilities parallels the growth of the still-expanding center. Also serving regional health needs are the South Texas State Chest Hospital, the State Hospital for Children, and the Rio Grande State Mental Health and Mental Retardation Center. Besides public and church-affiliated schools, Harlingen students attend the University Preparatory School, the Marine Military Academy, Texas State Technical Institute, or Rio Grande Vocational and Rehabilitation Classes. Civic and cultural development in Harlingen has kept pace with the growth of the community. Fraternal orders and civic organizations operating in the community include Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, Optimist, 20-30, VFW, and American Legion ; a woman's building is maintained as a center for the activities of the many women's clubs active in the city. Development and appreciation of the fine arts are encouraged by organizations such as the Rio Grande Valley Art League, the Art Forum, and the Rio Grande Valley Civic Association, which stages its winter concert series at the 2,300-seat Harlingen Municipal Auditorium. Each March Harlingen is the site of the Rio Grande Valley International Music Festival. The city has two newspapers-the Harlingen Press , a weekly paper established in 1951, and the Valley Star , a daily established in 1911. In 1990 the population was 48,735. In 1992 the city was named an All-America City, cited especially for its volunteer spirit and self-help programs. In 2000 the community had 57,564 inhabitants and 2,549 businesses.

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Things to Do in Harlingen

historical 18.4 mi away
Weslaco, Texas (c. 1939, Russell Lee)
historical 23.4 mi away
Brownsville, Texas (c. 1916)

Everything Near Harlingen

188 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

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