La Paloma, TX

La Paloma is a Cameron County census-designated place at U.S. 281 and Farm Road 732, about five miles southwest of San Benito and less than a mile north of the Rio Grande. Early landowner Manuel Saldona named the community for the doves found in the nearby oak, willow, and huisache thickets. A post office ran from 1912 to 1957, and the San Benito and Rio Grande Valley Railway opened a station the same year. La Paloma is the Lower Rio Grande Valley in a small frame: border, brush, highway, and an old rail stop.