From White Settlement Tribune October 13, 1966 "White Settlement Days" Special Edition Author Unknown

HISTORY OF WHITE SETTLEMENT DATES BACK TO 1800s

Shrouded in the past, the city of White Settlement only gradually emerges from the dust of the old Chisholm
Trail, for it was a landmark used by cattle drivers even before the establishment of Fort Worth. There apparently
were settlers as early as 1830, but the first documented pioneers were building their first log cabins shortly before
the beginnings of Fort Worth. In 1849, Charles Turner and two brothers, Elijah (Lige) Ward Farmer and Joseph B.
Farmer were building on what is the area known now as Carswell AFB. Through Elijah Farmer's land flowed a
creek named, obviously, Farmer's Branch. His home was on the present location of White Settlement Road.
Joseph Farmer per-empted 320 acres of land which extended north to the present Knight's Lake on Carswell
property.

On at least one occasion, Lige Farmer and his neighbors were called up to give chase after Indians, for the
marauding Comanches were quite a danger to the settlers. When they were first there, church services were held in
the various homes, because of the danger of Indian raids. Then, when the danger was somewhat lessened, they took
no chances in their church buildings either, for there were two men and dogs outside the church and one man, also
armed with a muzzle-loader and with a dog inside the church to guard the pioneers. The dogs were often able to
smell out lurking Indians long before they would be seen by the men.

The scares of Indians were very real, and the false alarms were none the less frightening, for the records show
that more than one man, riding alone was terrified by a regular series of owl hoots to find that the Indians making
the hoots were as frightened as he was when they realized their signals were being messed up by a real owl and
they slipped off into the darkness. Another man thought he was being pursued by Indians and discovered to his
pleased chagrin that it was a small herd of calves, attracted by hoof beats.

The first little girl born in Fort Worth was Sue Farmer whose family was traveling from Tennessee. They
stayed at the fort until she was born and then stayed at White Settlement to have their wagon fixed by R. H. Cane.
Mr. Cane tried without success to get the family to stay but they insisted on leaving. They were later reported as all
being massacred by Indians in Millsap, Texas about 1850.

As Fort Worth grew larger, there were many encampments around its outskirts. Some were of friendly Indians
and some of Negroes, and these seemed to be designated as to color. Gradually, the area became known as the
white settlement. About 1857 or 1858, Mrs. Mitchell Girl's school presented a May festival and program. The girls
were all dressed in white and wore garlands of native white flowers picked from nearby prairies. Captain Joe
Terrell was much impressed with the affair and wrote of the occasion for the Dallas News. Referring to the white
costumes, he mentioned that the place surely should be called "White Settlement" ... so the story goes.

During the years of, 1854 through 1856, large caravans of settlers arrived in the area. Two of them included
Paul Isbell and George Grant from Kentucky. Isbell built a plantation on the site of Carswell AFB, and did a large
amount of farming, as well as being a slave trader. He gave land for the first White Settlement school and Isbell
Road is named in his honor.

The first wedding in the town was in 1851 when Elijah Farmers daughter Millie married James Ventioner,
Jr., son of James Sr., on of the earliest settlers. They took over farmland which extended west from what is now
North Side High School to beyond Ohio Garden Rd. and north to Roberts Cut-Off. James Jr. was known to never
be affected by the periodic droughts, and when the question of who had corn to use for cornbread, the storekeepers
could always rely on the supply held by James Ventioner.

The early home of Charles Turner was razed and he built a fine home near one of the large oak trees that still
stands at the entrance to Greenwood Cemetery, which was carved out of his original holdings.

The stage coach lines ran from Fort Worth to Weatherford and passed through White Settlement. The stage
coach stop was at one of the homes that still flanks the golf course on the east end of  Carswell AFB.

The area continued to grow slowly through the Civil War and into World War I. With the onset of World War
II, the city suddenly began to boom, as the bomber plant and Carswell AFB were constructed. The number of
homes increased in 1943 from 200 to 1200.

The city was incorporated in 1941 and adopted home rule in 1954. Being completely surrounded by Fort
Worth and other communities, it has increased the interest of the citizens in their town and how to best see it
prosper.