It started as a water stop on the railroad. In 1873 the Texas & Pacific Railway dropped a depot on the Blackland Prairie east of Dallas and named it for Mesquite Creek. Five years later it was famous for fifteen minutes: the outlaw Sam Bass robbed the train here in 1878, and rode off with about $152. The little rail town grew into a cotton community, then a Dallas suburb, and along the way became the official Rodeo Capital of Texas. Railroad town, outlaw country, Saturday-night rodeo — this is the real Mesquite, and this page tells that story.
The Blackland Prairie here was long a gathering ground — Caddo, Tawakoni, and Wichita peoples held trading fairs across this part of North Texas. The town itself begins in May 1873, when the Texas & Pacific Railway built a depot on the line east of Dallas and named it for nearby Mesquite Creek. A post office followed in 1874, the first church in 1877, and on December 3, 1887 Mesquite incorporated. It was cotton country at first — gins and farms on the flat prairie — with the railroad running straight into the Dallas markets.
Why People Visit Mesquite Texas
- Catch the Mesquite Championship Rodeo at Resistol Arena on a summer Saturday night, the heart of the Rodeo Capital of Texas.
- Tour the Florence Ranch Homestead (1871), a restored pioneer farmstead and house museum.
- Walk the historic Mesquite town square and downtown, laid out around 1901.
- Relax at City Lake Park, with walking trails, fishing, and open lawns.
- Take the Mesquite Meander historic-cemetery walking tour each October.
