One of my best memories of the train trips on the Santa Fe my dad would take me on, was the time we arrived in Fort Worth on a Sunday in 1961. All the stores and shop were closed back then on a Sunday, but there was a fine restaurant downtown, the Picadilly, where we ate breakfast. Then I was introduced to something quite new to me.. A trolley bus! Apparently, thinking back, trolley cars had not been long gone from Fort Worth, and the overhead wires were still in place, they were still running electric trolley buses on those lines, and we must have rode them all, on that cold afternoon without anything else to do. I remember the sounds of the electric motor, and compressor, and the smells, like that of something powered by electricity that had overheated. I don’t recall much of anything outside the windows, as I was too busy taking in the interior of the bus and passengers. Except for reaching the end of the line. Have you done stories on these electronic marvels??? Thanks, Steve Davis, Oklahoma City.
Steve, I have written about just the mule-drawn and electric streetcars and the interurban to Dallas and to Cleburne. Also have posts coming on the “trolley parks.”
Seeking a map of the city of Fort Worth 1860 (+ or -) showing the Daggett storehouse.
My kinsman was lynched thereabouts for his anti-slavery views, his bones stripped of
flesh and played with by kids on “the roof of the Daggett storehouse”.
I know of no maps of Fort Worth that old. I think the Daggett store was on the courthouse square. An 1876 map of the square can be seen here.
More on the lynching of Bewley and Crawford at On the Eve of Civil War: “Unheard of Scoundrelism.”
I just finished reading LOST Fort Worth. Loved it. My wife and kids (now grown ups) have lived here since 1977. Wish I’d gotten here sooner. My first 36 years were spent in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Illinois (again), New Jersey, Illinois (3rd stint), and finally Fort Worth. It was interesting reading the names of the men and women who made Fort Worth. Many of those names live on and now I have some knowledge of who they were and what they did. Thanks for a great book.
One of my best memories of the train trips on the Santa Fe my dad would take me on, was the time we arrived in Fort Worth on a Sunday in 1961. All the stores and shop were closed back then on a Sunday, but there was a fine restaurant downtown, the Picadilly, where we ate breakfast. Then I was introduced to something quite new to me.. A trolley bus! Apparently, thinking back, trolley cars had not been long gone from Fort Worth, and the overhead wires were still in place, they were still running electric trolley buses on those lines, and we must have rode them all, on that cold afternoon without anything else to do. I remember the sounds of the electric motor, and compressor, and the smells, like that of something powered by electricity that had overheated. I don’t recall much of anything outside the windows, as I was too busy taking in the interior of the bus and passengers. Except for reaching the end of the line. Have you done stories on these electronic marvels??? Thanks, Steve Davis, Oklahoma City.
Steve, I have written about just the mule-drawn and electric streetcars and the interurban to Dallas and to Cleburne. Also have posts coming on the “trolley parks.”
Seeking a map of the city of Fort Worth 1860 (+ or -) showing the Daggett storehouse.
My kinsman was lynched thereabouts for his anti-slavery views, his bones stripped of
flesh and played with by kids on “the roof of the Daggett storehouse”.
I know of no maps of Fort Worth that old. I think the Daggett store was on the courthouse square. An 1876 map of the square can be seen here.
More on the lynching of Bewley and Crawford at On the Eve of Civil War: “Unheard of Scoundrelism.”
I just finished reading LOST Fort Worth. Loved it. My wife and kids (now grown ups) have lived here since 1977. Wish I’d gotten here sooner. My first 36 years were spent in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Illinois (again), New Jersey, Illinois (3rd stint), and finally Fort Worth. It was interesting reading the names of the men and women who made Fort Worth. Many of those names live on and now I have some knowledge of who they were and what they did. Thanks for a great book.
Thank you, Mr. Stewart. I was born in Fort Worth, but researching the blog (Hometown by Handlebar) and book has been a real education for me, too.