Timeline: 1960-1990

1960

Lewisville’s population is 3,956 people.

1961

The Lewisville United Council of Church Women begins raising money to open a public library. The first library opens in the basement of the United Presbyterian Church.

1962

An episode of the “Route 66” television show is filmed in Lewisville, which was
renamed “Kilkenny” for the program. The episode aired in April on CBS.

1963

Voters opt to become a Home Rule City by a vote of 225-26. John C. Dodson hired as the city’s first professional city manager.

Bill R. Weaver elected as mayor.

1963

Lewisville’s school board votes to integrate its campuses, becoming one of the first districts in Texas to do so after the Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954. Because new classrooms needed to be built to accommodate the new students, classrooms did not integrate until Fall 1964.

1965

Garland Franks hired as city manager.

1967

Johnny Sartain hired as city manager.

1968

Lewisville High School opens its doors in a new campus at the corner of FM 1171 and Valley Parkway, west of most Lewisville development. This, combined with a major annexation the next year, started a population shift from east to west.

1969

Sam Houston elected as mayor.

The Lewisville Valley area is annexed into Lewisville, adding 2,500 acres of land and hundreds of new residents.

About 120,000 people come to Lewisville to attend the Texas International Pop Festival, a three-day event featuring such stars as Janis Joplin, B.B. King and Led Zeppelin.

1970

Lewisville’s population is 9,264 people.

1971

The city builds its first stand-alone public library, located on Church Street near the site of the current Lewisville City Hall.

1971

U.S. Corps of Engineers officially changes the name of Garza-Little Elm Reservoir to “Lewisville Lake,” 16 years after Congress passed a 1955 bill authored by Rep. Frank Ikard that named the Lewisville Dam.

1972

David Denison elected as mayor.

Lewisville High School reaches its first football state championship game, losing in the Class 3A finals to Uvalde, 33-27.

1973

Construction begins on the city’s water and wastewater treatment plants.

1974

Construction begins on a hospital at the corner of Main Street and Interstate 35, currently operating as Lewisville Medical Center. The hospital opened in 1976.

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport opens.

1975

The Lewisville Quintuplets, four boys and a girl, are born to Jerry and Debbie Davis on July 18, the first recorded quintuplet birth in Texas.

1976

Phyllis Adams is hired as Lewisville’s first female police officer.

Six years after the U.S. Corps of Engineers officially changed the name of Garza- Little Elm Reservoir to “Lewisville Lake,” and 22 years after Congress passed a 1955 bill authored by Rep. Frank Ikard, signs finally are erected proclaiming “Lewisville Lake.”

1977

Ralph Johnson elected as mayor.

Darwin McGill hired as city manager.

1979

Clarence R. Myers elected as mayor.

1980

Lewisville’s population is 24,273 people.

1981

Troy White elected as mayor.

1983

Wayne Ferguson elected as mayor.

1985

Ann Pomykal elected as mayor.

Chuck Owens hired as city manager.

1987

Donny Daniel elected as mayor.

1989

Lewisville City Hall (now the Municipal Annex) and the new Lewisville Public Library open at 1197 W. Main Street.

Vista Ridge Mall opens. The mall was purchased in 2017 and renamed Music City Mall.