Cedar Hill was a vibrant, successful rural community. In fact, the town had grown so much it had become the County Seat of Dallas County. By 1855, Cedar Hill had both a post office and a school. Part of the town rests on a limestone escarpment and to the west, in the area old-time Cedar Hill residents refer to as the valley, is flat prairie land with dark, rich soil. Over the next 10 – 15 years Cedar Hill continued to grow. Trees is believed to be the first settler inside the borders of what is now Cedar Hill. Included among the settlers who purchased land was a man named Crawford Trees. The Peter’s Colony, as it was known covered an area of north Texas that today would include 26 counties, including Dallas and Tarrant. In 1841, the first of four land grants were given to a group made up of American and English investors led by a man named William S. They were located sporadically throughout the large area and were mostly made up of squatters from the United States and the occasional trading post. Groups from other tribes would occasionally pass through, but not in great numbers.Īs early as the 1820’s there were settlers living in North Texas. The Tawakoni, who were part of the much larger Wichita people, were known to have lived in the area, but by the 1840’s they had mostly moved on. Prior to white settlers coming to the area, Cedar Hill’s first residents were Native American. Just some of the broadcast towers in Cedar Hill. Today, Cedar Hill is home to, I believe, 14 different broadcast towers, most for Dallas/Fort Worth area television and radio stations, but to mobile communication service providers as well. Fathers used to tell their kids, if you’re ever out driving and get turned around, just look for the towers and you’ll always be able to find your way home. Because of its altitude and location, someone back in the 1950’s decided that Cedar Hill, which sits approximately 880 feet above sea level, would be a great place to build a broadcast tower. There’s a chance you’ve never heard of Cedar Hill, but if you’ve ever traveled south of Dallas at night, chances are you’ve seen Cedar Hill. In this episode, I’m going to introduce you to a town very near and dear to me – Cedar Hill. Those towns that have declined are usually far off the beaten path, not located geographically near larger towns, or towns that have been bypassed by interstates, state highways or even going back into the 1800’s, bypassed by railroads. Those towns that have grown are usually towns on the periphery of larger towns that, despite one time being outlying rural communities have, over the years, grown into suburbs. Well, there are two types of small towns in Texas… small towns that have grown and small towns that have shrunk. The lady who monitored me during the night, Molly, told me all about the small town she grew up in – Megargel, Texas, population 193, per a 2016 estimate. In fact, just a couple of nights ago I decided to get proactive with my snoring after 20 years and have a sleep study done. So, I thought this might be a perfect way for me to spread history and information about some of the small towns we know, we’ve heard of, or if we haven’t heard of them, small towns we should have heard of. One of the things I’ve mentioned here on several occasions is my love for small-town Texas. These mini-episodes will allow me to concentrate on a subject that maybe doesn’t warrant a full 30-45 minutes. So, today, I plan on doing my first Texas Hillstory Mini Episode. One of the things many of my favorite podcasts do is publish minisodes, mini-episodes or in-between-i-sodes between their regular length episodes. So, between that and my Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art from the University of Texas in Arlington, I can speak intelligently on a wide variety of topics from the Antwerp Mannerists of the Northern European Renaissance from 1500-1530 to branding and castrating cattle.Īs I’ve said before, I like to listen to podcasts, in fact, I listen almost exclusively to podcasts. For those listening for the first time, I am a 7th grade Texas History teacher at Ousley Junior High School in Arlington, Texas. I’m your host, Cam Hill.įor returning listeners, thanks for tuning in again to hear my take on Texas and Texas History. Hello and welcome to MINI-episode one of The Texas Hillstory Podcast – Texas and all that implies from a Texas History Teacher’s Point-of-View.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |