Fort Worth Law Dept history

It was named for General Edward H. Tarrant, commander of militia forces of the Republic of Texas at the Battle of Village Creek in 1841.

Tarrant County, one of 26 counties created out of the Peters Colony, was established in 1849.

Today, Tarrant County has a population of over 1.8 million, more than 2,700 times larger than in 1850, when its inhabitants numbered only 664.

The first county seat election was held in 1851 and the location receiving the most votes, a few miles to the northeast, became Tarrant County's first county seat, designated Birdville as required by the statute creating the county.

After the military post closed in 1853 and the little towns of Fort Worth and Birdville grew, a fierce competition sprang up between them to be the seat of county government.

A second special county seat election was held in 1856, when Fort Worth edged out Birdville by only a handful of votes.

Van Zandt, a young lawyer, just out of the Confederate army and broken in health and wealth, headed west with his family to start life anew, arriving in Fort Worth in August, 1865.

From the close of the Civil War and through the late 1870's, millions of cattle were driven up the trail through Tarrant County (roughly following Interstate 35 West) to the railheads in Kansas.

In the autumn of 1872, the T&P had been built to Eagle Ford, six miles west of Dallas.

Thomas A. Tidball and John Wilson, in 1873, opened a private bank.

Van Zandt was elected president of the citizens’ construction company and a contract was let for the work, which began in the fall of 1875.

In any event, the first train entered Fort Worth July 19, 1876.

One line operated between Fort Worth and Fort Concho (San Angelo). In 1877, a contract was let by the Post Office Department for a line between Fort Worth and Fort Yuma, Arizona, the longest daily stage coach line in the world-approximately 1,500 miles.

The gas works were built the same year. (The gas was, of course, artificial.) By 1878, an elevator had been established, and Fort Worth began to be a grain center.

The first telephone exchange began operating in 1881, with 40 customers.

It was not until 1882 that the free school system began. (Fort Worth had had only private schools.) Also in 1882, M.P. Begley, son of a Kentucky steamboat captain, established the first of three great flour mills in Fort Worth.

The Department continued to grow after Courtright's departure, with the first detective being appointed in 1883, and the first traffic officer working the corner of 3rd and Main on Trades Day.

The first permanent jail was built in Fort Worth in 1884 directly behind the old county courthouse on Belknap Street.

Four years later, in 1885, electric lights were turned on for the first time.

The first Fat Stock Show was held in 1886 with C.C. French and Charlie McFarland, the latter from Weatherford, as leading spirits.

By 1887, the department was left with two mounted officers, two patrolmen, one jailer, and two sanitary officers.

The Texas Spring Palace opened in 1889 to celebrate and display the state’s resources.

One May night in 1890, the band concert had ended and the grand ball was about to begin.

1895 Tarrant County Courthouse

Construction started in 1902.

Dena Newell, director of marketing for Stockyards Heritage, says, “The tunnel that runs north and south beneath East Exchange dates back to 1903 and was used at one time to guide pigs and sheep to and fro without impeding traffic above.

Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital (formerly Harris Hospital) was named after a surgeon, Doctor Charles Houston Harris, who in 1904 moved his practice from the West Texas town of Moran to Fort Worth.

In 1905 the Department realized the advantage of working with other law enforcement agencies and joined the Texas State Bureau of Information for the bargain price of twenty-five dollars.

In 1909, the Department's first motor vehicle went into service--a five horsepower Indian motorcycle gave chase to traffic violators and introduced them to yet another breakthrough--the traffic ticket.

Bicycles were introduced in 1914 and for several years, a fifteen-man detail pedaled up and down the streets of Fort Worth.

Lake Worth, in northwest Fort Worth, was completed in 1916 at a cost of $1 million.

Camp Bowie was built here in 1917 at a cost of more than $3 million.

Marvin Leonard opened his grocery store in 1918.

By the late summer of 1920, five others had been built, with four more under way.

The first regular policewoman was Emma Richardson, commissioned in 1921.

The building opened at 1300 West Cannon St on March 3, 1930, and had 146 beds and two floors for patients.

In 1938 alone, $11 million in projects were in progress, including the West Lancaster elevated highway and bridge; the Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum and Auditorium; a new City Hall and public library; city-county Hospital; and the United States Public Health Service Hospital.

Casa Mañana would be reborn in 1958 thanks to a bond election and the support of City Council.

For many years after the advent of the squad car, two officers were assigned to each unit; but on October 1, 1959, the pure one-officer patrol was initiated on all beats and the shotgun replaced the observer as an officer's partner.

The Police Crime Laboratory was opened for the first time in 1961.

In 1963 Tarrant County moved its office to the new Tarrant County Jail, and the City of Fort Worth leased a portion of the 200 West Belknap building from Tarrant County for jail space, municipal courts and offices.

The corporation’s headquarters, the Tandy Center, was built on the site in 1974.

Burnett Plaza, built in 1983, stands at the former site of the Medical Arts Building at the southwest edge of Fort Worth’s Central Business District.

In September, 1991, the Fort Worth City Council, Fort Worth Police Department, and city businesses and community leaders began a private-public partnership which has two key components--law enforcement and crime prevention.

The tunnel closed in 2001 after the opening of Texas Health Fort Worth’s David E. Bloxom, Sr.

Hyde Park at Ninth Street and Throckmorton was expanded in 2010.