LOCATION: In south section of Pharr, just north of Las Milpas, on west side of US 281 at the corner of Dikker Road (FM 3072). Offices are at 406 N. Sugar Road, the same as Palm Valley Memorial Gardens.

HISTORY: In 1909 sugar planter Henry Pharr from Morgan City, Louisiana, purchased land for growing 3,000 acres of sugar cane, and planned to install canals and pumps. His partner, J. Connally Kelly, designed a townsite one mile square, and named it Pharr. The sugar cane didn’t pan out, so they promoted other crops. By 1911, Pharr had a 40-room hotel. The city was incorporated in 1916.

Kelly and Joe Danner owned land south of Pharr where a group of colonias (unincorporated communities) developed in the 1940s. The area was known as Las Milpas (Sp. the fields). In 1986, the City of Pharr annexed the area, and now provides city services.

Magic Valley Memorial Gardens occupies five acres just north of Las Milpas. It was established about 1950 by Tom Brokken, funeral home owner, now of Midland-Odessa, and was originally maintained by the Pharr Memorial Association. It was later purchased by Service Corporation International.