The community of Rendon is located on Farm to Market Road 1187 just about
twelve miles
southeast of downtown Fort Worth. The unincorporated town was named for Joaquin Rendon, the original land grant holder in the region. I can’t find any information about this man, and I’d like to know where he came from and what drew him to the area. Originally known as Cross Roads, settlement began in the area with the arrival of the Hopper family. Evidently they farmed and raised cattle. That still occurs in this rural area, but on a much more limited basis. Where once there were cattle, there are now horses, donkeys, goats, llamas, and at one time commercially raised pigs and chickens. Until the late 1960s you could go down to the ‘chicken farms’ to get freshly slaughtered chickens or fresh eggs. Llama and horse ranches are also a latter addition to the Rendon area and smell a lot better than did the chickens and pigs. Back in the 1880s, the Norwood family also came to the area, helping to organize churches as well as bringing a general store and a post office. It was with the establishment of the post office that the name of the community was changed to Rendon. The Haddocks also arrived about this same time. By about 1895 Rendon boasted a flour mill, two gins, and a blacksmith, to serve a population of twenty-five. Norwood sold some acreage to the founders of the school and the cemetery about two years later. The Rendon School and the Rendon Cemetery were founded at that time. On the site of the original school house is a modern school that vacillates from housing alternative classes, to overflow elementary classes, to administrative offices; it’s now part of the Mansfield School District. By 1954 a volunteer fire department had been organized; the ‘new’ fire hall is on the site of the original. There are still fund raisers for this group that carry on the tradition of holding pancake breakfasts, and a Thanksgiving dinner; these activities pay for the fire and ambulance service that now takes care of more than 10,000 residents. At one time Near-Normal Traveler, Vince, was a member of the volunteer fire department as an EMT.
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| Pond on a farm in Rendon |
southeast of downtown Fort Worth. The unincorporated town was named for Joaquin Rendon, the original land grant holder in the region. I can’t find any information about this man, and I’d like to know where he came from and what drew him to the area. Originally known as Cross Roads, settlement began in the area with the arrival of the Hopper family. Evidently they farmed and raised cattle. That still occurs in this rural area, but on a much more limited basis. Where once there were cattle, there are now horses, donkeys, goats, llamas, and at one time commercially raised pigs and chickens. Until the late 1960s you could go down to the ‘chicken farms’ to get freshly slaughtered chickens or fresh eggs. Llama and horse ranches are also a latter addition to the Rendon area and smell a lot better than did the chickens and pigs. Back in the 1880s, the Norwood family also came to the area, helping to organize churches as well as bringing a general store and a post office. It was with the establishment of the post office that the name of the community was changed to Rendon. The Haddocks also arrived about this same time. By about 1895 Rendon boasted a flour mill, two gins, and a blacksmith, to serve a population of twenty-five. Norwood sold some acreage to the founders of the school and the cemetery about two years later. The Rendon School and the Rendon Cemetery were founded at that time. On the site of the original school house is a modern school that vacillates from housing alternative classes, to overflow elementary classes, to administrative offices; it’s now part of the Mansfield School District. By 1954 a volunteer fire department had been organized; the ‘new’ fire hall is on the site of the original. There are still fund raisers for this group that carry on the tradition of holding pancake breakfasts, and a Thanksgiving dinner; these activities pay for the fire and ambulance service that now takes care of more than 10,000 residents. At one time Near-Normal Traveler, Vince, was a member of the volunteer fire department as an EMT.
