Shary Heights: A Historical Overview of Mission, Texas

Shary Heights, located in Mission, Texas, in Hidalgo County, was established by John H. Shary on September 1, 1945. Located northeast of the Lomita Boulevard Commercial Business District on Conway Avenue, Shary Heights was a lobbied effort of elite citizens, advocating a “high class and highly restricted residential addition,” mainly reserved for White residents, which represented the rise of the affluent modern suburb. After Shary’s death in November 1945, Southtex Land Sales and the Shary organization developed the neighborhood on “44 large lots on a plot of ground approximately 12 acres in extent,” with its “principal east-west boulevard constructed in esplanade fashion with 'islands' for the planting of trees and shrubbery.” Canal-fed irrigation from the Little Melch and Big Melch canals was essential to landscaping and was used until the mid-1980s.

Initial lot sales attracted Mission and out-of-state buyers alike, representing the desirability of living in the citriculture economy of the Rio Grande Valley; however, only Mission residents constructed homes in the neighborhood, beginning in 1947. Due to its exclusivity, Shary Heights never held a Parade of Homes, and advertisement only occurred through word of mouth or via Southtex Land Sales promotion, attracting friends and acquaintances of the John H. Shary family.

In the initial deed restrictions, clause five stated, “At no time shall the land included in said tract or any part thereof, or any building erected thereon, be occupied, used, sold, leased or rented by any Negro, Japanese, Chinese, unnaturalized citizens or Latin-Americans or any person of above extraction, except that this covenant shall not prevent occupancy by domestic servants of a different race or nationality regularly employed by the owners of property thereof or their tenants.” While the U.S. Supreme Court case Shelley v. Kraemer (1948) ruled that courts could not legally enforce racially-restricted covenants, Shary Heights remained comprised of primarily White civic and business elites in the Mission community into the 1970s.

In April 1950, during the Mission mayoral race, candidate Eutimio Longoria and Shary Heights resident and then-current mayor, Logan Duncan, sparred over the race restrictions that had been put into place while Duncan served as mayor in 1945. While Duncan dismissed the allegations, he stated that “the commission hereby goes on record stating that no other addition will be taken into the city of Mission containing a racial discrimination clause.” However, in 1955, ten years after the race restrictions, business owners Miguel and Elvira Olivarez and Felix and Alicia Martinez, significant ranchers, moved into Shary Heights, where both families flourished. Wealth, coupled with economic and social prowess, was the defining feature of entry into the neighborhood, especially in the 1950s and 1960s. Ranchers Trinidad and Ludivina Valverde began living in Shary Heights in 1958. Not until the late 1960s did other Mexican-American families, such as business owners Alberto and Beatriz Guerra, Pablo and Hilda Guerra, and David and Dora Dovalina (in 1970) take up residence in Shary Heights.  

The first home constructed in Shary Heights was built for the Thomas and Mary Robertson family, who were prosperous farmers, in 1947. At this time, all lots were covered in surrounding dense brush, and when cleared, the ebony trees were preserved. Residential development was mainly completed in the 1950s and 1960s. The last development occurred in 2001. During the initial years of expansion, residential construction coincided outside of the formal plat, on the West Addition to Sharyland tract, directly north of Shary Heights; while an additional plat, Conway Gardens, owned by Roy and Alice Dale Pickler Conway, daughter of John Conway, a founder of Mission, was platted in 1961. These additions represent the desire to be associated with the neighborhood’s prestige, and both additions are currently considered to be Shary Heights with no visual or historical distinction.

Local architects in the region, such as Warren C. Suter, Zeb Rike, Emory A. Dugat, and William C. Baxter, all completed post-war ranch homes in the neighborhood from 1949 to 1956, with Suter's being the most notable in terms of quantity. Most houses were single-story ranch homes, a common post-World War II residential style. Most were designed using Valley Brick and Tile, the single masonry choice during the mid-century; however, design and style choices impacted by World War II, such as the use of wood-fired adobe brick rather than a higher-quality brick because of material shortages, are found throughout the neighborhood, although they are not immediately apparent, as revealed through interviews with first-generation owners.

As the residential development took place, residents included prominent farmers and citrus growers Olive I. and Milbert William Held; Alton B. Bentsen, uncle of future Texas senator Lloyd Bentsen, Jr.; Mission mayor, Logan Duncan; and Clark Spikes, owner of Spikes Ford; along with Leroy Buescher, vice-president of the First National Bank in Mission. All residents represented Shary Heights as the crown jewel of Mission in terms of both economic and social status.

Throughout the mid-century, residents directly impacted the culture of Shary Heights through the efforts of the Mission Garden Club and the founding of the American Poinsettia Society, with the latter featured in the New York Times and Homemaker and Gardener. Horticulturists such as Doris Buescher, Ruth Duncan, Olive Held, and Lucille Ashley hosted flower and poinsettia shows, classes, tours, and even changed East 19th Street in Shary Heights to Ebony Lane, completing a collection of floral street names—Poinsettia, Bougainvillea, and Ebony—in 1951.

Shary Heights is directly connected to the development of two Texas state parks: Buescher State Park in Smithville and Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park in Mission, through the efforts of Leroy Buescher and Alton Bentsen, highlighting residents' commitment to environmental and wildlife conservation.

One of the most significant moments in Shary Heights occurred in 1953 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower dedicated International Falcon Reservoir and Dam near Roma, Texas, on October 19, 1953. That same day, Eisenhower traveled to Mission with Governor Allan Shivers, whose wife was Maryalice Shary, daughter of John Shary. With Governor Shivers, Eisenhower visited Shary Heights to meet with Tommy Robertson, who had contracted polio earlier that year. His family had built the first home in Shary Heights.

Since 2000 some residential properties along Conway Avenue have become commercial entities. Shary Heights, however, reflects good architectural integrity and noteworthy local significance. In 2007 residents developed the Shary Heights Butterfly Garden, Mission’s first unofficial neighborhood butterfly garden. In 2025 Shary Heights was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places and recognized with a Texas Historical Commission subject marker.