Texas Tidbits : The Grand Prairie of Texas

Every time I post some thing here on Three States Plus One I learn or am reminded of something new or something I had long forgotten about where I grew up. This morning as I was clicking through some stuff to elucidate on, I was reminded of several things forgotten and learned a few things I did not know. I like, many of my readers and most of my Facebook amigos, grew up in south Irving, so Grand Prairie was just a few minutes south on Belt Line Road. An aside : does anyone remember drag racing on Animal Safari Road? Or fishing the gravel pits on that "country" road on the extreme south side of Irving that had two names? (time passes) Hunter-Farrell! That's it! I would have had sleepless nights if I didn't recall that name. But, I digress. I remember a water park at belt Line and I-30 and a real cool go cart track in that area. (I held the record for fastest lap there for ages!. Just call me The Eliminator. :)) Today, as I understand it, there's Lone Star Park, a skate board, a Minor League ball Park (!) and lots of other "touristy" stuff nearby. Sigh. Such is progress. Grand Prairie has come a long way since Alexander Dechman (I am not making this up) "In 1863, Dechman bought 239 ½ acres of land on the eastern side of the Trinity River and 100 acres (.40 km²) of timber land on the west side of the river for a broken down wagon, oxen team and US$200 in Confederate money" (from Wikipedia). My wife has a broken down husband , two "very active" children and $200 US and I am certain she'd make the same deal today. The grand prairie between Dallas and Fort Worth is now a big small town of 154,000 people. My how times have changed and I have learned that all my fellow SIWT and Facebook amigos are gettin' old. Oh! I have a message for all GP High grads of '71-'75 : never forget 21-20 !