Reflections

When we moved to Arlington in March 1974, it was still a quaint, close-knit community. I had come to attend graduate school at UT Arlington, while my husband, Rod, continued his work at DFW Airport. We were just 25 and 27 years old when we purchased our first home in a new subdivision in southeast Arlington. We were excited about the future and optimistic about beginning this new chapter in our lives and making Arlington our hometown.

It didn’t take long for us to realize that Arlington offered the best of both worlds. It had many of the familiar qualities of the rural community we had left behind, along with the conveniences and opportunities of city life. Just a short distance from our home, the cotton and corn fields along Mayfield Road reminded us of our hometown and our rural roots. Today, those fields have given way to Interstate 20 and extensive residential and industrial development, which is a remarkable reminder of just how much Arlington has changed.

At the same time, we enjoyed the growing conveniences of city life. Less than a five-minute drive north of our home was a strip shopping center with a large Buddies Grocery Store, an appliance store, a Baskin-Robbins, and other businesses. About ten minutes farther north, we could find a theater, bank, Monning’s Department Store, a bowling alley, a recreation center and park, and several boutiques where we could shop for clothing, shoes, and other necessities. At the time, this felt like everything we needed.

Today, Arlington is known as the Entertainment Capital of Texas and is a much larger and more diverse city than the one we first knew in 1974. One of the things I appreciate most is the way Arlington has embraced that growth and change while continuing to build a sense of community. Diversity and inclusion are reflected in the city’s celebrations and festivals, its workforce, and the representation of its residents on the City Council and on boards and commissions.