United, the town grew on the rich black soil of the Blackland Belt. Cotton came first — gins, a roller flour mill, and the rail lines carrying the crop to market — and by the 1940s Garland had become a major onion-shipping point on the railroad. Industry followed: a cotton mill, then manufacturing, and a Texas cowboy-hat trade that made the city part of the state's hat-making story. Through the mid-twentieth century the Dallas boom rolled northeast and Garland turned from a farm-and-rail town into one of the largest cities in Texas — but the downtown square, the Plaza Theatre of 1941, and Duck Creek itself still mark where it began.
One town made from two — a North Texas city that started as a feud between two railroad camps and got its name from a man who'd never been to Texas. Garland sits on the Blackland prairie northeast of Dallas, where two railroads once built rival depots a mile apart and the towns around them, Duck Creek and Embree, fought for years over which would win. In 1887 a congressman ended it by dropping a post office on neutral ground between them and calling the new town Garland. Cotton, onions on the rail line, and Texas hats since — this page tells the story.
Why People Visit Garland Texas
- Stroll the historic downtown square and the restored Plaza Theatre (1941).
- Get out on Lake Ray Hubbard for boating, sailing, and shoreline parks.
- Walk the old-growth bottomland of Spring Creek Forest Preserve.
- Ride the wooded singletrack at Rowlett Creek Preserve.
- Shop and gather at Firewheel Town Center and the downtown events on the square.
