Region: Prairies and Lakes
Settlers started arriving here in the 1840s. The William Alden Hawkins and
Larkin Newton families were the first to obtain permanent land titles at the
site under the authority of the Peters' Colony. In 1883, the Gulf, Colorado and
Santa Fe Railroad constructed a rail line through the area from Dallas to
Cleburne. Local legend says that one of the civil engineers surveying the route
noted the area looked like his homeland, the Lothian Valley in Scotland. The
name Midlothian was used for this area on survey maps, and it stuck when the
town was incorporated in 1888.
Today, the city is situated within the DFW metroplex, 25 miles from both
Dallas and Fort Worth. The city bills itself as the "Cement Capital of Texas"
and the "Steel Capital of Texas" because of the number of these materials
manufacturers in the area.