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History in
a Pecan Shell
In the early 1840s
settlers established a town named after local native Mustang grapes.
Cochran It was later changed to Farmers Branch. In 1845 the first
office of the Texan Land and Emigration Company, AKA the Peters Colony
was located there and a school was in operation (utilizing a church
building) by the following year.
The post office was granted in 1848, closed by 1866 and reestablished
by 1875.
The town had Dallas
County's first blacksmith, gristmill and cotton gin.
The Dallas and Wichita Railway passed through Farmers Branch in 1878
but in 1881 it was absorbed by the Missouri, Kansas and Texas in 1881.
The population reached 100 by 1890 and 300 by 1917.
After WWII infrastructure
was expanded and a new artesian well was drilled.
By the mid 1950s an estimated 80 percent of Farmers Branch citizens
worked in Dallas. |
Farmers Branch
Historical Park
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The Farmers
Branch Historical Park
City of Farmers Branch
13000 Wm. Dodson Pkwy · P. O. Box 819010 · Farmers Branch, TX 75234
Phone:972.247.3131 · Fax:972.247.4836
http://www.ci.farmers-branch.tx.us/
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1920s General
Store Replica
Photo courtesy Clint
Skinner, October 2020 |
1920s Texaco
Gas Station Replica
Photo courtesy Clint
Skinner, October 2020 |
The 1857 Gilbert
House
Photo courtesy Clint
Skinner, October 2020 |
1885 Queen Anne
Victorian Cottage
Photo courtesy Clint
Skinner, October 2020 |
1885 Queen Anne
Victorian Cottage
Photo courtesy Clint
Skinner, October 2020 |
Farmers Branch,
Texas
Landmarks
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Historical Marker:
12400 Webb Chapel Road, between Selma Lane and Veronica Road, Farmer's
Branch; 3 miles N of IH 635
Webb Chapel
Cemetery
Isaac B. (1802-1880)
and Mary H. (1816-1887) Webb and their family came to this area of
the Peters Colony in 1844. Within a year, the couple led in the formation
of a Methodist society, the first church organized in Dallas
County. A log structure, known as Webb Chapel, that also served
as the first school of this growing settlement, was built in 1846.
The churchyard became a cemetery when the Webbs'seven-year-old daughter,
Alice, fell ill and died in 1847. The Webb family and many other north
Texas pioneers and their descendants are buried at this site that
today is administered by the Webb Chapel Cemetery Association
Historic Texas Cemetery – 2002
[More Texas Cemeteries] |
Farmers Branch
Keenan Cemetery
2570 Valley View Lane
Photo courtesy Clint
Skinner, June 2019 |
Historical Marker:
2600 block Valley View Lane, Farmers Branch
Keenan Cemetery
Thomas (1808 -
1879) and Sarah McCallister Keenan (1807 - 1872) came to this area
as members of the Peters Colony in 1842. When their two-month-old
son, John, died on November 11, 1843, they buried him at this site,
establishing one of the earliest cemeteries in present-day Dallas
County. The large number of early infant graves are testimony
to the hardships endured by the area's pioneer settlers. Thomas and
Sarah Keenan and many of their descendants are buried here. The area's
first Baptist Church, Union Baptist, was organized in the Keenans'
log cabin in 1846 by the Rev. David Myers, who was buried here in
1853.
The church, which erected a sanctuary nearby, was closely associated
with the cemetery and in a deed executed by John R. West conveying
1.5 acres to the church in 1875 the cemetery was legally set aside.
The Farmers Branch (Keenan) Cemetery Association was established in
1938 to maintain the grounds. The cemetery covers three acres and
contains about 600 marked and an estimated 100 - 200 unmarked grave
sites. Among the people buried here are many of the area's earliest
settlers and their descendants and verterans of conflicts ranging
from the Civil War to the Vietnam Conflict.
1994
[More Texas Cemeteries] |
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Gussie Field
Watterworth Park
Photo courtesy Clint
Skinner, June 2019 |
Farmers Branch
Firehouse Theatre
Photo courtesy Clint
Skinner, June 2019 |
| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories,
landmarks and recent or vintage photos, please contact
us. |
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