Azle, Texas

Azle is a suburb of Fort Worth, Texas that is along State Highway 199 that is split in half by Parker and Tarrant Counties and is only about 17 miles from downtown Fort Worth.

The first recorded settler to arrive in the area and set up a homestead was Dr. J. G Reynolds, who arrived in 1846. Over time, more settlers arrived from Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, and Kentucky who set up farms and ranches to raise livestock. The small community of settlers was at first named Elizabeth Town. Another of the earliest settlers was Dr. James Azle Steward, who acquired much of the land around Elizabeth Town. During those early years, the area was sparsely populated with a little over 600 settlers in all of Tarrant County.

The name of the budding community changed several times over the years from Elizabeth Town to Mooresville and then in 1881, the name was changed to O’Bar, after the settler who arrived in the area in the early 1880s, and was instrumental in getting the first post office established. However, after Dr. Azle Steward donated land to the community in 1883 to create a townsite, the name was changed to Azle. Apart from the land he donated for the townsite, Dr. Azle Steward contributed greatly to the development of Azle by donating additional land for schools, churches, and other community purposes.

As with most communities in the area at that time, the economy was agriculturally based with the primary crops being wheat, cotton, sorghum, and a few fruits like plums and peaches. This changed over time, and by the early 1900s, cattle ranching and dairy farming had started to become the main economic drivers as local products were being sold to the processors in Fort Worth. From 1900 to the mid-1930s, the area remained a small rural farming community with very little growth or development, but that started to change in 1933 when State Highway 34 (now State Highway 199) was completed. The new roadway provided better transportation to the fast-growing City of Fort Worth and with its economic opportunity. The area also benefited from the nearby damming of the Trinity River which created Eagle Mountain Lake.

In 1920, the population of Azle was estimated at 150 people but with the arrival of State Highway 34 and electricity in the late 1930s, things began to change, and by 1940, the population of Azle had increased to about 800 people. Over the next 10 years, the area continued to grow and the City of Azle was officially incorporated in 1957. By 1960, approximately 2,900 people were residing in the city.

Between 1960 and 1980, the North Texas region economy started to shift away from agricultural and manufacturing to a service and technology-based economy. With this shift came the development of housing, infrastructure, and business centers. This is evident in the growth and change of Azle as the population reached 4,400 in 1970 and increased again to 5,800 by 1980. The growth of Azle accelerated in the 1980s, and by 1990, the population exceeded 8,800 people. During the next 10 years, growth moderated somewhat with the population in 2000 hitting 9,600, but over the succeeding 10 years, the growth accelerated again. By 2010, there were almost 11,000 people that call Azle their home.

Today, the City of Azle is an established but still growing suburb that covers 8.81 square miles and has about 13,500 people who have made the city their home.