Grand Prairie

Grand Prairie is a North Texas city between Dallas and Fort Worth, on the West Fork of the Trinity River. The city lies on the open blackland prairie that gave it its name, and its first farms were planted in that black soil.

Alexander McRae Dechman acquired land on the prairie in 1863 in exchange for his broken-down wagon and an ox, and the town that grew there was first called Dechman. When the Texas and Pacific Railway built its line between Dallas and Fort Worth in the 1870s, the station took the name Grand Prairie, and the town adopted it. Grand Prairie was incorporated in 1909 and stayed a farm town until an aircraft plant opened beside its airfield in the 1940s and drew workers from across the country.

Airbus Helicopters has its North American head office and an assembly line in Grand Prairie, where it finishes civil helicopters for customers in the United States. Poly-America, a family company based in the city, makes plastic trash bags and construction film.

Lone Star Park, a racetrack opened in the 1990s, holds thoroughbred racing in spring and summer. Traders Village is a flea market that has sold antiques and secondhand goods on weekends since the 1970s. Epic Waters, an indoor water park with a retractable roof, opened in the late 2010s. Joe Pool Lake, a reservoir on the southern edge of the city, has marinas, campgrounds and trails along its shore. Ripley's Believe It or Not! shares a building with a wax museum on the main highway through the city, behind a facade in the style of an Indian palace.