This 2-1/2 ton cast-iron clock has graced Fort Worth’s downtown sidewalks since 1914. The clock has stood in front of Haltom’s jewelry stores at two previous locations, 614 Main St. (1914-1973) and 701 Houston (1973-1988). Manufactured by E. Howard & Co. of Boston, it is a memento from an earlier era when sidewalk clocks were … Read more
John Peter Smith (1831-‘901) was one of Fort Worth’s early civic leaders. He migrated to Fort Worth from Kentucky in 1853 in the first wave of settlers who arrived after the U.S. Army left, and opened the town’s first school in 1854. Smith was elected mayor of Fort Worth in 1882, a period when Fort … Read more
A rare example of wartime construction in Fort Worth’s central business district, these retaining walls flank a cut through the bluff overlooking the Trinity River. The cut links the Trinity River Bridge on W. Lancaster, completed in 1939, with the portion of Lancaster lying east of Summit Ave. A tunnel under Penn St. and Summit … Read more
The Trinity River Bridge was a $675,000 project erected by the Texas Highway Department with federal grade crossing elimination funds. It connected west Fort Worth with the central business district as part of a cross-town artery planned for East and West Lancaster. Julian Montgomery was the highway engineer in charge of the project, and Russ … Read more
Paddock Viaduct was constructed in 1913-14 to improve transportation to the rapidly developing meat packing district of North Fort Worth. Designed by the St. Louis engineering firm of Brenneke and Fay and constructed by Hannan-Hickey Brothers Construction, also of St. Louis, this bridge was the first reinforced concrete arch bridge in the nation to use … Read more
These three railroad bridges cross the Trinity River east of Samuels Ave. and just south of Twenty-third St. Four lines, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad; the Fort Worth & Denver City Railway; the Missouri Kansas and Texas (this line later belonged to the St. Louis Southwestern, the Cotton Belt Route); and the Chicago, … Read more
Between the late 1890s and the mid-1950s, paving of streets with brick was common throughout the United States, especially in downtown areas and wealthy residential neighborhoods. Main Street was first paved with Thurber brick about 1897-99. The street surface was rebricked in 1939 during the Depression. Other downtown streets were also paved with brick during … Read more
Concrete contractors have traditionally stamped their names and dates of construction into newly poured sidewalks. In Fort Worth, contractors are required to stamp their work, and this horseshoe-shaped stamp seems quite appropriate considering the city’s western heritage.
Mosaic tile street signs on many concrete curbs throughout Fort Worth date from 1938-39 when the Works Progress Administration funded a $1,000,000 street improvement program. City engineer D.L. Lewis was in charge of the program which included updating street signs, curbing, guttering, and road surfaces. Many of these attractive blue and white tile signs are … Read more
During the late nineteenth-century stones of limestone, granite, or other material were used to provided durable and attractive curbing along city streets. The limestone blocks along Ballinger St. and Summit Ave., remnants of what was probably a much larger stretch of stone curbing, were likely installed when the Quality Hill neighborhood where they are located … Read more