Fate

History

The name of the town is thought to have come from one of two of the towns influential residents, either William Lafayette Brown or GW Lafayette Peyton, both of whom were nicknamed "Fate" and lived in the area during the 1860s. At that time, land ownership, a post office, and the railroad played a vital role in the naming of the City of Fate. The town was settled shortly after the Civil War and was originally located 1.5 miles to the north of Downtown Fate's current location today. The town of Barnes, named after a Dr. Wiley Turner Barnes, was developed where Fate's current Downtown is located. A post office was established in Fate on July 13, 1880, with Harvey Peyton White as its postmaster. As the area continued to develop, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas (MKT) Railroad was constructed in 1886 and ran through Barnes. This brought rapid growth to the area and spurred both Fate and Barnes to combine into one town on February 11, 1887, in order to allow residents access to postal services and the railroad. During the late 1800s Fate prospered. The town grew to include four doctors, two cotton gins, two grocery stores, a barbershop, a butcher, a confectionary, a grain elevator, and a newspaper called The Fate Review. In the early 1900s the town experienced several tragedies. In 1906 a fire engulfed the south side of the city's business district. Because there was no fire station nearby, this caused considerable damage to the businesses. In 1910 another fire destroyed the north side of the town. The great depression of the 1930s caused economic hardship to farmers in the area and forced many to lose their land. In 1933 more tragedy struck as a tornado destroyed parts of the town. As the population began to dwindle, the churches in Fate decided to combine into one united…

Geography

Downtown Fate is 4.8 miles to the east of downtown Rockwall on Texas State Highway 66. FM 551 is the most northern road that is just north of I-30. Downtown Royse City is 4.5 miles to the northeast. The city has a total area of roughly . of which is covered by water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  6,317
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  5,102
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,078
• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,061
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,877
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  4,791
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  3,870
• Eastern Bluebird

  Sialia sialis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  3,680

Most recent

• M 3.1 — 2024-05-01
  7 km SSW of Mansfield, Texas
• M 3.2 — 2024-05-01
  7 km S of Mansfield, Texas
• M 3.2 — 2019-10-01
  8 km SSW of Mansfield, Texas
• M 2.5 — 2019-07-08
  4 km SSE of Rendon, Texas
• M 2.8 — 2019-06-24
  1 km NW of Pottsboro, Texas
• M 3.4 — 2018-05-19
  8 km NW of Venus, Texas