Blood & Biohazard Cleanup Near Downtown Forney Forney, TX

Forney began in the early 1870s as a blackland-prairie settlement called Brooklyn in northwestern Kaufman County, about 23 miles east of Dallas.

On December 29, 1873, residents renamed the town Forney in honor of John Wien Forney, a Pennsylvania journalist and politician who served on the board of the Texas and Pacific Railway and directed its line through the area.

Forney was officially incorporated in 1884, and it grew for a century as a farm and rail shipping center for cotton, corn, grain, and the region's nationally known blackland prairie hay.

The Texas Legislature officially named Forney the "Antique Capital of Texas" in 1987, a title earned by the cluster of roughly fifteen antique warehouses and shops that line U.S. Highway 80 north of town.

Forney's population was 23,455 at the 2020 census - up from just 5,588 in 2000 - and Census Bureau estimates put it above 41,000 by 2025 as Dallas suburban growth pushed east.

Forney has about 9,800 households, and roughly 72% of its homes are owner-occupied, according to Census QuickFacts.

Forney households are relatively prosperous, with a median household income of about $104,000 and a median home value of about $346,000 in Census QuickFacts data.

The Forney Independent School District enrolls about 18,500 students and runs two high schools - Forney High School, home of the Jackrabbits, and North Forney High School, home of the Falcons - which share City Bank Stadium.

Local history is preserved downtown at the Spellman Museum of Forney History, whose collections cover the city and greater Kaufman County back to the area's earliest Native American inhabitants.

Forney's modern growth era began in the 1960s, when work started on the Forney Reservoir just west of town - the lake later renamed Lake Ray Hubbard.