Photograph of the West Fork of the Trinity River seen at flood stage. A group of people are standing at the water's edge looking out over the water.

Main Street, Irving, Texas, c. 1908. West side of Main St. between First St. (Irving Blvd.) and Second St.

The Union Bower community was settled during the 1880s. It was located about north and east of the town site of Irving, which was founded in 1903. The Reverend W. E. Hawks of Dallas, who had been preaching in the Union Bower area since 1887, directed the building of a church in the community. In 1907, Hawks Chapel Methodist Church opened. In this photo, members of the congregation pose in front of the church.

Home of W. D. Lucas and family at 127 S. Hastings. The house was built in 1907. W. D. Lucas was the proprietor of a general merchandise store from 1906 until his death in 1931.

Dr. John Haley was one of the Irving area's earliest physicians. The Haley family arrived in the area in the late 1850s. John was born in 1866. He was a teacher for a time, but after his first wife died, he returned to school and then entered the medical profession. He served as Irving's mayor from 1927 until his death in 1932. He is pictured here with his second wife, Anna Good Haley, in 1906.

The Elm school served the farming community know as Elm which was located just north of Irving. Pictured in the back row left to right are: teacher Mrs. Holland, Lee Metker, Mary Farine, Ruth Holt, Lucy Parker, Sadie Watkins, Henry Farine, and Maudie Carroll. Next row: Lucy Farine, John Farine, Gus Story, Clyde Allen, Arthur Farine, Lillian Works, and Lela Toler. Next row: Ora Seat, Bill Metker, Foy Holt, Irene Nichols, Thelma Works, and Ann Carroll. Front row: Howard Parker, Fred Story, Milton Holt, Roy Bailey, and Bertha Farine.

Two men in front of the Irving train depot. The Chicago, Rock Island & Gulf Railway built this depot in 1904.

Lucas and Joffre Store was founded by W. D. "Doug" Lucas and Fred Joffre in 1906 on the west side of Irving's Main Street. Lucas and Joffre split, but W. D. Lucas maintained a store on Main Street until he died in 1931.

Fannie Hicks ran a millinery store on Main Street during Irving's early years. She later married T. C. Haley, the proprietor of another Main Street business. In 1909, she closed her store.

The Sowers School served the Sowers community, located about a mile west of Irving, near the present-day intersection of Pioneer and Belt Line Road. The teachers pictured are John Roberts (later Dr. John Roberts) and Miss Mary Ruth Wespey. The school was one large room, and the boys carried in drinking water from a well a quarter of a mile away. Classes were held from 9:00 a.m to 4:00 p.m. Top row: Allie Lanotte, Etta Eaton, unknown, Bess Kimble, Sally Haley, Ethel Barton, unknown, Ruby Slater, Nancy Slater, Mary Ruth Wespey, Ethel Tompkins, Jeanie Barton, John Roberts, unknown, Mabel Gilbert, Sam Mitchell, unknown, Thurston Jernigan, Hayde Gilbert, Kimble, Clay Gilbert, Tom Taylor, and Charlie Wilson Middle row: Nora Lusk, unknown, Marie Lanotte, Claudie Barton, Lillie Williams, Stella Slater, Minnie Moore, Moore, Jettie Rucker, Sitton, George Wilson, unknown, Fannie Slater, Grider Taylor, N. Jernigan, Bill Bietendorf, Paul Gilbert (with white glove), Ed Avrett, Jess Moore, Oscar Tompkins, Allen Avrett, Willie Smith, Arthur Smith, Carrie Lusk, Pauline Isadore, Ernestine Isadore, and Alice Lusk Bottom row: Most are unidentified, but some are Lawrence Ranft, Sidney Ranft, Dan Barton, Dan Gilbert, Floyd Eaton, Winnie Eaton, Adolph Bietendorf (with bat), W.B. “Bill” Gilbert (holding catcher’s …

William Smith, area pioneer, built this house in the Union Bower community in 1888. It stood along what would become Maryland Street in Irving until it was torn down in the 1980s. Seen in this 1906 photo are L. G. Smith, Mr. and Mrs. J. T. Hood, Mrs. Mattie Smith, Bert Smith, Mrs. Jennie Smith, William Hood, and Frank and Charlie Voirin.

This photo, made in 1906, shows a side view of the William Smith home in the Union Bower community. The house was built in 1888.

Train at the Irving Depot. Completed in 1903, the site of the Chicago Rock Island & Gulf railroad depot also served as the location of the 1903 lot sale that founded Irving.

Constructed in May 1904 as the home of Joseph B. Howard and his wife, Susan, it stood on 2.5 acres just south of Irving's city limits. Eugene and May Ann Beaufford bought the property in 1919. They operated a truck farm on the acreage. They later divided the land among their children.

A lady standing on a porch at the Howard home at 318 Iowa (now O’Connor Rd.), believed to be Irving's oldest existing house, built in 1904.

Jerry and Della Story. When the post office moved from the Kit community to the town of Irving in 1904, Jerry Story served as temporary postmaster.

West side of Main Street, Irving, Texas, shortly after the founding of the town in December 1903.

W. L. Smith built one of the first business establishements in Irving in 1904. However, in 1905, he sold the building to the Miller brothers, who opened a general store. Chaney Miller, one of the proprietors of Miller Brothers, served as Irving's second mayor and was Justice of the Peace for the precinct from the 1920s-1940s. He had also been a Dallas County Commissioner during the 1890s. His brother, Fletcher Miller, served as mayor in the 1920s before moving to Dallas.

The home of Henry W. Britain, the rancher who sold eighty acres to J.O. Schulze and Otis Brown for the original Irving townsite. The land sold for $30 an acre. This home was located near Nursery and Perry roads. Further to the south, Britain watered his livestock at the pond near the intersection of Nursery and Irving Blvd. The Britain family came to this area in 1859. Dave, Lee, Eunice, and Henry W. Britain are among those in the photo.

In the fall of 1902, a Rock Island Railway survey crew was working a stretch of line between the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth when two of the members decided to found a town along the route of the track. J. O. Schulze and Otis Brown finished their work with the railroad and remained in the area, where they founded the town of Irving in December 1903. C. P. Schulze, Jr, brother of J. O. Schulze is on the far left.