Controversy Blows Up Online over the Weekend for Parker County, TX
Rumors of Another Possible "Muslims Only" Subdivision Raises Hackles
Good morning, friends
Confusion and concern could be the rule of the day for some residents in Parker County which sits just West of Fort Worth and Dallas.
News got out on X/twitter last night, that County Commissioners in Parker County would be possibly approving the final plat for a subdivision named “Muslims United Phase 2,” later this morning (4/28).
The proposal, set smack dab in the heart of one of the State’s reddest counties, threatens to turn a routine zoning matter into a controversial cultural flashpoint.
The location is roughly 4 acres in size, and is being developed by something called “Muslims United for Progress, Inc.
The exact location as near as we can tell is somewhere near where Dub Lane intersects with Russell Bend Road.
On the map below, that’s going to be somewhere south of where it says “Willow Creek,” Northwest of Weatherford, and Northeast of Cool.
That fits with the description given in the County’s agenda, which says only that it’s somewhere off of Russell Bend Road.
As near as we can tell, Muslims United for Progress is classified as some sort of a charitable organization, founded in Weatherford, and registered with the State of Texas, back in 1985. It may or may not be affiliated with similarly named organizations elsewhere that suggest they are predicated on establishing a framework for what they call “progressive values” in Islam.
The president of the organization appears to be a man named Samad Abdur-Razzaaq. We’re basing that on what we can find online in various “businesswiki” type websites, so take it with a healthy grain of salt, and if you find conflicting research, consider going with that instead.
Journalist Bud Kennedy, formerly of the Dallas Morning News, now apparently semi-retired posted early on X, appearing to downplay any incipient controversy, saying it’s just a simple subdivision, being brought by a 40-year resident of the area. Presumably, he’s speaking of the aforementioned Samad Abdur-Razzaaq, or another individual associated with Muslims United.
Commissioner Jacob Holt is the Commissioner associated with the proposal. That’s almost certainly nothing sinister; Commissioners are tethered to routine business such as platting when it happens in their precinct.
Four acres doesn’t sound like too terribly much, but part of what’s driving the controversy around this story is the fact that Parker County is widely regarded as perhaps the most conservative County in Texas, certainly if one is considering those with a population greater than 100,000 people. It’s a small parcel, but the questions swirling about the place suggest it may become an outsized cultural controversy.
This all falls in line with another, more well-known controversy over the so-called “Epic City” site, being proposed in Collin County, near Plano, and the town of Josephine, TX.
Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton have both said they oppose the idea of a Muslim-only enclave in the case of Epic City. Epic City is planned to be a roughly 400-acre subdivision— bigger than whatever is being discussed in Parker County by an order of magnitude.
One poster, lost in the crowd on X, appears to have some personal knowledge of the matter. They say the land is being configured to put a few more houses up for other members of the family that owns it. Presumably this is the same family behind “Muslims United.” Here’s the most relevant portion of that thread:
Some may want to take some of the assertions in this thread we’re citing with a grain of salt. There’s a few minor typos and errors “offscreen” including referring to a commissioner “Mike Holt,” when they probably meant Jacob Holt. But, reading it— it has something of the ring of truth, doesn’t it? Certainly, the bits about how County Commissioners are sometimes unable to prevent subdivisions from forming if they meet all the requirements falls in line with things we’ve heard in our day job on the subject of County Commissioners and local land use.
In any event, we’ll keep an eye on what happens here and probably post a minor update later Monday evening whenever the dust settles.
Longtime subscribers have probably already figured us out— the “b” section of the newsletter is where we like to poke our noses into Texas History. Today, it seems incredibly appropriate to talk about the history of Parker County.
It was created in 1855, and was highly spoken of at the time, as apparently Weatherford was growing rapidly, with a Courthouse and many other features already in place by 1858. Writers at the time said it was well-situated with access to good water. There were already mentions of a ‘fine chalybeate spring,” with fine medical properties. That’s probably a reference to the good water found in nearby Mineral Wells, which was world famous at one point.
The area had its share of suffering however, with heavy raiding and combat from the Comanche, who at one point were actually “rolling back” civilization in Texas. By that we mean— their predations were visible in state census information showing lower population and in the creation of abandoned settlements.
Even the Civil War wasn’t enough to prevent raiding— Parker County weathered an incursion as late as 1873.
And, in case you were wondering, the County is named for early Texas legislator Isaac Parker and his clan who feature prominently in the Indian wars that raged in the region. Isaac’s cousins Silas and John Parker built Fort Parker in 1833 in what is now Limestone County, TX, near the town of Groesbeck, South of Dallas.
The family compound was raided by Comanche Indians and Silas’s daughter Cynthia Ann Parker was taken captive. Plains Indian tribes had a something of a Goldilocks approach toward captives. They had to be just right. Too old or too young, they were either killed, or scalped, tortured and then killed.
Cynthia assimilated into the Comanche tribe and married Chief Peta Nocona, and gave birth to Quanah Parker, the last free chief of the Quahada Comanche. She was later recovered by Texas Rangers, after the Battle of Pease River, also sometimes called the Pease River Massacre. She was identified and returned to her Parker family relatives. Famously, she never wanted to return to civilization— and longed for her home with the Comanche for the rest of her days.
Quanah Parker is of considerable note for folks from Kinney County, where the Cavalry-Dispatch is based. The Commander of the Garrison at Fort Clark at the time, Ranald S. Makenzie, also known as Col. Badhand, clashed repeatedly with Parker— trying to put an end to the Comanche predations.
We devoted quite a bit of time to Col. Makenzie and his storied yet ultimately tragic history in a previous edition of the Dispatch, just skip past the now dated Title 42 discussion and analysis to find it or click on this direct link.
It should be noted; however, Quanah Parker’s legacy is more closely tied to the Texas Panhandle and Oklahoma than it is actually to Parker County, but his tale and his mother’s are essential parts of the Parker clan’s story here in Texas.
It may be that there is some irony that Parker County, forged in the fires of frontier combat and strife, is waking up this Monday morning with fresh anxieties about possible outsiders and the potential changes they might portend.
And finally this morning— one more element to the story we’d like to explore. What the heck is up with that little town between Weatherford and Mineral Wells, called “Cool?”
Can you imagine? ‘Where you from boy?’ “I’m from Cool.”
Crazy.
Legend has it, the town got the name from a traveler’s quip about the area’s refreshing breezes— offering a pleasant break from Parker County’s scorching plains and flatlands.
It was settled in the late 1800s and populated by cotton farmers and cattle ranchers. As of 2024, it’s home to about 242 people.
It’s one of a plethora of Texas towns and villages with crazy names. Put it on the list with Cut and Shoot, Dime Box, and Bug Tussle.
And that should do it for now. We have just enough time to leisurely polish, find some more photos, and get ‘er published for your Monday morning read.
Hope your weekend was a great one, and that you’re all tooled up to crush the work week! We’ll be back again soon, as always, we should mention that the Cavalry Dispatch is published independently of our day job, fielding public information requests for Kinney County, TX, and is published with zero oversight. It should not be mistaken for any sort of communication on behalf of the County. We make mention of all this to remain in keeping with County polices regarding employees and social media.