Grand Prairie ~ Past & Present

Tall grasses sway in the breeze. A coyote rests beneath a thick layer of underbrush. And in the distance, a red-tailed hawk rides a thermal wave, its sharp eyes watchful for small prey. 

Such was the scene greeting early settlers to Grand Prairie. One just as easily seen by today’s residents. 

Early settlers were enticed to the Grand Prairie area by Peters Colony, a series of Republic of Texas land grants offered by investors in 1841. In February 1846, the Goodwins, Micajah, wife Elizabeth and their nine children, arrived. Elizabeth’s life in Texas was shortlived. She had just turned 44 when she died on Oct. 24, 1846, becoming the first known white woman to be buried in Tarrant County. She was laid to rest in what is today Watson Cemetery near Interstate 30 and State Highway 360. 

About the same time, David Jordan and his sons arrived from Tennessee bringing with them the area’s first slaves, among them Mose Jordan, whose descendents still live in Grand Prairie. David Jordan settled just south of the Trinity River near present-day MacArthur Boulevard and Northeast 31st Street, establishing a stage coach stop, merchandise store and the area’s first school. The Jordan home, now called the Jordan-Bowles Home, still stands in Bowles Park. 

In 1859, brothers Marion and James Loyd from Dallas moved south in search of more room to graze cattle and horses, settling on Walnut Creek, now Lake Joe Pool. Like the Jordans, the Loyds eventually established a school on their land that served the community for four decades and their ancestral home still exists in Loyd Park. 

In 1861, Alexander MacRae Dechman was living in Birdville, later renamed Haltom City, with his wife and children, when he learned he could trade his wagon and oxen for land in Dallas County. Dechman bought 239.5 acres in what is now downtown Grand Prairie, but was unable to build a home here before joining the Texas Calvary in 1862. 

The surveyed and accurate representation of the original townsite founded by Alexander Dechman on Jan. 2, 1863.

Dechman filed title on his prairie land with the county on Jan. 2, 1863, establishing what would become Grand Prairie. He eventually abandoned the idea of living on the land and instead granted right-of-way through the property to the railroad. The depression of 1873 halted construction of the railroad, but it didn’t stop people from settling in Dechman. A post office opened in 1874 and two years later Dechman filed a town plat, giving every other lot to the Texas and Pacific Railroad in exchange for operating a depot there. 

The tracks were finally extended through Dechman to Fort Worth and service began on July 19, 1876. In 1877, the railroad renamed Dechman Grand Prairie because of its location on the eastern edge of the vast grand prairie that stretched into West Texas. 

A trip to Dallas from the three-block Grand Prairie was one day by horseback.

willie in concert

Rachel DeLana