By XB Junk Solutions LLC · Irving, Texas
Before the town
Settlers were farming the Elm Fork bottomlands of the Trinity River well before Irving existed as a town. Small communities such as Bear Creek, Kit, Sowers and Union Bower dotted the area that Irving would later grow to include. Bear Creek, in present-day south Irving, was founded by formerly enslaved African Americans after the Civil War and became one of the area's important Black communities; its history is preserved today at the Jackie Townsell Bear Creek Heritage Center.
1903: a railroad townsite
Irving was laid out in 1903 by J.O. Schulze and Otis Brown along the Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railway line. According to local tradition, the name honors author Washington Irving, a favorite of Schulze's wife. The town grew as a farming and rail-shipping point, and was incorporated in 1914.
Post-war growth
Like much of North Texas, Irving grew quickly after World War II as Dallas expanded westward. Neighborhoods of single-family homes spread across what had been farmland — the established, mid-century housing stock that still defines much of central and south Irving.
University Hills and the Carpenter family
The Carpenter family had assembled ranch land in northern Irving known as Hackberry Creek Ranch. Construction began on University Hills, near the University of Dallas, in 1963 — the first residential village of what became modern Las Colinas.
DFW Airport
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport opened in 1974 on Irving's western edge. Its arrival reshaped the city, drawing logistics, hotels and corporate offices that wanted fast access to air travel.
Las Colinas
Ben Carpenter led the transformation of the family's ranch land into Las Colinas, formally launched as a master-planned community in 1973. It combines more than 40 residential villages, residential villages, an urban center around the man-made Lake Carolyn and its canals, and a corporate business district. Williams Square, with Robert Glen's bronze Mustangs of Las Colinas, became the area's best-known landmark. Over time, Las Colinas attracted a large concentration of corporate headquarters and regional offices.
Valley Ranch
In far north Irving, Valley Ranch developed during the 1980s as another master-planned community, built around canals and greenbelts. It was home to the Dallas Cowboys' headquarters and training facility from the mid-1980s until the team moved to Frisco in 2016.
Modern Irving and the Heritage District
Today Irving is a major corporate and residential city, with the Irving Convention Center and Toyota Music Factory anchoring entertainment in Las Colinas, and the City investing in the historic downtown and Heritage District around Main Street and Heritage Park.
Why it matters for a cleanout
This history explains why one city produces such different jobs: decades-old households in University Hills and central Irving, relocations and turnovers in Las Colinas and Valley Ranch, and offices and warehouses along the freeway and airport corridors.