Farmers Branch

Farmers Branch, Texas

Farmers Branch, Texas

The City of Farmers Branch is located in Dallas County, Texas. Photograph by Larry D. Moore.
Product photo
Promotion: Nearby Map of Dallas County

Farmers Branch is on Interstate Highway 35 and State Highway 77 twelve miles north of downtown Dallas in northwestern Dallas County. The Burlington Northern and Missouri, Kansas and Texas railroads serve the city. Farmers Branch was the location in 1845 of the first office of the Texan Land and Emigration Company, or the Peters colony. It was the most well-known Dallas County town during the 1840s because of its advertising throughout Europe and the United States. Thomas Keenan, Isaac B. Webb, and William Cochran all arrived in 1842 and received original land grants in the area that became the site of Farmers Branch. By 1843 settlers had established a community called Mustang Branch, named for the Mustang grapes that grew along the creek. Cochran later changed the name to Farmers Branch because of the area's rich farmland.

On May 5, 1845, Isaac Webb established the first formal church in Dallas County, called Webb or Webb's Chapel. This Methodist church originally met in a log cabin, which went through several buildings but still existed as a congregation in the 1990s. A school was started in the church in 1846. Webb became the first postmaster of Farmers Branch when the post office was established there on January 5, 1848. The post office functioned until 1866, was closed, and was reinstated in 1875. The first blacksmith shop in Dallas County was built at Farmers Branch in 1845 by William Bowles, a Baptist preacher, and his slave Jordan, who worked as the blacksmith. In the same year the first Dallas County gristmill was built there; it used rawhide belts that could be used only when the weather was dry because they stretched when wet. The first local cotton gin was built in 1849 by James A. Smith.

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Lisa C. Maxwell | © TSHA

Handbook of Texas Logo

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.

Belongs to

Farmers Branch is part of or belongs to the following places:

Currently Exists

Yes

Place type

Farmers Branch is classified as a Town

Associated Names

  • (Mustang Branch)

Location

Latitude: 32.92721630
Longitude: -96.88035900

Has Post Office

Yes

Is Incorporated

Yes

Population Count, 2021 View more »

36,442

Place Type Population (Year/Source) Currently Exists
College or University Yes

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