Top O’ Hill Terrace, once a hidden gem of Arlington history, has achieved a remarkable turnaround since being included on Historic Fort Worth’s Most Endangered Places list in 2015. This site, rich with tales of glamour and intrigue, now finds itself at the heart of a preservation success story thanks to a partnership between Arlington Baptist University and UT Arlington.
Read the story published in Fort Worth Report.
‘A redemption story’: Baptist university and UT Arlington preserve Top O’ Hill Terrace history
Vickie Bryant has never allowed a deck of cards to enter her house.
Yet, she dedicated the past 30 years to sharing the story of how a speakeasy and casino during the 1920s-1940s turned into a Baptist college.
What started off as a 1920s tearoom on a hilltop at the edge of Arlington quickly became an illegal casino 10 years later. Known as “Vegas Before Vegas,” the casino is said to have attracted high-profile figures like Bonnie Parker, Clyde Barrow, Howard Hughes and actor and singer Dean Martin. For years, a Baptist preacher vowed to own Top O’ Hill Terrace. The casino closed and eventually became home to a seminary in the mid-1950s.
Today, Arlington Baptist University calls the hilltop home. Bryant, the wife of a pastor and former president of Arlington Baptist University, has spent the past three decades researching the school’s history, collecting artifacts, photographs and interviews of people recounting their memories of the notorious hilltop spot. She also gives tours of what remains of the casino.
“When I started on this, we had two poker chips, then I found a letterhead, then I found a dog collar. The collection has grown, even though no one was supposed to save anything, they did, and it’s all coming back home.”
Bryant is not alone in her efforts. The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries has partnered with Arlington Baptist University to preserve the historical legacy of the Top O’ Hill Terrace tearoom and casino and how it transformed into the Baptist school.
Casino to seminary
UT Arlington and the Baptist university are collaborating to produce an archival oral history of Top O’ Hill narrated by Bryant and a video of the tour she gives to curious visitors, said Joseph Carpenter, oral historian and multimedia coordinator for UT Arlington’s history department.
Carpenter is also working on a documentary about the history of Top O’ Hill — from tearoom to casino and brothel to a religious school.
“My angle on the documentary is … to kind of tell this story as a redemption story,” Carpenter said.
Thomas and Beulah Marshall opened Arlington’s Top O’ Hill Terrace in the 1920s on Bankhead Highway. People from Dallas and Fort Worth traveled to the tearoom to get a taste of its renowned chicken-fried steaks, making it a popular spot for lunches, bridal showers and tea parties, according to the Texas State Historical Association.
The Marshalls sold the property to Charles Frederick “Fred” and Mary Browning in 1930. While the top of the building continued to operate as a restaurant, the basement soon became a gambling hot spot. The land also included a brothel and site for alcohol during the age of Prohibition, when the manufacture, transportation and sale of alcohol was banned.
Visitors had to pass through a 900-foot driveway, be vetted by guards at the iron gate and navigate several checkpoints and share passwords before entering the casino in the basement of the building. Guards would trigger a buzzer at the entrance when police showed up, giving gamblers enough time to hide tables and equipment and escape through an underground tunnel into the woods or to the tea garden.
J. Frank Norris, the pastor of Fort Worth’s First Baptist Church, was known as Top O’ Hill Terrace’s “most outspoken adversary.” Norris founded the Fundamental Bible Institute in 1927, which changed its name to Bible Baptist Seminary in 1945.
Calling Top O’ Hill, “a blight on Tarrant County,” Norris vowed he would one day own the place.
“That’s a pretty profound statement, considering what ultimately happened,” Carpenter said.
Top O’ Hill Terrace’s casino hot spot began to fade after a raid in 1947, according to the Texas State Historical Association. The Brownings sold the property in 1952 and both died a year later.
In 1956, four years after Norris’ death, the Bible Baptist Seminary purchased the property and moved the school from downtown Fort Worth to Arlington, making Norris’ prediction come true.
For many years the seminary was concerned about talking about the casino because of its connections to the mafia, Bryant said, but several decades later, she felt as if she could tell the story through Norris.
“I’ve had to walk a fine line here, but I thought ‘I can tell about Dr. Norris’ fight.’ He was fighting the gambling crowd. He was fighting the liquor crowd,” Bryant said.
UTA students build website
The partnership between the two schools also includes a website, made by UTA history students to document the preservation project.
Sharon Moreno, a UTA history major, was one of several students who led the research team for the website.
What started off as a class requirement soon evolved into her personal mission to help Bryant preserve a piece of Arlington history, she said.
“A lot of us didn’t even know that existed,” Moreno said. “We just kind of fell in love with the project and slowly, every meeting we would have, we would just get so excited to learn new things about it.”
Carpenter expects to have the film completed by June 2025, he said.
In the meantime, Bryant continues to offer tours for people interested in exploring the Top O’ Hill’s history for themselves.
In-person tours are available by appointment at Arlington Baptist University, located at 3001 W. Division St.
“What I find interesting here is how God has used a story of the casino to put a Bible university on the map, and they waited 50 years to do it.”
Camilo Diaz is a multimedia fellow at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at camilo.diaz@fortworthreport.org.
Marissa Greene is a Report for America corps member, covering faith for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at marissa.greene@fortworthreport.org.
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This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.