The Tarrant County Historical
Journal | ||||||
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The following is just a sample of the
pictures and articles in the 20 pages of issue #9. |
Editor and photographer , | |||||
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The Holiday Inn Beach at I-30 Probably the only hotel in the world with it's own cemetery on it's grounds. In 1970 a Mr. John Hickman of Ft. Worth and Judge Robert Hall of Dallas
decided to build a hotel on the Sycamore Heights Bluff overlooking the
then Fort Worth-Dallas Turnpike, but they had two problems. One, there
appeared to be a small private cemetery right where they wanted to build
the hotel. The cemetery is the Pioneer Ayres Graveyard. Buried there is
Benjamin Ayres and his wife Emily. Four of his six sons are buried here,
John, Joe, C.A., and Ben, Jr. Also buried on the hotel grounds are
Isabella Sanderson, Ayres daughter and her husband, William Sanderson.
Another daughter Mary Ayres Cushman born Dec. 22, 1874, died Aug. 23, 1952
is also interned here. Over the years many others were buried in this two
acre plot, some friends and some strangers, many of them children who died
while traveling West by wagon. (Editor's note: I remember just after the Turnpike was built and in the days before most cars had air conditioners whenever we would pass the pig farm we would roll up our windows to keep out the smell. It didn't work. P-U-EE!) Finally, the owners of the pig farm, worn out by the constant hassle, sold out. A Federal Agricultural Building was built soon after on the site and the hotel soon after that. After Fort Worth was abandoned by the Army in 1853, merchants and traders took over the empty buildings. They called the new town "Fort Town ". By 1856 Fort Town was again being known as "Fort Worth". Aren't you glad? "Yes, I am from Fort Town" doesn't sound as cool as "Yep, I'm from "Foat Wuth". |
(Editor's note: I seem to recall that when the Turnpike
was built it split the pig farmer's land into with no access to the north
side of the Turnpike. I had heard that a tunnel was built under the
Turnpike to allow access to the other side. I may check this out
someday.)
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In 1856 Julian Field established the first flour mill on the Trinity River. It was located just west of present day Henderson Street Bridge. In 1874 Indians were still very much a presence in this area of Texas. One man was killed in an Indian raid at Veal's Station three miles west of Springtown. Two more men were killed on the Weatherford to Jacksboro Road. In 1884 - Gunfight at the White Elephant Saloon downtown Fort Worth. Luke Short shot and killed Marshall "Longhair" Jim Courtright. In 1859 Fort Worth's first newspaper, "The Chief", was established.
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