Kennedale is located in
Tarrant County and is part of the
Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas metropolitan area.
In 1882 the town was established at the site of a mineral well. The well formed the focal point for development of a central business district with a train depot, hotel, general merchandise store, drug store, bank, post office, lumber company, and blacksmith. In 1886 the Fort Worth and New Orleans Railway Company was built through Kennedale to Waxahachie.
The development of the defense industry in Fort Worth beginning in the 1940s provided new jobs for area residents and encouraged growth in the county. In the late 1940s Kennedale had a population of 325 and eight businesses; by 1955 it had 1,046 residents and twenty businesses. In 1965 it had a population of 1,800, in 1975 it had 2,900 residents and seventy businesses, and in 1990 the population was 4,096. In 1991 Kennedale had eighty-three businesses.