After World War II

The Rise Of Industry

After World War II, Midlothian’s economic base would undergo another transition into an industrial center serving the growing Dallas-Fort Worth market. The community would continue to enjoy its strategic location as the southern transportation crossroads with easy access to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, but lying beneath its productive agricultural soils was the bedrock of its economic expansion.

Midlothian is located close to the highest elevation in Ellis County atop the Austin Escarpment, a thick chalk ridge that runs in a northeast to southwest direction. The Austin Escarpment through Midlothian represents a 600-year potential limestone reserve that has attracted three cement plant operations that can closely serve the expanding Dallas-Fort Worth real estate market.

In 1959, Texas Industries, Inc. (TXI) began construction of its first cement plant in Midlothian. By 1967, the company had a total of three kilns to help meet the demand for cement with the construction of the Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport. TXI became the largest cement operation in Texas with the addition of the third kiln. In 1972, TXI added a fourth kiln to its Midlothian cement plant. TXI’s fifth and latest kiln went into operation in the beginning of 2003. TXI (purchased by Martin Marietta in 2015) employs approximately 173 people today. Other major cement operations in Midlothian include Ash Grove Texas, LP with 121 employees and Holcim (Texas), LP with 145 workers.

Adjacent to Martin Marietta's Midlothian plant is steel manufacturer Gerdau Ameristeel. The Midlothian steel mini-mill plant began in 1970 as a joint partnership of TXI and Canada’s Co-Steel International Ltd. Today, Gerdau Ameristeel operates a steel plant in Midlothian and is the second largest producer of structural steel products in North America. Gerdau Ameristeel's Midlothian plant employs approximately 1,015 people.

RailPort is a 1,700-acre business park developed by TXI and now owned by Martin Marietta. RailPort is home to distribution centers - the 1.35 million square-foot Target Distribution Center employing 455 people and Quik' N Tasty Foods, Inc.'s 260,000 square-foot distribution center with 75 employees. Also located in RailPort is Luminant a 1,650-megawatt gas-red electric power plant employing 70 people, Midlothian LNG, LLC, Western Power Sports, Buckley Oil and a Google Data Center.

Along the US 67 corridor north of downtown Midlothian is a 600-acre Auto Park, automobile processing and distribution center, developed in the early 1980’s by Mid-Texas International Center, Inc. The Auto Park employs 50 workers. Major automobile manufacturers that use the Auto Park’s services include Mazda North America, Toyota Motor Sales, and Kia Motors America.