Escape to Fort Worth Texas

Escape to Fort Worth Texas
Fort Worth Texas

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Fort Worth Texas, seat of Tarrant County, located on the Clear Fork of the Trinity River. The city is a major road, rail, and air junction, as well as a manufacturing and processing center with a diversified economy. Fort Worth has a level to rolling terrain and a continental climate, with hot summers and moderately cold winters. The city was named for United States Army General William Jenkins Worth, a hero of the Mexican War (1846-1848).

The city of Fort Worth covers a land area of 280.8 sq mi. Fort Worth and Arlington are the largest cities in the metropolitan area, which also includes about 60 other towns and communities. The Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area is made up of the counties of Hood, Johnson, Parker, and Tarrant.

The Fort Worth area has grown rapidly since the 1970s, with substantial development in the north and east. The city's nickname is "Cowtown," because of its early days as a center of cattle marketing, and it cultivates both a Western and cosmopolitan image. Important structures include the courthouse, built in 1893, and the Santa Fe depot. The Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District, where cattle were shipped from the 1880s until the mid-20th century, is now an area of nightclubs, restaurants, and shops. The Will Rogers Memorial Center features the art deco Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum. American architect Louis I. Kahn designed the Kimbell Art Museum, which has won international acclaim. American architect Philip C. Johnson designed the famous four-block Water Gardens.

Historically, Fort Worth has been the shipping, processing, and financial center for West Texas agricultural products and petroleum. Its economy relied on military bases, particularly Carswell Air Force Base. Its manufacturing base was closely linked to the aerospace industry and automobile production. In the early 1990s the realignment of Carswell into the Fort Worth Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base, the downsizing of both the defense and automobile industries, and the downturn in agricultural prices all damaged the Fort Worth economy. In recent years, however, the city's population and economy have grown, spurred by economic diversification in the region.

Although aerospace and automobiles remain an important part of its economy, Fort Worth's manufacturing base has not grown significantly. Instead the city has become more integrated into the economy of the Dallas-Fort Worth Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area, also known as the Metroplex, which has more than 4 million people, and has rebounded from the recent economic downturn with strong growth in the service, high-technology, financial, and transportation industries. The city relies on the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, one of the busiest in the nation. In December 1989, H. Ross Perot, Jr., the son and business partner of billionaire H. Ross Perot, Sr., opened the Alliance Airport 15 miles north of Fort Worth. The largest privately owned commercial airport in the state, it is designed to exploit the growth of local high-tech firms and light-manufacturing companies.

1. Will Rogers Statue
2. Visitors Information Center
3. Rodeo Ticket Office/ATM
4. Texas Bank Petting Zoo
5. Pony Ride
6. Will Rogers Auditorium
7. Will Rogers Tower (Police Department)
8. Will Rogers Coliseum
9. Stock Show Shuttle Bus Stop
10. Carnival Midway
11. Casa Manana Theatre
12. Exhibitor Parking
13. John Justin Plaza
14. W.R. Watt Arena
15. Charlie and Kit Moncrief Building

16. Centennial Cafe
17. Brown-Lupton Exhibits Hall
18. John Justin Arena
19. International Suite
20. West Arena
21. Richardson-Bass Building
22. Horse Stall Area
23. Horse Show-Grand Entry Office
24. Cattle Barn No. 4
25. Feed Office
26. Cattle Barn No. 3
27. Auction Arena
28. Cattle Arena
29. Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame
30. Cattle Barn No. 2

31. Milking Parlor
32. Cattle Barn No. 1
33. Poultry, Pigeons, Rabbits
34. TXU Presents Planet Agriculture
35. Sheep Barn
36. Swine Barn
37. FFA Children's Barnyard
38. Stock Show Main Office
39. Calf Scramble Meeting Room
40. Round Up Inn Food Court
41. Midnight Statue
42. ATM - CHASE
43. Amon G. Carter Jr. Exhibits Hall
44. Public Parking
45. Museum of Science and History
47. Kimbell Art Museum

Fort Worth institutions of higher learning include Texas Christian University (founded in 1873); University of Texas at Arlington (1895); Texas Wesleyan University (1890); Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (1908); University of North Texas Health Science Center-Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine (1970); and several campuses of the Tarrant County Junior College system (1967).

Fort Worth's cultural attractions include theWill Rogers Memorial Center, where exhibitions, horse shows, and rodeos are held; the Amon Carter Museum; the Kimbell Art Museum; the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth; and the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, which is the site of the Omni Theater where film and music performances dealing with science are shown. The Casa Mañana Theater stages annual musical productions and special events.Fort Worth has its own symphony orchestra and civic opera, and the city is home to the
Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, held every four years.

Fort Worth has an extensive greenbelt and park system that includes Forest Park, which contains the Fort Worth Zoo and Log Cabin Village, a collection of restored 19th-century buildings. Another park, Trinity Park, is adjacent to the Botanic Gardens. Fort Worth is the site of an annual Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show.

Fort Worth's council-manager system of government consists of an eight-person council elected from single districts for two-year terms, a mayor elected through a citywide election for a two-year term, and a city manager employed by the council.

In 1849 the United States Army established Fort Worth, one of a line of ten posts in Texas designed to protect United States-held territory from the Comanche people. The fort attracted settlers and traders, and after the army moved west in 1853, the settlement became a county seat in 1856. During the American Civil War (1861-1865) Fort Worth was again used as a frontier outpost to defend nearby settlers from Comanche raiders. The settlement grew after the Civil War, serving as a gathering place for cowboys and cattle buyers and a starting spot for the driving of longhorn cattle to Kansas. In 1873 the town was incorporated.

By 1876 Fort Worth had become the eastern terminus for the Texas and Pacific Railroad. The completion of the railroad was financed by Fort Worth citizens after the railroad company went bankrupt. The railroad quickly attracted industry and commerce to the town. Agricultural products, particularly cattle, continued to provide most of Fort Worth's income. In the early 20th century the city built stockyards and became the primary slaughtering, packing, and shipping point for livestock in the state.

During World War I (1914-1918), the United States Army established Camp Bowie as a training site in Fort Worth and converted three nearby air fields into aviation training centers. With the discovery, in the 1910s, of oil in several of the counties to the west, Fort Worth became a manufacturing center for oil-field equipment and headquarters for a number of petroleum companies. After a disastrous flood in 1909, the city began a number of projects to control the Trinity River and to secure a water supply for the city. These projects resulted in the creation of Lake Worth, which is located less than 13 km (8 mi) northwest of downtown.

Along with that of the nation as a whole, Fort Worth's economy stagnated in the 1930s. However, during World War II (1939-1945) the city attracted military bases and aviation and defense plants. One of these, built in 1942, was the Fort Worth Army Airfield, later the Carswell Air Force Base, which became a major employer in the city. Fort Worth secured federal funds to build the Trinity River Floodway, a project that was completed in 1956. By the mid-1950s the downtown had deteriorated. Several plans were considered, and Fort Worth eventually began a program of revitalization that led to the creation of cultural centers and urban greenbelts

The collapse of petroleum prices in the 1980s and the scaling back of defense industries, including the cancellation of the Superconducting Super Collider project in nearby Ellis County, were particularly damaging to the economy of Fort Worth. However, Fort Worth has benefited as the Metroplex region has grown and diversified economically. As a result, its historical competition with Dallas has lessened.

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