Birdville

Product photo
Promotion: Nearby Tarrant County

Birdville, in central Tarrant County, the first settlement in the county. It was established in 1841 and named for Capt. Jonathan Bird. Birdville was a functioning settlement by 1848, and its earliest residents were farmers and cattle ranchers. It was selected by the state legislature as the county seat when Tarrant County was established in 1849. A local post office was open in 1851 and served as a mail distribution point for a number of communities to the west. Birdville lost by seven votes to Fort Worth in a county seat election in November 1856. In 1870 Birdville had four general stores and a blacksmith shop. During the 1896–97 term, the local Black school enrolled fourteen pupils and employed one teacher, and the White school registered seventy-seven students and employed two teachers. The post office closed in 1906, when the community's population was reported at 107. The same population was reported through 1940. In the late 1940s the community had a population of 200 and five businesses, and in the middle 1950s it had 400 residents. By 1990 it had been annexed by Haltom City. Though Birdville had ceased to exist as a named community in the early 2000s, it still had its own named school district, the Birdville Independent School District. In 2009 the district's elementary school name was changed to Major Cheney Elementary School at South Birdville, in honor of Major Cheney, an African-American land grant owner who had helped settle the area. Cheney had donated land for the first school for Blacks there in 1891.

Continue Reading

Brian Hart | © TSHA

Handbook of Texas Logo

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.

Belongs to

Birdville is part of or belongs to the following places:

Currently Exists

No

Place type

Birdville is classified as a Town

Associated Names

  • [Bird's Fort]
  • [Birdsville]
  • [Fort Bird]

Location

Latitude: 32.80429600
Longitude: -97.25195900

Has Post Office

No

Is Incorporated

No