On Valentine’s Day, the city of Highland Village will celebrate its 60th anniversary.
Mayor Dan Jaworski wrote in his most recent column for the Cross Timbers Gazette that people from Highland Park started building weekend getaways on the west side of the new Lewisville Lake, and some started making the houses their permanent homes. They decided they needed a name for this new community and chose to keep the “Highland” from Highland Park, and they added “Village” because of the close knit community that had already been established. Highland Village incorporated as an official city on Feb. 14, 1963 with a vote of 53 for and seven opposed.
In the 1970s, Highland Village quickly morphed from a small rural town into a suburban city as more Dallasites sought to “get away from it all,” the city’s website says. From 1975 to 1985, the city’s population grew from about 1,000 people to 5,000. It became a Home Rule City in 1986, and now has a population of about 16,000. Population at build-out is expected to be about 18,000. Click here for more information about the city’s history from the Denton County Office of History and Culture.
Jaworski said the city will have several different campaigns throughout the year to commemorate the city’s 60th anniversary, starting with asking residents to share photos from the last 60 years in Highland Village that tell the city’s story.
“We have jokingly said photos of community members with beehive hairstyles and bell-bottoms are welcome, and they are, but so are your pictures in nylon workout suits and the big hair of the ’80s,” Jaworski wrote.
If you have photos you would like to share, send them to [email protected] and include your name, approximately when the photo was taken and a little something about the picture. The city will share these photos throughout the year via social media and other outlets.
Jaworski said the city will also share 60 Facts about Highland Village throughout 2023, and he will post a monthly video with some historical or trivia information.
“We are proud of the community Highland Village has grown into and believe our founding fathers would be as well,” Jaworski said. “Let’s have some fun commemorating 60 years of Highland Village and, who knows, we all might learn some things about this city we call home.”
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