Genealogy and Local History Blog

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Local History

Origin and History of Lake Grapevine, 1919-1953, Part 7: A New County Lake Is Born

Icy weather hit the dam area on January 5, 1950, temporarily halting construction. J. W. Mosley was just a week away from finishing the raising of the dam’s embankment, but since most contractors were ahead of schedule, the weather would not affect their deadlines. On January 18, the government hiked its land purchases for the four Trinity lakes going in near Dallas. At that time it already owned 2,955.53 acres of Grapevine. The “taking lines,” or peak elevations at which the government will take lands, had still not been announced, so the army of speculators and land plungers would have to buy blindly, except for studying the pattern of lands taken by the government. Those persons were chiefly interested in cabin and weekend homesites, recreating building locales and sites for all types of businesses catering to lake visitors. Costly lakeside estates planned by Dallas residents were also held up. More...

Local History

Origin and History of Lake Grapevine, 1919-1953, Part 6: Earth and People Start Moving

In the previous blog, we saw the preparations for the ground-breaking at the Grapevine Dam and Reservoir site on Denton Creek come together. Now that the ground had been broken, the effects of dam and reservoir construction slowly began to be felt among Grapevine’s approximately 1,800 residents. In this blog, we will see how a federal water and soil project impacted a small local population. Former Grapevine Mayor B. R. Wall was not present at the ground-breaking festivities on December 5, 1947, but he noted the event in his diary: “Damsite ceremony and barbecue ,, Did not attend ,, Began work on Grapevine Dam on Denton Creek. Do not care to comment herein.” On December 8 he wrote “Worried about Dam,” but did not elaborate. On December 23 he met with Carl Simmons and one of his brothers at the “north area of the Lake view,” but did not give...

Local History

Origin and History of Lake Grapevine, 1919-1953, Part 3: The Trinity River Project Goes To Washington

In 1940, the Trinity River watershed consisted of seven regions, six of which are shown on the map below (Fig. 1): West Cross Timbers, Grand Prairie, East Cross Timbers, Blackland Prairie, Coastal Flatwood, and Coast Prairie. Grapevine lay on the border between the East Cross Timbers and Blackland Prairie regions. As mentioned in the previous blog, flooding had caused critical soil erosion and devastating crop damage to farms in the Trinity River basin. The formation of the Texas soil conservation boards in late 1939 was intended to achieve and maintain good soil conservation practices, among which was flood control. It also allowed farmers to apply for federal funds to assist them in these endeavors. Preliminary reports pertaining to the proposed Dalworth district, of which Grapevine Mayor B. R. Wall would be a supervisor, demonstrated that soil and economic conditions there were better than anticipated but still in need of attention....

Local History

Origin and History of Lake Grapevine, 1919-1953, Part 2: From The Local To The National Stage

Flood control and soil erosion had been a subject of discussion at all levels of government for many years, but it was not until the 1930s that the federal government recognized that this objective was of national importance and that it should play a leading role in providing funding to the states so they could meet those ends. The Dust Bowl storms of 1934-1935, including some in March 1935 that blew dust into Washington, DC as the hearings for a soil conservation law were being held, helped to move Congress to act. Prior to the development of the Trinity project, there was no federal or state project in the Trinity watershed pertaining to soil and water usage. Floods had devastated the region of the upper Trinity River several times during the previous thirty years. For example, when a severe flood ravaged the upper Trinity region on May 24, 1908, Grapevine...

Local History

History of Grapevine Public Library, 2002-2022

In 2002, Grapevine’s population reached 42,827. Since the grand opening of the expanded library in November 2001, more Grapevine citizens applied for library cards and visited the library to take advantage of the many new services a larger library was able to provide. The Children’s Department created My First Storytime, a one-on-one lap-sit program for babies from birth to eighteen months and their caregivers, began that year. By 2003 the number of residents increased to 43,049. In March the library celebrated its eightieth anniversary with an open house. Final withdrawal of materials purchased by Colleyville for Colleyville and housed at Grapevine were made, since Colleyville would open its own library in November. In January 2004, the library received a sixteen-thousand-dollar grant from Verizon to expand its English as a Second Language (ESL) program. In May the library installed a new color copier. In August, Dick Clark, long-time host of the...

Local History

History of Grapevine Public Library from 1971-1990

The 1970 census counted 7,023 individuals in Grapevine. The current library quarters were becoming too cramped, so City Council considered the feasibility of purchasing the old First National Bank building for a City Library and architects’ drawings of the building showing conversion to a library were reviewed. Further discussion was delayed pending additional studies. In November 1971, a motion was made in Council to authorize the City Manager to get plans drawn on a building for the library. On November 16, Council instructed the City Manager to proceed with library plans by architect Oliver Tucker. In February 1972, Mr. Tucker presented plans for the proposed library building to Council. A motion was made to accept bids on March 7. The new library was to be built north of the Police Department building. All bids for a new library building were rejected for being too high. In April, Mr. Tucker discussed...