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The History of Fort Worth

The city of Fort Worth originated as a military post in 1849 and developed into one of the world's largest cattle markets and then into a modern diversified metropolis, with strengths ranging from aerospace to the arts. It seems fitting to focus our twelfth TSHA quiz on the unique history of Fort Worth.

According to historian Richard F. Selcer, whose Fort Worth: A Texas Original! was published by the Association, Fort Worth was built on the cattle and oil industries, but today it "has become nationally known as a 'destination city' thanks to the Historic Stockyards District, the Texas Motor Speedway, the Bass Performance Hall, Six Flags, the Ballpark at Arlington and the Cultural District."

As with our prior eleven TSHA contests, this is an open-book quiz, and we encourage you to consult our printed New Handbook of Texas or the Handbook of Texas Online, which has received well over 80 million page views since it was launched in 1999. We also hope you also enjoy traveling through our updated TSHA Online site, which includes SHQ Online, a searchable, full-text digital archive of the early editions of the Southwestern Historical Quarterly.

In fact, in this quiz, for the first time, the answer to one of the questions (number 10 below) can be found in the SHQ Online, as well as in the Online Handbook. That question has to do with the very first official annual meeting of the TSHA, at which President O. M. Roberts concluded his opening address with the following words:

... it may be remarked that as the events of the past history of the country enter into and aid in giving shape to the condition of things existing at the present time, the study of history is important in all branches of learning as a help to understand the present. Still, "the world moves," and new elements of human thought and action are being added, day by day as time passes, to the already accumulated materials of history, which are difficult to be grasped and understood fully in their comprehensive details and significance by any one person. They constitute the proximate impulses to public and private conduct for the time, and their comprehension is of the first importance in every department of useful knowledge.

One of the greatest benefits that this Association can confer upon the country would be to cause the present state of things as they transpire to be developed intelligibly, so as to be generally understood.

While some of the questions are harder than others, all the answers may be found through word and article searches in the Handbook of Texas Online.

The Questions

Question 1:

Who's That Worth? Fort Worth was first known as Camp Worth, when it was simply one of ten frontier forts, established near the confluence of the West Fork and the Clear Fork of the Trinity River in June 1849. The idea for the line of western Texas forts was originated by Gen. William Jenkins Worth, and Camp Worth was founded and named for him the month after he died in 1849. The United States War Department officially named the post Fort Worth on November 14, 1849. What else was General Worth known for?

Helped end the Seminole War in Florida
Commandant of cadets at West Point
A hero of the Mexican War
Army commander in the Department of Texas
All of the above

Question 2:

Early Fort Worth Settlers. The first settlers of Fort Worth took over the site of the military post in September 1853, when a new line of forts was built further west. Five early Forth Worth settlers are listed below. One served as a representative in the state legislatures of 1851 and 1853. He settled in Fort Worth in 1854, where he opened a store and worked to have Fort Worth replace Birdville as the Tarrant county seat, which was accomplished in 1860. When the Texas and Pacific Railway planned its rail line through Fort Worth, he donated ninety-six acres for a depot and tracks. After the arrival of the railroad, he devoted most of his time to the promotion of Fort Worth. Which early Fort Worth settler was he?

Howard W. Peak
Ed Terrell
George W. Terrell
Ephraim M. Daggett
John Peter Smith

Question 3:

Name That Town. Fort Worth has had a variety of nicknames over the years. Which of these descriptive names was used to describe Fort Worth or parts of it over the years?

Cowtown
Queen City of the Prairie
"Where the West Begins"
Hell's Half Acre
All of the above

Question 4:

Fort Worth Stockyards. Fort Worth began building its reputation in the cattle business soon after the Civil War, when drovers began herding cattle from South Texas through Fort Worth northward on the Chisholm Trail. After the Texas and Pacific Railway arrived in 1876, the first cattle pens were built, followed by the incorporation of the Union Stock Yards in 1887. The Armour and Swift companies invested in the Fort Worth Stock Yards company in 1902, and the resulting expansion of the yards caused an employment boom in Fort Worth, with the town's population tripling over the following decade.

The Fort Worth Stockyards (the company changed the name Stockyards to one word in the 1940s) held its last auction in 1992, and the grand old market began a revitalization into a major shopping and entertainment area.

The Fort Worth Stock Yards had a holding capacity in its early years for 30,000 cattle, 18,000 sheep, 12,000 hogs, and 4,000 other animals. In 1917, a new record was set for the number of animals processed in one year in one stockyard, a record which stood for thirty years. How many animals were processed that year?

3,500
35,000
350,000
3,500,000
35,000,000

Question 5:

Fort Worth Art Tradition. For over a century, Fort Worth has helped put Texas on the map in the art community, for contributions ranging from classical art to western art to modern art. The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth is actually one of the oldest art institutions in Texas, having been chartered in 1892, when it was first known as the Art Gallery of the Carnegie Public Library, and later as the Fort Worth Museum of Art.

The growth of the museum and the overall art community in Fort Worth was aided by the national prominence of the "Fort Worth School" of artists, which was most active between 1945 and 1955. These artists contributed to Fort Worth's and Texas's reputation in the art world, both nationally and internationally. A number of the artists were also active in supporting the founding of the Kimbell Museum (which derived from the collection of Kay and Velma Kimbell) and the Amon Carter Museum (which derived from the collection of Amon G.Carter Jr., including a large collection of works by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell).

The following are five of the more prominent paintings that the Modern Art Museum acquired during its first hundred years. Which was the first?

Vollard Suite (Picasso)
The Swimming Hole (Thomas Eakins)
Approaching Storm (George Inness)
Stephen's Iron Crown (Motherwell)
Beta Mu (Morris Louis)

Question 6:

Fort Worth Railroads. Fort Worth's central location has made it a transportation hub from its early days, including cattle trails (the Chisholm Trail), stage lines (the Yuma Stage Line), interstate highways (Interstates 20, 30, and 35W), airports (Dallas-Fort Worth Airport and Meacham Field), and numerous railroads. Each of the following five railroads has Fort Worth in its name. One, founded in 1873, became a large and innovative company, and later an integral part of the Burlington Northern Railroad. Which railway company was it?

the Fort Worth and Western
the Fort Worth and Denver City
the Fort Worth and New Orleans
the Fort Worth and Rio Grande
the Fort Worth Belt

Question 7:

Fort Worth Military Bases. Tracing its origins as a military fort, the Fort Worth area has been host to a number of significant military bases, including those listed below. One of the military bases below encompassed over 2,100 acres at its peak, and was a major training base during World War I. Which military base was it?

Camp Worth
Carswell Air Force Base
Fort Worth Air Force Base
Fort Worth Army Air Field
Camp Bowie

Question 8:

Fort Worth Education. Listed below are five prominent educational institutions in the Fort Worth area. One was originally founded as Add-Ran College in 1873, founded by Addison and Randolph Clark. It became Add-Ran Male and Female College in 1874. Which institution is it?

Texas Wesleyan University
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
Texas Christian University
College of Saint Thomas More
Fort Worth Country Day

Question 9:

Fort Worth and Aerospace. Fort Worth has been known as an innovator in the aerospace industry, including being the headquarters for American Airlines and the headquarters for the once prominent Braniff Airlines. During World War II, the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation (which later became Convair and then General Dynamics) constructed one of the world's largest aircraft plants, a mile-long facility known as the "Bomber Plant." It sat on 563 acres on the west side of what is now Carswell Air Force Base. Fort Worth is also a major manufacturer of helicopters at the Bell Helicopter plant.

The Consolidated Vultee plant employed over 35,000 workers, many of them women, by the end of World War II and was best known for producing over 3,000 "Liberator Bombers." Which of the following aircraft was the Liberator Bomber?

B-24
B-29
B-34
B-50
B-52

Question 10:

TSHA Annual Meeting. This year's annual meeting in Fort Worth is the 109th annual meeting of the Texas State Historical Association, reaffirming its position as the "oldest learned society in Texas." While the early meetings of the Association were primarily held in Austin, since 1970 they have generally alternated �meeting in Austin during even-numbered years and in another Texas city during odd-numbered years (when the Texas Legislature is in session in Austin).

The first official annual meeting of the Texas State Historical Association, in 1897, was held on one of the dates listed below. On which of the following dates did O. M. Roberts deliver the opening address excerpted at the beginning of this quiz?

February 13, 1897
March 2, 1897
April 21, 1897
May 23, 1897
June 17, 1897

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