The encyclopedia of Texas, V.1, Part 12

Author: Davis, Ellis Arthur, ed; Grobe, Edwin H., ed
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Dallas, Texas Development Bureau
Number of Pages: 1204

USA > Texas > The encyclopedia of Texas, V.1 > Part 12

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The living conditions of Dallas are far superior to those in most cities. There are no slums or tene- ments. Proper housing has been made a matter of care by the business men who realize the importance of proper living conditions for those who come to this city to reside. New tracts have been opened up in the outlying sections and fine residence districts have sprung up like magic. Working people, as a rule, have sought modest cottages in the outlying sections, rather than seeking homes near the crowded business sections.

The city of Dallas has a representative committee, appointed from the leading citizens, who are can- vassing plans for the erection of a magnificent municipal auditorium to cost in the neighborhood of $2,000,000. This committee has worked out a con- crete and definite plan of action.

The city of Dallas is engaged in a street paving program of magnitude. A bond issue of $1,250,000 for street improvement was voted in April, 1919, and expended. A bond issue of $1,250,000 was voted in September, 1921, at a special election called for that purpose, and street paving and other street improvements are now under way in various sections of the city. Dallas has 135 miles of paved streets at this time, as well as 87 miles of macadam streets or streets that have been treated with a surface ma- terial.

Building permits for the city of Dallas were in excess of $15,000,000 during 1921, of which a large portion were for homes, signifying a very healthy improvement.

The Lake Cliff Municipal Swimming Pool was completed and opened to the public in June, 1921. During the summer months of 1921 a total of 131,654 people took advantage of the pleasures offered by this pool. The city has authorized the construction of a swimming pool at the Hall Street Negro Park for negroes, which will be completed during the spring or early summer of 1922. The Lake Cliff Municipal Pool is the largest and finest municipal pool in the entire Southwest, receiving favorable comment from visitors from all over the United States who are interested in municipal recreational facilities.

. 56

FT WORTH COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS By FORT WORTH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

F ORT WORTH is brimming with wealth and prosperity. She has absorbed thousands of dis- charged officers and men from the military camps and flying fields of Texas. Her population has recently been enhanced by many ther thousands of newcomers, at- :racted first by the vast oil develop- ment in the adjoining territory, and ater by the greatly stimulated com- mercial activity attending the oil development.

Since shortly after the establish- ment of the military post known as fort Worth in 1849, the city had been famed as the Capital of the Cow Country and this she will remain. Fort Worth distributes more food than any city of her size in the coun- try. She is the grain and milling center of the Southwest, with an elevator capacity of 5,000,000 bushels.

From 1900 to 1910, according to the Federal census, Fort Worth gained 174 per cent in population. She is growing faster today than any time in her history. The increases in population is from 3,000 to 5,000 per month and she has a present population of 150,000.

A building era almost unprecedented in Texas, is upon Fort Worth. The great territory of West Texas, to which she is the gateway, is teeming with wealth and is increasing in population at a greater rate than any similar area in the country. Not is this wealth coming solely from oil development. Never in its history has West Texas had more abund- ant crops than in the past few years.

Farms are being improved. Roads are being built and new railway projects are being launched.

Fort Worth is the transportation center of the Southwest and her iron arms reach out to all the areas in Central, North Central and West Texas where the oil development is under way. She has

Residence District Around Rivercrest Country Club, Taken from the Club House

eleven railroads with seventeen outlets, which give her direct communication with all the new producing fields.

Five hundred oil companies maintain offices in Fort Worth. Ten refineries are in operation and several under construction. With the completion of these she will have a refining capacity of 75,000 barrels daily. Projects are on foot to bring to Fort Worth from the great gas wells that have been opened in West Texas, an additional supply of natural gas. This fuel, in competition with the al- most unlimited amount of fuel oil furnished by her refineries will give Fort Worth the cheapest fuel in the country.

Fort Worth, Looking North on Main Street from Tenth. The Texas Hotel in Center on Right. F. & M. Bank Building on the Left

Her water sup- ply is obtained from Lake Worth, which is fourteen miles long, two miles wide and has a capacity of thir- ty billion gallons. The lake abounds in fish. Hundreds of power boats, row boats and canoes ply its water. At the municipal bath- ing beach throngs of citizens and vis- itors from all parts of Texas find re- laxation during the summer.

Fort Worth is the third largest packing center in the country, and the second largest horse and mule

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

market. One and a half million head of live stock are slaughtered annually. From the plains of West Texas and New Mexico and from Old Mexico, come to Fort Worth, long trains loaded with cattle. From these plains come hundreds of trains loaded with grain. Fort Worth mills have a daily capacity of 2,000 barrels of wheat flour and an equal amount of corn products.

Five large wholesale grocery houses in Fort Worth including one of the largest in the country. A roll- ing mill employes 700 men. A Fort Worth furniture factory is the largest in the South. The Fort Worth Power and Light Company's plant is the largest in the Southwest. She has twelve banks and trust companies, one of which, the National Bank of Com- merce, has recently been chartered with a capital of $1,000,000. Her bank deposits are more than $55,- 000,000 and bank clearings are increasing each year.

The growth of the city is indicated by tremendous increase in the bank clearings, the building permits and the post office receipts.

Building permits in 1917 amounted to $1,790,612. In 1918 they amounted to $2,267,887. On September 1, 1919, the permits had exceeded $9,000,000. Per- mits for the month of August were in excess of $3,000,000. In 1920 and 1921 the building permits have been far above normal.

Post office receipts show steady growth. They have doubled in five years.

In spite of the departure in July, 1918, of approxi- mately 45,000 troops who received their mail through the Fort Worth post office, the receipts have in- creased rather than diminished and continue to grow

+ 1

W. T. Waggoner Building. Twenty Stories of Offices

rapidly, due to the great influx of new population. Fort Worth has one university, two class A col- leges, nine private and preparatory schools and twenty-seven public schools. Three new high school

buildings were recently completed at a cost of $6,000,000.

Fort Worth has more than 100 miles of paved streets; twenty-seven parks with an area of 6,427

1 #

.17:

The Texas, Fort Worth's New $4,000,000.00 Ilotel, the Finest Hostelry in the South. There are Six Hundred Guest Rooms, all with Bath

acres and 64 miles of street railway within the city.

There are 100 churches in Fort Worth and ten of these occupy buildings which cost more than $100,000 each. The largest Sunday school in the country is located in Fort Worth.

The Shrine Mosque is located on Lake Worth, is the headquarters of Moslah Temple and was recently completed at a cost of $300,000.

Building operations recently completed in Fort Worth involve a total of twenty-five million dollars. According to careful estimates there are under con- struction seven hundred residences and apartment houses, sufficient to accommodate three hundred families. The latter group includes the Lucerne Apartment which was recently completed and which contains 119 three, four and five-room apartments.

The W. T. Waggoner Building, completed in 1921. offers the much needed office space. This building occupies a ground space of 75x95 feet, and is twenty stories in height with a double basement and is lo- cated at Eighth and Houston Streets.

The Farmers and Mechanics National Bank Build- ing, completed in the latter part of 1921, is a twenty- four story structure at Seventh and Main Streets. This building is one of the tallest in Texas and cost over $1,500,000. The bank owned part of the corner and recently purchased the balance. The dimensions of the building are 100x100 feet.

The Livingston Oil Corporation recently purchased a site on Third Street between Main and Commerce Streets and have announced their intention of build-

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

". a ten story office building, at a cost of about $70,000, in the near future.

Pierre Levy and associates have purchased a site " the 900 block on Main Street extending through :, Commerce Street and will erect an eight story : Hilding to house a large motion picture theatre and

The Citizens Hotel Company recently erected at Eighth Street between Main and Commerce Streets, the new Texas Hotel, which cost two million dollars. The company, made up entirely of Fort Worth citi- :rns, paid $350,000 for the site, which is 100x120 fort. The hotel contains 450 guest rooms and is fifteen stories in height.

E. N. Schenecker has recently purchased a lot, 1(w)x200 feet on East Seventh Street between Cal- houn and Jones Streets and announced his intentions of erecting an eight story building to house a whole- «ale grocery establishment.

The United States Navy constructed a Helium gas plant two miles north of the city at a cost of four million dollars. Several petroleum refineries have ben completed within the last two years and more are to be built. These new plants, when completed, will give Fort Worth an additional refining capacity of 75,000 barrels per day, and if present plans are carried out the total expenditure on these plants will be in excess of fifteen million dollars.

The Monnig Dry Goods Company has recently pur- chased a lot, 75x200 feet, extending through from Main Street to Commerce Street near Fifteenth Street, and will erect a seven story building to house its wholesale department.

W. C. Stripling, a dry goods merchant who owns the entire block between Main, Houston, First and Second Streets has made additions to his store which give him a seven story building covering the entire block.

The Texas Motor Car Association has just com- pleted an addition to its plant at a cost of $300,000.

The Chevrolet Motor Car Association recently made an addition to its assembling plant which cost $250,000.

The Alexander Lumber Company has just com- pleted a plant for the manufacture of interchange- able unit houses, which cost $250,000.

The Texas Creosote Manufacturing Company has finished its plant in which it has invested $200,000.

The Star-Telegram, an evening paper, has erected a building at a cost of $400,000.

Oil well supply concerns in Fort Worth during the past two years have taken out permits for ware- houses which cost in excess of $2,000,000.

The city of Fort Worth is doing its share toward caring for the rapidly growing population. The filtration plant was recently completed by the city cost $300,000. During April, 1919, a bond issue of $1.>90,000, was voted to provide for sewer, water and street improvements and extensions for the construc- tion of a sewage disposal plant.

Recently Tarrant County, of which Fort Worth is the county seat, and which already has the best road system in the state of Texas, voted $3,450,000 ad- ditional bonds for good roads.

The Southwestern Telegraph and Telephone Com- pany is spending $460,000 on improvements and ex- tensions on its system in the city and more than $1,000,000 on improvements in the long distance serv- ice to the various towns in Texas and Oklahoma oil fields.

Building operations in Fort Worth are limited at this time only by the inability to get more build- ers and laborers. Already a large army is employed and recruits are being sought to double this army if possible. New houses have been built and are being built in every part of the city, and yet the cry for more residences is becoming louder and louder as thousands after thousands of new homeseekers continue to pour into the city. Among the recently constructed buildings are: The twenty-story W. T. Waggoner Building, the twenty-story F. & M. Bank Building, one of the tallest buildings in Texas, and the $2,000,000 Texas Hotel .

Fort Worth is growing and growing fast and seems in a fair way to realize the forecast that the population of the city will reach a quarter of a million people when the next census is taken.

Banks of a city may be considered an index to its prosperity and the growth of the Fort Worth banks are an indication of the city's rapid growth. They have more than 50,000 individual accounts and deposits are in excess of $50,000,000. Several of the banks have been compelled to enlarge their quarters to handle the business that has come to them and yet some of them continue to work in cramped quar- ters. There are five national and four state banks and not one of them has failed to share in the pros- perity caused by the growth of the city.

Fort Worth is superlative in a number of things, but among them may be mentioned its distribution facilities by means of the seventeen railroads and splendid paved highways extending in every direc- tion; the center of the oil industry of Texas, many of the largest producers having established their headquarters here; its refinery and pipe line facili- ties, reaching to the various oil fields of Texas, and Oklahoma; its packing houses, cotton gins and cotton seed and peanut oil mills; its industries of every kind and unexcelled general commercial conditions; its schools, which rank among the finest in the state, both in teaching talent and in buildings, and its cli- mate, water and people-everything that makes a city desirable as a home.

Fort Worth offers two special advantages to home seekers in its schools and churches. For grade and high school work there are a number of private and church schools in addition to the public schools, and for those wishing to take college courses there are no schools of higher education offering better advantages that the Texas Woman's College, under direction of the Methodist Church, and the Texas Christian University, under direction of the Christian Church.

Practically every denomination is represented among the churches of Fort Worth and each has a substantial following. Many of the congregations have built houses of worship that would be an ad- vantage of any city in the country and several have established and are conducting) institutional churches with great success. One church in the city has a membership roll of about 4,000 communicants and has the largest Sunday school in the world.

Fort Worth is the capitol of the "land of liquid gold," not in the sense of the city where laws are made, but as a city which reflects in its culture and prosperity the contentment and happiness of a united commonwealth.

...

HISTORY OF FORT WORTH BANKS

By G. H. COLVIN Chairman of Board, F. & M. Bank

T' HE growth and develop- ment of any communi- ty or state is commen- surate with the strength of its financial resources. Capi- tal and labor, in the hands of integrity and industry, make an irresistable combination, and a community so blessed with these forces can only go forward to success and bigger things.

The city of Fort Worth was fortunate to have within its bounds in its pioneer days such type of men; yet they dared to stake their judgment and loan their money on many a proposition for the up- building of their town that today would be consider- ered as foolhardy speculation. A study of these men and their methods reveals to a large extent the rea- son for the steady, sturdy and continuous growth of this very important city in the Lone Star State.

On the pioneer pages of History of this small Army Post, we find written the names of these men; Col. Van Winkle, Major K. M. Van Zandt, Thos. A. Tidball, Capt. M. B. Loyd, J. F. Ellis, W. J. Boaz, Capt. H. C. Edrington, J. Marklee, Jno. Nichols, A. B. Britton, S. W. Lomax and others. Of these men, only one today is with us; Maj. K. M. Van Zandt, still at the helm of the institution he organized, the only president this institution has ever had. The first bank interests were established here in 1872, W. J. Boaz and J. F. Ellis under the firm name of Boaz & Ellis conducted a general merchandise store and in connection with this did a loan and exchange business, which was at the time the principal func- tions of a bank. A little later Geo. H. Van Winkle and A. W. Wroten opened the private bank of Van Winkle & Co. The following year, Thos. A. Tidball, Wilson & Co., which was reorganized in the latter part of the same year to Tidball, Van Zandt & Co., with Tidball, Van Zandt, J. J. Jarvis and J. Peter Smith as members of the firm. After this reorgan- ization, in the same year, Capt. M. B. Loyd and J. Marklee formed the bank of Loyd, Marklee & Co., also known as the California and Texas Bank.

When the National Bank Act was passed in 1876, Capt. Loyd organized the First National Bank. La- ter the City. National Bank was organized, and in 1882 W. J. Boaz and associates obtained the char- ter for the Traders National Bank.

The combined resources of the Fort Worth banks in 1882 totalled $1,502,959.52. The total resources of the Fort Worth banks today are over $65,000,- 000.00. Fort Worth deposits in 1882 were $915,000. Today the total deposits are $55,000,000.00. -

Farmers' and Merchants National Bank Build- ing, which on Completion in 1921 was the Tallest Building in Texas

In 1888 The Fort Worth Clearing House Associa- tion, was formed with a membership of six banks. The First National Bank, The City National Bank, The Traders National Bank, Fort Worth National Bank and Merchants National Bank. There are to- day ten member banks in the association; First National Bank, Fort Worth National Bank, Far- mers & Mechanics National Bank, Stock Yards Na- tional Bank, Continental Bank & Trust Company, Exchange State Bank, Texas State Bank, Ft Worth State Bank, Guaranty State Bank and National Bank of Commerce.

The daily clearings in 1888 averaged about $45,- 000.00. Today, this average is nearer $3,000,000.00

Fort Worth's New Skyline.

Buildingy Costing Over $10,000,000.00 have been Erected in this Business District in the Past Two Years

HISTORY AND PROGRESS OF FORT WORTH By J. H. ALLISON Proprietor of Fort Worth Record

F ORT WORTH is a won- derful city with a glow- ing future. The pioneers must have had a prophetic vision when they built their block houses on the banks of Trinity River and made it a haven of refuge for settlers when, as occasionally hap- pened, they were driven from their ranches and farms by Indians; the United States government

a trading post it has attracted the ranchman from near and distant points, and the cow boys and the cow owners made periodical visits for both business and pleasure. Strong men located here, men who looked ahead, and they made it an industrial center, small at first, but having a foundation capable of sus- taining a large growth.

It was natural that having become established as one of the most enterprising and substantial cities of Texas, Fort Worth should have attracted the railroads. They came one after the other, until at this time thirteen trunk lines of railway converge at this point and radiate in seventeen different di- rections. With their connections they cover all points in Texas and all Oklahoma. Three lines lead to

looked ahead when it established a military post at this point in 1849 and gave it the name the city now bears; the cattlemen who made it their marketing point, the early day traders and the later day mer- chants, the railroad men, the cap- tains of industry, the tourist who came to see and stayed because they saw the possibility for happy homes-all appear to have recog- nized the spot as most admirably located by

reason of climate, geographical position and natural resources and advantages as the ideal place for residence, for com- merce, for agriculture, for a domi- nant station among the great cities of this fair land. And yet none of them knew and until very recently none has known that they were establishing themselves in the "land of liquid gold."

Looking Across Lake Worth from the Meandering Road The Old Shriners' Mosque is Seen on the Farther Shore

For many years Fort Worth grew slowly, but even so, she has kept pace year after year with every other growing city of Texas, has outstripped many and now bids fair to outstrip all of them. As

Denver, three to New Mexico, five to St. Louis, four to Kansas City, five to Houston and Galveston and two to the Mexican border.

The railroad yards in Fort Worth have storage for 15,000 cars and none larger may be found South of Kansas City. About 80 per cent of all railroad traffic entering Texas passes through Fort Worth and more than one and one-quarter million freight cars are interchanged here annually.

The railroads have the steady growth of agriculture throughout the surrounding country contributed to the continued growth of Fort Worth and the city gained more and more until the population had reached close to one hundred thou- sand. Natural gas was piped in from Oklahoma fields, and cheap 'uel, both gas and lignite coal from he Thurber mines, only a few miles iway, give encouragement to indus- ry. And then came the discovery of oil with Fort Worth in the center of the new oil field, and new men and new money poured in.

Forest Park is a Beautiful Area, Comprising Seventy-Five Acres. A Glimpse of the Zoo is Shown at the Right

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

Time was when men sought for gold in the river beds and cradled it out of the sands, later they mined it in rocks which they crushed to extract the yellow metal, now they drive a drill many feet into the earth and penetrate to the pools where oil is to be found and then they realize the truth that they are living in the "land of liquid gold."

Fort Worth will not be dependent much longer

of wells are being drilled in every part of the field. Many of these wells become producers, some of them prove to be merely dry holes, the latter often oc- curring within a few feet of a good producing well, but the $50,000 or so expended in a dry hole is not lost, for the money has been paid out in large wages to the men employed on the work and through them has passed into the various channels of trade, and as a general thing the company which has paid out its money for a dry hole, makes it up and much more too, soon afterwards by bringing in a good producer.

One of Fort Worth's greatest at- tractions is Lake Worth, said to be the largest artificial body of water in Texas. It is about 14 miles in length and two miles wide and covers 5,000 acres. It was con- structed by damming the west fork of the Trinity River and impounds thirty billion gallons of water, suffi- cient to provide for the needs of a city having 500,000 population. The dam is 3,300 feet in length and the spillway is 700 feet long. The water is soft and may be used in boilers. By the use of an elab- orate filtration system, the water attains a high degree of purity and is distributed to every part of the city.

The lake is one of the chief pleasure resorts of the city. It has a bathing beach where thousands go during the summer to enjoy the inland sea, this bathing beach being sufficiently distant from the intake to the filters to avoid any risk of contaminat- ing the water. The lake is popular for boating, pro- vides splendid fishing for those who like that sport, and the shores on every side are dotted with summer homes and camps, in addition to several chautauqua grounds. It is in fact one of the most delightful recreation spots to be found anywhere.

Fort Worth's trade territory is very large, extend-

:53

11 12

12 **

1.04

3. 71

$7 18

1. 1

Neil P. Anderson Building, Home of the Grain and Cotton Exchange, as well as Many Dealers in Grain and Cotton Products

ing throughout North Texas, far up through the Panhandle country to the very edge of Colorado and New Mexico, embraces the greater part of West Texas and reaches far into Oklahoma.

The discovery of Texas oil fields adjacent to Fort Worth gave a new stimulus to the city. Oil de- velopers and oil producers flocked here from all parts of the country bringing money for investment not only in oil lands, but in pipe lines, in refineries, in new indus- tries and in homes. Deposits in the banks doubled and trebled and kept on growing and new banks were established. The Pierce Oil Corporation had a refinery in operation here with a daily ca- pacity of 15,000 barrels before the discovery of the new oil fields, `the Magnolia Petroleum Company had a refinery with a daily capacity of 12,000 barrels and the Gulf Re- fining Company had a refinery with a daily capacity of 6,000 barrels, a total daily capacity of 33,000 bar- rels. Since the new oil fields were opened ten new refineries have been constructed or are in progress of construction which will increase the daily refining capacity to 75,000 barrels and other regneries hav- ing plans to increase the daily out- put by about 15,000 barrels are planning to locate here.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

The encyclopedia of Texas, V.1, Part 12

Author: Davis, Ellis Arthur, ed; Grobe, Edwin H., ed Publication date: 1922 Publisher: Dallas, Texas Development Bureau Number of Pages: 1204

Author: Davis, Ellis Arthur, ed; Grobe, Edwin H., ed
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Dallas, Texas Development Bureau
Number of Pages: 1204