May 28, 2026

By Mary Beth Gahan

When wagons carrying families from Missouri first arrived in modern-day Flower Mound in 1844, they settled close to each other and looked out for their neighbors. They ground their own corn and listened to Rev. Hammons preach every Sunday, guns in hand to protect themselves from Native Americans.

Even though there’s now a Tom Thumb down the street and several churches to choose from, on Saturday there’s an opportunity to get a taste of the pioneer life.

The Flower Mound Historical Commission will host a Spring Jubilee at the Grant-Gibson Log House from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“You’ll really feel like you’re stepping back in time,” said the commission’s chair Jacque Narrell.

The King family came from near Bonham in 1844 and made their home on the east end of Holford’s Prairie where Lewisville sits today. In the fall of that year, William Gibson, his family, and several others came from Platte County, Missouri to settle on the west side of the prairie in what is now Flower Mound. It was called Long Prairie.

“They brought with them their dogs, guns, and religion — Baptist,” wrote Ed F. Bates in History and Reminisces of Denton County.

Gibson received a Texas Land Grant for 320 acres in 1854 and built a 16 by 16 log cabin in 1860. He lived there until his death five years later, according to the Denton County Office of History and Culture.

His original log house was hidden from view as subsequent families moved onto the property and constructed add-ons. In 2015, developer Curtis Grant planned to tear down the existing structure for a Liberty Park, a subdivision at the corner of Quail Run Road and Flower Mound Road, but heard from previous owners about a 1903 newspaper found in the walls of the farmhouse. Grant peeled back wood paneling and sheetrock to find logs lining the walls.

David Stahle, director of the Tree-Ring Laboratory of the University of Arkansas, studied the logs and determined they were cut between 1857 and 1860. Gibson’s original log house was encased by the living room, a move that preserved it. Peggy Riddle, director of Denton County Office of History and Culture, and Mark Glover, a local historian, delved into the history of the property.

The town acquired the property and began restoration in 2020. Last year, the property was dedicated as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.

At the Spring Jubilee, which is free to attend, there will be butter churning, corn husking, and treats to enjoy. Local artists will have renderings of places around town, some that still stand and others that are distant memories.

Council member Janvier Werner, who spins wool from her angora and cashmere goats, will be in a period dress and spinning on her spinning wheel. In the kitchen, there will be tomato canning.

“There’s nothing flashy about the jubilee. It’s a gathering,” Narrell said. “It’s a homecoming. Back in the original days of Flower Mound, they brought their corn. They would come from miles around. Everyone was going home. They may even have a barn raising.”

It’s a callback to the way it was when that group from Missouri settled in Long Prairie in 1844.

“They had but little property among them, and yet they were well enough to do. All seemed to be on an equality, and the sole object in living was to do all they could do for the comfort and satisfaction of one another, and to make their way to a better world than this,” Bates wrote.

What: Spring Jubilee

Where: Grant-Gibson Log House, 3615 Grant Court, Flower Mound, Texas

When: Saturday, May 30, 2026. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

How much: Free