Alton, Hidalgo County
A United States aviation training field, originally financed by the nearby cities of Edinburg, McAllen and Mission, was started here in 1941. Named for Lt. Frank M. Moore, a pilot killed in World War I, it was used for the training of World War II airmen. After the field was closed in 1945, the facilities were shared by a tri-cities commercial airport and the Weaver H. Baker Memorial Tuberculosis Hospital. Reactivated as Moore Air Force Base during the Korean War of the 1950s, the site has housed research offices of the United States Department of Agriculture since 1960. (1981)