San Juan, Texas

Everything San Juan is known for

7 songs mention this city 1 artist from here

Music in San Juan

Songs About San Juan

Smoky Mountain Angel (of Doom)
Caleb Groh
80%
"Would he, the Porch King of San Juan"
Smokey Mountain Angel (of Doom)
Caleb Groh
49%
"the Porch King of San Juan"
heard it all before
bob wayne
21%
leavin' texas
jerry jeff walker
10%
Rodeo Cold Beer
Chancey Williams
3%
"San Juan to old Santa Fe"
Rodeo Cold Beer
Chancey Williams & The Younger Brothers Band
3%
"From Houston to Pendleton, San Juan to old Santa Fe"
Décimas
Carlos Vives
3%
"Y Cartagena a San Juan"

Artists From San Juan

E
Eddie Velez
latin

Rivers & Roads in Song near San Juan

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near San Juan.

Rio Grande / Río Bravo 163 songs Rio Grande / Río Bravo 250 songs

Musical Heritage

Bronco 956, La Barbie, and El Caballito 956 (viral pulga dancers) RoadyGoat

Out at the Pulga de Alamo, the flea-market floor turned into a stage. It started with Jose Urbina Rios — a construction worker who, sometime in 2023, went viral for the way he moved at the Valley pulgas. They call him Bronco 956, because he's the spitting image of the lead singer of Bronco, that band out of Nuevo Leon. And once he blew up, the others came: La Barbie, with the fringed pants and the curly blond hair under a cowboy hat. El Caballito 956, ninety years old, fancy shirts and gold, flicking the leather fringe at his waist like it's nothing. Conjunto on the speakers, a tardeada on a Sunday afternoon — and the whole thing landed on the front page of The New York Times. Ninety years old, and still the best dancer in the building.

RoadyGoat →

Pulga de Alamo (Mercadome flea market) RoadyGoat

Fifty cents gets you into the Pulga in Alamo, down in Hidalgo County — officially the Mercadome, but nobody calls it that. It's acres of covered stalls, two warehouses, four parking lots, all cash, no cards. You can buy produce, piñatas, power tools, generators, a puppy, a used video game, or get your car windows tinted right there along the fence. Victor Garcia sells embroidered guayaberas out of a shop called Guayaberas Yucatecas. Somebody's frying spiral potatoes on a stick. But the heart of it is the Alamo Dance Hall in the middle, where on weekend afternoons the conjunto bands play — button accordion, bajo sexto, drums, and bass. A Brownsville historian will tell you those afternoon dances, the tardeadas, are where Valley conjunto music was born. Fifty cents, and the whole Valley's under one roof.

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History of San Juan

San Juan, TX RoadyGoat

The Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle stands as a prominent landmark in San Juan, Texas. It is one of the largest churches in South Texas and a significant religious site for the community.

RoadyGoat →

San Juan, TX RoadyGoat

San Juan is a town deeply rooted in the fertile lands of the Rio Grande Valley, a place where agriculture has always been more than just a job – it's a way of life. Ever since the early days, when irrigation canals started snaking through the flat landscape, this area has been known for its incredible harvests. While you’ll find the ubiquitous citrus that the Valley is famous for, San Juan really thrived thanks to its production of vegetables. That rich soil, combined with a long growing season, made this spot ideal for crops like cabbage, onions, and cantaloupes. You see those ebony trees providing shade along the roads? They're a constant reminder of the land's natural bounty. Back in the day, families worked the fields together, passing down knowledge from one generation to the next. Even now, although retail and service jobs are more common, that agricultural heritage is still a source of pride. It's why the local cuisine is so vibrant, and why you'll still find farmers selling fresh produce at roadside stands, a taste of the old San Juan.

San Juan, TX RoadyGoat

The founding of San Juan can be traced back to 1909 when the community was organized, largely due to the efforts of John Closner. This marked the beginning of the city's development, which has grown to a population of over 35,000 as of the 2020 census.

Train-Truck Collision

1940

On March 14, 1940, at this crossing of Tower Road and the Missouri Pacific rail line occurred an automobile accident resulting in the most fatalities on a Texas highway in the 20th century. An oncoming train collided with a truck carrying more than 40 agricultural workers, killing 34 of the workers, who ranged in age from ten to 48. The neighboring citrus packing plant served as headquarters for rescue operations. The tragedy affected many lives in the Alamo community and across the Rio Grande Valley, resulting in renewed attention to safety issues surrounding railroad crossings and the transportation of agricultural workers. 	(2002)

Historical Marker →

Tom Mayfield

1898

(June 16, 1880 - November 26, 1966) Tom Mayfield left the Gonzales County farm of his parents, John and Maggie Mayfield, in 1898 to help buy horses for Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders. Between 1910-1921 Tom served as Pharr city marshal, Texas Ranger, and Hidalgo County deputy sheriff. His role in exposing a German-Mexican WWI plot in nearby San Diego and his amazing escape from a Mexican firing squad in 1921 made Tom a local celebrity. As Pharr-San Juan-Alamo's deputy constable (1938-1963) Tom gained the community's highest respect. He spent his last years as a resident of the San Juan Hotel. (1993)

Historical Marker →

San Juan Plantation

1884

San Juan Plantation, on the Rio Grande near San Juan, Hidalgo County, is recognized as a historic landmark by an official Texas historical marker on the plantation headquarters. The founder and developer of this, the earliest and largest plantation in an area at one time considered suitable only for grazing, was John Closner , a law enforcement officer for twenty-eight years, sometimes called "the father of Hidalgo County." He began buying land in 1884, and by 1904 San Juan Plantation, so named by Mrs. Closner, comprised 7,000 acres. The total eventually reached 45,000 acres. By 1895 Closner had installed a pumping plant and constructed a network of canals and laterals for the first irrigation system from the Rio Grande in the area. The equipment came by water to Port Isabel and was hauled by wagon the fifty-odd miles to the plantation. Closner was the first in that area to raise alfalfa, of which he had 700 acres flourishing under several cuttings a year; the first to experiment with tobacco crops; the first to experiment with sugarcane by cross-planting hybrid cane seed from Mexico with seed from Louisiana; and the first to experiment with commercial crops of vegetables, fruits, melons, and nuts. His findings in such diversified farming set a wide example. The first telephone line in that area, installed in 1902, connected Closner's home in Hidalgo to the headquarters of the plantation. Later he constructed a line to McAllen; the Hidalgo Telephone Company was formed with Closner as president. As the plantation progressed, the number of families of workers increased. A substantial school building was erected and equipped at a cost of $1,500 for the children of the plantation. Sugarcane from the plantation won the gold medal at the 1904 Exposition in St. Louis for the finest sugarcane in the world. At that time the plantation devoted 800 acres to sugarcane, which was processed into piloncillo (cones of coarse brown sugar) for the native trade on both sides of the Rio Grande. Production of sugar processed from a 250-ton mill began when boilers for the mill arrived after many transportation difficulties and at great expense. In 1908 Closner incorporated the Rio Grande Valley Reservoir and Irrigation Company, with J. R. Alamía and W. L. Lipscomb, to expand irrigation efforts in the area; but the plan never materialized. In 1910 he sold his plantation for $250,000. By 1921 sugarcane was gone from the Valley, but cotton, citrus fruits, and vegetables became important products because of the rich soil, climate, and irrigation, assets that Closner had recognized in the mid-1880s. A historical marker was placed at the site of San Juan Plantation in 1964. In 1990 the site was privately owned.

Tsha Handbook →

Virgen de San Juan del Valle Shrine

1949

The Virgen de San Juan del Valle Shrine, also known as Our Lady of San Juan Shrine, is staffed by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate and is located in San Juan, Hidalgo County, in the lower Rio Grande valley . The present edifice is the third in the history of the shrine. The first was a small wooden chapel built in 1920 by Rev. Alfonso Jalbert on the corner of Nebraska and Second Street in San Juan; at the time, it was a mission of St. Margaret Mary Church in Pharr. The first director, Father Joseph Azpiazu, realized that the shrines of Mexico, Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City and San Juan de Los Lagos in Jalisco, were both too far from Texas for Hispanics, particularly of South Texas and the Valley, to use them. In 1949 Azpiazu brought to his parish of St. John the Baptist a replica of the image of Our Lady of San Juan, venerated in Jalisco at San Juan de Los Lagos. The image is a statue about three feet high, clothed in traditional robes. Father Azpiazu hoped to foster a devotion to Our Lady of San Juan which would benefit his people and help draw the community together. Soon the church became a place of pilgrimage for many Mexican Americans in Texas; on weekends hundreds of pilgrims would come to San Juan to pray. The crowds grew, and in 1954 the construction of a larger shrine was completed and dedicated by Father Azpiazu. With a seating capacity of 800, it was large enough for the ordinary Sunday congregation served by many Masses throughout the day, but small enough so as to not overwhelm the humble migrants who came to pray. As weekly attendance jumped from thousands to tens of thousands, the shrine was lavishly ornamented with oil paintings, wood carvings, stained-glass windows, and statues. The shrine's services for the pilgrims were also expanded to include a Pilgrim House, cafeteria, retreat house, grade school, nursing home, and radio programs. A convent and rectory were also built. On October 23, 1970, while priests and worshippers were assembled in prayer, a pilot crashed his small plane into the roof. Because a steel beam prevented the plane from falling into the sanctuary, no one was injured, and the pilot was the only fatality. The image of the Virgin was rescued unharmed, but the shrine with its treasures was destroyed. For the next ten years the pilgrims continued to come to San Juan, and image was temporarily located in a cafeteria awaiting the construction of the new shrine. The ground breaking took place in 1976, and on April 19, 1980, the new shrine was dedicated, with Bishop John J. Fitzpatrick and Cardinal Humberto Medeiros in attendance. This basilica cost several million dollars and seats more than 1,800; the surrounding grounds are landscaped with the fourteen Stations of the Cross. The image of the Virgin is placed high in the sanctuary where it remains the center of the people's devotion. Pilgrims average from 10,000 to 20,000 weekly. They come from every state in the Union and from many foreign countries and find Masses, in both Spanish and English, in progress from early morning to late at night.

Tsha Handbook →

Paris Gum Factory

1942

During WWII, because of rationing, Andrew J. Paris (1919-1997) and his family had no sweets to sell in their Detroit, MI. tobacconist shop. In 1942, in Mexico City, Paris found an ample supply of candies and chewing gum to save his family's store. In 1945, he established an import business in McAllen bringing in gum from Mexico. In 1946, he converted Mexican chewing gum factories to bubble gum production and cornered the latex market. In Feb. 1947, LIFE magazine dubbed him the "Bubble Gum King." On Oct. 1, 1947, the Paris Gum Factory opened in McAllen, employing fifty Hispanic women in the air-conditioned building, with sales worldwide. The Art-Deco factory designed by Lucile Hendricks of McAllen closed in 1955. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2012

Historical Marker → · 4.5 mi away

Things to Do in San Juan

spooky 4.7 mi away
La Lechuza

In the Rio Grande Valley a giant owl-witch called La Lechuza hunts at night. She is said to be the ghost of a mother whose children were killed by a drunk…
quirky 8.6 mi away
World's Largest Killer Bee

A 2000-pound steel-and-fiberglass killer bee statue stands outside Hidalgo City Hall. It commemorates the first U.S. arrival of Africanized honey bees near the…
historical 10.4 mi away
Weslaco, Texas (c. 1939, Russell Lee)

Everything Near San Juan

361 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

Explore San Juan on the Map
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