LAS MILPAS, TEXAS. Las Milpas is off U.S. Highway 281 five miles south of Pharr in south central Hidalgo County. Like many other colonias, it developed during the 1960s; in 1962 it had a church, multiple dwellings, and platted streets. By 1976 it had an estimated population of 424 and seventy-seven dwellings. During the middle to late 1980s Las Milpas received media attention when it was used as an example of the conditions in which colonia residents live. At the time it had no sewage system and no running water or potable water connections for area residents. In 1987 it was annexed by Pharr; at the time Las Milpas had a population estimated at 4,178. In 1990 Las Milpas and a neighboring colonia, Hidalgo Park, together had a population of 4,178. Milpas is Spanish for "cornfields."
