Venus on the Rise: Texas Town Thrives on DFW Metroplex Outskirts

Venus, the tiny Texas town on the fringes of the DFW Metroplex, is a great example that a community with a fighting spirit can not only survive, but it can thrive.

Located just 30 miles southwest of Fort Worth on State Highway 67, Venus was once a prosperous cotton belt town at the turn of the 20th century. However, it almost became a ghost town during the Great Depression, and as late as the 1980s, the town struggled with just 414 “Venusians” and one city employee.

While Venus had still under 1,000 people in 2000, it grew to 4,361 residents by 2020, and since then has more than likely doubled, with some estimates of nearly 9,000 people now. With many taking advantage of lower housing prices in the surrounding area, new subdivisions are taking root next to freshly plowed fields.

“The growth is due to the area’s rapid new construction, with many area builders investing in the community and building new homes there,” said Realtor Brandon Reichenau with North Texas Real Estate Information Systems. 

And, today, Venus has more than 50 city employees. Venus continues to grow with the city website listing a half dozen current and future developments, which will add approximately 1,800 more homes to Venus.

Holiday Fun: Christmas on the Square in Venus

The small-town charm of Venus will be on full display on Saturday, December 13, at Christmas on the Square + Christmas Parade of Lights. An all-day affair that starts with a free pancake breakfast in the morning and finishes with a Christmas Parade of Lights at 6 p.m., with the lighting of the Christmas tree with the mayor in the town square.

The day also features, Christmas shopping, letters to Santa with an elf, ornament making, a petting zoo, photos with Santa and Mrs. Claus, horse-drawn carriage rides, hot cocoa, Christmas bounce houses, an obstacle course, food vendors, music and performances from local groups including the Venus Bible Church, VHS Color Guard, Venus Starettes, and the local Girls Scouts.

Annual Events: Freedom Fest and Steampunk November Festival

The other two annual events that draw folks to Venus are the Freedom Fest during the summer and the Steampunk November Festival.

Venus holds Freedom Fest each summer around late June, featuring live music, food trucks, kid-friendly attractions, and an evening of community festivities at Fielder Park.

This event highlights local food vendors and performers, making it a favorite for families. The event ends with a bang, a fireworks show!

The longest-running steampunk event in Texas is held in Venus: the Steampunk November Festival. This music and arts festival features bands, dancers, poetry, sideshows, vendors, and on-site camping.

The Up-and-Down History of Venus, Texas

Venus was founded in the 1880s in Johnson County at the junction of the International Great Northern railroad and the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe railroad.

Originally known as Gossip, then Midway, it was incorporated under the name of Venus in 1903 upon an abandoned 80-acre cornfield owned by founder J.C. Smyth.

While some might think Venus was named because of the second planet from the sun or for the Roman goddess of love, the city’s name was in honor of the daughter of a local physician.

The Texas State Historical Association says Venus went from a thriving cotton center to a town in the 1940s with mostly empty buildings and one drugstore. 

And that drug store was only in town because the residents had banded together to open one for fear of losing the last remaining doctor in Venus.

“Now if 15 or 20 of us each put in $100, we could start a drug store and keep the doctor,” a town resident was quoted in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 1944. “The way it is now, ‘Doc’ can’t get his prescriptions filled half the time and there’s not much use for him to try to practice.”

The community rallied with a local minister, even building the drug store shelves by hand, and the drug store kept the doctor in town, and helped keep Venus alive.

Some 40 years later, the Associated Press reported that Venus was in another downturn, with most of the town’s buildings vacant.

“In its heyday before the Great Depression, Venus was a thriving center of commerce,” said the AP. “The town … supported two newspapers, 12 passenger trains coming and going each day at two different depots, two banks, a hospital and six doctors, a college, four grocery stores, a fine hotel. The town even had a Chevrolet dealership and a movie theater.”

By 1970, the newspapers had shut down, the trains didn’t stop anymore, and the Chevy dealership, the movie theater, the college, the hospital, and the hotel had closed their doors.

Venus had become a great filming location for Depression-era movies such as Bonnie & Clyde in 1966, with its many boarded-up storefronts.

The booming DFW Metroplex, which added nearly 5 million people between 1990 and 2024, helped Venus rebound as its easy access to Metroplex jobs with abundant undeveloped land made it an ideal bedroom community for families.

Visiting Venus

History buffs and architectural fanatics will want to take a quick stroll around the classic Texas town square with interesting storefronts; some you might even recognize from Hollywood movies.

You can also grab a bite to eat on the square at restaurants such as Biundo’s (with Chicago-style pizza) and Casa Jacaranda, a family-owned Mexican eatery.

If you head west on 67, you can reach Cleburne State Park in about 35 minutes. The highlight is the clear blue waters of Cedar Lake with swimming, fishing, kayaking, canoeing, and no-wake boating. In addition, there are 13 miles of trails for hiking and biking. 

Venus can also be a great jumping-off point for other small-town charm, such as Alvarado (10 minutes away) or Mansfield (21 minutes), or larger cities such as Midlothian (13 minutes) or Waxahachie (25 minutes).

Look for Venus to continue rising as it becomes an increasingly popular place to call home.