The History of Arlington, Texas

Arlington was laid out in 1876 when the Texas & Pacific ran its line between Dallas and Fort Worth, and it took its name from Arlington, Robert E. Lee's estate in Virginia. For decades it was a quiet farming community with one point of pride most people have forgotten: a downtown artesian well, tapped in the 1890s, that drew visitors who believed the mineral water was good for the health, and for a while Arlington played up its role as a small resort. There was also a college that opened in 1895 — the seed of what's now the University of Texas at Arlington. But to the wider region, Arlington was mostly a place you passed between the two bigger cities.

The turn started with industry. General Motors opened an assembly plant in Arlington in 1954, and it's still running today, building full-size SUVs and anchoring the city's manufacturing side. Then came the move that defined the place: in 1961 developer Angus Wynne opened Six Flags Over Texas on the highway between Dallas and Fort Worth. It was one of the first modern regional theme parks in America, and it proved the empty middle was prime real estate — close to everybody, cheap land, an easy off-ramp. When the Texas Rangers relocated their ballpark to Arlington in 1972, the city's identity as the metro's entertainment yard was set.

The modern city is sports and spectacle. AT&T Stadium opened in 2009 as the Cowboys' billion-dollar home, and Globe Life Field gave the Rangers a retractable roof in 2020, putting two major-league venues within a mile of Six Flags. Arlington is also known for one stubborn quirk: for years it was the largest city in America with no public transit system at all — a car-only town by choice, which it has only recently softened with limited on-demand rideshare. It's grown past 390,000 people doing things its own way, filling the space between the two cities that nobody else wanted.