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Welcome to Fort Worth, known for many years in Texas as "Where the West Begins." Established in 1849 as an army post to protect East Texas settlements from Indian attack, Forth Worth was named for General William Jenkins Worth, one of the first commanders of the outpost and a veteran of the War of 1812, the French and Indian War and the Mexican War. The little outpost quickly developed a rowdy reputation, which was intensified with the establishment of a stage line from Fort Worth to Yuma, Arizona, in 1850. But by 1853, the frontier had moved to the west and the fort was abandoned. The buildings from the fort housed the town of Fort Worth as settlers, soldiers, cowboys and even outlaws took up residence.
Tarrant County's first county seat was in Birdville (now part of Haltom City), which was actually a larger community than Fort Worth. The courthouse, used from 1850-1856, was housed in a log cabin. As Fort Worth grew in population, its citizens forced an election in 1856 to decide where the county seat should be. Fort Worth won the election, and despite Birdville's protests and another election four years later, the county seat remained Fort Worth, as it still is today.
As the demand for beef in the East rose after the U.S. Civil War, cowboys rounded up millions of free-ranging longhorns and drove them north to market along the Chisholm Trail. Fort Worth was the last bit of civilization before the long lonely trail drive, so by 1866, the town had a new nickname, "Cowtown," and a new source of prosperity in the cattle business—not to mention an even rowdier reputation and a famous neighborhood known as Hell's Half Acre. It is said that even Butch Cassidy, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang stopped here to enjoy food and fun!
By 1872, Fort Worth was ready for a new step into the future: bringing the railroad through Texas. In 1873, Captain B.B. Paddock developed a map showing Fort Worth in the center of a circle and proposed rail lines radiating in all directions from that center. As the map began to resemble a giant tarantula, it was fittingly named the Tarantula Map and became the main plan used to attract railroads to the city. Despite many difficulties and delays, the Texas and Pacific Railroad pulled into Fort Worth in 1876; by 1900, nine railroads were operating through the town. Part of the first true effort to establish an extended rail system in North America, it was a narrow-gauge route going from St. Louis, Missouri, through Eagle Pass, Texas, on the Mexican border, and then into the interior of Mexico. Known as the Cotton Belt Route, the route was extended into Fort Worth in 1887 as an outlet for lumber, and passenger service continued until about 1930. The Grapevine Vintage Railroad is now a popular tourist attraction.
It was only natural for a thriving meatpacking industry to be next to spring up in Fort Worth—after all, the railroads were now in place to bring in the cattle and ship out the meat. Swift and Armour, among other packers, built regional plants—Swift's on the south hillside of Exchange Avenue and Armour's on the north side. The plants opened in late 1902 and held grand openings in March 1903 in conjunction with the annual livestock show, known today as the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show. A month later, the Exchange building opened, and the Cowtown Coliseum followed in 1908. By 1909, the new city of North Fort Worth had grown to a population of 12,000 and was annexed by its older sibling. Eight years later, cattlemen decided to hold a contest for cowboys in the coliseum. Lacking a name, one rancher suggested "rodeo," the Spanish word for "roundup."
Fort Worth soon became the second largest livestock market in the country as well as one of its major beef suppliers. It retained that status until the 1960s, when Swift and Armour closed their doors. The Stockyards didn't go away, however; the area underwent complete restoration in the 1970s and remains one of North Texas' most popular tourist destinations. Stockyards Station is deemed a living tribute to a gone, but not forgotten, way of life.
Fort Worth's commercial role expanded yet again with the discovery of rich oil fields in West Texas in the early 20th century, for here is where the drilling supplies were manufactured, purchased and sold even as oil was struck. Sinclair, Texaco, and Humble Oil and Refining Company (now Exxon) built regional offices, and new skyscrapers sprang up as a result of oil money. Meanwhile, a major flood in 1909 spurred the city to begin the ambitious projects of controlling the Trinity River and ensuring a safe water supply for its residents. These projects resulted in the formation of Lake Worth, located northwest of downtown.
The U.S. Army established Camp Bowie as a training site during World War I. Later, Amon G. Carter Sr. co-founded American Airways, now known as American Airlines and still based at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. Early in World War II, when the U.S. War Department needed an aircraft plant to build bombers, Carter and his partner C.R. Smith sold Washington on the idea of putting it in Fort Worth. The plant broke ground in April, 1941. After Pearl Harbor triggered a step-up in the work, an extension was added for the Air Force. Four months later, the Air Force activated Tarrant Field Airdrome as a training base, which later became Carswell Air Force Base. In 1951, an aircraft manufacturer from New York, Larry Bell, brought his helicopter factory to Hurst; today, Bell Helicopter Textron is still a vital contributor to the area's economy.
The oil industry's collapse in the early 1980s, along with the shrinking of the defense industry, negatively impacted Fort Worth's economy, but diversification and thriving tourism in all of North Texas have combined to give it a much-needed boost.
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