DUNCANVILLE, TEXAS. Duncanville is west of the intersection of Interstate Highway 20 and U.S. Highway 67 in southwestern Dallas County. The land on which the city lies originally belonged to the Peters Colony. Settlement began when Crawford Trees arrived from Illinois in 1845 and purchased several thousand acres south of Camp Dallas. Trees donated land in 1855 for the Little Bethel Male and Female School, which also served as a church building until 1881, when citizens constructed the Union Hall House. In 1880 the Chicago, Texas and Mexican Central Railway reached the area and built Duncan Switch, named for a line foreman. Charles P. Nance, the community's first postmaster, renamed the settlement Duncanville in 1882. The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe acquired the railroad in 1883 and erected telegraph poles and lines. Though a fire in 1884 destroyed most of the community's commercial buildings, by the late 1800s dry goods stores, a pharmacy, a domino parlor, and a school existed in Duncanville. The Farmers Gin and the Farmers Bank opened there in the early 1900s. Between 1904 and 1933 the population of Duncanville increased from 113 to more than 300. Fearing annexation by neighboring Dallas, Duncanville residents incorporated a 225-acre city on August 2, 1947. When the town's population reached 5,000 in 1962, citizens adopted a home-rule charter with council-manager city government. Duncanville has developed as a Dallas suburb. Its population increased from about 13,000 in 1970 to more than 31,000 in 1988. Local commerce, which formerly centered on Main Street, had by that time expanded to other sites in the town, most notably to shopping centers on the city's west side and along U.S. Highway 67 between Duncanville and Cedar Hill. Duncanville had a population of 35,748 in 1990 and reported 773 rated businesses in the early 1990s. In 2000 the population was 36,081 with 1,307 businesses.

SEAGOVILLE, TEXAS. Seagoville, a suburban residential community, is on State Highway 175 and the Southern Pacific line ten miles southeast of Mesquite in southeastern Dallas County. Interstate Highway 635, State Highway 75, and Interstate Highway 20 all skirt the community. Seagoville is on the original land grant of J. D. Merchant. One of the first recorded settlers in the area was Hugh L. Buchanan, who arrived in the 1860s. By 1867 John A. Brinegar had constructed a one-room log school with seats made of split logs. The early 1870s saw the arrival of the next group of settlers, which included the Cravens, Sorrells, Peaks, Moores, and Hawthornes, as well as the town's founder, T. K. Seago, who built a general store there in 1876. A community began to develop around the store, and in 1876 it was known as Seago. In that year B. F. Peak built a cotton gin, and two years later the community's first Baptist church was completed. Freight was shipped and received from locks on the Trinity River.

In 1880 Professor J. T. Doss constructed a new school, and in 1881 the Texas Trunk Railroad was completed through Seago; the area shipped cotton and alfalfa. The community secured a post office in 1881; this office was still open in the early 1990s. In 1885 the First Methodist Church was completed, and the community had a steam gristmill, a cotton gin, another general store, and a population of sixty, which included a teacher, a blacksmith, and a doctor. By 1890 Seago had a population of eighty-five, and another general merchandise store, established by J. L. Fly, supplied the area with farm implements. By 1902 Seago had a newspaper called The Star, which was edited by J. E. Laney. In 1908 the Trinity River flooded and caused considerable damage to the C. C. Cobb farm, one of the largest in the state. In 1910 the community's first brick school was constructed; it had ten grades and fifteen students. That year the post office name was changed to Seagoville to avoid confusion with the town of Sego. Two years later Seagoville drilled an artesian well. In 1914 A. H. McWhorter and M. P. Hawthorne built eight brick buildings, one of which housed a movie theater. By that time the community had a population of 300, five general stores, five grocery stores, two hardware stores, two restaurants, two drugstores, a lumberyard, a blacksmith shop, a cotton gin, and a printer. Seagoville also had a Western Union office, local telephone service, the Seagoville News, and the Farmers Guaranty State Bank.

In 1925 Seagoville secured electrical service, and in 1926 it incorporated. Two years later a two-story high school was built, and by 1929 the population of the community had increased to 650. During the Great Depression, however, the number of businesses decreased from twenty-eight (in 1929) to twelve (1933). Closures included the Seagoville State Bank, which shut its doors in December 1932. During this period two new institutions provided income for the residents of Seagoville: a federal detention station, and the Seagoville Community Cannery (begun by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation). Seagoville began to develop again when the main office and warehouse of Gibson Discount Stores located there in 1938. By 1941 the number of rated businesses at Seagoville had increased to twenty-five and the population to 760. Seagoville at this time had seven grocery stores and service stations, five cafes, four beauty salons, three wholesale meat distributors, and two each of cotton gins, barbershops, garages, icehouses, and tobacco distributors. It also had numerous other businesses ranging from a laundry to a golf course. Public buildings included a city hall and a city jail, several schools, and a fire department. During World War II 290 of the 720 residents served in the armed forces, and the Seagoville Federal Correctional Institute was used by the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service to hold foreign-born people from the east and west coasts.

By 1948 the community had an estimated population of 2,000, forty-five businesses, and a second artesian water well. The economy was supported by the federal correctional institute, by local agricultural production, and by the Gibson Products Company, which manufactured shoe polish, drugs, and lotion. The community also had four churches and was still served by the Seagoville News. Banking was done in nearby Crandall. During the next two decades growth continued. In 1952 the second Seagoville State Bank opened, and three years later a new junior high school was built. In 1957 the community's high school burned down, forcing students to attend the Pleasant Grove High School until 1959, when Seagoville completed a new building. Five years later, when the local school district became part of the Dallas Independent School District, Seagoville had a population of 4,275 and 116 businesses.

In 1971 Seagoville was named "Small Town U.S.A." by the United States Marine Corps recruiting office, which subsequently shot a recruiting film entitled "Strictly On Your Own" in downtown Seagoville. In 1979 the community had a new sewage treatment plant and dedicated a new city hall and police substation. That year the community celebrated its 100th birthday. By 1990 Seagoville had a population of 8,969. In 1991 the population was reported as 9,100, and Seagoville had a six-member mayor-council form of city government, twelve policemen, ten full-time firemen, and sixteen volunteer firemen. At that time the community had two elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school, with a total school population of 1,900. Seagoville also had a public library, seven churches, the Seagoville Federal Correctional Institute, and a United States Army reserve facility. In 2000 the population reached 10,823.

Don't leave out their main source of income, handing out tickets for doing 37 in a 35 on Pioneer. That town should cease to exist. No one would miss it.

Can you get a cheeseburger there?

is Cleburne next?

CLIMAX, TEXAS (Collin County). Climax is at the intersection of Farm roads 1377 and 2756, five miles east of McKinney in central Collin County. It was first settled by Williams Warden, a farmer who moved to Texas from Missouri in 1844. In 1850 Warden received a Peters' colony land certificate for 640 acres near the East Fork of the Trinity River. He settled there with his family shortly thereafter. By the mid-1890s the community had two gins, a grain elevator, a school, a church, a hotel, and a general store. A post office was established in 1895. Six years later mail service was discontinued and rerouted to Farmersville. Climax has served as a retail point for area farmers for most of its history. Its population was estimated at forty from 1940 through 2000.

The hometown of and .

I was there a few weeks ago and it's strug-a-ling buddeh. Those 1,307 businesses can't be doing so well.

MESQUITE, TEXAS (Dallas County). . The population was 124,523 with 4,000 businesses.