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Olmito is a census-designated place in Cameron County in the lower Rio Grande Valley, about two miles northwest of Brownsville, and its name is Spanish for "little elm."

Olmito is the self-described "mesquite capital of the world."

The Olmito post office opened in 1905, and a railroad station followed in 1911, when the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway was built through the area.

In 1914 Olmito was a tiny farming stop of about fifty people, with a post office, a grocery store, and a cotton gin.

During the 1960s a colonia developed northwest of Olmito, and the community's later growth was shaped by the colonias of the lower Rio Grande Valley.

Since the 1980s Olmito has drawn attention for its John Lennon Memorial Park, which the McNamara brothers lease to Cameron County for one dollar a year.

Olmito first appeared as a census-designated place in the 2000 census; its population was 1,198 in 2000 and 1,210 in 2010 before easing to 1,021 in 2020.

About 95% of Olmito's residents were Hispanic or Latino in the 2020 census, and its households are notably large — the 2000 census recorded an average household size of 3.95 people.

Olmito packs its population into just 0.73 square miles along Interstate 69E, with Olmito Lake at its northern end and the Resaca del Rancho Viejo, an ancient channel of the Rio Grande, along its western edge.

Olmito is served by the Los Fresnos Consolidated Independent School District, which absorbed the old Olmito school district in 1970.