December 9th, 2009 Family Fun in Grand Prairie
Rivers run through a number of towns and cities in the United States, but how many comprise over twelve percent of the city itself? I don’t know the answer to that, but at least one of those cities is Grand Prairie, Texas, just outside Dallas, whose Johnson Creek flows through the city of over a hundred and sixty thousand and into the Trinity River. This small city is a destination spot for families and offers those who stay in the hotels Grand Prairie offers its guests a number of fun activities, including fishing and camping and boating and hiking in the Cedar Hill State Park or Joe Pool Lake. There’s also the Traders Village Flea Market, which is perhaps one of the most popular flea markets in Texas, where you can find typical Texan cuisine: turkey legs, burgers, corn-on-the corn, not to mention corn dogs. There’s theme park rides, too, as well as amusement parks. Just a few blocks away from a number of hotels, you can find entertainment similar to the kind you might if you were visiting Hollywood: A Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum and a Palace of Wax (Of course, Hollywood doesn’t offer a Lone Star Park horse track or Six Flags, Hurricane Harbor [you have to drive forty miles north for the latter amusement park in California]).
Originally, the city was known as “Dechman” after a man named Alexander McRae Dechman who learned in 1863 that he could trade for land in Dallas County. Using his oxen, a broken wagon, and two hundred in Confederate cash, he bought nearly two hundred and forty acres. Well after the Civil War, in 1876, he traded this prairie property to the T&P railroad, making certain that trains would come through town. The railraod depot was named Dechman. In 1877, the postal service used the name Deckman because they couldn’t read the handwriting on the form, creating confusion between Deckman and Dechman. The post office decided they would just use the name Grand Prairie, based on map designations of the area from twenty years prior, around 1850 to 1858. Soon, a legend grew up (that proliferates all over the internet): A famous actress came to town by train, got off at the depot, and said, “Oh, what a grand prairie.” Perhaps it’s true. I’m sure somebody said it at some point, perhaps more than once!
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