‘They’re making it just like Dallas.’ Far north Fort Worth’s disappearing ‘ranch’ charm
Fort Worth’s past, present and future can all be seen along the roughly eight mile stretch of Bonds Ranch Road.
The nearly 30-year-old span in far north Fort Worth is awash in rolling green pastures cut up by railroad tracks and pockmarked with an ever-growing number of housing and commercial developments.
Angus and Herefords graze in fields next to large manor homes on one-acre lots. Gas well pads sit next to stacked subdivisions where residents are in spitting distance from their neighbors.
The two-lane country roads that used to connect farmers to markets now connect students to classrooms and commuters to jobs as 59 people per day move to Fort Worth, one of the fastest growing big cities in the nation.
Roughly 4,500 homes and apartment units are in the pipeline for Bonds Ranch Road.
A new Kroger Marketplace at the intersection of U.S. 287 will bring much needed amenities to an area where grocery runs are at the mercy of freeway traffic and freight train schedules.
Some residents fear the new development is ruining the quiet country lifestyle that attracted them to the area in the first place, while others have resigned themselves to the idea that Fort Worth’s growth will eventually envelop the prairies that nurtured the city’s cowboy heritage.
What’s coming?
The two biggest developments are on the western edge of the corridor.
The Rio Claro development will bring 1,914 homes southeast of the intersection of Bonds Ranch Road and Morris Dido Newark Road.
Across the street from Rio Claro, Dallas-based Centurion American Development Group plans to build 1,100 homes across 836 acres. The developer inked a deal with Tarrant County in April 2024 to set up a special taxing district to fund the construction of streets, sewers and sidewalks.
On the east end of Bonds Ranch Road, Inspire homes plans 196 single family homes just west of the Harmon Road roundabout. The homes will be rentals and are expected to be ready for move-ins this year, according to the project’s website.
Pulte Homes is building 151 single-family homes at the intersection of Bonds Ranch and Willow Springs roads. They’ll range in size from 1,900 to 3,800 square feet, and range in price from $408,000 to $534,000, according to the developer.
The Fort Worth City Council approved a rezoning in May for a 400-unit apartment complex just east of the intersection of Bonds Ranch Road and U.S. 287. That complex will also include ground floor commercial space similar to the developments near the Tom Thumb and Target stores on West Seventh Street.
On the southeast corner of Bonds Ranch and Blue Mound roads, Dallas-based developer HPI is building 193 single-family rental homes and 636 apartments.
Proximity to jobs and good schools makes the area around Bonds Ranch Road attractive for developers, said Matt Mildren, a partner at PMB Capital Investments, the Dallas-based company behind the Rio Claro development.
The recently opened Eagle Mountain High School at 3451 Bonds Ranch Road and the proximity to Eagle Mountain Lake are also amenities that make the area a draw for both development and new residents, he said.
‘Now they’re making it just like Dallas’
Kelly Bushway has lived in the Fossil Creek Estates neighborhood near Wagley Robertson and Bonds Ranch roads for six years.
Part of what attracted her to the area were the large lots and the rural lifestyle. Developers told her neighbors that the area would stay that way because of the challenges of building subdivisions along a two-lane country road bounded railroad crossings.
“When I think of Fort Worth, I think of the Stockyards. I think of people who ride horses and live their lives outdoors,” Bushway said. “Now they’re making it just like Dallas and trying to cram in as many people as possible.”
Bonds Ranch Road is already overmatched when it comes to flooding and traffic. Cars regularly back up onto U.S. 287 during evening rush hour, and a section between that freeway and BNSF Railway floods during heavy rain.
Bushway works from home, and her husband’s schedule at Southwest Airlines allows him to miss rush hour traffic. If either of them worked a 9-5 job, Bushway said, she wouldn’t live along Bonds Ranch Road.
Fort Worth is trying to alleviate traffic along the span by widening a section between Wagley Robertson Road and U.S. 287. Part of the project will involve a bridge over the BNSF railroad tracks, which will make it easier for emergency vehicles to get to residents.
‘That’s the way it is’
The actual Bonds Ranch — for which the road is named — has been around since 1933. Nocona native and World War I veteran Bob “P.R.” Bonds bought 5,000 acres near Saginaw. With the help of ranch manager Pete Burnett, he built a business into an empire that has pastures in 26 Texas counties and 13 states.
Current owner and general manager Pete Bonds is the second generation to run the ranch. It’s gotten harder to manage as Fort Worth’s growth has crept ever closer to his pastures, he said.
Cowboys used to be able to move cattle across the country roads without an escort. Now they need a Tarrant County sheriff to come out and manage traffic, Bonds said.
While the ranch has had concerns with nearby residents lighting fireworks next to their fields, Bonds said that’s something the city of Fort Worth can control with better enforcement.
He said the encroachment is just a natural part of Fort Worth’s growth.
“The land’s got to go to the highest and best use, and people are a better use of land than cattle,” Bonds said. “As long as Texas remains popular, people are going to keep coming.”
Fort Worth is doing a good job of keeping the cowboy culture alive in the Stockyards, but even there you don’t see cowboys anymore — only tourists, he said.
There may be a time when there isn’t a Bonds Ranch on Bonds Ranch Road, but Bonds said his family can easily take the money from selling the land and go ranch elsewhere.
“We’ve all moved, and we’ve all changed, and it’s just a matter of economics,” he said. “You may not love it, but that’s the way it is.”
This story was originally published January 24, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
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