Pre 1840
For much of the Cretaceous Period (120 million-66 million BCE), a shallow sea – the Western Interior Seaway – splits North America in two. Around 97 million-95 million BCE, our area was the south-western shoreline of the eastern half of North America. High sea levels receded long ago.
Native Americans camp and hunt in the thick forests of blackjack and post oak called the Eastern Cross Timbers, an ecosystem that extends in a dagger shape from southeastern Kansas into central Texas. Early tribes in the area are thought to include Tonkawas and the Hasinai Caddos.
1540-1542 – In search of the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola, Spaniard Vasquez de Coronado leads an expedition across what would become northern Texas.
1684-1689 – Frenchman Robert de La Salle establishes the first Anglo European settlement in Texas, Fort St. Louis. France claims Texas.
Late 1700s – Comanches, Kiowas and Wichitas move into the region.
1690-1821 – Spain claims the land it calls Tejas.
1821-1836 – Mexico claims Tejas. In 1830, it forbids further immigration into Tejas by settlers from the United States.
1836 – Cynthia Ann Parker is kidnapped by Comanches at Parker’s Fort in today’s
Limestone County (east of now-Waco). Sixteen-year-old Malinda Frost Dwight (later Hill) flees out the back with her baby, husband (G.E. Dwight), mother and others, and they make a harrowing trip on foot to safety. The Comanches kill Malinda’s father and brother, Samuel and Robert Frost. In 1870, Malinda Hill’s sons bury her in Lonesome Dove Cemetery in now-Southlake under a hand-carved stone.
1836 – Texians win their independence from Mexico and form the Republic of Texas.
References and more information:
Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne, Chapter 2: Malinda Hill’s relationship to Southlake’s Cook family through the Frost family.
1840–1859
1841 – W.S. Peters of Louisville, Ky., and 19 associates commit to bringing 600 families to northern Texas. Each family receives a land grant and the chance to start over.
Gen. Edward H. Tarrant orders the construction and garrisoning of a fort to protect the extreme northwest corner of the Texas frontier. Bird’s Fort becomes the site of Birdville, now part of northeast Fort Worth.
1843 – Republic of Texas President Sam Houston camps at Grapevine Springs (near Coppell) during treaty negotiations with various tribes of Native Americans. The treaty, intended to bring “peace, friendship and commerce” to the area, was later signed at Bird’s Fort. A demarcation boundary the treaty establishes keeps many Native Americans to the west of now-Southlake.
Mid-1840s – Colonists begin arriving in what’s now Southlake-Grapevine-Roanoke. The “Missouri colonists,” who come to Texas with “their families, dogs, guns and religion,” settle in the area. Farming communities of Old Union, Dove, White’s Chapel and others are established; most eventually have a store and a school. The area is unincorporated county and for years is referred to as “the area west of Grapevine.”
1845 – On Dec. 29, Texas becomes the 28th state in the United States.
1846 – Lonesome Dove Baptist Church is established in February on the same weekend the Republic of Texas flag is lowered in Austin and the U.S. flag is raised.
1850 – Tarrant County is organized.
1859 – Mount Gilead Baptist Church, a sister church of Lonesome Dove, is burned by a raiding band of Native Americans. Mount Gilead is in present-day Keller. The cemetery, with numerous interesting cairns and tombstones, remains today.
1860–1889
1861 – Texas secedes from the United States and joins the Confederacy. Gov. Sam Houston opposes secession.
1865 – The Civil War, also known as “The War of the Rebellion,” ends.
June 17, 1865, enslaved people in Texas finally learn that they are free. They call their day of emancipation Juneteenth.
1866 – The abundance of longhorn cattle in southern Texas and the return of Confederate soldiers to a poor post-war economy mark the beginning of the era of Texas trail drives to northern markets. The closest trail to now-Southlake follows the approximate route of today’s I35W. Called the Eastern Trail, it led to the Chisholm Trail at the Red River. Later, the name Chisholm Trail is extended south into Texas. (Note
that John Chisum—not to be confused with Chisholm— was a cattleman who had lived in Bolivar, Texas, who took his cattle west to New Mexico.)
1867 – The national Reconstruction Act of 1867 tries to help African Americans make the transition from slavery to freedom. By 1870, it essentially ceases operation in Texas.
1870 – Texas is readmitted to the Union.
1871 – White’s Chapel Methodist Church is founded.
1875 – Conflicts in Texas with Native Americans come to an end.
1888 – Robert E. Wilson, the founder of the Jellico community, opens a general store near the intersection of present-day Davis and Southlake boulevards. Lone Elm School is located where the DPS West Facility is today.
1889 – The Dallas, Pacific & Southeastern Railway Co. lays out a roadbed for a railroad from Letot, Texas (northwest of Dallas) to Albuquerque, but the railroad stops at the Jack County line. The roadbed passes northwest of Grapevine generally along what years later becomes Highway 114.
1890–1919
1890s into the mid-1960s – Farmers in “the area west of Grapevine” grow cotton, corn and grain and raise livestock. Housework includes endless cooking, canning, floor-scrubbing, baby-tending and more. Most families have a milk cow, chickens and hogs;
everyone has a big garden. Families identify with the community they live closest to (White’s Chapel, Dove, Old Union, etc.).
Mid-1890s – Cattle drives to northern markets end as more railroads serve Texas.
1900 – Telephone service reaches White’s Chapel and other communities, although some homes in the area didn’t have telephones until much later.
1901 – “Black gold” is discovered at the Spindletop oil field near Beaumont.
1917 – Dove, White’s Chapel, Union (formerly Easter) and Sams – all one-room schools – combine to form Common School District No. 99.
1917-1918 – The U.S. enters World War I. North Texans train at Camp Bowie in Fort Worth. In 1918, Pvt. Eli Torian, 24, is killed in France; in 1921 he is brought home and buried at Lonesome Dove Cemetery. Walter Torian, 30, who was not drafted, dies in 1918 in now-Southlake of Spanish influenza. He is buried at White’s Chapel Cemetery.
1919 – The men in district No. 99, then a poor, rural area west of Grapevine, vote to increase their taxes to build a brick school. County commissioners name No. 99 Carroll for B. Carroll, county superintendent of instruction. Three-room Carroll School opens in the fall next to a wagon road renamed Carroll. It accepts only white students. The school is part of the
state’s Common School District system.
Built on a hill and boasting high ceilings and 20 windows, the school is a model for today’s energy-saving buildings.
The school becomes the birthplace of award-winning Carroll ISD and also the City of Southlake.
1920–1939
1920 – The roadbed of Keller-Grapevine Road (now Southlake Boulevard) receives a gravel topping.
Bob Jones, a former slave who becomes a well-respected rancher, builds Walnut Grove School near the Denton/Tarrant county line for his grandchildren and other Black children. It is part of the state’s Common School District system for “colored” students.
1929 – Construction of Highway 114 begins along a roadbed purchased from a bankrupt railroad. Carroll High School students watch as the road is being built.
1932 – Workers complete Highway 114. Better roads make it easier for men living in “the area west of Grapevine” to seek work in Fort Worth and Dallas.
1934 – On Easter Sunday, Bonnie and Clyde, or a member of their gang, kill two state troopers near Dove Road and Highway 114. Local boy Jack Cook and his teenage buddies, on their way to Sunday dinner, notice the outlaws and their car.
1939 – The REA (Rural Electrification Administration) extends power lines into the area.
1940–1959
1940s – Roads improved or built during the 1930s and 40s make it easier for men living in “the area west of Grapevine” (known after 1956 as Southlake) to look for salaried work in Fort Worth and Dallas.
1948 – Construction of Lake Grapevine begins. Some people lose their farms to eminent domain.
1949 – Enterprising brothers Jinks and Emory Jones open a livestock sales barn at Highway 114 and White’s Chapel Road after much of their land is taken by eminent domain for Lake Grapevine. The sales barn includes a tiny cafe run by their wives, Eula and Elnora, in which Black truckers and white ranchers and farmers sit side-by-side to eat chili, stew and red beans and rice. It’s likely the first integrated cafe in North Texas.
The brothers also own equipment that crushes rock to make the gravel used in the construction of the lake.
1950s-1980s – Aviation-loving residents of Southlake build 12 private grass airstrips and one public-use airstrip. Many are pilots or mechanics with Braniff, American or Continental airlines. Family members join in the fun of flying.
1952 – Four years and $11.8 million later, Lake Grapevine is completed. It provides Southlake with its name and “gave it an identity and ensured its future as a retail, recreation, hospitality and residential center,” Grapevine Mayor William D. Tate said in 2024. His father was mayor of Grapevine when the lake opened.
Mid-1950s – A new state law permits cities and towns with at least 5,000 residents and a home rule designation to extend their boundaries “without practical limit, except that they cannot include or cross established incorporated area boundaries.” With a population of 10,000 and a home rule designation, Hurst – Bell Helicopter’s headquarters – can annex.
1956 – Rumblings from Hurst that it will be annexing land up to Lake Grapevine causes people living in rural Tarrant County to seek to form a town. Residents of what will become Southlake are fine with county services and no city regulations and taxes, and they do not want to become Hurst. A petition to form a town is hand-carried to Austin.
On Sept. 22, a vote to incorporate a new town passes 30-24 (some residents don’t think Hurst will annex). The town measures 1.62 square miles and has 200 residents. A. Gail Eubanks is elected mayor. Five aldermen and a town marshal also serve. Carroll Hill
School, where the incorporation vote is held, serves for a while as City Hall.
The mayor’s 13-year-old daughter, Suzanne, who is studying a unit in geography, suggests a geography name for the new town: Southlake.
Colleyville and Westlake also incorporate in 1956.
Southlake’s first mayor and aldermen resolve that they “have no desire to see the area become generally an industrial, business, recreational or even thickly populated residential area.” The first council meeting is Nov. 5. Dolores Quinn is chosen city secretary.
“Downtown” is the intersection of Carroll Road and Hwy. 114. A short distance north is the hub of the community, Carroll Hill School. Businesses include a Mesco Metal Buildings plant (N. Kimball and Highway 114), several animal feed and grocery stores, a few egg and hog farms, a cotton gin, and a Greyhound dog-racing track at N. Kimball and Highway 114.
Because people rely on septic tanks and private water wells, a minimum lot size for a home is 1 acre.
1957 – Southlake becomes a general law municipality, whose powers are limited to those granted by state statutes. People who request annexation can have their land added to the town, but the town itself can’t annex until it reaches home rule status, which requires a population of 5,000.
Requests from people wanting to be annexed into Southlake add 12 square miles to the town’s original 1.62 square miles.
Late in 1957 – Continental Oil Co. (later Conoco) builds a tank farm 2 miles west of Grapevine on Highway 121 (now known as Highway 26) for storing petroleum products. It does not want to be inside anyone’s city limits.
1959 – The community votes to upgrade Carroll Common School District to an Independent School District. Until grades 9, 10, 11 and 12 are added, students attend other area high schools; most attend Grapevine High. Principal Jack D. Johnson is named superintendent, a job he holds for 28 years.
Late 1950s – How rural was it? Bruce McCombs, then a teen, remembers driving one Saturday night to keller and back on Keller-Grapevine Highway (now Southlake Boulevard) and not seeing ONE car.
1960–1960
1959 – The first Dragon football team of 9th-graders take the field – an 80-yard one behind Carroll Hill School.
Businesses are mostly small and mom-and-pop, including Casey Feed, Board’s Store and Couch’s Grocery.
In the late 1960s, when the highway department purchases land for rights of way to widen Highway 114, a grocery, feed store, beauty shop and gas station are lost. “That was 10 years before we got the highway,” remembers Lavon Baird, Southlake’s
postmistress. “I’m waiting now for Texas 114 to become a large artery connecting Southlake to many places.”
The Jones’ family’s Grapevine Auction Sales, Jones Cafe and a flea market are at Whites Chapel and Highway 114.
Mesco Metal Building factory, which set up shop in 1955 to make metal building components, is located at N. Kimball and Highway 114. The Mesco plant ultimately measures 66,000 square feet and for years is Southlake’s largest employer (by 1979, 160 workers).
1962 – Starting in fall 1962, the remaining three high school grades (10, 11, 12) are added, one each year.
1963 – Building on more than a century of country schoolhouses, the first Carroll High School opens. It’s located next to Carroll Hill School on Carroll Road north of Highway 114.
The district wins its first state title with a one-act play. The next title comes 12 years later when the girls basketball team, coached by Don Durham, wins the 1A Girls Basketball State Championship.
Southwestern States Telephone Co. (later Southwestern Bell) upgrades rural telephone lines in Southlake into one-, two- or four-party lines. Some telephone users have been on nine-party lines.
1964 – Southlake Post Office opens in the old Torian gas station on Carroll Road and Highway 114. Lavon Baird is the first postmistress.
With a $350,000 loan underwritten by the Farmers Home Administration, Southlake gets “citified” water. (Southlake’s water is salty.) The rural water system has about 45 miles of pipe and serves 346 customers. The new water system’s wet house and storage tank are located on 3 acres on Carroll Road. Residents receiving service pay a monthly bill collected by Lavon Baird, the postmistress. A sign on the storage tank reflects community pride: Southlake Home of Carroll Dragons.
The Southlake Planning Board is formed. City Hall opens inside Casey Feed on Carroll Road and Highway 114. The city begins discussions on providing all residents with water.
1965 – The Town of Southlake becomes the City of Southlake.
Carroll’s first senior class – 24 members – graduates in the Carroll High School cafetorium (next to Carroll Hill School).
“People are moving out of the cities looking for the country life and the lake,” observes Carroll ISD Supt. Jack D. Johnson. He says he feels like he is witnessing “the birth of a town.”
1966 – The all-volunteer Southlake Fire Department is established. The first fire engine, a 1,000-gallon Diamond-T military fire truck, is purchased from Carswell Air Force Base for $250. To start the truck, it was backed up a hill and the driver popped the clutch as it rolled forward. To pay for it, the mayor sells Christmas trees at the corner of Carroll Road and Highway 114.
The Southlake Police Department is established. The town marshal’s title changes to chief of police.
Plans are underway for a new post office to replace the one located in the old Torian gas station on Carroll Road and Highway 114.
Town volunteers build a combination City Hall and fire station next to the city water tank. Some materials are donated.
The City Council receives approval from HUD (Housing and Urban Development) for a $600,000 loan to construct a municipal gas system, but Lone Star Gas declines to supply service to all residents because the city is too sparsely populated.
1967 – Lone Star Gas agrees to provide service to city residents.
The city’s first library is opens, inside Carroll High School.
The City Council approves a 1.5-cent property tax on each $100 of assessed value.
The first patrol car is purchased.
1968 – Ground is broken for DFW Regional Airport (now DFW International Airport).
The first comprehensive land use plan is developed in conjunction with Fort Worth-based Carter & Burgess, Engineers.
Southlake Fire Department volunteer Bob Steele is appointed fire chief.
Citywide garbage collection is established. (Years before, one garbage collector refused to pick up the trash of people whose politics he disagreed with.)
City Councilman Ralph Evans thinks he may be among the last Southlake residents to plow with a mule. “While visiting Bailey’s Feed & Grocery, Mr. Bailey asked if I needed to break up ground for a garden and said I could borrow his red mule and plow,” recalls Mr. Evans, who took him up on it. “I might be the last [Southlake] resident who knows how to plow with a mule.”
Shopping centers, such as Village Center, pop up along Southlake Boulevard.
1970–1989
1970 – It’s reported that there will be no increase in Southlake’s tax rate of 35 cents per $100 valuation. For the fiscal year, the city budget will be $132,617, which includes $2,000 for a library, $44,915 for the police department and $16,775 for
other administrative expenses.
In June, Kuntry Fest No. 2 rocks out the north end of White’s Chapel Road. But on Labor Day weekend 1969, a music show of epic proportions was held down the road in Lewisville featuring Chicago Transit Authority, Sly and the Family Stone, Led Zeppelin, Santana and others. More than 100,000 attended. Only a few weeks earlier, those bands had played at Woodstock.
Newly built Carroll High School and Dragon Stadium open at Dove Road and Carroll Avenue. The previous high school becomes an elementary school and later an intermediate school. District enrollment is growing and bus routes expanding.
Southlake considers an ordinance that requires residents to keep their animals within fences and off city streets.
1971 – Southlake holds its first general obligation bond election for water system improvements. It passes 66-41. The projects will cost $300,000.
Over the objections of residents who claim Southlake’s rural atmosphere will be damaged, a residential area allowing an average of 2.7 homes per acre is approved for the corner of Shady Lane and Highway 114. Many residents want a minimum lot of 1 acre, citing potential problems with septic tanks and the runoff from rain. The engineering firm of Carter & Burgess recommends the 37.2-acre tract be partly residential and partly light commercial. (The project was never built.)
The City Council approves a tax increase from 35 cents to 50 cents per $100 based on 50 percent of property valuation. Only 75 percent of the budget will be spent, as it represents a nine-month period. The fiscal year will begin Oct. 1 rather than Jan. 1.
1972 – Plans are underway for a shopping center, offices and medical facilities on a $1 million, 50-acre tract at Highway 114 and White’s Chapel Road. (They were never built.)
Southlake renames some streets. For example, Old Union becomes Continental for the Continental Oil Co. (later Conoco), which is building huge fuel tanks along Highway 26 (originally called Highway 121), and White’s Chapel Road becomes White Chapel Boulevard. Other roads are renamed because the U.S. Post Office is changing from rural routes to numbered street addresses.
A junior fire department made up of 16- to 18-year-old boys from Carroll High School is organized to assist the volunteer fire department.
The City Council approves the developer Love-Henry & Associate’s request for city’s largest residential development to date – 350 acres that includes homes, apartments and commercial businesses. (That development never came to pass, but a street named Love-Henry Court remains.)
1974 – Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport opens. The Greater Southwest International Airport (originally known as Amon Carter Field), just south of DFW airport, served Fort Worth from 1953 until 1974. (In 1985, DFW changes to DFW International Airport.) Over the years, problems arise for Southlake with noise, runway proximity, air pollution and traffic.
Southlake considers an ordinance requiring residents to keep their livestock within fences.
1975 – The Southlake Parks and Recreation Board is established. Within a month, a park site is selected: 10 acres west of White Chapel Boulevard and north of Southlake Boulevard. The park will be dedicated on July 4, 1976.
1976 – 10-acre Bicentennial Park is dedicated on July 4. It is the city’s first – and for a long time, only – park.
Comprehensive city zoning is recommended by Carter & Burgess, Engineers. Southlake initiates zoning changes.
In city elections, growth, taxes and maintaining a rural atmosphere are major issues. “Southlake has growing pains,” one candidate says. “We are growing all right but growing one-sided with just people coming in and no light industry or business to offset
property taxes.”
1977 – In the spring, residents are polled about what they want, and two things stand out: more restaurants and more retail. Recently opened, in-the-works and planned stores and restaurants include The Home Depot, Kroger, PetSmart, Crown Books, Anne
Wayne Spa, Arts and Frames Warehouse, Smoothie King, Burger King, Wendy’s, McDonald’s and Cici’s Pizza.
1978 – American Airlines moves its headquarters to Fort Worth.
1979 – Bob Ledbetter is hired as Carroll’s football coach. “Coach,” Supt. Jack D. Johnson tells him, “you’ll never win a state football championship here. We don’t have those kinds of athletes. We have great kids. And we have great parents. Our kids are strong academically, but we don’t have great athletes.” The coach replies, “You know, Mr. Johnson, you don’t win state championships with great athletes. You win with great kids.”
1980 – The mayor, City Council and community work to develop the town “the way they thought best,” remembers Gary Fickes, a council member in the 1980s and mayor from 1989-1996. “We had a blank slate.”
1981 – Jack D. Johnson Elementary School opens, named for the district’s longest serving superintendent.
1983 – Residents vote 27-2 in favor of a new sewer system planned by the Trinity River Authority.
1984 – Sam Sparger sells his 150-acre pig farm (part of now-Timarron) for $2-plus million and resigns as mayor of Southlake. He plans to relocate his farm to DeLeon, Texas.
1985 – IBM announces plans for Solana, an 800-acre office development in Southlake and Westlake to include IBM’s new regional headquarters. Southlake’s City Council votes to annex 209 acres owned by IBM, kicking off a legal battle with Westlake.
“On the surface, Southlake appears to be a sleepy rural village – a population of 4,700, no sewer system, no post office – but appearances are deceptive. Southlake is fast becoming an upper-income boom town…,” writes a Star-Telegram reporter, March 6,
1985.
Southlake receives approval for traffic lights (where stop signs had been) at Highway 114 intersections with Carroll, Kimball and FM 1709.
Southlake and Keller seek right-of-way land from residents for the expansion of FM 1709 (Southlake Boulevard), a twisting two-lane road, into the first link of a highway connecting northern Tarrant County, Las Colinas and North Dallas. Work could start as early as 1989 and be complete by 1993. The widening of FM 1709 (Southlake Boulevard) as outlined by the Texas Department of Transportation calls for the roadway to be widened to five lanes east from U.S. 377 through Keller and Southlake to Highway 114.
DFW Regional Airport becomes DFW International Airport. It’s the largest hub for American Airlines, which is headquartered near the airport. American transfers employees including pilots to its new hub, and many families move to Southlake; Southlake experiences a population boom.
1986 – Carroll ISD is recognized as one of the eight top high schools in Texas.
Jack D. Johnson retires after 30 years of service as CISD principal and superintendent.
Southlake seeks a contract with Trinity River Authority for sewer service. The plan, part of the TRA’s extension of the Big Bear Creek interceptor line, offers the city a considerably cheaper alternative to sewer than building its own sewage treatment facilities. “Having sewer availability really triggered the development in Southlake,” says Lou Ann Heath, director of finance for the city of Southlake (1991-1999) and past president of the Southlake Historical Society. “The first trunk line went to the Southridge Lakes subdivision.”
A rural but growing Southlake needs more water, so the city decides to increase water storage capacity. After much research, it purchases a steel tank supported by a concrete pedestal. Council member Bruce McCombs, an engineer (and later treasurer
of the Southlake Historical Society), is involved in the decision. The tank, which holds more than 1 million gallons of water, is the first of its kind built in the United States and the prototype for about 80 percent of the large water towers subsequently built in the U.S. Water Tower No. 1 is in Bicentennial Park facing White’s Chapel Boulevard. (That same elevated tank serves the city today.)
The City Council sets the tax rate at 32 cents per $100 valuation of land, up 23 percent from the 1985-’86 rate of 26 cents. The $3,773,069 budget includes capital expenditures for improvements to Bicentennial Park, equipment purchases and
additional city staff members.
Carroll ISD’s budget for the 1986-’87 fiscal year is $4.9 million, a 15.8 percent increase from the previous year.
Following a report by the Southlake Airport Noise Awareness committee on the status of attempts by the city to limit the use of diagonal runway 13R-31L of DFW airport, the City Council agrees to continue litigation against the airport but decides the city can no longer afford to spend money on litigation. Instead, it will ask residents for donations to continue the legal action.
In an attempt to develop a community center, the City Council accepts a building to be donated by the Southlake Lions Club and moved to Bicentennial Park. The building is known as the Lodge.
1987 – Southlake’s population reaches 5,000. Voters approve a home rule charter, which requires at least 5,000 residents and gives the city more local control. It also allows the city to annex land without a request from property owners.
Southlake makes plans to annex 3,100 acres around the city, increasing the size of Southlake by about a third. Annexation increases Southlake’s revenue base and allows it to control development to its north and elsewhere.
The Southlake Fire Department purchases its first ambulance.
1988 – Because residents rely on water wells and septic tanks, residential lots in Southlake remain a minimum of 1 acre. These subdivisions include Cross Timber Hills, Diamond Oak Estates and Ginger Court.
To control development along its border with Denton County, Southlake annexes land up to Lake Grapevine. Included is the West Beach Addition, originally platted for mobile homes. The land is littered with junk cars, old tires an a motorcycle gang’s clubhouse. The city will seek to purchase some of the land for a new park. The land includes property once owned by Bob and Almeady Chisum Jones.
Southlake signs an interlocal agreement with the Trinity River Authority that allows for municipal sanitary sewer. Fort Worth is lined up to provide water. After delays because Southlake had too-few homes, Lone Star Gas begins providing gas.
With essential services in place, Southlake creates a Planned Unit Development (PUD) concept, clearing the way for the city’s first master-planned subdivisions. A PUD allows developers to use their land most effectively when planning where to place homes, and buildings are not restricted to 1-acre lots. Developers are encouraged to add amenities such as a clubhouse or swimming pool.
“PUDs allowed a lot of land to go into park use in areas that otherwise we wouldn’t have,” said former Councilman Ralph Evans in a 2004 SHS oral history. Developers are required to donate 1 acre for every 40 housing units and 1 acre for every 50 acres of commercial development to be used for parkland. They’re encouraged to add a sports court or other amenities. Throughout the city are subdivision mini-parks that enhance the city’s rural feel. They are the result of a green space ordinance. Timarron’s golf course is an outsized example.
1989 – Southlake approves its first master-planned community, 276-acre Southwind (later renamed Southridge Lakes).
A few months later, Southlake’s Planning and Zoning Commission approves rezoning for the first phase of the Mobil Land Development’s Timarron master-planned community. Some of the land had been a hog farm owned by former Mayor Sam Sparger.
Alliance Airport, billed as the world’s first industrial airport, opens in Fort Worth along I-35W.
1990–2009
1990 – Southlake hires its first professional city planner.
1991 – Southlake adopts its first Parks, Recreation and Open Space Master Plan.
Carroll ISD breaks ground for a new Carroll High School at Peytonville Road and Southlake Boulevard. It will replace the high school at Dove Road and Carroll Avenue.
1992 – The City Council approves Mobil Land Development’s request to build a golf course to balance green-space requirements for its 1,000-acre Timarron development. Byron Nelson will design the championship course.
Keep Southlake Beautiful, a city program, begins.
The Southlake Historical Society is organized by Southlake Mayor Gary Fickes. He puts an ad in the Grapevine Sun newspaper asking for people interested in Southlake history to meet.
1993 – Southlake’s population climbs to 10,000.
1994 – The state legislature allows cities to charge a half-cent sales tax that can be dedicated to parks. The Southlake Parks Development Corporation (SPDC) is formed.
Another half-cent sales tax helps fund a Central Crime District (CCD) and can be spent on anything to do with the fire and police departments.
The city initiates SPIN (Southlake Program for the Involvement of Neighborhoods), a program for residents to discuss proposed developments and for the city to hear residents’ feedback.
Walmart builds a store at N. Kimball and the west side of Southlake Boulevard.
The City Council approves the purchase of approximately 15 acres one-quarter mile east of White Chapel Blvd south of FM1709 for a new municipal complex at a total cost of $1.1 million. (The tract remains city property today and includes the former Eubanks home.)
1996 – Should Carroll ISD have two high schools or a two-tier system (one school for grades 11-12 and one for grades 9-10)? The issue divides the community. Voters back the two-tier system. From kindergarten to 12th grade, all students will be Dragons.
Several ideas for a football/athletic complex are tossed around by the city and school district. Southlake Carroll will soon be part of Division 5A and needs something better than “old” Dragon Stadium at Dove Road and Carroll Avenue, which has 3,000 seats.
A California group named Rialto Development, later renamed Cooper & Stebbins, learns of a 130-acre tract in the heart of Southlake and buys it, hoping to build a “downtown,” a corporate office complex, possibly a new City Hall and more than 30 stores. At meetings to get public input, some residents say they are afraid it will hurt their property values and attract crime. Mayor Rick Stacy, who grew up in Grapevine, talks to residents about the value to a community of a downtown.
A monument to State Troopers E.B. Wheeler and H.D. Murphy, murdered by Bonnie and Clyde or a member of their gang, is erected by the Texas State Troopers Association on the south side of Dove Road, just east of the Highway 114 frontage road. (Parking is available at the lot across Dove Road.)
Texas Motor Speedway opens.
Southlake DPS opens its west facility.
1997 – After a year of discussions between Rialto and Southlake, the City Council unanimously approves a concept plan and zoning changes for a proposed $100 million “town center” project.
The City Council considers putting the City Hall and municipal offices in the proposed Town Square instead of in an already planned14.7-acre municipal complex at Byron Nelson Parkway and Southlake Boulevard.
A groundbreaking ceremony is held for Town Square.
David M. Schwarz (Bass Hall, The Ballpark in Arlington, American Airlines Center) is the master-plan architect of Town Square. He designs Town Hall, which is inspired by Texas’ historic courthouses, the surrounding Phase 1 buildings, the Main Street and Garden District Brownstones, Del Frisco’s Grille, Trader Joe’s and the Parkview Residences. Other architects work on various phases, taking their inspiration from 15 cities across the nation, including Savannah, Ga., and Charleston, S.C. The fountain in the park on front of Town Hall is a copy of one City Council member Pamela Muller saw in Savannah.
The Town Square project is expected to be built in about a dozen phases during the next decade.
Southlake plans to transform a neighborhood that was once home to a motorcycle gang clubhouse, junk cars, discarded tires and dozens of small, frame homes and mobile homes into a park in the northern section of the city. What later becomes Bob Jones Park, the city’s biggest, will cost about $1.5 million, cover more than 500 acres and include 14 soccer fields, a lake, baseball fields, trails, a nature center and an amphitheater.
The state begins buying land along Highway 114, including land in Southlake, for an expansion of Highway 114.
Standard & Poor’s upgrades Southlake’s city bond ratings to A-plus based on the city’s conservative management and continuing growth in the city’s property-tax base and sales-tax revenue.
Twelve undeveloped acres in Bicentennial Park, where the recent kite competition took place, will be developed into tennis courts.
Southlake City Council gives preliminary approval for the annexation of Solana, moving the city one step closer to acquiring the $105 million business park. Two weeks earlier, Westlake voted to disannex Solana, which houses clients such as Levi Straus, Citicorp, Nokia and Wells Fargo.
Southlake Mayor Rick Stacy and Westlake Mayor Scott Bradley spar over which town has the rights to Solana.
Southlake City Council approves the annexation of Solana.
Southlake suggests a merger with Westlake as a way of resolving the continuing dispute over the Solana business complex. A few days later, Westlake denounces Southlake’s offer to provide free police and fire services to Westlake for 10 years to resolve the legal dispute. A judge’s order halts Southlake’s annexation of Solana.
Carroll ISD explores replacing or improving Dragon Stadium, built in 1981 at Dove Road and Carroll Avenue. Five options offered by the district are: work with Southlake to build a multipurpose athletic facility costing $38 million; add a 9,000-seat stadium at Carroll High School at Peytonville and Southlake Boulevard for $16 million; build an off-campus, 6,000-seat stadium costing about $11 million; remodel Dragon Stadium for $6 million; and lease stadiums such as Pennington Field at a cost of $3,000-$5,000 per game.
Lake Grapevine, a recreational and economic landmark, turns 50.
Southlake receives a $500,000 Texas Parks and Wildlife Department grant for a Bob Jones Park expansion. The grant, along with matching funds from the city, will be used for surveying and engineering, helping pay for recreational improvements including lighted soccer and softball fields, picnic tables, a playground and a fishing pond with dock and pavilion.
Residents vote yes to a half-cent sales tax increase for a Crime Control and Prevention District (CCPD) that will dedicate funding to finance public safety facilities and personnel.
Residents vote yes to locate a new Town Hall in Southlake Town Square.
1998 – To clear the way for the construction of Town Square, firefighters burn the 1919 McPherson-Fechtel farmhouse as a training exercise. The Southlake Historical Society organized by Mayor Fickes strongly objects – it wants the house moved to a public space and used for education.
The City Council unanimously approves a 408-acre tax increment financing district (TIF) that will collect money to be used to pay for $117 million in future school and county projects.
The City Council considers a tri-city library agreement with Grapevine and Colleyville until the city can build its own.
The City Council chooses the name Bob Jones for a park to be built in north Southlake.
Southlake Senior Center opens on city property west of Byron Nelson Parkway (once planned for a municipal complex) in a renovated home once owned by the Eubanks family.
Southlake achieves recognition as an official Tree City USA given by the National Arbor Day Foundation. To receive the award the city must meet standards that include a legal tree governing body (Southlake Planning and Zoning Commission), a comprehensive urban forestry program and the observance of Arbor Day.
1999 – The first phase of Town Square opens. Stores and restaurants include Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, Bath & Body Works, Corner Bakery, Eddie Bauer, Gap, Gap Kids, Harold’s, Talbot’s, Victoria’s Secret, Williams Sonoma, Lady Footlocker, Animal Crackers, Starbucks and Mi Cocina.
Major improvements to Southlake Boulevard bring in new businesses.
It’s suggested that the new Dragon stadium be in Town Square.
The state begins 5-year reconstruction of Highway 114.
2001 – Voters approve the local option election to allow wine sales in grocery stores, 3,007 in favor and 129 opposed.
The city library opens in Town Hall.
2002 – Southlake DPS opens its West Facility.
2004 – A grand-opening celebration is held for Highway 114; the 12-lane, grade-separated freeway took three years to construct.
2005 – Carroll Dragon football team wins sixth state title.
2006 – Southlake celebrates its 50th birthday.
2008 – Bob Jones Nature Center and Preserve, located partly on land owned by Bob Jones, opens in north Southlake.
Southlake’s log house, made of logs cut and hewn about the time Abraham Lincoln was president, is built in Bicentennial Park, just off of White’s Chapel Boulevard. The site is the former Blossom Prairie, where in the mid-1800s wagon trains filled with settlers, gold-seekers and others would spend the night on their journey west.
2010–2019
2010 – The Department of Public Safety headquarters building on Carroll Avenue is dedicated. The 87,000-square-foot building sits where the first city hall was built in 1966 primarily by volunteers.
Southlake shows respect for the people who settled “the area west of Grapevine” by designating Oct. 16 “Jack Cook Day.” Mr. Cook has deep roots in the area. Into his 80s, he is the caretaker for Lonesome Dove Cemetery (where, he claims, he’s related to
most people buried there). His grandmother’s grandmother Malinda Frost Dwight Hill, who is buried there, was related to Cynthia Ann Parker and at Parker’s Fort in 1836 when Comanches took Cynthia Ann.
2011 – A statue dedicated to Town Square developer Brian Stebbins is placed in Ruskin Park across the street from Town Hall. It’s called “The Ties That Bind.”
Southlake completes Phase 1 improvements at Bicentennial Park.
Carroll ISD opens Walnut Grove Elementary, named after the school Bob Jones built in 1920 for his grandchildren and other biracial or Black students because they could not attend schools for whites only.
2012 – Brian Stebbins, the visionary of Town Square, passes away on Oct. 2. “Without Brian,” one admirer wrote online, “Southlake would just be a dot on the map.”
2013 – Southlake Sister Cities, established in 1991, sponsors its first student trip to Suzhou, Wuzhong, China. Tome City, Japan, is Southlake’s Sister City, and Suzhou, Wuzhong District, China, is its Friendship City.
Carroll ISD adds resource officers at all schools.
2014 – DPS North Training Facility opens at Dove Road and White Chapel Blvd.
2015 – Bicentennial Park Phase 2, which includes the Texas Rangers Miracle League Field, is completed.
The Marq Southlake, a community, recreation and senior center, opens its first phase.
2016 – Southlake celebrates its 60th birthday.
Ground is broken on Bicentennial Park Phase 3 improvements, which include a tennis center and Champions Club at The Marq. Champions Club will be a recreation and fitness center.
The city’s first two Class A office buildings – six-story, 158,00-square-foot office tower Granite Place at Southlake Town Square and four-story Offices at Kimball Park – broke ground.
2017 – The city’s first two-lane roundabout opens at Peytonville, Dove and Sams School roads.
The first Celebrate Southlake event is held to celebrate the history and culture of Southlake. The event follows the rededication of Frank Cornish IV Park after it was vandalized.
2018 – Riley Dodge, a quarterback for Southlake Carroll from 2004-2007, returns as head football coach. He played on three state championship teams at Carroll when his dad was coach.
2019 – Champions Club opens at The Marq.
Southlake takes over the management of Bob Jones Nature Center from a local nonprofit group.
2020–2025
2020 – Several major commercial buildings open or are leased along Hwy. 114 according to the 2035 Corridor Plan.
Sales tax revenue rose 2% in Southlake despite the COVID-19 pandemic, surpassing 2019 figures.
On a survey, residents raise concerns about traffic and too many subdivisions. As for what they want: pickleball courts and more park trails.
2021 – Dr. Lane Ledbetter, a Carroll grad and son of storied Carroll football coach Bob Ledbetter, is named superintendent of Carroll ISD.
An interactive sculpture of the hospitable Bob and Almeady Chisum Jones, commissioned by the Southlake Arts Council, is installed next to the playground in Bob Jones Park. Seth Vandable is the sculptor. It is the 20th sculpture placed around Southlake by the Southlake Arts Council.
A Cultural Competence Action Plan developed by CISD to address complaints of racist and other bullying divides the community.
2023 – Superintendent Ledbetter retires.
2024 – Mayor Shawn McCaskill says that when he was elected in 2024, “The foundation for the great community that we have was already in place. We’re just building on it.”
The Southlake Pickleball Complex opens in Bicentennial Park.
Carillon Parc, a European-style mixed-use development, is finally under construction; it was first approved by the City Council in 2008.
2025 – Southlake approves a $24 million update to Town Hall Plaza Park. The project will address wear and tear to the park, provide a lawn area that stretches from the water fountain to the gazebo, upgrade the gazebo with better sound systems and close the street in front of the gazebo.
