The land here was Peters' Colony prairie before the Civil War, a stretch of the great Texas grassland crossed by trading paths between Dallas and Fort Worth. In 1863 the settler Alexander McRae Dechman founded the community first known as Dechman; when the Texas & Pacific Railroad arrived in 1876 it became a depot town, and in 1877 it was renamed Grand Prairie for the grassland it sat on. The town incorporated in 1909, a farming and ranching crossroads on the rail line at the heart of what would become the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.
Our Grand Prairie logo carries the Texas longhorn and Lone Star, the same emblem every Merlin Classics Texas place wears, set over "Texas Republic, Est. 1845." The longhorn and star are the Lone Star State's shorthand — toughness, independence, the open range — printed black-and-white with the worn look of an old barn brand or a rodeo poster. What makes this one Grand Prairie is the place behind it: the great grassland, the Mustangs, the racehorses. On a tee or a cap it reads less like a souvenir and more like a piece of North Texas — Est. 1845, worn plain.
Why People Visit Grand Prairie Texas
- Spend a day at Loyd Park on Joe Pool Lake, with trails, campsites, and boating.
- Catch live thoroughbred and quarter-horse racing at Lone Star Park during the spring and fall meets.
- Walk the historic downtown around the Texas & Pacific rail depot.
- Cool off at the Epic Waters indoor waterpark, or browse the weekend stalls at Traders Village.
- Take in the prairie horizon and the lakes that frame the city north and south.
