With one brush of a sign, it has revived the old \u201cMid-Cities\u201d<\/a> nickname that had been falling out of use for 50 years.<\/p>\n For about that long, a local joke has been about what would happen if H-E-B \u2014 a south Texas supermarket chain \u2014 ever opened a store in the suburbs of Hurst, Euless and Bedford near DFW Airport, also nicknamed H-E-B.<\/p>\n The punch line came true last month when H-E-B opened in the Glade Parks<\/a> shopping center on Texas 121.<\/p>\n But it would have been too cute to name it \u201cH-E-B\/H-E-B.\u201d<\/p>\n Instead, H-E-B polished up the region\u2019s much older nickname, created in the early 1950s to label the cities growing between Fort Worth and Dallas.<\/p>\n Now, giant signs welcome shoppers to \u201cH-E-B Mid-Cities.\u201d<\/p>\n The nickname is already catching on all over again.<\/p>\n British soccer fans were told to meet up at the \u201cLondoner Mid-Cities\u201d pub on the east edge of Colleyville. Radio hosts on KTCK \u201cThe Ticket\u201d tell stories about growing up in the Mid-Cities. Social media posts on the new H-E-B are tagged #midcities.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a simple reason H-E-B revived the nickname instead of calling the store \u201cH-E-B Euless.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not totally in Euless.<\/p>\n \u201cOur stores are named \u2018Frisco 1,\u2019 \u2018Frisco 2,\u2019 \u2018Plano,\u2019 etc.,\u201d Mabrie Jackson of H-E-B explained in an email.<\/p>\n \u201cThis stores straddles two cities, Bedford and Euless. So we are calling it \u2018H-E-B Mid-Cities.\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n At the store\u2019s grand opening, she said the challenge was to \u201cnot confuse our IT systems.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo we have to come up with Mid-Cities,\u201d she said. \u201cBut make no mistake about it. This is the H-E-B in H-E-B.\u201d<\/p>\n Today, the Mid-Cities are well-defined. They\u2019re the three cities along Airport Freeway between Fort Worth and DFW Airport: Hurst, Euless and Bedford<\/a>.<\/p>\n But in the early 1950s, Bedford was still an outlying town. The original Mid-Cities were Hurst, Euless and \u2014 yes \u2014 Arlington, which was just down Farm Road 157 or Texas 360 toward the old Fort Worth city airport, Amon Carter Field, and toward jobs at General Motors.<\/p>\n Arlington quickly graduated from the class. Bedford was promoted.<\/p>\n Until 1982, the Star-Telegram still covered all of eastern Tarrant County from a \u201cMid-Cities Bureau\u201d<\/a> in Arlington.<\/p>\n The 1960s also brought a civic power struggle of sorts over whether the Mid-Cities label included Haltom City. Richland Hills and North Richland Hills, or whether the Haltom-Richland area would stand on its own.<\/p>\n By then, \u201cMid-Cities\u201d seemed to be shorthand for \u201cnot Arlington, Irving or Grand Prairie.\u201d The Mid-Cities News-Texan<\/a> newspaper was based in \u201cEuless-Hurst.\u201d<\/p>\n A 1994 Star-Telegram story posed the existential crisis.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere are the \u2018Mid-Cities\u2019?\u201d the story asked in a Star-Telegram edition which itself was labeled \u201cNortheast Tarrant.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cAre they a state of mind or a state of being?\u201d<\/p>\n The story quoted owners of Mid-Cities Manufacturing and Mid-Cities Fabrication.<\/p>\n The two businesses were in Arlington and Dallas (?!).<\/p>\n The owner of Mid-Cities Manufacturing, Tom Farrow, said he \u201cwas in a hurry for a name, and that\u2019s what it is. When I see \u2018Mid-Cities,\u2019 I think of the area between Dallas and Fort Worth, and that\u2019s what this is.\u201d<\/p>\n So basically, the Mid-Cities is a state of mind.<\/p>\n With an H-E-B.<\/p>\n Do you have an opinion on this topic? Tell us! <\/p>\n We love to hear from Texans with opinions on the news \u2014 and to publish those views in the Opinion section.<\/p>\n \u2022 Letters should be no more than 150 words. <\/p>\n \u2022 Writers should submit letters only once every 30 days. <\/p>\n \u2022 Include your name, address (including city of residence), phone number and email address, so we can contact you if we have questions. <\/p>\n You can submit a letter to the editor two ways: <\/p>\n \u2022 Email letters@star-telegram.com<\/a> (preferred).<\/p>\n![\"Mid-Cities](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_0990.jpg\" "\\"IMG_0990.jpg\\"")
Mid-Cities Boulevard is a more recent name for a road that used to have five different names in different cities. The sign and a red-light camera are seen here in North Richland Hills, Texas, on July 25, 2007. Ian McVea Star-Telegram archives <\/p>\n![\"Civic](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_0987.jpg\" "\\"IMG_0987.jpg\\"")
Civic leaders from the Fort Worth-Dallas area mounted big bulldozers to break ground for DFW Airport on Dec. 11, 1968. The bulldozers were labeled with signs reading “Fort Worth, “Dallas,” “Mid-Cities,” and “Regional Airport” and each carried men who represented their towns and the airport board at the groundbreaking ceremony. Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection\/UT Arlington Special Collections <\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_0988.jpg\" "\\"IMG_0988.jpg\\"")
A cat awaits adoption at the Mid Cities Humane Society booth at a Petco store in Arlington, Texas, July 23, 2010. The phone number no longer works. Max Faulkner Star-Telegram archives <\/p>\n