About Us

Community History

In 1882, the town was established at the site of a mineral well. The well-formed focal point for developing a central business district with a train depot, hotel, general merchandise store, drug store, bank, post office, lumber company, and blacksmith. In 1886 the Fort Worth and New Orleans Railway Company was built through Kennedale to Waxahachie.

The development of the defense industry in Fort Worth, beginning in the 1940s, provided new jobs for area residents and encouraged growth in the county. Kennedale has seen tremendous growth beginning in the 1940s.
• In the late 1940s, Kennedale had a population of 325 residents and eight businesses.
• In 1950, the population had increased to 500.
• In 1955, there were 1,046 residents and twenty businesses.
• In 1965, the population of Kennedale was 1,800.
• In 1975, the city had grown to include 2,850 residents and seventy businesses.
• By 1990, the population had grown to 4,096 residents and eighty-three businesses.

Native American artifacts, which date back more than 15 centuries, have been found in and around the present site of Kennedale. Indications are that this was a popular hunting and fishing area for small groups until permanent settlements were established along bluffs overlooking tributaries of the Trinity River. The land was attractive, with rolling hills dotted with post oak and other trees.

Sixteenth-century Spanish explorers found the native villages to be a good source of corn not generally grown west of this area. Because of the profusion of villages of the Caddo Tribe, the local tributary came to be called Caddo Village Creek, which has now been shortened to Village Creek.

In the mid-1800s, there were early signs of Kennedale becoming a transportation hub. Many wagon trails crossed at the site in numbers that exceeded the trails through what was to become the City of Arlington. In 1882 John D. Hudson, along with C.B. Teague and O.S. Kennedy, purchased land and established the Town of Kennedale on the site of a mineral well.

A brickyard was established in 1888 at the location of the present City Park. A fire raged through the business district in 1908, destroying all but the general store, which remained standing until 1997. The business district was never rebuilt, and business activity gradually migrated to Mansfield Highway.

After an election that included 42 voters in July 1947, the Town of Kennedale was incorporated with a population of 300. In 1950, a petition to the State was approved, changing the status of Kennedale from "Town" to "City." The incorporation date of Kennedale is July 1947.

District History

The first school in Kennedale, built around 1890, was a two-story building that was located near the current Administration Building. This served as the school for the district until 1913 when the rising population resulted in a new two story brick school being built. 

Kennedale ISD nearly shut down in the early 1970s due to funding issues, but was thankfully saved by the work of Superintendent J.W. Teague, who served the district from 1972-1986.