Fort Worth

Fort Worth is a city in Tarrant County, Texas, situated approximately 30 miles west of Dallas. With a population estimated at 1,008,156 in 2024, Fort Worth is the second-largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and the fourth-most populous city in Texas. Established as an Army fort near the Clear Fork of the Trinity River in 1849, the city is named after Mexican–American War hero U.S. Army General William Jenkins Worth. From its origins as a frontier military post, Fort Worth evolved into one of the great cattle-trading centers of the American West and has since grown into a major metropolitan hub defined equally by its Western heritage and its thriving arts and culture scene. Building on its frontier Western heritage and a history of strong local arts patronage, Fort Worth promotes itself as the "City of Cowboys and Culture."

History and Founding

The fertile, game-rich land surrounding the banks of the Trinity River had long been a favorite hunting ground for Native Americans in the area, but it soon proved irresistible to settlers as well. The city is named after Mexican–American War hero U.S. Army General William Jenkins Worth, who had proposed a series of ten forts from Eagle Pass to North Texas to mark the western Texas frontier. Shortly after Fort Worth's inception, settlers began moving in and, by 1860, had established the city as a county seat. However, its initial growth spurt did not occur until after the Civil War.

During the American Civil War, Fort Worth suffered from shortages of money, food, and supplies, and the population dropped as low as 175, but began to recover during Reconstruction. Growth resumed in earnest once the cattle drives resumed. A boom started after 1867 when millions of longhorns were driven through town en route to Red River Crossing and the Chisholm Trail. Cowboys got supplies for the long uptrail drive and caroused in taverns and dance halls. After the Pacific Railway railroad arrived in 1876, increased cattle traffic won the city the nickname of "Cowtown," and the Fort Worth Stockyards was transformed into a prized livestock center.

The coming of the Texas and Pacific Railway in 1876 spurred growth to 6,663 residents by 1880, 23,076 by 1890, and 26,688 by 1900. By 1900, Fort Worth was one of the world's largest cattle markets. The famous Chisholm Trail was a cattle route that came from the Rio Grande through Fort Worth. It was used from 1867 to 1884, and during that time more than 5 million cattle and 1 million mustang horses migrated through the area.

The city's early years were not without colorful lore. During the wild era of cattle drives that passed through Fort Worth, gambling parlors, saloons, and bakeries sprang up around town and became known as "Hell's Half Acre." Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, and their Wild Bunch would meet up in Fort Worth after robberies. The famous group had their photo taken in 1901 at Swartz's Photography Studio on Main Street.

Into the Twentieth Century: War, Oil, and Aviation

During World War I, the U.S. Army established Camp Bowie, which trained 100,000 men in Fort Worth. In 1920, the Bankhead Highway was rerouted to pass next to the new Army installation. The construction of brick-paved Camp Bowie Boulevard, eventually lined with restaurants, motels, and gas stations, marked the beginning of the auto-tourism era.

Following the discovery of oil in Texas in 1901, refinery and pipeline firms came to Fort Worth. Oil and gas companies increased their foothold during the oil boom of the 1980s and the more recent discovery of large natural gas deposits in the nearby Barnett Shale. Such refinery and pipeline companies as Sinclair Refining Company, Texaco, and Humble Oil and Refining Company (later Exxon Company, U.S.A.) established operations there, leading to the establishment of oil stock exchanges in Fort Worth.

With World War II, the aviation industry established a major presence in the form of Consolidated Aircraft Corp. (later acquired by General Dynamics Corp. and now part of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co.). Carswell Air Force Base (now the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base), part of the Strategic Air Command, was located next door. The siting of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) in 1973 on the Tarrant–Dallas county line and the subsequent relocation of American Airlines nearby have continued to link the city to the aviation industry.

Fort Worth's media history is also notable. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram began publication in 1909, and in 1922, with Harold Hough, its founder established Fort Worth's first radio station, WBAP. The station call letters stood for "We Bring A Program," and WBAP pioneered in broadcasting regularly-scheduled newscasts, livestock market reports, weekly church services, and barn dance programs, and was the first station in the Southwest to air a baseball game and a football game.

A key moment in the city's modern history occurred in November 1963. The ornate Hotel Texas, designed by architects Sanguinet and Staats and opened in 1921, is perhaps best known for its tragic place in history as the hotel where President John F. Kennedy stayed the night before his assassination. On November 21, 1963, President Kennedy arrived in Fort Worth, speaking the next morning before a breakfast meeting of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, then proceeding to Dallas where he was assassinated later that day.

Economy and Major Employers

Fort Worth's economy has diversified considerably from its cattle-trading roots. Since the late twentieth century, several major companies have been headquartered in Fort Worth, including American Airlines Group (and subsidiaries American Airlines and Envoy Air), RadioShack, Cash America International, GM Financial, the BNSF Railway, and Bell Textron.

When oil began to gush in West Texas in the early twentieth century, and again in the late 1970s, Fort Worth was at the center of the boom. By July 2007, advances in horizontal drilling technology made vast natural gas reserves in the Barnett Shale available directly under the city, helping many residents receive royalty checks for their mineral rights.

The metropolitan region's economy, also referred to as "Silicon Prairie," is primarily based on banking, commerce, insurance, telecommunications, technology, energy, healthcare, medical research, transportation, manufacturing, and logistics. As of 2022, Dallas–Fort Worth is home to 23 Fortune 500 companies, the fourth-largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the United States behind New York City (62), Chicago (35), and Houston (24).

Downtown Fort Worth has also undergone significant revitalization. The Sundance development became a model for the rest of the country for saving America's central cities. Beginning in the mid-1980s, XTO Energy also hitched its wagon to downtown Fort Worth by renovating seven historic buildings and creating thousands of white-collar jobs before the company moved its headquarters to Houston in 2017. In the 1980s and 1990s, growth of the city also turned north, filling the empty IH 35W corridor between Fort Worth and Denton with Alliance Airport, which opened in 1989. The geographic expansion led to exploding suburban development.

Culture, Arts, and Landmarks

Despite its "Cowtown" nickname, Fort Worth has built one of the most impressive concentrations of art museums in the American South and Southwest. The Kimbell Art Museum was designed by Louis Kahn, with an addition designed by Renzo Piano. The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth was designed by Tadao Ando. The Amon Carter Museum of American Art, designed by Philip Johnson, houses American art. The Sid Richardson Museum, redesigned by David M. Schwarz, has a collection of Western art emphasizing Frederic Remington and Charles Russell.

The city is also the location of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and several other museums designed by contemporary architects. The world's first indoor rodeo was held at the Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth. The Fort Worth Botanic Garden, spanning 109 acres, is the state's oldest botanic garden. Dedicated in 1933, the garden lets visitors travel the world—to Europe in the Rose Gardens, to Asia in the Japanese Garden, and across Texas in the Perennial Garden.

Fort Worth is known for its rich cowboy culture and vibrant arts scene. The historic Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District is a must-visit, where visitors can witness daily cattle drives and explore authentic western shops. The area is filled with saloons, live music venues, and unique restaurants that bring the spirit of the Old West to life.

Fort Worth's media and communications heritage runs deep. Radio station WBAP played a pivotal role in popularizing a new country music genre—western swing—through its broadcasts in the early 1930s of the Light Crust Doughboys, who were managed by Fort Worth resident and future governor W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel. Their popularity helped further the concept of shared programming and led in 1934 to the formation of the Texas Quality Network.

Fort Worth's Relationship with Dallas

Fort Worth and Dallas have long maintained a distinctive relationship—neighboring cities linked by geography, economy, and shared infrastructure, yet each holding onto a strong individual identity. Nearby Dallas has held a population majority in the metropolitan area for as long as records have been kept, yet Fort Worth has become one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States.

The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, officially designated the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, is the most populous metropolitan statistical area in the state of Texas and the Southern U.S., encompassing 11 counties. In 2024, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area's population had increased to 8,344,032.

The term "Metroplex," a portmanteau of metropolis and complex, is credited to Harve Chapman, an executive vice president with Dallas-based Tracy-Locke, one of three advertising agencies that worked with the North Texas Commission on strategies to market the region. The NTC copyrighted the term "Southwest Metroplex" in 1972 as a replacement for the previously ubiquitous "North Texas."

The two cities differ considerably in character. While Dallas developed as a financial and trade center driven by railroads and commerce, Fort Worth cultivated an identity rooted in ranching, livestock, and Western culture. Texas is often associated with its rural ranching history, yet as the decades passed, the cultural and economic identities of the Lone Star State evolved to reflect the increasing importance and influence of urban areas. No area in Texas illustrates this transformation better than DFW—a well-traveled location during the cattle trailing and early railroad eras that blossomed into a modern financial and cultural hotspot in the present day.

Population figures rebounded to 447,619 in 1990 and grew to 534,694 in 2000. According to the 2010 census, Fort Worth's population numbered 741,206. The city has continued to grow rapidly since, crossing the one-million mark by 2024, cementing its place as one of the dominant cities in the American Sun Belt.