Editing Lewisville, Texas (section)

===Settlement===
In 1841, the [[Republic of Texas]] chartered the [[Peters Colony]] Land Grant Company (named for William Smalling Peters, publisher of the song "[[Oh! Susanna]]"){{sfn|Capace|1999|p=437}} to settle the [[North Texas]] area.{{sfn|Cole-Jett|2011|p=9}} In 1844, John W. King and his wife settled on the east side of the prairie, where the city now lies. Baptist settlers from [[Platte County, Missouri]], settled on the west side; among them were John and James Holford, who named the area Holford's Prairie.{{sfn|Cowling|1936|p=16}}{{sfn|Bates|1918|p=29}} Further south, Presbyterians established a church and called it [[Flower Mound, Texas|Flower Mound]].{{sfn|Bates|1918|p=31}}  In the confusion over land ownership after the [[Hedgcoxe War]], Basdeal Lewis purchased Holford's Prairie in 1853 and renamed it after himself.{{sfn|Cole-Jett|2011|p=7}}

In 1845, the Fox family, which owned about a dozen slaves, buried a slave child called Melinda on the family farm, which eventually became the town's cemetery for black residents. Named Fox–Hembry Cemetery, the plot still exists today.{{sfn|Cole-Jett|2011|p=48}} After it had fallen into disrepair, local residents and businesses gathered to restore it in 2011.{{sfn|Southwell|2011}} Though [[Abraham Lincoln]] was not on the ballot in the area for the [[1860 United States presidential election|1860 Presidential election]], residents of Lewisville (listed as "Hollforts" on election results) still gave [[John C. Breckinridge]] only a 44–31 majority over an [[electoral fusion]] option.{{sfn|Bridges|1978|p=94}}

During [[Reconstruction Era of the United States|Reconstruction]], Lewisville became home to [[Denton County, Texas|Denton County's]] first [[cotton gin]]. Built in 1867, it could produce up to three bales per day.{{sfn|Bates|1918|p=278}}{{sfn|Bridges|1978|p=121}} The [[Thirteenth Texas Legislature]] chartered the Dallas and Wichita Railroad (later the [[Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad|Missouri–Kansas–Texas]]) on terms requiring 20 miles of track to be in running order by July 1, 1875. Lewisville paid the company $15,000 to come to the city, with a promise of another $5,000 on completion.{{sfn|Bridges|1978|p=147}}  The company fulfilled the deal by completing the railroad tracks to a point just south of Lewisville on the morning of the deadline, and the line began running full-time in 1881.{{sfn|Bates|1918|p=172}}{{sfn|Cole-Jett|2011|p=9}} Republicans in the [[Fourteenth Texas Legislature]] passed a law on April 30, 1874, prohibiting alcohol within two miles of the town.{{sfn|Gammel|1898|p=595}} Many residents ignored the law, however, and the city retained as many as 17 saloons at one point.{{sfn|Bates|1918|p=146}} The population of the unincorporated town was 500 in 1888.{{sfn|Foster|1888|p=55}}