Greater Fort Worth 1950-1959

✧ Downtown Fort Worth, from the air at least, looks much the same as it did before World War II. At ground level, however, the wear of age was beginning to show. Soon, the effects of well- intended federal policies would further diminish the once-vibrant heart of Fort Worth and Tarrant County. COURTESY OF THE TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY, SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, MARY COUTS BURNETT LIBRARY, FORT WORTH, TEXAS. C HAPTER 6 GREATER FORT WORTH 1950-1959 The postwar Fifties for America and Fort emerging—part western and fully the workweek. Consequently, that figurative Worth were prosperous, but precarious, cosmopolitan—that would set a tone for cannon would have found few targets on times. The Panther City, as a center for cultivating the best aspects of both cultures. downtown streets at night. “In by eight and national defense, enjoyed a windfall in During the 1950s the population of out at five” became the routine for most men federal contracts. But for men and women Tarrant County beyond the corporate limits and women who worked at the oil and finan- who drew a paycheck from Uncle Sam, the of Fort Worth grew faster than the city itself. cial companies that dominated the downtown thought that their work had placed a nuclear While Fort Worth added about seventy- business district. bull’s-eye over North Texas was never far seven thousand new souls, suburban growth The failed Gruen Plan, named for from the back of their minds. Living where registered almost a hundred thousand, Viennese urban planner Victor Gruen, was a the West begins also meant being on the transforming once-rural pastures and dirt visionary concept that promised to turn hither edge of the Old South, and Fort roads into grids of tract homes and busy downtown into a futuristic maze of shops and Worthians—often clumsily—came to grips streets and highways. Commercial growth in offices. Perhaps it might even have saved the with the problems of integration. The the new suburbs at first struggled to adjust central business district from the inner city collective mind, however, would remember to changing patterns of life. “You could fire a decay that became particularly noticeable the decade more for the rise of the suburbs cannon down a busy thoroughfare at midday during the 1950s. Texas Electric President and the flourishing arts district that and not hit anyone,” one Hurst businessman J. B. Thomas championed this model of urban propelled Fort Worth into the first tier of complained of his bedroom community. efficiency, painting serene images of land- American high culture. The homogenizing Everyone, it seemed, had driven into Fort scaped plazas where visitors and workers influences of television, mass markets, and Worth to begin the workday. At suburban strip could stroll beneath arches and enjoy the gur- popular culture diluted the “Cowtown” centers that sprang up like mushrooms along gling of waterfalls and fountains without the identity that city fathers over the years had major highway arteries, entrepreneurs wrung irritating din of downtown traffic. Yet the alternately embraced and pushed away. Yet a their hands, hoping that weekend shoppers prospect of a leisure city dominated by elec- new personality and a new Fort Worth was would make up for the lack of business during tric shuttles and skywalks seemed too far-out 96 ✧ THE NEW FRONTIER ✧ Suburban strip center in Richland Hills COURTESY OF THE FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION, SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON LIBRARIES, ARLINGTON, TEXAS, AR 407 3-44. for automobile-dependent Texans, whose Fort Worth was far from dead, however. In the weeks before the opening, a tax practical sense leaned more toward getting in Just across the Trinity River its social pulse reg- measure came before voters asking them to and getting out than stopping to smell roses. istered a strong beat inside the developing arts provide even more money for maintenance. Nevertheless the skyline did change district. In the spring of 1953 the Fort Worth An open house, anxious officials hoped, significantly for the first time since the Art Museum staged its “Groundbreakers’ Ball,” would silence critics and swing the vote in commercial building boom of the 1920s. In arguably the most imaginative kickoff in the their favor. The two-hour walkthrough suc- 1956 the Continental National Bank city’s history. Five hundred industrialists and ceeded beyond their expectations. Nearly constructed a thirty-one-story tower capped society mavens turned out in costume—some four thousand children and parents lined up with an enormous revolving clock—the time as laborers, some as picketers, other as parts of outside, some five hours before the doors lit up on two sides and “CNB” emblazoned on buildings, and even a group who comprised a opened, waiting for the chance to be among the other two faces—that squinting eyes could prison chain gang. Ted Weems and his orches- the first to experience the wide array of make out even from the distant ridges far tra supplied the music, while the guests exhibits and hands-on activities from the beyond the central business district. Down on danced and sipped cocktails and, with a fine worlds of natural science and history as well the streets, however, plywood gradually Cowtown flair, feasted on gourmet cuisine as art and astronomy. To the relief of muse- replaced many of the windows in the recently served from the back of a chuck wagon. um officials, the tax bill passed. vibrant heart of the city. The big department Even as the art museum was breaking The Fifties was an exciting time to be a stores such as Leonards and Monnigs managed ground, the newly christened Children’s child in Fort Worth. At the Forest Park Zoo to keep old customers and attract new ones, Museum next door was captivating groups they could take in just about everything that but other retailers and entertainment managers of youngsters with a model of its neighbor- swims, slithers, walks, and flies. Among the came to recognize that people shopped and to-be. From its modest beginnings at the De new features included an aquarium, a reptile played where they lived. Zavala School in 1945, the museum quickly house, and an aviary that enhanced the outgrew two stately old mansions on park’s growing collection of land animals. Summit Avenue. In 1950 the city council For a brief, shining moment Queen Tut passed a bond issue to build a permanent pushed all the new exhibits from the home just west of the Will Rogers complex. forefront of publicity. The baby elephant that ✧ “The Gruen Plan for a Greater Fort Worth Tomorrow"— a vision that went unfulfilled—promised to resurrect the ✧ declining business district. With the construction of the Continental National Bank in 1956, the giant revolving clock added a distinctive touch to the COURTESY OF THE FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM PHOTOGRAPH city's skyline. COLLECTION, SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON LIBRARIES, ARLINGTON, TEXAS, FWST 3584. COURTESY OF THE FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION, SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON LIBRARIES, ARLINGTON, TEXAS, AR 407 8-46. CHAPTER 6 ✧ 97 ✧ Two faces of downtown. The view at Main and Fourth Street (left). Farther down Main Street the Downtown Rescue Mission (right) operated out of the once-cheerful Liberty Theater (see page 71). LEFT IMAGE COURTESY OF THE FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION, SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON LIBRARIES, ARLINGTON, TEXAS, AR 407 9-27. RIGHT IMAGE COURTESY OF THE FORT WORTH STAR- TELEGRAM PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION, SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON LIBRARIES, ARLINGTON, TEXAS, AR 407 3-40. had gorged on peanuts at her fifth birthday longtime handler, Jim Brown, Queen Tut team of park workers could pull the near- party in the Twenties and wallowed out a charged in and shoulder-blocked the crazed lifeless man to safety. Now, concluded Texana lagoon at Trinity Park the next decade had animal, gingerly keeping the zookeeper safe columnist Frank X. Tolbert, “you can grown into a venerable old monarch by beneath her giant haunches. She then understand why the biggest animal at the 1956. When a rogue elephant felled her absorbed two vicious assaults before a frantic Fort Worth zoo is the biggest favorite with Jim Brown.” Running a close second among park-goers was the “Tiny T&P,” the labor of love created by former railroader Bill Hames. A miniature streamliner with eight blue and silver coaches, and another model of a wood- burning locomotive with a like number of antique-looking cars, ran a course that stretched along a scenic five-and-a-half mile ✧ Winning the first Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow catapulted Fort Worthian Van Cliburn into stardom. He made the cover of Time Magazine as “The Texan Who Conquered Russia” (May 19, 1958). Inside, a photograph of him receiving the gold medal was accompanied by the caption: “He may be Horowitz, Liberace and Presley all rolled into one.” On his return, Cliburn received a hero’s welcome. New York City commemorated the achievement with a tickertape parade (illustrated here). Afterward he traveled to Washington, D. C. and met with Presdident Eisenhower before giving a command ✧ performance at Carnegie Hall, which he followed with a string of concerts in Boston, Philadelphia, London, and Paris. Queen Tut. Cliburn’s recording of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 became the first classical recording to sell a million copies. COURTESY OF THE FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION, SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT COURTESY OF THE VAN CLIBURN FOUNDATION. ARLINGTON LIBRARIES, ARLINGTON, TEXAS, FWST, NEG. # 499. 98 ✧ THE NEW FRONTIER planned, but under its single dome there was “plenty to whoop about,” declared columnist Gordon.

Load more