Rowlett ( rah-let) is a city in Dallas and Rockwall counties in the U.S. state of Texas, and a northeastern suburb of Dallas. The population was 56,199 as of the 2010 census. It is a growing, upscale bedroom community in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, located on Lake Ray Hubbard.
Video Rowlett, Texas
History
Rowlett derives its name from Rowlett Creek, which flows into Lake Ray Hubbard and is a major tributary of the east fork of the Trinity River. The creek in turn was named for a waterway running through the property of Daniel Rowlett who moved from Kentucky to Bonham, Texas, in 1835. Daniel, who was a member of the Smoot-Rowlett political family, had no direct dealings with the town that now bears his name.
The first post office opened on April 5, 1880, and it was called "Morris" after Postmaster Austin Morris.
The town was later renamed "Rowlett". The Dallas and Greenville Railway passed through the town in 1886, connecting Dallas with Greenville, Texas, and the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad. Shortly after its opening, the line was formally sold to the MKT.
In 1921 the town was a stop on the Bankhead Highway.
The town incorporated in 1952 when its population was 250. In the 1960s the town languished as Interstate 30 bypassed Rowlett.
The town has had a building boom since the completion of Lake Ray Hubbard in 1971 - growing to 1,600 by 1973; 10,573 by 1989; 23,260 by 1990; and 44,503 by 2000.
Rowlett gained international notoriety in 1996 when local resident Darlie Routier was convicted of murdering her children as they slept.
In 2003 the town made an unsuccessful formal proposal to get the Dallas Cowboys to move to a 1,000-acre (4.0 km2) "5-Point Park" on the banks of Lake Ray Hubbard when the lease for Texas Stadium expires.
In 2013 the Rowlett City Councill was challenged by the Freedom From Religion Foundation and Metroplex Atheists regarding opening prayer invocations at city hall meetings. In a court case in May of 2014 the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed a previous court ruling (Marsh v. Chambers) upholding the tradition of opening legislative sessions with sectarian prayer and additionally ruled in favor of a town's right to have invocations given by the predominant religion within its borders as long as it did not discriminate or coerce participation. (Town of Greece v. Galloway) Atheist proponents then asked the Rowlett City Council to be included in giving invocations. They were denied based on the Supreme Court ruling and city policy stating the invocation should be given by members of the community's locally established religious congregations."
On the evening of December 26, 2015 a violent storm produced a deadly EF-4 tornado that tore a 13 mile path from the neighboring city of Garland, Texas, through the southeast portion of Rowlett, severely damaging or destroying hundreds of homes and vehicles along with several businesses and a city water tower.
In 2017 the city gained regional notoriety when it mistakenly began building a 325 foot public-safety radio tower on private property even though the land had been signed off as private by the city council in 2007 and 2012, and the city had been warned during initial preparation of the land. The error was blamed on a series of mistakes over months and years. It ended up costing taxpayers nearly $1/2M in a settlement/purchase of the land. The city had also erected a sign saying it was 2015 Bond Money At Work even though the tower was not part of the Bond Initiative.During the city council meeting in which the purchase was passed by the city council the city manager, Brian Funderburk, described the mistake as, "really a good thing" since it doubled the size of the city's land ownership at that location where the city intended to build a fire station and training structures..
Maps Rowlett, Texas
Geography
Rowlett is located at 32°54?25?N 96°32?51?W (32.907020, -96.547415).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 20.0 square miles (51.7 km2), of which 19.9 square miles (51.5 km2) is land and 0.08 square miles (0.2 km2), or 0.34%, is water.
Transportation
DART has transit that can bring you to and from Dallas. It is served by Downtown Rowlett Station on the Blue Line.
Demographics
As of the census of 2010, there were 56,310 people, 22,875 households, and 17,275 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,509.2 people per square mile (849.4/km²). There were 19,804 housing units at an average density of 2,509.2 per square mile (278.3/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 78.24% White, 9.48% African American, 0.49% Native American, 3.93% Asian, 0.20% Pacific Islander, 7.75% from other races, and 1.78% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 12.31% of the population.
There were 19,804 households out of which 58.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 87.23% were married couples living together, 11.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 13.43% were non-families. 10.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 2.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.09 and the average family size was 3.33.
In the city, the population was spread out with 33.5% under the age of 18, 5.6% from 18 to 24, 36.9% from 25 to 44, 18.8% from 45 to 64, and 5.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 97.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.7 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $100,872, and the median income for a family was $88,442 (these figures had risen to $88,442 and $100,872 respectively as of a 2010 estimate ). Males had a median income of $49,394 versus $35,286 for females. The per capita income for the city was $26,144. About 2.2% of families and 3.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.3% of those under age 18 and 3.8% of those age 65 or over.
Education
Primary and secondary schools
The Dallas County portion of Rowlett is served by the Garland Independent School District, while the Rockwall County portion is a part of the Rockwall Independent School District.
Back, Stephens, Dorsey, Giddens-Steadham, Herfurth, Keeley, Pearson, Rowlett, Cullins-Lakepoint and Liberty Grove Elementary Schools, Coyle and Schrade Middle Schools, and Rowlett High School are located within the city boundaries of Rowlett.
Garland ISD has a free choice program that allows for a student to attend any school within the district. If a school is already full with students that are zoned for that school then students who are not zoned for that school, but chose the school on their choice of school form will not be able to attend. The student will then be enrolled in their second or third choice school unless only the school they are zoned for is available. If students choose to attend a school located outside of where they are zoned the GISD is unable to provide a school bus service. Students living within two miles of their school can not receive bus service either. Not all students in Rowlett are zoned for Rowlett HS. A considerable portion are zoned for Sachse High School in the city of Sachse. Rockwall ISD residents are zoned to Cullins-Lake Pointe Elementary School, Williams Middle School and Rockwall High School.
Colleges and universities
Residents in Dallas County are zoned to the Dallas County Community College District.
Residents in Rockwall County are zoned to Collin College.
The arts
Rowlett has a thriving photography community and is home to several regional award winning photographers. The photography community is supported by the Rowlett, Texas Photograph Club (RTPC), which was founded in 2015 by Ronald McCarty, Tony Morrison, and James Zeilan.
References
External links
- City of Rowlett official website
- Rowlett.org
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Source of article : Wikipedia
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