The History of Grapevine, Texas

In October 1843, Sam Houston and fellow Republic of Texas commissioners camped at Grape Vine Springs — on the Grape Vine Prairie, both named for the tart wild Mustang grapes that grew all over the area — to meet with leaders of ten Indian nations. The treaty of 'peace, friendship, and commerce' they signed there opened the land to homesteaders, and settlers moved onto the prairie starting in 1844. That makes Grapevine the oldest settlement in what's now Tarrant County. Growth was slow but steady; by 1890 the community had around 800 residents, a newspaper, a school, cotton gins, and rail service.

For decades Grapevine was a two-word farm town — 'Grape Vine' — until the post office officially collapsed it into one word, Grapevine, in 1914. And then, honestly, not a lot happened for a while. It stayed a small agricultural community on the prairie between Dallas and Fort Worth, the kind of place with a historic Main Street and not much reason for outsiders to stop. What would change everything was already being planned a few miles away.

When Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport opened in 1974, part of it sat inside Grapevine's city limits — and the sleepy grape town suddenly had the busiest travel hub in the region on its doorstep. Grapevine leaned all the way in on tourism. It restored its historic Main Street, cultivated a cluster of wineries and tasting rooms that play on the old grape heritage, welcomed the enormous Gaylord Texan resort, and branded itself the 'Christmas Capital of Texas.' The oldest settlement in the county reinvented itself as its front porch for travelers.