As Grapevine prepares to mark a milestone year, Mayor William D. Tate is reflecting on a lifetime rooted in the city he calls home. Elected in 1973 and serving more than five decades, Tate will celebrate his 50th year as mayor this May, with the community kicking off the observance at the 42nd Annual Main Street Fest.
Tate’s connection to Grapevine goes back to childhood memories of running across the white picket fences lining Main Street and helping out at local businesses such as Tate Cash Grocery and Tate Hardware—long before those buildings earned historic recognition. After graduating from Grapevine public schools in 1960, he earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of North Texas and a law degree from the University of Houston Law Center in 1968. He returned home, married Betty Curtis, and launched a law practice and title company, spending his early career assisting families with property purchases, estate settlements and small-business matters.
His first term as mayor began in 1973; he served through 1985, was reelected in 1988 and has remained in office since. Over those years Grapevine transformed from a small farming town of roughly 7,000 residents in 1970 to a city of more than 50,000, and it has grown into a widely known destination that now draws millions of visitors annually. Throughout that expansion, Tate says his guiding principle has been that progress must not erase the community’s character—efforts to preserve Historic Main Street, honor local traditions and protect a sense of community have informed many of his decisions.
Personal history and family have helped shape Tate’s perspective. He recalls a great-grandmother who walked to Texas to start a new life, and he sees the city’s preservation work as a way of honoring those who paved the way. Outside public life, Tate describes himself as a rancher at heart who finds balance in hunting, fishing and time outdoors—pastimes that reinforce values of stewardship, patience and respect for the land. Betty, his partner through all of it, and their five children—and now grandchildren—remain central to the life he’s built here.
Fifty years in the mayor’s office was never an end goal for Tate; it was the result of a simple commitment to serve. He frames his longevity as a responsibility to the people who place their trust in him and to future generations, emphasizing that Grapevine is far more than a place of work—it’s home.
