gdvanc

There are a lot of homes within 20 minutes of Westland. If the 'cue is good enough, I think people will make that drive. It would be interesting if several of those businesses take off - and maybe throw in some other draws on the weekend like some live shows or other activities - it could become a nice little scene.

I never heard of Westland, but when I searched Google for 9901 Camp Bowie West, the map on the search page labeled that area "Westland". The historic topo maps from Historic Aerials also has it labeled that way on the earliest map ('57?). The street grid is also already there on both the earliest topo and aerial maps. I couldn't find mention of an actual incorporated city back then, though.

I did find an article in "Paper City" magazine (which I'd also never heard of) from January:

New Burger and Beer Joint Boosts a Long Forgotten Fort Worth Area’s Resurgence — JD’s Hamburgers Rises in Westland

So apparently there's a resurgence afoot.

You know what I'd like to see? An animated (by year) heat-map of population growth and decline in the city. Maybe by census tract or something. Where'd these 13,000 new neighbors move to?

Putting A&M up there on Crony Island would be using state educational funds to take acreage off of the tax rolls in an area one might hope will eventually become high-value real estate.

"After conducting a visioning study, three schemes were developed..." 

The bidet, the I-20 rest stop and a Buccee's.

That's some solid visioning. Man I hate consultants.

I wish a stronger local vernacular architecture had developed here that was expressed in some way in the designs of some of these developments. Or maybe a nod to some of the streams of design from Fort Worth's better past buildings. As it is, they not only look a lot alike, they look a lot like developments in every suburb in the country.

Welcome to the forum! I haven't been able to find any exterior photos of the building yet, but I wish you luck on your search. I did find an interesting photo at the UTA archives: "Franz Schubert, a descendant of the Austrian composer of the same name, is shown at work on a piano in his shop." The page the image is on gives geographical coordinates that place it at the intersection of Jennings and Broadway. So not really a photo of the building, but worth mentioning.

i'm ready to be hurt again

Looks like they play both kinds of music.

forgot to add in the pandemic years? they've certainly made me have to think harder about how long ago things happened.

A lot of kids are graduating high school with several (free) college courses on their transcript. (AISD has TCC profs teach dual credit courses on the HS campuses, and I'm sure other Tarrant districts do as well.) Combine that with rounding out the core and intro classes at community college before going to a university for your upper-level classes and that's one way to reduce the cost of a degree.

Nice shots, and you weren't kidding about the patient loading - that's really well done.

Texas ‘Country Boy’ Helped Launch Personal-Computer Era [WSJ]

John V. Roach, who has died at age 83, oversaw introduction of a small $600 PC at RadioShack in 1977

John Roach was born in Stamford, TX (about 40 miles north of Abilene) but moved to Fort Worth at a young age. He got his bachelor's and MBA from TCU and was involved in getting Tandy to get into the personal computer business. Many of us remember him as long-time CEO of Tandy (1981-1998).

‘Between Memory and Invention’ Review: Stern Words From a Builder
In the guise of a memoir, Robert A.M. Stern gives us a capsule history of American architecture since 1960.
 
Saturday's Wall Street Journal has a review of Robert A. M. Stern's new memoir.
 

John, do you have St. Patricks original design with proposed towers? I called last week to inquire about the towers. They didnt have an answer for me.
 

Yes, they left the bells exposed, and almost all of the ornamentation was removed.  The church already has a commanding presence over the surrounding neighborhood and park.  Just think how it would appear if the tower had been completed.
 
St. Patrick Cathedral in Downtown also has its bells exposed to the elements by sitting on top of the incomplete towers.

 

I know John has some information on this, but I'll throw in one from the late Jack White. For those unfamiliar, Jack White took (and collected) photographs of Fort Worth over a career of many decades. Over a decade ago, Jack worked with John to make his collection available on John's Fort Worth Architecture web site on which this forum is hosted. For those interested in Fort Worth history who haven't browsed the Jack White Collection on John's site, I encourage you to do so. It is marvelous.

Here's a sample that includes a drawing of the original St. Joseph's Cathedral plan: