Citrus City

McAllen is on U.S. Highway 83 about sixteen miles west of Weslaco and thirty-five miles west of Harlingen in southern Hidalgo County. It is situated on land that was part of porciones 63 and 64, granted respectively by Spain to Antonio Guti?rrez and Juan Antonio Villareal in 1767. Guti?rrez and his heirs inhabited the land at least up to 1883, and Villareal's heirs lived on his land for at least fifty years prior to 1852. The Santa Anita Ranch was established around 1797 by Jos? Manuel G?mez, who received the land grant from Spain in 1800. He raised cattle, sheep, goats, and horses on his ranch and helped to continue colonizing the area. His great-granddaughter Salom? Ball?, who inherited the land in the early 1800s, married John Young, a Brownsville businessman, about 1848 ( see YOUNG, SALOM