pre-1840

Southlake sits in a geographic region thick with blackjack and post oak trees and artesian springs and was acknowledged by 19th century cartographers as the Cross Timbers. This 2004 photo was taken at the Bob Jones Nature Center. Courtesy Bob Koontz

The Cross Timber region of North America runs 350 miles through Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. Courtesy of Richard Frankaviglia

"'In his travels to the western frontier in the early 1830s, American writer Washington Irving characterized the Cross Timbers as "forests of cast iron,'" writes Richard Francaviglia in his book, The Cast Iron Forest. Courtesy of Richard Francaviglia