Stockholm
Monte Alto, Hidalgo County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Located on the Hidalgo-Willacy county line, Stockholm was a Swedish community promoted by the Wallin, Johnson & Matson Land Co. of Minnesota. The Swedes, who settled here between 1912 and 1914, were attracted by the area's abundance of inexpensive, fertile farmland. They formed a farm club to share information and problems, and raised cotton, grain, and corn. Some were dairy farmers. Stockholm, also known as Turner Tract, had churches, a school, grocery store, and cotton gin. Near this site is the Stockholm Cemetery, one of the few physical reminders of the ghost town. (1985)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Between 1912 and 1914 Swedish immigrants recruited by a Minnesota land company settled this stretch of the Rio Grande Valley, drawn by cheap, fertile farmland. They built churches, a school, a store, and a cotton gin, and pooled knowledge through a farm club while raising cotton, grain, corn, and dairy. Today little remains of Stockholm but its cemetery, a quiet marker of a vanished immigrant town.
Why it matters
Stockholm captures how organized land promotion drew European immigrants deep into the American South and West, seeding communities that often flourished briefly and then faded into ghost towns.
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