Ben Carpenter was raised in Highland Park with his siblings, John and Carolyn, by his mother, Flossie, and father, John W. Carpenter of State Highway 114 fame. The family-owned Hackberry Creek Ranch northwest of Dallas served as his family’s weekend getaway. Ben was four when his father purchased the ranch. He worked the livestock alongside ranch hands, riding bulls and working on his rodeo skills as a teenager on the property that eventually expanded to 6,000 acres.
Ben fought in World War II, earning a Silver Star for taking the command of three platoons whose officer had deserted when they were surrounded by Japanese troops and winning the battle.
After the war, Ben rose through the corporate ladder to lead the insurance company Southland Life and Southland Financial Corporation. He continued his father’s work of taming and shaping the Trinity River and served as president of Trinity River Authority, among numerous other business and civic leadership roles.
Eventually, Hackberry Creek Ranch lay in the way of encroaching city life, and development was inevitable. Irving grew from a small town of 1,089 in 1940 to 45,985 by 1960, doubling again by 1970 to 97,457. But Ben wanted the development to reflect his values. His love of the land and open spaces was evident in what would eventually become Las Colinas, where he created lakes and canals that followed the path of the creeks he explored as a youth. The Las Colinas Equestrian Center and one-third of the land remaining as open space are other legacies of his connection to the land.
An upscale housing division was built in 1963, and The Las Colinas Country Club opened in 1964 with founding members Amon Carter Jr, Trammell Crow, J. Erik Johnson, Clint Murchison, John Stemmons, and R.L. Thronton. I-35 and SH 114 were rerouted to create a “front door” to Las Colinas, and in 1973 Ben presented the master plan for Las Colinas, which he had been working on for years prior.
A dense mixed-use urban center, Lake Carolyn, and a system of small rivers were some of his key ideas that led to the mix of residential and commercial development featured in Las Colinas today. Over 130 firms moved to the area in Las Colinas’ first seven years.
Ben and his wife Betty lived on Hackberry Creek Ranch for 49 years, witnessing its transformation from a working ranch to the home of several corporate headquarters.
Today, the master-planned community is home to 27.4 million square feet of office space, more than 40 residential villages, more than 190 acres of parks and green space, 142,000 daytime residents, and the largest office park in North Texas. Dubbed “the headquarters of headquarters,” it is today home to eight Fortune 500 companies, including McKesson Corp., Kimberly-Clark, Pioneer Natural Resources, and Celanese.
In a 1974 memo to his staff, Ben wrote: “We are merely the custodians of this property during its important stage of development. None of us can take it with us into immortality, so let’s resist the attitude of some real estate developers in the past to squeeze out the ‘very last short-term dollar.’ Instead, remember that generations of others who will make Las Colinas their home (both business and personal) will follow us. Let them look back and reflect on the fine effort made by those who were its custodians during the development stage.”
Author
