Mesquite Home Of The Rodeo
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Mesquite, a suburb of Dallas, has become a booming residential area for the many 1,000’s of people who work in or around Dallas. Mesquite is surrounded by a few other suburbs like, Garland, Balch Springs, Sunnyvale, and Rockwall. Located at 32Ðo46′58вЂÑ-N, 96Ðo36′36вЂÑ-W, Mesquite is perfect for farming in Texas. Starting out as a mainly agricultural industry, Mesquite has morphed into a Rodeo-crazed city, to now a peaceful, yet growing community of families centralized around businesses.
Mesquite was officially founded May 1873 by the Texas and Pacific Railway purchased by A. R. Alcott and called “Mesquite Creek”. William Bradfield, the first settler in Mesquite began starting the city with a post office and R. S. Kimbrough started the first newspaper, Mesquiter, in 1882. During the late 1800’s, Mesquite prospered by farming crops such as cotton, hay, corn, and sugar. Brick factories and cotton gins were Mesquite’s first successful industries. Even though Mesquite is now a booming suburb and farming has just about died out, there are still a few old ranches and farm lands today.
This Florence Ranch Homestead is located at the end of my block. In my neighborhood there is a mix of houses built in the 1980’s and ranch style homes used for farming long before.
With an obvious history of farming, fencing is very important. Each family must mark off their land to contain animals, know boundaries of farming, and to keep others off their land. Many different types of fencing can be seen across Mesquite.
Samuell’s Farm in Mesquite is a perfect example of what old time Mesquite was like. City folk in Mesquite today can come and visit the farm to experience real farm life. I had a summer camp at Samuell Farm when I was younger and we fed the animals and toured the farming land.
Mesquite has changed into a predominately industrial city. However, here and there one can still come across a little of Mesquite agricultural past. As I was driving around Mesquite, just off one of the major streets in the city I came across many rolled haystacks. This shows how common it is to still today find many farming areas still around Mesquite.
The Mesquite Championship Rodeo was established by Neal Gay in 1958 drawing crowds from all across Texas. After WWII, Neal Gay, and buddy, Jim Shoulders, and many others got involved in rodeos everywhere. Gay and Shoulders decided they would create a Rodeo that stays in one spot and make a career out of running the place. The Mesquite Championship Rodeo got off to a slow start, not really attracting much business or interest. However, in 1964 a roof was built on the arena which created jobs year-long with protection from severe weather that would force Neal Gay to cancel shows.
In 1970, highway I-635 was finished allowing people easier access to and from the rodeo. The highway connected Mesquite to it’s neighbors — Garland and Balch Springs. Before the highway was complete, the main means of transportation was railroad. There were small roads here and there, but the construction of the highway really increased people’s awareness of Mesquite.
The next year, 1971, Town East Mall was completed, drawing more people to good old Mesquite. There is also a Town East Tower which stands seven stories claiming the title of the tallest building in Mesquite.
The population had grown immensely. In 1950 the census said there were 1,696 people living in Mesquite. That number exploded in 1960 to 27,526 and even more so in 1970 to 55,131. The most recent census in 2000 stated there were 124,523 people living in 43,926 households. Population density of mesquite was 2,868