HISTORY
Meadowbrook is a large neighborhood running between east
Lancaster Ave. on the south and I-30 on the north, from Riverside Drive on the west to Loop
820 on the east. This area encompasses thirteen surveys from 1855 to 1875, including the E.M.
Daggett Survey of 1856. Ephram Daggett, one of the early settlers in the area, established a hotel
in an abandoned army stable in Camp Worth (later named Fort Worth) after the army moved their encampment
to Fort Belknap.
Much of the western part of Meadowbrook was originally part of the Tandy
Ranch, which in 1854 was owned by Roger J. Tandy and his brother-in-law, Arch Hall. A small lake on the
Tandy Ranch played an important role in a tragedy which befell the Tarrant County Orphan's Home when it
caught fire in 1914. The home, built in 1908 at the corner of Lancaster Ave. and Collard, caught fire and
while all the 54 children escaped safely, firefighters used water from Tandy Lake to extinguish the burning
home. The orphans' home was eventually rebuilt but no longer remains. The lake was drained in 1918 in response
to a flu epidemic.
Many of the streets in the area, such as Ben St. and Lewis St., were named
for Tandy family members. There was also a Tandy Elementary School, which was built in its present location
in 1935, and has recently been remodeled into a retirement center.
Meadowbrook Drive, a central street through the neighborhood, was originally
called Barton Avenue, until it was changed in 1926. Another major road in the area is Lancaster Avenue which
has also undergone several name changes. An 1876 map describes it as the Old Dallas Road. In 1886 it was named
Front Street. Soon after that it was referred to as Texas Street, and finally in 1931 it became Lancaster
Avenue in honor of John L. Lancaster, a president of the T & P Railway.
In 1909, E.E. Fosdick purchased acreage in Meadowbrook for the purpose of
establishing a country club by Fosdick Lake. Fosdick died after founding the 75 member Inverness Club which
later failed. In 1927 the Fort Worth Park Department took over the property and renamed the lake Oakland Lake.
Radio Station WBAP, established in 1921 by Amon Carter with broadcasting
facilities in his downtown Star Telegram building, moved into its Meadowbrook location in 1948. That same
year Channel 5 began broadcasting as the first television station in Texas. The building occupied by these
stations was designed by the same architect who designed many of the early buildings on the Texas Christian
University campus. The radio and TV stations have now moved from what was known as "Broadcast
Hill" to Arlington.
|