Rowlett

Rowlett is four miles east of Garland and twenty miles northeast of Dallas in northeastern Dallas County and western Rockwall County. It is bordered on the east and south by Lake Ray Hubbard and on the west by Rowlett Creek. Dr. Daniel Rowlett moved to Texas from Kentucky in 1836 and later purchased a large tract of land in Collin County. A creek running through this property was named Rowlett's Creek; a portion of this creek runs through Dallas County and the western section of Rowlett into Lake Ray Hubbard. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas line was built through the area in 1886, and the Rowlett community received a post office in 1889. By 1892 the town had an estimated population of 200, a general store, a mill, and a cotton gin operated by D. W. Housley. Its population grew to 350 by 1896; by 1914, however, the population had declined to 200. By then the town had Catholic, Christian, and Methodist denominations. Rowlett received electrical service in 1924. The community was incorporated in 1952, when it had a population of 250 and ten businesses. Eighty-four citizens voted unanimously for incorporation. With the completion of Lake Ray Hubbard in 1971, a building boom began, and the population rose to more than 1,600 by 1973, to 2,500 by 1975, and to an estimated 10,573 by 1989, when the community reported 200 businesses, mostly light industry and services. The population of Rowlett in 1990 was 23,260. In the early 1990s the community had more than thirty miles of shoreline on Lake Ray Hubbard, and a nature trail and Springfield Park were on Rowlett Creek. In 2000 the population was 44,503.