Oxen on a treadwheel powered a gristmill. That gristmill gave Trinity Mills its start. Today, we explore the story of Trinity Mills, Texas. It began as a small community in 1853. The land is now part of Carrollton, in northwest Dallas County.
Trinity Mills sits on land granted to A. W. Perry. The community got its name from a gristmill. A. W. Perry and Wade H. Witt owned it. The gristmill was no ordinary mill. Oxen provided the power. They walked on a treadwheel. The mill was in a two-story rock structure. It dated back to the late 1840s. Farmers Creek powered it, located two miles northwest of Carrollton.
In 1858, Trinity Mills got a post office. But this post office had a rocky existence. It opened and shut down four times. Finally, it closed for good in 1915.
The Dallas-Wichita Railroad arrived in 1878. Trinity Mills began to grow. It became a center for shipping cattle. By 1881, the town had a physician. It also had 26 farmers. A druggist and a general store served the community. By 1884, Trinity Mills boasted a population of 150. The town included a school and two churches. It also had a Western Union telegraph office.
But the boom didn’t last. By 1890, the population of Trinity Mills fell to fifty. By 1915, only two stores remained. By 1930, only 35 people lived here. Eventually, Carrollton annexed the town. Today, Trinity Mills is part of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. It is fully developed.
Carrollton has big plans for the area around the DART Green Line Station. The city’s Master Plan details this. Carrollton and DART own over 25 acres near the station. They plan to develop the property into the new Trinity Mills. The city acquired much of this land through eminent domain.
The Trinity Mills station now stands as a modern transportation hub. It serves DART’s Green Line and DCTA’s A-train. The station sits at Interstate 35E and the President George Bush Turnpike. It is named for Trinity Mills Road. That road took its name from the old settlement.
An older transit center existed nearby. The North Carrollton Transit Center opened in 1988. It was one of DART’s first stations with an indoor waiting area. But it was replaced. When Trinity Mills opened, the express bus route to Downtown Dallas ended. All bus routes moved to Trinity Mills. The old transit center was demolished.
Carrollton proposed the name Trinity Mills for the new station in 2002. This ensured that Carrollton would appear on the train’s destination signs. The Green Line extension to Trinity Mills opened on December 6, 2010. A-Train service began on June 20, 2011.
In 2003, Carrollton bought land next to Trinity Mills station. They intended it for future development. In 2020, the city announced Trinity Mills Station. This is a transit-oriented development zone. It covers 25 acres near the DART station. From a gristmill powered by oxen to a modern transit hub, Trinity Mills has seen much change. It continues to evolve as part of the growing Dallas-Fort Worth area.