Decade 1910 to 1919 Development 1910 The city's population early in the year is estimated to range from 150 to 350, but the census puts it at 300. Precinct 4 total Hispanic surnames appear to outnumber others by a ratio of 2.86 to 1. For adults the ratio is 1.79:1 and for children 4.61:1. The overwhelming number of Hispanics breadwinners are laborers, many engaged in grubbing, that is clearing the area of wild vegetation. For Anglos the chief occupation is carpentry. 1/1/10 Town lot sales are made to Osco Morris, H.L. Hopkins, Mildred J. McCasland, of St. Louis, J.H. Towle, Stewart S. Caldwell, Mrs. Katie Roever, Seymour P. Eaton Jr., and Mrs. Mary Jane Springer. Most lots go for $250 each, but three range in price from $300 to $350. The standard lots have 50' frontage and 140' depth. By the end of the year there are 92 homes in the city. Early on the Fischer-Schein Co. bills itself as exclusive agents for townsite sales and has Fred E. McCasland as its special agent. They point out there are no taxes for 1909. They advertise the lots at $50 to $500 and "on easy monthly payments." W.A. Kilgore is credited with having the first real estate office in a one-room frame building with a porch. Such a building is shown in an early photo placing it on Commerce across from the railroad tracks. 12/24/10 Developers Edward H. Smith and William Morrison dedicate land northwest and across the arroyo from Harlingen to the public. On 1/13/11 the town of Riohondo is laid out [some years later the spelling is changed to Rio Hondo]. The name means "deep river." 1911 City population is said to have grown by 500 people. Thirty odd frame residences and business have recently been built. 3/24/11 Water from the Rio Grande comes via the canal into, what later will be named City Lake, a low place called a "chasco." It is also called by locals "Laguna Las Vacas" because cows of the village often wander into it only to become mired in its mud. The local canal branches from near Little Creek and runs north on 13th Street then west into the lake. Later the 13th Street portion of the canal is placed underground. 4/25/11 The Harlingen Board of Trade notes city improvements including $300,000 sugar mill, $35,000 cotton compress, $25,000 ice plant, $5,000 cotton gin, $20,000 pressed brick plant, new Methodist church $4,300, waterworks reservoir $5,000, canal extension $60,000, two brick schoolhouses $34,000, steel bridge over the Arroyo $17,000, two miles of graded streets $1,500, and drainage into the Arroyo $2,200 for a total of $509,000. The bridge is a one lane one at what is now F Street. To go to San Benito this bridge is the only way to cross the arroyo without descending into it. The Methodist Church sanctuary is a wooden one which was located at precisely the same location as the First Methodist Church stands today on Harrison. 1911 Elmer G. Johnson commences his colonization work in Willacy County. He started with the Turner Tract west of Harlingen (adjacent to the present Bass Blvd.) of 15,000 acres then an adjacent 10,000 acres and still later the Santa Rosa Ranch and Farm properties of 22,000. In 1934 he purchases the 110-year old Stillman properties comprising 800 city lots and 400 acres of non-platted land in Brownsville. A native of Minnesota, he makes his home at 110 E. Polk Street, Harlingen. 6/12/11 For re-sale, speculation, or other reasons Hill buys farm lots 1,14,15, 18, 25, 26, 27,28,35,36 in Subdivision C (part of surveys 27 and 300). 5/10/12 Hill gives an interview in Kansas City to the Kansas City Star. He provides the reporter with the following: 2,500 inhabitants [in Harlingen]; sold land the last two months for $2 million and still owns 90,000 in the Rio Grande Valley valued at $4 million. 5/28/12 Whether it is truly finalized or not, The Daily Sentinel of Brownsville reports that Col. Lon C. Hill has sold to E.A. Fox of the Fox Realty Co. of Brownsville the townsite of Harlingen. In reality he likely contracted with him to sell the property, for Fox left soon thereafter for northern and eastern cities. The paper expounded "A good man with a good proposition should have no trouble in making things go, and The Sentinel predicts under that the guidance of Mr. Fox, Harlingen will come into its own as the big city at the junction. The Harlingen land is unsurpassed; it lies at the end of the main line of the Frisco and is an ideal place to live. The people of that city are lively ones, and there is no reason why Harlingen should not grow." 6/8/12 A 50,000 gallon steel tank for Harlingen waterworks –largest in the Valley –on a concrete base is constructed; delivery lines are being buried. This black-painted tank is located in what is now the city parking lot at the southeast corner of 1st and Jefferson Streets. In 1915 the photographer Robert Runyon will use the tower's platform to take panoramic views of the city. 2/13/13 The estate of George M. Briggs, who died 12/9/12, sells to Thomas F. Lee and the Lee Land Company and Champ Terry Stuart and Robert Terry Stuart large acreages west of Harlingen. This will become known as Stuart Place. 7/12/13 An Intra-Coastal Waterway rally is held in Harlingen. 8/10/13 The Lon C. Hill Town and Improvement Company is reorganized as a corporation.. Its directors are Hill, Dr. S.H. Bell and James R. Dougherty (Bee County), P.E. Blalack (San Antonio), and John H. Brooks (Beaumont and Jefferson County). The capital stock is $200,000 in $100 shares. 1913 also sees the completion of the new brick railroad passenger depot at the cost of $11,000 plus the addition of $37,500 more of trackage. Also in the works for this year are a mammoth precooling plant at a cost of $100,000 and an ice plant of $50,000. 10/15/15 Representing Harlingen as delegates to the Intra-Coastal Canal meeting in Houston are Mr. and Mrs. Lindsay Waters and Mr. and Mrs. A.H. Weller. 1916 The Lee Land Company publishes a series of brochures to promote the attractiveness of the area. It maintains offices in the Railway Exchange Building in St. Louis. 3/25/16 Lot 1 & 2, Block A , Lake Side are being developed. 1917 An irrigation development map shows the Arroyo Front Gardens Subdivision with 10 large lots. This area between the Arroyo Colorado and the Resaca de los Fresnos and east of Rangerville Road will later be named the Lon C. Hill Subdivision. Over the years, it will be very slow in developing. 1919 As the decade drew to a close the 1919 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of the town showed it to be well platted but with scant occupiers. Most lots east of lot 28 on Jackson Street were not built upon nor were the lots of almost all of Van Buren. The number of lumber companies existing at the time indicate quite an optimism about the town's future. On the south side of Monroe between Hill and Fordyce was the McMurray Lumber Co. East across Fordyce from it was the South Texas Lumber Co. At Madison and Commerce was the H.D. Taylor Lumber Co. The F.Z. Bishop Lumber Company was located at Hidalgo and Jackson. Agricultural/Ranching 5/27/10 The first money to be placed in the new town government coffer was from a $1.00 fine imposed on Gordon Hill. He was cited for allowing one of his hogs to freely roam the town. 10/10 This month T.E. Cowart of Brooklyn, N.Y. and his Austin associates buy a section of unirrigated land four miles east of the Arroyo Colorado from I.B. McFarland for $32,000; also 160 acres of improved land north of town from J.L. Adams for $16,000. After five months work and with 20 days more to completion, Judge R.E. Brooks and Associates of Houston are to complete the Harlingen Land and Water Company canal to irrigate 4,000 acres adjoining Harlingen to the east. Gordon Hill is one associate and has a financial interest. Albert S. Johnston is here by April and takes up farming. He and his wife Maria will by 1930 reside at 310 W. Polk. In 1910 William E. Davis, 39 and originally from Arkansas, is operating a dairy near the town. He is assisted by his two brothers-in-law and a paid hand. 1/11 S.J. Smith is here, and his residence at the very end of Washington Street where he resides with his wife Martha indicates that he is likely farming. 7/11 R.S. Dilworth sells his 530 acre ranch west of Harlingen for $200 an acre. 1912 The Rio Grande and Coast Truck Growers' Association is situated in Harlingen. 3/26/12 In promoting farm land sales at Palmitel Farms and Arroyo Front Estates, the Rio Grande Land Corporation of Harlingen and Kansas City notes in its brochure that L. S. Ross, O. Aultman, and S.