Addison, Texas is a toddling town with over 15,000 residents and hundreds of thousands of visitors per day. Addison offers fine dining, exciting night life and a history that enthralls everyone who lives there or visits.
Addison is worthy of hundreds of stories. Whether we cover current events from one of the best 4th of July fireworks shows in the country, the dueling piano bar, the airport, the flight museum or their award winning theater; it wouldn’t be prudent unless we started with the story of how it all began.
Addison is 13 miles north of downtown Dallas. Addison is easy to get to from the Big-D; you simply take the tollway north. When it all began, there were no paved roads and certainly not a tollway. It started with a man, a settler named Preston Witt. Witt settled land currently occupied by Addison in 1846 when he built a house near White Rock Creek. Trinity Mills Road in North Carrolton is named after Witt’s successful mill and trading post operated by him, his brother Wade Witt and their broth-in-law A.W. Perry.
Why is the town of Addison not named after Preston Witt? After all; he’s the first settler. Perhaps Addison should have been named after Witt but instead; it was named after a man named Addison.
The postmaster in the community first settled by Witt was served by postmaster Addison Robertson from 1908-1916. Addison was named after Mr. Robertson. It was named after Addison in 1902, six years before he was ever the postmaster. Bace then, the first industry in the community was a cotton gin opened in 1902. The Cotton gin was located on Addison Road. Before the name Addison, the community was known as Noell Junction after Sidney Smith Noell, an early settler..
If Addison, Texas has a birthday; it’s June 15, because that’s when the city of Addison was incorporated. Addison was incorporated on June 15, 1953.
M.W. Morris was the cities first mayor and the aldermen were Guy Dennis, Robert W. Wood, J. E. Julian, Jr., Dr. H. T. Nesbit, and Seldon Knowles. In 1982 the name was changed to “Town of Addison.”
Addison Texas came a long way since Preston Witt
Addison has witnessed explosive growth since 1970
Addison’s population in 1970 was 595 and there were only around 80 business located there. Ten years later Addison’s population exploded to 5,553 and the number of business establishments sky-rocketed 263.
Addison aggressively pursued measures to promote industrial development seeking a new image different from the small-town image it had. Addison legalized alcohol which attract restaurants and hotels and implemented a property tax rate which was one-sixth lower than Dallas’. Addison’s population bloomed to 8,753 by 1990 and Ten years later, it shot up to 14,461.
Now Addison is a city that attracts residents seeking an active lifestyle. Addison has many attractions, non-more important than the Water Tower Theater; voted one of the best theaters in Dallas. It has an outdoor sculpture, and the Water Tower Circle Blueprints Sculpture Fountain which is synonymous with the town.
More than 500,000 flock to Addison for the Independence Day celebration know at Kaboom Town. These two Addison features and many others will be the topic of future stories of their own. However, it all started a long time ago when Mr. Witt built his home here. He would be thrilled to see how successful his founded town has turned out by 2017.