Contributed by Jerry Whitehead
Part of our Texas Blog Series
Howdy Folks !!
A little Ft. Worth Trivia for Ya’
Being a long-time resident of Ft. Worth it has been amazing to see how much it has and has not changed in the last 60 years or so. I grew up here and lived here for some 30 years till moving away to some other spots on the map, and once again returning to the area.
Ft. Worth always had its small-town charm to it growing up, and now even as a bustling mid-size city, it still has its small town feel to in many areas.
AS a bit of history, Ft. Worth was actually a fort. It was established in 1849 by Major General William Jenkins Worth who was the former commander of the department of Texas. The area began to grow and by 1853 a whopping 350 people lived in what is now known as – Ft. Worth.
One of the most famous activities and events that put Ft. Worth on the map was the famed Chisholm Trail. It was the end of a long cattle drive that started in Kansas and ended up in Ft. Worth. This took place from about 1867 to 1884 as history dictates. This is also how Ft. Worth gained the caption of “where the west began”. The cowpokes on those cattle drives during their breaks would come into town firing their pistols and riding their horses into the saloons, known as Hells Half Acre, – the red-light district that developed during those times. The area became known for the foundation for many wild west conceptions. The Chisholm Trail Roundup still occurs every year in Ft. Worth and reveals the true Wild West of yesteryear, is still very much alive today!
The Texas and Pacific Railway came along in 1876 and put Ft. Worth on the transcontinental route to California and also Texas’s famed gulf coast. Investors began to buy up land and eventually the Ft. Worth Stockyard Co. was formed in 1893 and put on its first livestock show in 1896. The annual fat and livestock show still goes on every year here in Ft. Worth as a point to mention. Swift Company and Armour Meatpackers opened and together they processed more than 5 million heads of cattle, hogs and sheep up until their peak in about 1944 with Ft. Worth becoming the 3rd largest stockyards in the country and putting Ft. Worth firmly on the map.
Oil Money shows up in Cowtown:
Texas” oil hunt having been touched off by the big strike at Spindletop near Beaumont in 1901, W.K. Gordon, superintendent of the Texas Pacific Coal Company of Thurber, had his company drilling around Ranger, 90 miles west of Fort Worth, when he received a message from his bosses: “Believe you have made mistake; suggest you stop drilling.” The president let Gordon go a little deeper; he struck oil on the McCleskey Farm, turning Ranger into a boomtown of 30,000 people. Subsequent strikes came in at Desdemona, south of Ranger, growing that town to 16,000 inhabitants; Breckenridge, 30 miles northwest of Ranger; and Burkburnett, 135 miles northwest of Fort Worth. Hundreds of wells were drilled at Ranger-Desdemona-Breckenridge and hundreds more at Burkburnett. Fort Worth, between the districts, experienced its own oil boom. All chairs at the Westbrook Hotel lobby were removed to make room for the operators, promoters and speculators who swept into town and even packed the sidewalks outside the hotel. Before the rush, Fort Worth had three refineries. By the late summer of 1920, five others had been built, with four more under way. Bank deposits soared; office buildings constructed; and grand homes built. Fort Worth continued to surge between the two world wars with the construction of new public schools; lakes for critically needed stable water supply; historic office buildings; the Texas, Worth, and Blackstone hotels, T&P Station, T&P Warehouse, U.S. Courthouse, U.S. Post Office, West Lancaster elevated highway and bridge; Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum and Auditorium; new City Hall and public library; and city-county hospital.
Another interesting notable, was Van Cliburn, a famed pianist from Ft. Worth wins the Moscow competition in 1958!
AS I reminisce about many things of Ft. Worth, I just remember growing up here, how happy the families all seemed to be, how friendly Texans in general are, and what a wonderful place to have called home for so long.
I still picture the hometown feel the city has to offer, the downtown area has been completely reengineered over that last 30 years or as, as Ft. Worth at one time had more billionaires in that any other major city, the Bass Brothers. All 4 of them were or are worth a whole lot of money and did a lot to bolster the downtown area and more with skyscrapers, an Opera hall, and many great restaurant and bar venues all within walking distance.
In the Pawn World it should be noted that Cash America got started in Cowtown and had its roots here in Ft. Worth until merging with First Cash back in 2016 and the combined entity still has an amazing high rise building right in the downtown skyline of our little hometown of Cowtown!! Nice to know, the world’s largest publicly traded pawn shop company is right here, in Ft. Worth.
Having said all of that, I am honored that the National Pawnbrokers Association is bringing the 2021 national convention to my hometown, and if you’re in the pawn business in any way, YOU should be here!!
See ya’ in Cowtown – Jerry Whitehead > Pawnshop Consulting Group, LLC.
Jerry Whitehead offer Pawnshop Consulting Group Operations. Learn more about them at https://pawnshopconsultinggroup.com/about-us/
