Inside look: Former Fort Worth KKK hall is transforming into center for healing
A project that will transform a former KKK building into the Fred Rouse Center for Arts and Community Healing is gaining momentum, as preparation work has begun to remake the dilapidated but historic building into something new.
Inside, the building still shows signs of years of neglect, with graffiti on the walls and windows boarded up. Steel beams and wood are separated in piles around the building. On Tuesday, the sound of a saw cutting through 100 years of bricks filled the air.
Transform 1012 N. Main Street is a coalition of organizations with a mission to transform the building at 1012 N. Main St. from a symbol of hate into the new Fred Rouse Center. A ceiling and wall breaking ceremony was held Tuesday morning in preparation for construction to begin in 2027.
The building is named after Fred Rouse, the only Black man documented as being lynched in Fort Worth. Rouse died in 1921.
The pre-construction phase, or selective demolition, will involve the removal of interior walls and other elements to prepare for construction. As much as possible of the building’s shell, including its iron trusses, will be preserved, as will its exterior walls. The pre-construction process started Aug. 12 and will take six to eight weeks to complete at a cost of about $550,000.
Carlos Gonzalez-Jaime, executive director of Transform 1012, said planners want to be meticulous with the project out of respect for the communities it will serve. Unlike its original role to separate Black and Hispanic people from the city, Gonzalez-Jaime said he hopes the new center will be a connecting point for all communities.
“What we can do and what the center can do for them, to heal and to reflect on the past and learn from the past to make a better present, not a better future,” Gonzalez-Jaime said. “We need to make a better present, because we need to change what is happening now.”
The project will recycle steel, wood, and other materials as part of Transform 1012’s mission of building a green and sustainable infrastructure.
The construction crew will break down two interior walls to allow for geotechnical testing equipment to be brought in to test the structure and ground under the building. The information gathered will determine what structural systems are needed for the new building.
Concurrently, a design team that includes Studio Barnes, ch_studio, and GFFdesign will use input from the community for a design concept of the building, which will be ready for review by the end of the year.
Transform 1012 held two Community Conversation events last year, one on the northside at Artes de la Rosa at 1440 N. Main St. in August and another on the eastside at Blank Space, 6609 E. Lancaster Ave. in October, to gather community input to create a vision for the center. The community conversations brought new ideas for the space, such as adding a welding shop, wood shop, costume and sewing shop, and a media room, Gonzalez-Jaime said.
The center will be a cultural hub for various organizations and will be used for such things as a performance space, workshops on leadership for underrepresented communities, and a tool lending library for community projects.
This story was originally published August 26, 2025 at 4:21 PM.
