After his reelection as president of the Republic of Texas in 1841, Sam Houston sought to end Indian hostilities in the region. He called councils with the tribes, meeting at Grape Vine Springs. Bird’s Fort Treaty in 1843 established a boundary line from current Arlington to current Menard, guaranteeing Indian lands to the west and lands for Texan settlement to the east. But the treaty was not ratified by the state legislature, and the Indians were relocated, first farther west and then north to Indian Territory.
Anglo-American settlers arrived in this area in 1845 and raised cattle to sell to the U.S. Army post at Camp Worth. The town was named Grape Vine for the native wild mustang grapes, which the post office changed to Grapevine in 1914. The Cotton Belt Railroad built through Grape Vine in 1888, making it a shipping center for local produce. Following construction of DFW airport (AW6) on its border, Grapevine was absorbed into the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex as a local tourist destination, including for its wineries. A Historic Preservation Ordinance enacted in 1991 has preserved the early-twentieth-century character of the town, illustrating a prosperous small Texan town before the economic and social changes of the midcentury.
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