From Dirt Roads to Suburban Homes: The Fast Developing City of Springtown
Photos and Article by Charlie Gregory
Springtown Texas, the formerly rural area in Parker County Texas, is becoming a hub of construction and new development. The city ranges over just a few miles and has a population of less than 6,000 residents. But thanks to home builders and land developers, this number is predicted to soar in the coming years.
While the population is still miniscule compared to urban Texas cities, it has seen about a 123% increase in population since the early 2000s. And while city occupation still widely revolves around agricultural jobs, its close proximity to the DFW metroplex invites commuters to find homes less than 30 minutes away from their work.
Builders like S&J Builders and Park Brook Homes have turned the once vast fields into rows of homes. Construction crews work tirelessly to produce these new build neighborhoods faster than you can even imagine. It seems like each time you leave and come back to the town, a new building or home appears in a once empty lot.
As the cities and suburbs within Dallas and Fort Worth become largely overpopulated, it’s no surprise that many residents are looking to move away from all of it. Many young couples also struggle to keep up with housing prices in largely populated cities, and land in towns like Springtown to make an affordable start to settling down.
To anticipate the growing population and attraction of Springtown, the city has announced its building of a new elementary school, just minutes from the majority of the newly built neighborhoods. Wooden framing and exposed electrical pipes is all that can be seen now, but it won’t be long until families call the spaces home and kids pedaling down the streets on bikes will replace the pacing of cement trucks.
From 6 a.m.- 6 p.m., you can expect to hear the sounds of drills and nail guns piercing the small town quiet, and see men on roofs throwing and catching wooden boards to place atop roof windows. Even in the 95 degree Texas summer heat, construction never comes to a lull. To protect from the blistering sun, workers wear long sleeves, jeans, hats and bandanas, and have little time to take breaks in the shade.
Throughout the empty houses, you can see empty soda bottles and water jugs, visually representing having to keep working while enduring the heat. Hundreds of water bottles pile high in the dirt lots along with unusable construction scraps proving that these homes are the product of human sweat.
Many long-time residents of Springtown have raised concerns about the fast development of their city, but according to Cityofspringtown.com, government officials are addressing concerns by assuring residents will have more resources, funding and attention to planning that will help the city thrive.