 Fort Worth is one of the fastest
growing cities in America, currently the 5th largest city in
Texas and the 18th largest in the United States. Sprawling over
almost 300 square miles in 2 counties, those being Denton and
Tarrant, with Fort Worth being the county seat of Tarrant
County. In the latest U.S. census Fort Worth's population was
653,320, a huge increase over the multiple "entering Fort
Worth, population 464.320" signs that have not been updated
since the current population boom. Fort Worth is part of the 4th
largest metropolis in America. The amalgamation of towns in this
metropolitan area is known locally as "The Metroplex".
Fort Worth is the 2nd largest city in the Metroplex in terms of
population and is also #2 in terms of its cultural/economic
impact on the Metroplex, with Dallas being the dominant city in
this urban zone. Many Fort Worth natives likely bristle at the
idea the Dallas is #1 in Metroplex cultural impact, what with Fort
Worth having a Cultural
District with Dallas not having a Cultural District. |
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Click
to see what Famous Fort Worth Icon is one of the Official State
Symbols of Texas
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 Tandy
Hills Park is just a couple
miles east of downtown Fort Worth. It is a huge swath of natural
prairie that is likely the largest wild area so close to the
downtown of any city in America. Which makes this park a prime
asset for Fort Worth, one that is currently undeveloped and
threatened with Barnett Shale gas drilling. On the first day of
the New Year of 2008 we hiked on many miles of the Tandy Hills
Park trails, taking photos and video. If you are a fan of Mother
Nature and good hiking and are in the D/FW Metroplex, or
visiting, you'd likely enjoy Tandy
Hills Park. Keep in mind, it is very primitive and lacking
any amenities, like restrooms or running water. The Fort
Worth Nature Center & Refuge is the overseer for
Tandy Hills Park. A short distance
from Tandy Hills Park you can also visit Oakland
Lake Park. |
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Now
that the Stock Show is over, the Main Street Arts Festival
is Fort Worth's next Big Event
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 Thursday
November 1, 2007 we had our favorite, chile rellenos, for lunch
at Esperanzas in the Stockyards zone. After lunch we drove
through the Stockyards, heading east towards the old abandoned
Swift-Armor meatpacking plant that we call the Stockyards Ruins.
And what do our surprised Eyes see? A prison! Since our
last drive by a prison named Sona, housing Panamanian and
American prisoners, has been constructed, complete with guard
towers and concertina wire fences on the grounds of the long
abandoned heart of the Fort Worth cattle industry. Take
a look at Fort Worth's newest prison. Or as some have said, a
prison in a town near Dallas.. |
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 Fort Worth began as an army outpost in 1849,
named after Major General William Jenkins Worth. However, though
General Worth was pivotal in many wars and battles during the
formative years of Texas, he did not personally establish Fort
Worth. That task fell to Major Ripley S. Arnold who established
Camp Worth near the confluence of the West Fork and Clear Fork
of the Trinity River. On November 14, 1849 the War Department
turned Camp Worth into Fort Worth. In days gone by one was able
to visit Heritage Park,
near the Tarrant County Courthouse and stand where the original
fort stood, looking down on the river below, the historic
confluence possibly soon to be lost forever if the plan to build
a lake in its place goes forward. However, on October 11, 2007
we went to downtown Fort Worth to take photos of Heritage
Park and made a shocking discovery that dismayed and disgusted
us.
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 During
the past 25 years Fort Worth has greatly improved its downtown,
rehabilitating it from a classic case of urban decay. A
Convention Center was added at the heart of the old Hell's Acre.
Rundown buildings were razed to be replaced by parking lots that
came to be known as Sundance Square. The local newspaper of
record, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram was often noted to be
engaging in what seemed to be rather outrageous cases of
exaggeration in what seemed to be attempts to boost civic pride,
often in the face of what seemed to be reality. We began
collecting some of the more bizarre Star-Telegram's unfortunate
hyperbolizings and recorded them here
in "The Envy of the World". We do not know if
it is coincidence or not, but ever since we pointed out this
particular absurdity we have not seen a subsequent  recurrence.
After some Texas magazine, by who knows what criteria, picked
Fort Worth's as the liveliest downtown in Texas we were bemused
and perplexed. What happened to San Antonio we wondered? So,
since we had long made note of the fact that downtown Fort Worth
is not much of a shopping mecca, what with no downtown
department stores, and, having seen Fort Worth's downtown on the
busiest shopping day of the year, after its designation as
liveliest downtown in Texas and with signs around downtown
extolling that accolade, we decided to take photos of the most
lively downtown in Texas on the busiest shopping day of year,
that being the Day after
Thanksgiving.
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 Another
bizarre example of the local media misrepresenting the facts was
how the Star-Telegram described a new small food court type
venue called the Sante
Fe Rail Market as being modeled after Seattle's
Pike Place Market and European public markets and that
it was the first such Public Market in Texas. With high
expectations we visited the Sante Fe Rail Market soon after it
opened and were appalled to find it bore no resemblance to Pike
Place, or any other public market we'd seen. When we read the
Star-Telegram's propaganda we wondered how it was the Dallas
Farmers Market did not qualify as a public market,
particularly since it so closely resembled Seattle's Pike Place
Market. And then we discovered that not only was the Sante Fe
Rail Market not only not the first Public Market in Texas, it
was not even the first Public
Market in Fort Worth! The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has
never corrected these errors, despite having been advised of
their blatant misrepresentations.
 What
we believe to be Fort Worth's #1 claim to fame and the best
thing going in Fort Worth and its best tourist attraction is the
Fort Worth Stockyards. Our
many visitors from all over the country invariably enjoy
the Stockyards more than anything else we take them to in the
D/FW
Metroplex. There are fun restaurants, like Joe T. Garcia's, and
things you don't see anywhere else, such as cowboys twice a day moving
the Fort Worth Herd down the main drag of the
Stockyards. Eating all you can eat BBQ ribs at the outdoor patio
at Riscky's BBQ while watching the Fort Worth Herd walk by is a
reliable tourist pleaser. While you are in the area you can't
help but notice the Stockyard Ruins,
the remains of the abandoned Swift-Armor cattle processing
plant. Another fun thing to find and walk through is the Iron
Horse Trail where you will walk through the history of
Fort Worth.
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Did you know
Fort Worth, Texas is suffering from a major eruption of Gas? |
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