William J. Bryce, the son of a masonry contractor, arrived in Fort Worth in 1883, where he worked as a journeyman bricklayer before setting up his own brick contracting business in 1907. Bryce’s successful career as a builder included contracts with Armour & Co. for the firm’s North Side meatpacking plant and the Fort Worth … Read more
This wood-framed, one-story apartment structure contains three small, two-room dwellings which alternate with recessed carports. Henry E Valentine, Jr., purchased the site in 1937 and hired E. R. Goddard, contractor, to construct the apartments the same year. The structure essentially is a traditional shotgun plan multiplied to form an apartment block and adapted to incorporate … Read more
Organized from a mission begun in 1946, All Saints’ Episcopal Church acquired this triangular lot in 1947. Construction of the present church took place in two phases. In June, 1949, construction began on the parish hall, a long gabled structure of dressed Lueders limestone with a half timbered gabled portico in the Tudor Revival style. … Read more
Built as West Side High School in 1922, shifting area population changed the name and use of this structure to Van Zandt School No. 30, serving the elementary grades, in 1923. The cornerstone was laid in a ceremony March 31, 1922, and the school opened for classes the following fall. Containing thirteen classrooms, a cafeteria, … Read more
A road bridge across Clear Fork of Trinity River at Burleson Street (now University Drive) opened January 3, 1938. W. L. Kelly, County Engineer, was responsible for the design, which features a Pratt through-truss of steel construction over concrete piers. A second bridge of pony truss construction was completed to the east of the first … Read more
Montgomery Ward, founded in Chicago in 1872, located theft regional retail and mail order house in Fort Worth in 1928, after an extensive promotional campaign by the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. Constructed in the record time of seven months, the huge eight-story masonry block contained 300,000 square feet of floor space. Thomas S. Byrne … Read more
Although it was probably constructed during the first period of development in Arlington Heights, the first recorded occupant of this house was Lillie Burgess Smith, widow of William H. Smith. Smith, who was involved in real estate and ran the Senate Saloon with James H. Thrasher, died about 1904. Lillie B. Smith moved to Arlington … Read more
Arlie Clayton Luther, who had constructed a number of houses in Westover Hills during the 1930s (5631 Byers Avenue/5630 Collinwood Avenue), in 1940 turned to the Ridglea area of the West Side. Luther, vice-president of the building firm of Byrne & Luther, Inc., began his extended project to develop a commercial shopping center along both … Read more
Earl E. Baidridge, a prominent Fort Worth financier and head of Fort Worth Savings Bank and Trust Co., purchased, in 1913, ten lots along Crestline Road, containing 120 acres. The Baldridge House has been attributed to the prominent architectural firm of Sanguinet and Staats. Passing out of Baldridge ownership in 1915, the property has changed … Read more
Farrington Field, the public high school stadium, was constructed in 1938-1939 on a 38-acre site near Van Zandt School (1112 North University). A Depression relief project which was expected to employ 400-500 workers, the stadium was funded by the Fort Worth Independent School District and the Works Progress Administration at a cost of $244,000. The … Read more
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