[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 93 (Monday, July 17, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1427]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       HONORING THE CITY OF ARLINGTON, TX, ON ITS 130TH BIRTHDAY

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JOE BARTON

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 17, 2006

  Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, on July 19, 1876, the United States 
was still celebrating its centennial as Engine No. 20 rolled down the 
freshly laid tracks of the Texas and Pacific Railroad built to extend 
rail service west from Dallas. The railroad had hired frontier surveyor 
and Presbyterian minister Andrew Hayter to locate and lay out a 1-
square-mile township as a wood and water stop midway between Dallas and 
Fort Worth. Entrepreneur James Ditto immediately established a general 
store in the center of the new town, which had quickly become a 
shipping point for local cotton farmers and merchants. Hayter and Ditto 
named the town Arlington in honor of General Robert E. Lee's home in 
Virginia, and Ditto became the town's first postmaster.
  Today, Arlington is the 49th largest city in the United States with a 
population of more than 360,000 people. It is home to a major General 
Motors assembly plant, a National Semiconductor wafer plant, a number 
of Fortune 500 facilities, the fastest growing university in Texas--the 
University of Texas at Arlington--and an entertainment complex that is 
one of the top tourist destinations in the country. The original Six 
Flags amusement park, Hurricane Harbor water park, and the Texas 
Rangers Baseball Club are located there. And in 2009, when the new 
stadium is completed, it will become the new home of the Dallas Cowboys 
football team.
  Arlington is and has always been one of the best places in Texas to 
live, work, and play, to get a quality education and to start a new 
business. Recent surveys tell us that Arlington is also one of the 
fittest cities of its size in the Nation, as well as one of the best 
educated.
  As the representative to Congress from Arlington, TX, I want to join 
the citizens of this great city in celebrating its 130th birthday, 
recognize the city for its outstanding achievements over the past 130 
years, and pray God's blessings on its people for the next 130 years.

                          ____________________