DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I wouldn't change a word. Well — maybe a few of my own. Well back in the early days of settlement in the northwestern part of Dallas County, there was a creek.
Not much to look at, maybe, but creeks have a way of mattering more than they appear. This one was called Mustang Branch — most likely named for the mustang horses that frequented the area, or for the mustang grapes that grew there along the banks. The marker gives you both possibilities and lets you wonder, and that's fair enough.
Water and wild things. That's a start. Now, the Peters Colony was pushing folks into this part of Texas, and some of those settlers took one look at that creek — at the fertile soil, at the available water supply — and decided they weren't going any further.
In 1841, a man named Thomas Keenan built a cabin right there on the creek. Just one cabin at first. But a cabin has a way of attracting neighbors, and within a few years a number of settlers had come to the area.
They started calling their little community Farmers Branch. Then 1845 rolls around, and things start taking shape in earnest. The Reverend William Bowles — a Baptist minister, mind you, not just a blacksmith, but a man who apparently kept more than one set of skills — began a blacksmith shop and a gristmill that same year.
That same year, another early settler by the name of I. B. Webb donated land for a church and a school.
A church and a school. You want to know when a community means business, watch for the moment somebody gives away land for a church and a school. Webb wasn't done, either.
When the Farmers Branch post office was established in 1848, he served as its first postmaster. By the end of that decade, cotton and wheat had become very productive crops on the area farms. The creek that had once been Mustang Branch came to be commonly known as Farmers Branch — same name as the community that had grown up around it.
The pioneers who first settled near that tributary left a rich heritage, says the marker, and it's hard to argue. Today the city of Farmers Branch stands as a major Dallas County commercial center. All of it — the commerce, the city, the name itself — flowing, you might say, from one creek and the people stubborn enough to stay beside it.
What the marker says
During the early days of settlement in the northwestern part of Dallas County, the creek that runs nearby was known as Mustang Branch. Most likely named for the mustang horses that frequented the area or for the mustang grapes that grew here. The stream provided a focal point around which some members of the Peters Colony chose to settle. In 1841 Thomas Keenan built a cabin on the creek, and within a few years a number of settlers had come to the area, attracted by its fertile soil and available water supply. Their community came to be known as Farmers Branch. A blacksmith shop and gristmill were begun in 1845 by the Rev. William Bowles, a Baptist minister. The same year I. B. Webb, another early settler, donated land for a church and school. Webb also served as first postmaster when the Farmers Branch post office was established in 1848. By the end of the decade cotton and wheat had become very productive crops on area farms. The name for this stream later became commonly known as Farmers Branch. The pioneers who first settled near the tributary left a rich heritage. Today the city of Farmers Branch is a major Dallas County commercial center.