Alton is a city in Hidalgo County, Texas, United States. The population was 18,198 at the 2020 census.
On September 21, 1989, the Alton bus crash occurred; a Dr. Pepper truck hit a Mission Consolidated Independent School District school bus and caused it to fall into a caliche pit, killing 21 students.
Geography
Alton is located at (26.284307, −98.305940). It is bordered to the south by Palmhurst and to the north and east by McAllen, although downtown McAllen is southeast of Alton. It is about north of Brownsville.
According to the United States Census Bureau, Alton has a total area of , of which , or 0.04%, are water.
| align-fn = center
Alton is part of the McAllen–Edinburg–Mission and Reynosa–McAllen metropolitan areas.
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Alton had a population of 18,198 people, 5,005 households, and 3,959 families. The median age was 28.0 years; 33.4% of residents were under the age of 18 and 8.8% were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 94.8 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 89.3 males.
100.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0% lived in rural areas.
Of the 5,005 households, 55.4% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 50.8% were married-couple households, 14.2% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 29.0% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 12.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.<br /> (NH = Non-Hispanic)
!Race
!Number
!Percentage
|-
|White (NH)
|439
|2.41%
|-
|Black or African American (NH)
|47
|0.26%
|-
|Native American or Alaska Native (NH)
|5
|0.03%
|-
|Asian (NH)
|22
|0.12%
|-
|Some Other Race (NH)
|27
|0.15%
|-
|Mixed/Multi-Racial (NH)
|12
|0.07%
|-
|Hispanic or Latino
|17,646
|96.97%
|-
|Total
|18,198
|
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census
! Race !! Percent
|-
| White || 31.1%
|-
| Black or African American || 0.4%
|-
| American Indian and Alaska Native || 0.8%
|-
| Asian || 0.1%
|-
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || <0.1%
|-
| Some other race || 21.6%
|-
| Two or more races || 46.0%
|-
| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 97.0%
|}
2000 census
As of the census
Much of Alton was in the Alton Independent School District until January 27, 1975, when that district merged into Mission CISD.
In 2018 city manager Jorge Arcaute stated that some families moved to Alton specifically to put their children in the Mission CISD and Sharyland ISD schools.
All of Hidalgo County is in the service area of South Texas College.
Schools
Mission CISD operates the following elementary schools that serve sections of Alton:
- Alton Elementary School – Alton
- Arturo Cantu Elementary School – Alton
- Named after Arturo Cantu, a Mission ISD teacher who in 1969 drowned in the Anzalduas Park after rescuing three of his students.
- Raquel Cavazos Elementary School – Alton
- Waitz Elementary School – Alton
- Hurla M. Midkiff Elementary School<!--NOT in Alton--> – Palmhurst
- Salinas Elementary School<!--NOT in Alton--> – annexed into the City of McAllen
Mission CISD operates Alton Memorial Junior High School, named in honor of the Mission CISD students who died in the 1989 bus crash, in Alton. Sharyland ISD operates Jesse Jensen Elementary School in Alton.
La Joya ISD operates Domingo Treviño Middle School in Alton.
- Treviño Middle and Memorial Middle School
- Juarez-Lincoln High School<!--North of Mile 5--> and Palmview High School<!--South of Mile 5-->
In addition, South Texas Independent School District operates magnet schools that serve the community.
Parks and recreation
Josefa Garcia Park is in Alton. It previously had of land. In 2018 Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) gave a $500,000 grant to increase the park's size to . The park includes a memorial to the 1989 bus accident, with 21 crosses, one per deceased victim, and a statue of Jesus Christ.
References
External links
- City of Alton official website