On July 19, 1876, the first railroad reached Fort Worth. Thanks to volunteers who completed building the road bed after Texas and Pacific Railway filed for bankruptcy, trains could start coming to town, changing the economy and future of Fort Worth — and putting the city on the map.
Rick McCaslin, a historian with the Texas State Historical Association, joined NTX Now’s Miranda Suarez and Ron Corning to detail how life looked 150 years ago in Fort Worth, and how the locomotive changed Cowtown.
These interview highlights have been edited for length and clarity. To hear the full conversation, click the ‘listen’ button above.
A look back in time
By the time the railroad came to Fort Worth, the town was only 3 years old with a population under 7,000 people. Fort Worth was just a small agricultural town, looking to have a bigger impact.
Then, Fort Worth decided to make a deal with Texas and Pacific Railway, and according to McCaslin, the impact was immediate…