Hell’s Half Acre
If you’ve partied in Ft. Worth you’re already fully aware that the town knows how to get rowdy. But in case you think you’re a part of the most party-hearty of the crowd, perhaps a brief look back to the town’s Wild West days are in order to help keep all things equal. When the Texas and Pacific Railway arrived in Ft. Worth in 1876 it caused a boom in the town which was immediately transformed into “the place to be” for the cattle wholesale trade. The city witnessed astonishing growth as it became the westernmost point for cattle shipment and transportation. With the boom came an increase in population and currency, and when those two combine, it typically results in a changed landscape. In this case the increase in saloons, gambling halls, and dance parlors that were relegated in the heart of the vice district quickly became known as “Hell’s Half Acre” (which is today occupied by the Forth Worth Convention Center and the Fort Worth Water gardens). This area of town witnessed an increase in crime as shootings, knifings, muggings and brawls became a nightly occurrence when cowboys, buffalo hunters, and highway robbers rubbed elbow-to-elbow in an alcohol-liberal environment. Of course there was bound to be trouble. It wasn’t until the late 1880s when a major reform campaign (spearheaded by then-Mayor Broiles and County Attorney R.L. Carlock) took place which helped shut down the area’s worst excesses by 1889. So the next time you’re out partying and think you’ve got it “going on,” slip past the Convention Center and use a little imagination to envision what it must have been like back in the Hell’s Half Acre days of gambling, growth, and gunmen.