The History of Irving, Texas
Irving is two stories stacked on top of each other. The first is an ordinary railroad town, founded in 1903 and named — of all things — for a novelist. The second is Las Colinas, a rancher's audacious 1970s vision of a city built from scratch on cattle land, complete with canals and skyscrapers. One is why Irving exists; the other is why anyone outside Dallas has heard of it.
A Town Named for a Writer (1903–1960s)
Two developers, Otto Schulze and Otis Brown, platted the townsite in 1903 along the Rock Island railroad. The name came from literature: Brown's wife, Netta, was a fan of the American author Washington Irving, so the town became Irving. It incorporated in 1914 with Otis Brown as its first mayor, and for decades it grew as a modest railroad and farming community west of Dallas, close enough to the city to become a bedroom suburb as the region spread outward.
Las Colinas Changes the Map (1970s–1980s)
The defining chapter belongs to Ben H. Carpenter, whose family had built a large ranch on the land. Instead of simply selling it off, Carpenter set out in the early 1970s to build a planned city on the acreage — Las Colinas, a mixed-use development of offices, homes, and recreation on a scale and with a futurism few had attempted. It came with canals, a monorail-style people mover, and the famous bronze Mustangs of Las Colinas galloping across a plaza fountain. Fortune 500 companies moved into the new towers, and Irving suddenly had one of the most recognizable corporate addresses in Texas.
Football, Business, and the Modern City
For most of a generation Irving was also where the Dallas Cowboys played — Texas Stadium, with its famous hole in the roof, stood in Irving from 1971 until the team moved to Arlington and the stadium was demolished in 2010. The corporate base stuck around and grew; Irving and Las Colinas host a long roster of major company headquarters, helped by sitting right next to DFW Airport. It's now the twelfth-largest city in Texas, a business hub that started as a railroad stop with a bookish name.
Timeline
1903
Otto Schulze and Otis Brown plat the townsite, naming it Irving for author Washington Irving.
1914
Irving incorporates as a city, with Otis Brown as first mayor.
1971
Texas Stadium opens in Irving as the home of the Dallas Cowboys.
1973
Ben Carpenter's Las Colinas planned community begins to take shape on former ranchland.
2010
Texas Stadium is demolished after the Cowboys move to Arlington.
Notable People
Ben H. Carpenter
Rancher and developer who transformed his family's cattle land into the planned city of Las Colinas in the 1970s.
Otis Brown
Co-founder of Irving in 1903 and its first mayor; the town was named for a favorite author of his wife, Netta.
FAQ: History of Irving
The town, platted in 1903, was named for the American author Washington Irving — a favorite of Netta Brown, wife of co-founder Otis Brown.
Las Colinas is a large planned community within Irving, developed beginning in the 1970s by rancher Ben H. Carpenter on his family's land. It became a major Fortune 500 corporate center known for its canals, people-mover, and the Mustangs of Las Colinas sculpture.
Yes. The Cowboys played at Texas Stadium in Irving — famous for the hole in its roof — from 1971 until they moved to AT&T Stadium in Arlington. Texas Stadium was demolished in 2010.
Irving was platted as a townsite in 1903 and incorporated as a city in 1914. It grew from a railroad and farming town into one of the largest cities in Texas.
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