Reverend Andrew Shannon Hayter (1818-1900) was one of the earliest settlers in this area, and is considered by many to be the “father of Arlington.” A native of Tennessee, Hayter left Alabama with his family in late 1850 and arrived in Texas shortly after, settling first in Nacogdoches. Over the next forty-nine-year-old Hayter would establish or serve sixteen Cumberland Presbyterian churches. As with many pioneer preachers, Hayter worked in another profession, as a surveyor, to augment his income.

The Hayters moved to Tarrant County in 1869, where Andrew quickly made a name for himself as a preacher, civic leader and surveyor. During the early 1870s a tiny settlement developed on the edge of Hayter's property, and he petitioned for a post office in 1875. The post office was called Hayterville.

Hayter had already founded two churches, a school, and a Masonic lodge in the area when he was asked in 1876 to locate the railroad through eastern Tarrant county and lay out a tiny, half-mile-square settlement between Dallas and Fort Worth. The railroad designers needed in- depth knowledge of the area and its terrain, as well as a plentiful source of timber to construct the road bed. Andrew Hayter could supply the necessary surveying knowledge, and also owned property filled with large timbers that could be furnished to the railroad. when the railroad offered to name their new town Hayter, the reverend declined the offer and instead gave the town the name Arlington, after Robert E. Lee's Virginia estate. The birth of Arlington caused the demise of tiny Hayterville. The post office was soon moved to the new town and Hayterville was abandoned.