Camp Bowie Boulevard

by Juliet George

Overview

In the early 1890s, Humphrey Barker Chamberlin installed a lifeline to his namesake suburb west of the city. A trolley connected to Arlington Heights Boulevard at the Trinity River's Clear Fork and chugged across prairie land to reach Chamberlin Arlington Heights. Camp Bowie, a soldiers' city, sprawled over both sides of the road from 1917 until 1919. At the Great War's end, the stretch west of present-day University Drive became the commemorative Camp Bowie Boulevard. The 1920s brought twin ribbons of cordovan-colored brick pavement, the prestige of inclusion in the Bankhead Highway network, and westering developers of another elite village: Ridglea. Midway through the Great Depression, the Will Rogers complex arose on a farm tract, visible from the thoroughfare, to host Texas Centennial celebrations and a special livestock exposition. Museums began claiming adjacent space in the 1950s. By the second decade of the 21st century, Camp Bowie Boulevard bisected a built environment both modern and historic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467130493
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	09/16/2013
Series:	Images of America Series
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Fort Worth native Juliet George holds degrees in journalism and history from the University of Texas and Texas Christian University, respectively. A former archivist for the Dallas Jewish Historical Society, she currently serves on the Tarrant County Historical Commission, as an adjunct instructor of history at Weatherford College, and as a Spanish teacher at Springtown High School. Images in this book came from family albums, private collections, archives, libraries, and online resources.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 6

Introduction 7

1 Making Way for a Streetcar Suburb: Chamberlin Arlington Heights 9

2 The First Mile or So: A Bridge, a Park, Marvelous Machines 19

3 Cantonment and Commemoration: All Over the Map 25

4 Bungalow Boomers: Post-World War I Arlington Heights 41

5 Perennial Centennial: A Zone of Muses and Museums 75

6 Ridglea Has Everything: The Next Grand Plan 97

7 Renaissance and Reinvention: Reconciling Old and New 117

Selected Bibliography 127