Burleson is a city in Johnson and Tarrant counties, Texas, situated along Interstate 35W about 16 miles south of downtown Fort Worth. It is part of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and has grown into one of the larger cities on Fort Worth's southern edge, with roughly 53,000 residents. The city's origins date to 1881, when the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad — known as the Katy — built a line from Fort Worth to Hillsboro and established a midway depot. The community that grew around the depot became known as Burleson, and the area near the original station is preserved today as Old Town Burleson, the city's historic centerpiece. For much of its history Burleson remained a small railroad town, but metroplex growth transformed it in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Its position along I-35W made it a natural bedroom community for Fort Worth, and the city absorbed wave after wave of residential development, much of it built since 2000. Today Burleson functions as a full-service suburb with its own school district, retail corridors, and recreation facilities, rather than simply a commuter town. Burleson's economy includes retail, healthcare, education, and a growing base of local employers, while many residents commute to jobs in Fort Worth and the wider metroplex. Chisenhall Fields Sports Complex, a 136-acre regional park, anchors youth sports and community recreation. Burleson suits families and commuters seeking newer housing, strong schools, and quick freeway access to Fort Worth, while retaining a defined local identity. Its combination of established neighborhoods, active new construction, and a revitalized Old Town gives it a distinct place within the fast-growing southern tier of the metroplex.