Fort Worth between the World Wars

Book excerpt: From its early days as a nineteenth-century army outpost through the boom years of cattle drives, culminating with the arrival of Armour and Swift in the twentieth century to secure the community’s economic base, Fort Worth established itself as a major city that, to many, was “where the West began.” Historian Harold Rich focuses on the successes and struggles that Fort Worth enjoyed and endured in the 1920s and 1930s as the city’s fortunes began to be eclipsed by Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Featuring a solid foundation of economic history, Rich also explores the political and social challenges of a big city facing an uncertain future. Tense race relations, the chilling rise of the Ku Klux Klan, and the dangerous thrills of a notorious vice district— “Hell’s Half-Acre”—show that this Texas city was a microcosm of the state and the nation when the roar of the 1920s came to an abrupt halt in the Great Depression. Fort Worth between the World Wars is an important contribution not only to local history but also to the larger story of urban change during a tumultuous time.