Emergency Biohazard Cleanup Near Johnson Subdivision Mission, TX

Mission was founded in 1907, when developers James W. Conway and John J. Hoit bought most of the Oblate fathers' La Lomita ranch and gave the new townsite the name Mission, honoring its ties to the Oblate mission work at La Lomita.

La Lomita, meaning "little hill," began as Spanish land grants awarded in 1767, and the Oblate chapel that survives at the historic site stands about five miles south of Mission near the Rio Grande.

Mission was incorporated in 1910 and grew into a city in southern Hidalgo County, in the Rio Grande Valley of deep South Texas.

Citrus was first planted in the Rio Grande Valley in the Mission area, and the city celebrates that heritage every year with its Citrus Fiesta.

Mission had 85,778 residents at the 2020 census, up from 77,058 in 2010, and is part of the McAllen–Edinburg–Mission metropolitan area.

Census Bureau surveys count about 28,874 households in Mission, averaging about 3.01 persons per household, with roughly 71.4 percent of homes owner-occupied.

About 87.8 percent of Mission's residents are Hispanic or Latino, and a language other than English is spoken at home by 78.6 percent of residents age five and older.

Mission's southern edge is the Rio Grande and the Mexico–United States border, and McAllen, the largest city in Hidalgo County, lies directly to its east.

Mission is home to the 764-acre Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, which serves as the headquarters of the World Birding Center; more than 325 bird species and over 250 butterfly species have been recorded in the park.

Adjacent to the state park, the North American Butterfly Association operates the 100-acre National Butterfly Center, where more than 240 butterfly species have been identified.