This wall stretched for 10 blocks to separate Blacks and whites in Fort Worth
Bryant Irvin Road separates the Ridglea and Como neighborhoods. But 50 years ago, a concrete wall topped by barbed wire stretched for 10 blocks to divide the predominantly Black Como residents from their white neighbors in Ridglea.
“It’s a small piece but it is a reflection of the Fort Worth way and that is to bend too far back to accommodate atrocious symbols with reasonable alternative explanations,” Estrus Tucker, a life-long Como native said.
For many Black Como residents, the wall, which was built in the 1940s, was seen as a way to keep them out of Ridglea. Signs on the Como side warned passers-by not to trespass.
The “Ridglea Wall” kept Como residents from Ridglea’s retail district and, for some, created a longer distance between them and their jobs.
Growing up in Como in the 1960s, Ella Burton and her family got around on foot. When her brother was hired as a caddy at the Ridglea Country Club, the 7-foot tall “Ridglea Wall” stood between him and his job. Many in Como faced that same problem.
“Imagine the young boys in Como that could not go over the wall or between spaces in the wall.” Burton said, “They had to go all the way around.”
In 1969, another option was created.
“The kids in the area tore a hole in the fence and they’ve been walking through there,” Federal Housing Administration director Adrian Henderson told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on March 27, 1969.
In March of 1969, the City Council ordered a study of the wall after a meeting where ACLU members said the wall blocked access to schools, which amounted to “de facto segregation.” The council also made plans to build roads connecting Como and Ridglea.
The brick wall came down in 1971. Today a wrought iron fence surrounds the backyards of the apartments.
This story was originally published May 6, 2021 at 10:43 AM.
