More From Grand Prairie Texas
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Grand Prairie Texas Vintage Retro Embroidered Cotton Cap - White Logo
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Grand Prairie Texas Vintage Retro Unisex Heavy Cotton Hoodie - White Logo
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The grasslands between the forks of the Trinity were that kind of country — open prairie, deep grass, few trees, and horses on it long before anyone drew a county line across it. This ground was Peters Colony prairie in the 1840s, crossed by trading paths, and the settlers who arrived didn't have to invent names for what they found: they called one spring-fed branch Mustang Branch because Spanish horses ranged along it, and there is still a Mustang Creek running northeast into Tarrant County. The names outlasted the herds.
The town arrived later, and it arrived for the railroad. In 1863 a settler named Alexander McRae Dechman founded the community first known as Dechman. When the Texas and Pacific reached the depot in 1876 the place became a rail town, and in 1877 the name the railroad used — taken from the great grassland the tracks ran across — became official. Grand Prairie incorporated in 1909 as a farming and ranching crossroads and stayed one for thirty years: a name taken from the land, and a founder's name taken off the map.
Why People Visit Grand Prairie, Texas
People come for the central Metroplex location and the mix of prairie, lakes, and live racing — and stay curious about an aviation heritage most visitors never expect from a city between Dallas and Fort Worth. It is flat, friendly, and in the middle of everything, with a long horizon and a longer memory than its suburbs suggest.
