A Brief History the City of Garland (a suburb of Dallas):

Rivalry of communities, devastating events, and the location of two main railroads were a major factor in the founding of the city I live in called Garland, Texas.

Back in the mid 1800's, settlers began to arrive in the Peters Colony area; the name commonly applied to a North Texas grant made in 1841 by the Republic of Texas to several American and English investors that William S. Peters led. Shortly after the settlers' arrival, they found that the black soil was ideal for cotton and made it the primary agricultural product and built cotton gins to accommodate the farming community.

Around 1874, there were two communities that arose in the area; one was named "Embree," named for the physician K. H. Embree, and the other was "Duck Creek," named for the local creek. As the area began to expand around the Santa Fe Railroad depot, a rivalry between the two towns broke out.

There was an issue over which of these communities would have the local post office. The post office was moved between the two towns to settle this ordeal in the late 1880's.

The new area is now the city called "Garland", which was named after the Attorney Gen. A. Hill Garland. Duck Creek and Embree were dissolved and became one city of Garland around 1891.

Because of the need for more electricity due to the population growth, a new generator was needed for the town. Money was put together by local businessmen to fund the generator from Fairbanks-Morse for the town in 1920. From this event, Garland Power & Light (the municipal electric provider that still powers the city today) was created.

The city of Garland hasn't had many tornados in it's time, the last one I remember was when I was 15 and went to Garland High School. It was a very scary event. Prior to that tornado, there was a devastating tornado that destoryed much of the city and killed 17 people which included the former mayor S. E. Nicholson on May 9, 1927. We have a library here in town that is named after him.

During the late 1930s, many businesses began to move to the city. Some of the famous businesses is the Resistol hat factory (formerly Byer-Rolnick) and the Craddock food company. KRLD, a local radio station that is still alive today, built a big radio tower in the city of Garland in 1937 (loacted off Saturn Road off Miller). Many Aircraft plants were in operation during WWII and then after the war, Kraft Foods bought one for a manufacturing plant located off Forest Ln and Shiloh Rd.

As you may know, wells were the way of providing the needs for water. The city suffered from a serious drought from the years 1950 to 1954. In order to meet the water needs, Lake Lavon was used by the city to help with the water supply needs.

The city of Garland, like most of the nation, experienced a population boom after WWII. By 1960, the city's population tripled from what it was in 1950 to over 38,000 people. Then in 1970, it more then doubled to over 81,000. Then by 1980 (I was ten years old at the time and remember when they put the new population signs up) there were more than 138,000 people! And then in the year 2000, it almost doubled once again to over 215,000 folks!  Not such a little town any longer. Garland is now the ninth largest city in Texas

Garland is home to 3D Realms, the video game company that created and developed Duke Nukem 3D, developed Max Payne and Max Payne 2: The Fall Of Max Payne. Currently 3D Realms is working on Duke Nukem Forever.

Some former Garland residents include Mike Judge, the creator of Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill (which by the way resides in "Arlen,Tx") and singer LeAnn Rimes(she actually grew up down the street from me and my friend Stonie use to mow her lawn here in Garland).