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John Peter Smith, Founder of Oakwood
Cemetery
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Located at the Oakwood Cemetery entrance, 700 Grand
Ave., Fort Worth.
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Pioneer area settler John Peter Smith (1831-1901), who
donated twenty acres for the establishment of this
cemetery, came to Fort Worth from Kentucky in 1853. He
served the community as a teacher, clerk, surveyor,
and attorney, and became a noted civic leader.
Although opposed to the secession of Texas during the
Civil War, Smith raised a company of Tarrant County
men for the Confederacy and joined Sibley's Brigade in
1861. While in the war he served in the unsuccessful
invasion of New Mexico, the recapture of Galveston in
1863, and was severely wounded at Donaldsville,
Louisiana, later that year. After the war Smith
returned to Fort Worth, where be became involved in
the development of the city. He helped organize a
bank, gas light company,and street railway. He also
gave land for city parks, cemeteries, including this
site in 1879, and a hospital, later named in his
honor. In 1882 he became Mayor and directed the
establishment of many public services, such as the
school system and the water department. In 1901 Smith
died in St. Louis, Missouri, while on a promotional
trip for Fort Worth. He is buried in a section of
Oakwood Cemetery that is part of the original acreage
he donated to the city.
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John Peter Smith
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Located in small park, 1100 Throckmorton, Fort Worth.
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A native of Kentucky, John Peter Smith migrated to
Fort Worth in 1853. He worked as a teacher, clerk, and
surveyor before his appointment as Deputy Surveyor of
the Denton Land Department in 1855, for which he
received payment in property. Also a student of law,
he was later admitted to the bar. Although opposed to
the secession of Texas during the Civil War, Smith
raised a company of Tarrant County men for the
Confederacy and joined Sibley's Brigade in 1861. While
in the war he served in the unsuccessful invasion of
New Mexico, the recapture of Galveston in 1863, and
was severely wounded at Donaldsville, Louisiana, later
that year. After the war Smith returned to Fort Worth,
where he became involved in the development of the
City. He helped organize a bank, gas light company,
and street railway. He also donated land for parks,
cemeteries,and a hospital, later named John Peter
Smith Hospital. In 1882 he became Mayor and directed
the establishment of many public services, including
the school system and the water department. In 1901
Smith died in St. Louis, Missouri, while on a
promotional trip for Fort Worth. He is buried in
Oakwood Cemetery, a site he donated to the city.
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Khleber Miller Van Zandt (1836-1930)
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Located in Oakwood Cemetery, 700 Grand Ave., Fort
Worth.
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Tennessee native Khleber Miller Van Zandt moved to
East Texas as a child. After serving as a Major in the
7th Texas Infantry Regiment, C.S.A., he came to Fort
Worth in 1865. A merchant, banker, and rancher, he was
instrumental in making the city a major rail center
and helped establish early newspaper, the public
schools, public transportation, and the First
Christian Church. He served in the 13th Texas
Legislature of 1875. A member of the United
Confederate Veterans, he held the office of National
Commander-in-Chief (1918-1921). Texas Sesquicentennial
1836-1986
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Home Town of Texas Confederate Major
K.M. Van Zandt (1836-1930)
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Located in Trinity Park, 2900 Crestline Rd., Ft.
Worth.
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Born in Tennessee. Came to Texas 1939. Was son of
Republic of Texas Minister to the United States. K.M.
Van Zandt was admitted to the Bar in 1858. Raised Co.
D, 7th Tex. Inf., 1861. Fought in snows at Fort
Donelson, Tenn., Feb. 1862. Captured in surrender
there. During imprisonment at Camps Douglas, Chase,
Johnson Island, Ill., 5 Co. D men died. The rest were
exchanged at Vicksburg in Sept. 1862. In the campaign
to prevent the split of the Confederacy along the
Mississippi River, Van Zandt and Co. D Fought many
Battles to the east of Vicksburg. (Back of Monument)
Van Zandt was promoted to Major in 1863 in Granbury's
Brigade. Granbury led 306 men into battle at Raymond,
Miss., came out with only 148. Van Zandt led 7th Tex.
after Granbury was wounded at the Battle of
Chickamauga. Went farthest of any Confederate unit
into enemy lines. At Missionary Ridge, saved the heavy
guns of his unit by pushing them by hand when horses
wavered under fire. Van Zandt was in retreat to
Atlanta, May 1864, and in the Nov. 1864 carnage at
Franklin, Tenn. Late 1864 and 1865 he was in
Trans-Mississippi department in Tax services for Gen.
Kirby Smith. After the war he moved from Marshall to
Fort Worth and became a Merchant. When big Eastern
bankers failed to put railroad into Fort Worth, he
founded a firm for railroad construction. Was
president of Fort Worth National Bank for 56 years,
and city benefactor to such an extent that he was
called "Mr. Fort Worth." Erected by the State of Texas
1963.
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Lawrence Clifton Elliott
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Located in Greenwood Cemetery, 3400 White Settlement
Rd., Fort Worth.
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Aviation pioneer Lawrence C. Elliot was born in
Greenville, Texas. During high school, Elliott
exhibited early aviation talent when he built an
experimental airplane. He attended Texas A&M
University, participating in the Reserve Officers
Training Corps. After graduating in 1924, Elliott was
commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army Air Corps
and trained at Brooks Field and Kelly Field in San
Antonio. He earned awards in air races and became a
U.S. Army flight Instructor. In 1928, Elliot began a
35-year career with the Aeronautics Branch of the U.S.
Department of Commerce (Later the Civil Aeronautics
Administration). Stationed at Southwest Regional
Headquarters in Fort Worth for 25 years, he was
instrumental in marking domestic flight routes,
developing weather communication broadcast techniques,
establishing standards for airplane maintenance and
inspection, and recommending air facility safety
modifications. During World War II, Elliott was
regional manager of the U.S. Civil Aviation System. He
received awards for exceptional service and impact on
international aviation in 1953. Elliott was married to
Mildred Leonhart Reiter (d. 1963). Their former home
at 3 Chase Court was designated a Recorded Texas
Historic Landmark in 1983. (1991)
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Middleton Tate Johnson
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Located at 621 W. Arkansas St., Arlington.
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The Father of Tarrant County. A member of the Congress
of the Republic. Born in South Carolina, 1810. Died at
Austin, Texas, May 15, 1866. Johnson County was named
in his honor.
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Ormer Leslie Locklear
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Located in Greenward Cemetery, 3400 White Settlement
Rd., Fort Worth.
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A native of Greenville, Texas, Ormer Leslie Locklear
moved to Fort Worth with his family in 1906. He worked
for his father's construction company until 1914, when
he and his brother opened an automobile repair shop.
Locklear enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Service in
1917, soon after the U.S. enter World War I. He
trained in San Antonio and Austin before being
assigned to Barron Field near Fort Worth as a flight
instructor. He soon became known for his daring feats
of precision flying and performed in barnstorming air
shows to recruit pilots for military service. Locklear
resigned his Army commission in 1919 to fly in the
commercial air show circuit. Hired by the Universal
Film Company as a stunt pilot for motion pictures, he
moved to Hollywood and in 1920 was killed flying a
stunt pilot for his second feature, "The Skywayman".
The accident, believed to have been caused when the
bright lights illuminating the night sky for filming
blinded the pilot, was recorded on film and used in
the movie's final scene. Thousands of mourners
attended Locklear's Fort Worth funeral, which the Fox
Film Corporation filmed and released later as a
newsreel. (1992)
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The Peters Colony in Tarrant County
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Located at SH 26 and Union Church Road, Grapevine.
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In 1841, W.S. Peters of Kentucky and associates
contracted with the Republic of Texas to bring
immigrants to this area. By 1848, Peters Colony land
covered nearly 2 million acres in north central Texas,
including all of Tarrant County. Speculation in
unlocated land certificates was rampant. About 150
colonists and their families, most of whom were
American-born farmers of meager means, settled in
Tarrant County. As the most extensive empresario
enterprise undertaken by the Republic, the Peters
Colony helped open this area of Texas to settlement.
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Thomas B. Saunders Family
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Located in, Saunders Park, 100 block of E. Exchange
St., Fort Worth.
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A native of North Carolina, Thomas Bailey Saunders
(1816-1902) migrated to Texas in 1850 and started a
cattle ranch near Gonzales. After the Civil War he
completed cattle drives to markets in New Orleans and
Kansas before settling in Bexar County. Two of
Saunders' twelve children were also involved in the
cattle industry. William David Harris Saunders
(1845-1922) helped supply beef for Confederate forces
during the Civil War and later became a successful
Goliad merchant and rancher. Another son, George
Washington Saunders (1854-1933), became a noted trail
driver of the 1870s. He later opened a livestock
commission in San Antonio. Thomas B. Saunders, II
(1872-1929), the son of William, owned a livestock
firm in Houston. He later moved here and in 1902
became the first cattle dealer on the Fort Worth
Stockyards. He was a pioneer in the transporting of
cattle by truck. His son Thomas B. Saunders, III
(1906-1974), was involved in extensive ranching
operations throughout the Southwest. During the 1930s
economic depression, he started a cattle clearinghouse
for traders, order buyers, and commission companies.
Since the 1850s, Saunders family members have been
actively involved in the Texas cattle industry.
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William Alfred Sanderson
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Located at Ayers Cemetery, 2500 block of Scott St.,
Fort Worth.
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A native of England, William Sanderson came to Texas
in 1841. He obtained a Republic of Texas land grant
and in 1847 settled in Tarrant County with his wife,
Isabella Francis (Ayres). Sanderson soon established
himself as a farmer and stock raiser. A charter member
of the First Christian Church of Fort Worth, he also
was appointed Justice of the Peace and was involved in
the relocation of the county seat from Birdville to
Fort Worth.
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William John Marsh
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Located in Greenwood Cemetery, 3400 White Settlement
Rd., Fort Worth.
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Born near Liverpool, England, William John Marsh was
an accomplished organist and musician when he came to
Fort Worth in 1904 to enter the cotton business. In
addition to his bookkeeping work, he served as
organist and choirmaster for two area churches and one
synagogue, and as choral director and professor of
organ at Texas Christian University. He also composed
over 100 pieces of music. In 1929, his composition
"Texas, our Texas" won in competition to become the
official state song. March died in Fort Worth at the
age of 90.
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William Letchworth Hurst
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Located at Hurst City Hall, 1505 Precinct Line Road,
Hurst.
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A native of Tennessee, William Letchworth "Uncle
Billy" Hurst (1833-1922) served in the Confederate
Army during the Civil War. As a member of the
Sixty-First Tennessee Infantry, he was involved in
fighting near Vicksburg, Mississippi. Following the
surrender of his unit to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in
1863, and his subsequent release, he joined in the
reorganization of his outfit as the Sixty-First
Tennessee Mounted Infantry. Captured in December 1863
near Tazwell, Tennessee, Hurst spent the remainder of
the war in military prisons in Kentucky and Illinois.
In 1870 Hurst and his wife Mary (Lynch) (1835-1908)
joined other residents of Claiborne County, Tennessee,
who had migrated to Texas. By adding property to his
first land purchase in 1872, Hurst became a prominent
land speculator in the area. In 1903 he granted a
right-of-way across his farm for the construction of a
Rock Island rail line. In exchange, the company named
a rail stop and depot for him. Later it became the
town of Hurst. Honored for many years by his friends
and relatives with festive birthday celebrations,
Hurst was the father of 14 children and had over 100
grandchildren. Many family descendants still live in
the area. (1981)
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William M. Rice
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Located at 310 S. Stewart St., Azle.
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William M. Rice first came to Texas in 1834 and
settled in what is now Nacogdoches County, where he
was involved in frontier defense and served as an
Alcalde in the Mexican Government. He served in the
Texas Revolution and was wounded in the Battle at San
Jacinto. He and his wife, Mariah, later lived in
Harris County, in Kansas, and in Dallas County, where
he was a farmer and merchant. During the Civil War, he
was active on the home front, making soldiers' hats
and hauling supplies. About 1874, Rice moved to
Tarrant County, where he lived until his death.
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William Madison McDonald (June 22,
1866-July 4, 1950)
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Located in Old Trinity Cemetery, 700 Grand Ave., Fort
Worth.
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Born in Kaufman County, William "Gooseneck Bill"
McDonald became active in politics in 1890. His
ability to unite black and white voters led to his
prominence as a leader of the "Black and Tan" faction
of the Republican Party. He remained influential,
serving as a delegate to many state and national
conventions, until the decline of the Republican Party
in Texas in the early 1900s. Also active in black
Masonic societies, he served as State Secretary for 47
years. He moved to Fort Worth in 1906, founded the
Fraternal Bank and Trust Company, and was a prominent
civic leader. (1982)
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Bransford
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Located at 408 Shelton Drive, Colleyville.
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A Post Office with the name Bransford opened in this
vicinity in the late 19th Century. In 1889 the Post
Office was moved to Red Rock on the route of the St.
Louis, Arkansas, and Texas Railroad. Named for pioneer
Felix Grundy Bransford (1828-1898), the Post Office
name eventually replaced the name of Red Rock and the
Town of Bransford became the center of a large framing
community. Early residents of the area remembered a
Post Office, two daily passenger trains, four doctors,
two blacksmith shops, a livery stable, four general
stores, and lodge hall in the town. The railroad depot
provided a passenger and supply center for the
surrounding agricultural communities. The Bransford
Lodge Hall, built in 1911, provided a meeting place
for four groups: The Odd Fellows, Woodmen of the
World, Knights of Modern Macabees, and the Farmers
Union. It was also a gathering place for many
community activities. The closing of the Bransford
Post Office in 1913 and the advent of highway travel
contributed to the decline of Bransford. By the time
the city of Colleyville was incorporated in 1956, most
reminders of the hamlet called Bransford had
disappeared. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986.
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Fort Worth "Where the West Begins"
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Located at the northwest corner of Houston & W.
Belknap Streets, Fort Worth.
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Founded June 6, 1849, as frontier post of Co. F., 2nd
Dragoons, 8th Dept., U.S. Army. The commander, Maj.
Ripley Arnold, named camp for his former superior
officer, Maj. Gen William Jenkins Worth. In 4 years of
operations, the post had but one serious Indian
encounter. A town grew up alongside the fort, as
center for supply stores and stagecoach routes. In
1856 Fort Worth became county seat of Tarrant County.
A boom started after 1867 when millions of longhorns
were driven through town en route to Red River
Crossing and Chisholm Trial. Herds forded the Trinity
below Courthouse Bluff, one block north of this site.
Cowboys got supplies for the long uptrail drive and
caroused in taverns and dance halls. After railroad
arrived in 1876, increased cattle traffic won city the
nickname of "Cowtown". By 1900, Fort Worth was one of
world's largest cattle markets. Population tripled
between 1900 and 1910. Growth continued, based on
varied multimillion-dollar industries of meat packing,
flour milling, grain storage, oil, aircraft plants and
military bases. Fort Worth also has developed as a
center of culture, with universities, museums, art
galleries, theatres and a botanic garden.
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Grapevine
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Located at 211 Main St., Grapevine.
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Wild mustang grapes growing profusely in this area
inspired the name "Grapevine" for this community.
Ambrose Foster (1794?-1847) and his wife Susannah
Medlin (1796-1876) were among the first settlers in
1845, from Platte County, Missouri. The Fosters, their
daughters and sons-in-law acquired land that became
the heart of Grapevine. Within the first year worship
services and school classes were conducted. Cattle
raising was the major enterprise prior to the Civil
War. Beef cattle were sold to Camp Worth (present Fort
Worth) by Archibald Leonard, Fosters' son-in-law, who
owned a mercantile store. In 1858 a Federal Post
Office was established and run by Solon Dunn. During
the 1870s the village was also known as "Dunnville".
In 1914 the name became "Grapevine". After the Cotton
Belt Railroad line opened in 1888, the town thrived as
a shipping center for cotton, grain, truck crops and
dairy products. In 1907 Grapevine incorporated. By
1934 two major paved roads leading to Dallas and Fort
Worth were constructed. A dam built in 1942 on Denton
Creek formed Lake Grapevine. It serves as a water
supply, flood control measure, and a recreational
area. In 1974 the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport opened
within the city limits. (1979)
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Jellico
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Located at the intersection of SH 1709 at SH 1938, at
Jellico Corners Plaza.
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Robert Emmett Wilson came with his family to this area
during the 1880s and built a general store near this
site. The name Jellico was chosen for the community
when a post office was established in 1898. The town
was named after a town in Tennessee from which some of
the settlers had immigrated. By 1895, Jellico had a
cotton gin, blacksmith shop, grist mil, syrup press,
and school. The town began to decline when cotton
prices fell in 1907. Wilson's General Store closed in
1912, and the school was consolidated into another
district. (1985)
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Keller
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Located at the park entrance on Bear Creek Rd. just
east of US 377, Keller.
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After Texas & Pacific Railroad came through this
area, H.W. Wood, a druggist, set aside 40 acres on
July 19, 1881, for this townsite. He named the new
village "Athol". Within a year, the name became
"Keller", honoring John C. Keller, railroad
construction crew foreman. Many businesses grew up to
meet the needs of the surroundings farms. In 1886 the
Post Office was established. There were two hotels,
three doctors, a newspaper, and a school. The Baptist,
Methodist, and Presbyterian congregations erected a
Union Church building in 1886. Keller was incorporated
1958. (1980)
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Niles City
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Located at Packing House Plaza, 500 block of E.
Exchage St., Fort Worth.
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Incorporated in 1911, the City of Niles was called the
"Richest Little Town in the World" because of its size
and the number of large businesses located here.
Included in the townsite, which eventually covered 1.5
square miles, were major meat packing firms, the Fort
Worth Stockyards, two grain elevators, a cotton seed
oil company, and a petroleum refinery and pipeline
plant. By the early 1920s the town's taxable property
was valued at $30,000,000. Niles was named for
Louville Veranus Niles (1839-1928), a successful
Boston businessman who first visited Fort Worth in
1893. His reorganization of the Fort Worth Packing
Company in 1899 led the firms of Swift and Armour to
locate their plants in this area in 1902, rapidly
increasing nearby business development. Substantial
muncipal tax revenues helped make the city of Niles a
progressive community. Under the supervision of a
Mayor and five Aldermen, funds were used for
improvements in roads, utilities,and city services.
The two school districts which served the town also
benefited from the large tax base. Despite legal
efforts beginning in 1921 to remain incorporated and
avoid annexation, the City of Niles became part of
Fort Worth in 1923. (1981)
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