Ledbetter Neighborhood Association The Eagle Ford community developed just east of an important early crossing on the west fork of the Trinity River.

[1] Enoch's son James built the Eagle Ford Grist Mill and donated land in 1857 for the Horton Cemetery.

The community did not begin to develop until the depression of 1873 halted construction of the Texas and Pacific Railway, which made Eagle Ford its western terminus until 1876.

Eagle Ford's population hovered around 200 in 1882, but had decreased to fifty by the 1890s and remained at that level through the early twentieth century.

In 1907, William Foster Cowham and Associates came to the area from Michigan and began buying property, including some of James Horton's original land holdings.

They established the Southwestern States Portland Cement Company and built two villages in the area to house their employees, many of whom were Mexican immigrants.

Earlier Mexican animal herders, Teamsters, and traders were reported crossing the area as early as 1850; they did not keep residence in the city, although they used it as a base of trade (Nixon-Mendez1993).

Mexican presence in the area likely occurred much earlier, given the fact that the Trinity River was "discovered" and named "La Sanťisima Trŕinidad" by Spanish explorers as early as 1690 (Ibib.).

Originally from San Felipe, Guanajuato, the family came from "El Valle" in South Texas in 1915; other members of the family moved farther North of Chicago and Michigan (Martinez) Jose Calvillo Martinez had heard about work at the cement plants in Eagle Ford, Texas three miles West of present-day downtown Dallas, where they settled and lived.

[3] Black families were encouraged to settle in Eagle Ford and ads for properties in the community were listed in local newspapers under "Colored Lots.

"[3] Living conditions were substandard and consisted of small "shotgun" homes without sewers or drains on dirt roads with trash blowing in the streets.

In the area served by Irving ISD, Kindergarten through fifth grade students living along Mexicana Road in the northern portion of Eagle Ford attend Schulze Elementary School.

[6][7] The Eagle Ford School, constructed in 1923 with supplies from the Trinity cement company and funding from bonds issued by the city of Dallas,[8] first opened in 1924.