Connie Cooley

Southlake Connie Cooley

Of the settlers who journeyed to North Texas 165 years ago, 12 families from Missouri traveled in oxen-drawn wagons to the Eastern Cross Timbers. These families laid claim to land in Peters Colony that was promised by the Republic of Texas's first empresario. The hardscrabble colonists built log cabins and the Lonesome Dove Church, the first church in Tarrant County. Their village came to be called Dove. Later settlements included White's Chapel, Old Union, and Jellico. The Depression hit local farmers and cattlemen hard, and newspaper accounts tell of small-time outlaws passing through, including members of the infamous Bonnie and Clyde gang who shot and killed two state troopers near Texas Highway 114. In 1956, a handful of neighbors voted to incorporate, and the town of Southlake was born. A decade later, city leaders from nearby Dallas and Fort Worth agreed to the construction of a regional airport east of Southlake, and the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport brought many families and prosperity to an area that flourishes today.