Laguna Seca is a census-designated place (CDP) in Hidalgo County, Texas, United States. The population was 232 at the 2020 United States Census. It is part of the McAllen–Edinburg–Mission Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Geography
Laguna Seca is located at (26.278125, -97.924395).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , all land.
History
The Laguna Seca Ranch was initially established in the year 1867 by Macedonio Vela Senior and his wife Mercedes Chapa Cantu. Approximately ten years earlier, Macedonio Vela Senior fled from Mexico to escape the wave of executions associated with the War of Reform. In 1867, he purchased one square league () of the Santa Anita Land Grant from John and Salome Balli McAllen.
In the decade spanning 1880 to 1890, he acquired more adjacent real estate holdings to yield a ranch over in extent; during this decade he grazed cattle, horses, and mules, and became an exporter of donkeys to Cuba. The first citrus trees in Hidalgo County were planted within the ranch property. Vela's grandson, Reynaldo Vela, discovered an artesian well which supplies a lake of approximately in size, which lake was historically and inexplicably called Dry Lake. In the year 1975, a historical marker was placed at the ranch. In recent times family members manage the ranch holding, although it is subdivided into three tangent parcels.
In 1871, Vela's daughter, Carlota, grew the first orange trees in Hidalgo County from the seeds of a fruit given her by a traveling priest. This is now an important citrus-producing area. The ranch had grown to when a school was built here in 1892. Delfina Post Office, named for another one of Vela's daughters, was opened in 1893 and a Catholic church in 1894. Laguna Seca Ranch is still owned by the Vela family. (1975)[https://web.archive.org/web/20130225022100/http://atlas.thc.state.tx.us/shell-county.htm] A historic cemetery exists on the ranch property.
Demographics
Laguna Seca first appeared as a census designated place in the 2000 U.S. census.
!Pop 2010
!
!% 2000
!% 2010
!
|-
|White alone (NH)
|3
|3
|style='background: #ffffe6; |3
|1.20%
|1.13%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |1.29%
|-
|Black or African American alone (NH)
|0
|0
|style='background: #ffffe6; |3
|0.00%
|0.00%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |1.29%
|-
|Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)
|0
|0
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0
|0.00%
|0.00%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.00%
|-
|Asian alone (NH)
|0
|0
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0
|0.00%
|0.00%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.00%
|-
|Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)
|0
|0
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0
|0.00%
|0.00%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.00%
|-
|Other race alone (NH)
|0
|0
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0
|0.00%
|0.00%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.00%
|-
|Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)
|0
|0
|style='background: #ffffe6; |1
|0.00%
|0.00%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.43%
|-
|Hispanic or Latino (any race)
|248
|263
|style='background: #ffffe6; |225
|98.80%
|98.87%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |96.98%
|-
|Total
|251
|266
|style='background: #ffffe6; |232
|100.00%
|100.00%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |100.00%
|}
As of the census
In addition, South Texas Independent School District operates magnet schools that serve the community.