Camp Llano Grande

Soldiers left in 1917, and a town replaced them. That December the American Rio Grande Land and Irrigation Company sold 30,000 acres to the W. E. Stewart Land Company, whose name Weslaco condenses. The townsite was platted in 1919, and neighboring towns handed out leaflets urging buyers to stay away. A 1921 ordinance then set aside the land north of the railroad tracks for industry and Hispanic residents and the south side for Anglo residents. Weslaco grew as two towns, with Spanish street names in one and northern state names in the other.

What the plaque says

Camp Llano Grande Occupied in 1916-17 by Indiana, Nebraska, Minnesota and North Dakota National Guard units, Camp Llano Grande was one of a line of encampments established along the Rio Grande in response to Mexican bandit raids into the U.S. Covering over 200 acres, it included a headquarters building, commissary, and recreational facilities. South of the railroad tracks were parade grounds, tent encampments, and stock pens. The camp was abandoned in March 1917, one month before the U.S. entered World War I, and former Llano Grande troops were called for war service in France. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge — 12 mi
  About 2,000 acres of river forest on the Rio Grande's north bank, the surviving part of Benigno Leal's 1834 land grant, kept as a refuge since 1943 where two bird migration routes meet.
• Museum of South Texas History — 16 mi
  Edinburg's regional museum, begun in 1967 in the 1910 Hidalgo County jail and now telling the Rio Grande's story from fossils and native peoples through steamboats to the 20th century.
• La Lomita Chapel — 23 mi
  A small sandstone chapel on the Rio Grande levee, built by Oblate missionaries in 1865 and rebuilt at this site in 1899, the landmark that gave the city of Mission its name.
• Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park — 26 mi
  A 587-acre stand of Rio Grande woodland near Mission, once part of a Spanish porción, given to the state by the Bentsen family in 1944 and now headquarters of the World Birding Center.

More markers nearby

• Citrus Fruit Developed in Rio Grande Valley - Red-Meat Grapefruit — steps away
• Weslaco — 1.8 mi
• Cpl. Harlon Block, USMC — 2.6 mi
• The Hidalgo County Bank and Trust Company — 3.0 mi