Mercedes, Texas, United States

🇺🇸 Mercedes is a U.S. city in Hidalgo County, Texas. It is part of the McAllen–Edinburg–Mission and Reynosa–McAllen metropolitan areas. (Borderplex).

Geography Mercedes is located in south-eastern Hidalgo County. It is bordered to the west by Weslaco and to the east, in Cameron County, by La Feria.

The Interstate 2/U.S. Route 83 freeway passes through the northern side of Mercedes, leading west 21 miles (34 km) to McAllen and east 14 miles (23 km) to Harlingen. Mercedes is 9 miles (14 km) north of the Progreso–Nuevo Progreso International Bridge over the Rio Grande, connecting Texas with the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.

According to the United States Census Bureau, Mercedes has a total area of 11.5 square miles (29.8 km²), of which 11.4 square miles (29.6 km²) are land and 0.1 square miles (0.2 km²), or 0.55%, are water.

History Mercedes is known as "The Queen City of the Valley" or "La Reina del Valle". Mercedes was founded September 15, 1907, by the American Rio Grande Land & Irrigation Company, and was incorporated March 8, 1909. It is one of the oldest towns in the Rio Grande Valley, and the city celebrated its centennial in 2007.

The city was located in Capisallo Pasture, part of Capisallo Ranch owned by Jim Welles. This location was known as the Pear Orchard because of the vast numbers of prickly pear cactus growing there at that time.

Some sources[who?] state that the original name given to the city was "Diaz" in honor of Porfirio Diaz, then president of Mexico. Later it was supposedly renamed "Mercedes Diaz" in honor of the president's wife, and from that, Mercedes became the Queen City. This story, however, is historically inaccurate, given that neither of Diaz's two wives were named Mercedes.

General Zachary Taylor's headquarters was to the south-east of Mercedes near the Rio Grande. There the old Rabb Ranch was famous for its stagecoach stop and landing for the riverboats carrying supplies to the settlements and military installations.

The old Toluca Ranch still stands east of the International Bridge at Progreso, the sister city to the south. This ranch was close to the river and a prized target for the bandidos during the days of Pancho Villa. It was built with many secret rooms and passages, and had heavy wooden shutters on the windows to protect its residents.

Economy: Retail The Rio Grande Valley Premium Outlets, owned by Chelsea Property Group which is a brand of Simon Property Group, opened in November 2006. The city is roughly the geographical centre of the Rio Grande Valley urban agglomeration and is located on Interstate 2/U.S. Highway 83, which connects the major urban centres of McAllen, Brownsville and Harlingen. The city is located near a major Mexico–United States border crossing making it accessible to the growing middle class population of Nuevo León and Tamaulipas.

Government and infrastructure The United States Postal Service operates the Mercedes Post Office.

Education Mercedes is divided between two school districts: eastern Mercedes is in the Mercedes Independent School District, zoned to Mercedes High School, while western Mercedes is in the Weslaco Independent School District, zoned to Weslaco East High School

In addition, South Texas Independent School District, which is headquartered in Mercedes, serves magnet students in many Rio Grande Valley communities, including Mercedes.

The Science Academy of South Texas and South Texas High School for Health Professions, schools of STISD, are in Mercedes.

In 2015, the city joined other cities in south Texas in support of the newly formed University of Texas Rio Grande Valley by adopting a resolution declaring August 31 as UTRGV day. Also, they recognised the university by installing a boot with the university logos right across the municipal city hall.

Public libraries Dr Hector P Garcia Library serves Mercedes.

Public arts Mercedes is home to a unique public art project: there are 30 handcrafted 5+1⁄2-foot-tall (1.7 m) cowboy boots dispersed throughout the city, each painted with the insignia of different colleges from around the state, country and even Mexico. People who are passionate about their alma mater come from all over to take a picture with their boot.

Media: Radio These FM radio stations broadcast from Mercedes: • KFRQ 94.5 • KKPS 99.5 • KTEX 100.3 • KNVO 101.1 • KJAV 104.9 • KHKZ 106.3 • KVLY 107.9.