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Despite being one of the oldest settlements in North Texas, DeSoto has been a small town for most of its existence. Nearly 100 years after its settlement in 1847, the town had around 200 residents, just 80 more than it had in 1885. Throughout the years, DeSoto saw a rise and fall of the population, but with over 53,000 residents today it is evident that the favorable location and sense of community have helped keep the steady rise in residents. DeSoto’s investment in their community kicked off in the ’80s with preservation projects and international outreach, which led the way to be given the All-America City Award in 2006.
Early DeSoto weathers a storm
By most accounts, DeSoto remained relatively quiet throughout the first half of the 20th century. The town first made headlines in The Dallas Morning News on April 11, 1902, when it was struck by a tornado that injured 9 people and caused an estimated $40,000 worth of damage (roughly $1.2 million in today’s dollars).
According to The News, the “tornado squarely struck the little town of De Soto,” lifting houses off of the ground and uprooting telephone lines. “For two or three hours communication by wire with the devastated districts was cut off,” The News reported.
Once communication was re-established, tales of the devastation traveled quickly. Within a day, a committee was formed with the stated purpose of collecting and distributing contributions to the victims of the storm.
By 1924, the town had rebounded and was looking to expand. A.Q. Nance, a merchant of DeSoto, erected a one-story general store. George Cumrine, a local business owner, established a garage, gas and service station. Area farmers were increasingly asking to establish a cotton gin in town to save them the eight-mile trek to the nearest town or railroad. The same year, DeSoto Independent School District enrolled over 200 students.
A town without taxes
Like so many North Texas towns, the extended drought during the years following World War II forced residents of DeSoto to address issues of water access and distribution. The solution was a $27,500 bond package to fund the extension of the town’s water lines from its two existing wells.
To gain the authority to issue the bonds, however, the town needed to incorporate. DeSoto voted to become Dallas County’s 19th municipality on March 2, 1949, with only two dissenters. Less than two weeks later, residents had elected their first mayor, Wayne A. Chowning, and five members to the City Council. The newly elected officials made quick work of issuing the revenue bonds, which provided just enough to pay for the pipe.
Newly formed DeSoto had opted from its incorporation not to impose taxes on its residents, and so lacked the funds to hire out the project. Instead, 30 local men — including three council members — turned out to do the work themselves. Mayor Chowning showed up daily to take his turn at the shovel. The expansion would provide water access to 91 homes in a town of about one square mile.
DeSoto’s taxless status was a point of pride for city officials, who relied on the co-operation of the city’s residents for a variety of cost-saving measures. Even DeSoto’s first city marshal, Dot Parks, served his post without pay, combining his police job with bus driving.
Taxes make a comeback
Once it had established reliable access to clean water, DeSoto experienced rapid growth. According to census data, Desoto had 298 residents in 1950. Ten years later, that number had ballooned to 1,969. During that time, the city had acquired its first industry. Southwest Industrial Materials Corp. announced plans to build a clay processing plant in DeSoto in October 1956. By 1958, the DeSoto school system — established in 1954 — had grown from 187 students to 531.
The population boom of the 1950s placed a heavy burden on city services, and officials increasingly eyed taxes as a source of revenue. In a conversation with published Aug. 16, 1957, Mayor J.B. Wadlington said that “as a tax-less town we’ve had wide publicity, but I’m afraid we’re growing so much that we will someday — maybe next year — set up a tax roll.”
The breaking point for DeSoto’s aversion to taxes came when the city developed plans for its first sewer system. On Aug. 19, 1961, voters narrowly approved $152, 000 in tax bonds to build a system that would serve 167 homes. After 14 years of bliss, Dallas County’s last tax-free municipality hired a consultant and assessed its first tax in 1962.
By the time the new decade rolled around, DeSoto residents had had enough, and were eager for ways to ensure their tax dollars were being well-spent.
In January 1974, the police department, which began as a single officer who served without pay, became the subject of an investigation into allegations of abusiveness. The City Council, whose members helped dig the trenches for the city’s first incorporated water project, became the target of a recall effort on Oct. 18, 1977. A month later, DeSoto mayor Durward Davis was the target of a similar ousting effort by a group calling themselves the “Save Our City Coalition.” This effort was similarly unsuccessful.
Is it De Soto or DeSoto?
Of all the controversies that embroiled DeSoto throughout its lifetime, the longest lasting was the one surrounding the city’s name. Since the establishment of the town’s first post office in 1884, the city’s name has appeared in two forms; De Soto — with a space — and DeSoto, with no space. It wasn’t until 1980 that the City Council put an end to the debate.
On Feb. 19, DeSoto City Council members approved a resolution clarifying that the latter — DeSoto with no space — was the correct way to spell the city’s name. The confusion could have been cleared up in 1949, but the town was incorrectly incorporated as “De Soto,” the resolution said.
Fully equipped with a strong tax base, a politically active constituency, and an agreed-upon spelling of the city’s name, DeSoto was ready to enter a new era marked by rapid population growth, economic development and demographic change.
DeSoto gets a sister
The News reported on July 2, 1984, that the chamber’s DeSoto International Economic Development Council was going to meet with Ambassador Humberto Martinez Romero to discuss the sister city program. The town of DeSoto was looking to find a sister in Mexico roughly the same size to establish culture and business ties.
On Nov. 23, 1984, The News reports that during a planned trip for DeSoto civic leaders to Mexico in search of a sister city instead found a city in desperate need of aid after a plant explosion. So, local leaders returned to DeSoto and started a relief program to help out the newly adopted region of Tlalnepantla, and again in 1985 after an earthquake hit the community.
DeSoto invests in the community
For DeSoto, 1984 was a big year in growth and development in city works and cultural exchanges. The Park Board was resurrecting a 4-year-old master plan to renovate the Ten Mile Creek to be a local park.
On Jan. 7, 1984, The News reported that historic Nance Farm, which was built in 1850, was finally getting a much-needed restoration. The farm was already designated as a Texas Historical Landmark in 1976. The property used to cover around 600 acres and now rests on a 2 1/3-acre plot and has a windmill, multiple wells, a milking barn, a tank house, and curing shed on the property.
DeSoto achieves national attention
That work started to pay off in the new millennium. In 2006, DeSoto received the All-America City Award by the National Civic League for its grass-roots community problem-solving. In its presentation to the judges, DeSoto focused on the city’s Dining and Dialogue program, an initiative borrowed from Dallas with the stated purpose of embracing diversity.
Over the last 70 years, DeSoto has grown from a small bedroom community to emerge in the new century as a top contender to live in among Dallas-Fort Worth’s suburbs.
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